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Selecting between Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn’t a case of measuring Return on Investment (ROI). There are big differences between the two approaches and the decision between either is reliant on different factors. There is a need to understand the differences before a last call is made on your choice between the two or your use of both.
Which to choose – SEO or PPC?
Many internet marketing experts who’ve used PPC advertising, worried by the ever growing value of PPC or stung by examples of click-fraud (click fraud is where your competitors continue 
to click your ads so you are charged and your budget is used up), are looking towards SEO as a substitute or alternative for their Pay-per-click efforts. Unfortunately, comparing Pay per click to SEO is like comparing an IBM AS 400 mainframe to an Apple Macbook Pro…there’s simply no comparison. They have distinct differences: they might be close in that both are PCs, but the differences outweigh the likenesses. Selecting between Pay per click and SEO isn’t a case of tossing a coin. It’s better to have to have a real understanding of each approach and the way to measure the ROI of each before reaching a decision.
Pay-per-click Ads
The key to Pay per click selling is to think about it in a rather similar way as ‘conventional’ advertising: the money you pay out ends up in the ‘display’ of your ad for a particular period. The instant you stop paying, your advertisements will be removed. Results for Pay-per-click advertising are instant and quantifiable because you begin to get results inside a few days of your ad being posted on the search website page and much of the time , folks stop visiting your website the instant your ad is removed.
Organic SEO
A search engine optimization campaign, alternatively, can have an outlined start and end point (outlined by the details of the contract made between you and an SEO company), but the results can last outside the contract’s termination date just because the measures implemented are, to a great extent, “permanent.” Think about an SEO effort as your classic brick-and-mortar conglomerate…you have the place and the goods and the SEO company paints the building, sets up window displays, puts your products on view, and then waits for the buyers to come in.
If your SEO team did the job correctly, folks will ‘wander’ in. You can choose to let your SEO group go after a year and leave everything as is, but folks will still drop by for awhile because their attention will continue to be called by your site’s window displays, exterior painting, merchandising display, or word-of-mouth. Eventually, your site will drop down in the rankings and will no longer be on the first page, but that can take a few months.
From this viewpoint, it isn’t necessarily a case of ‘choosing’ between Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization. There are express conditions where one is better than the other, either temporarily or permanently. For instance, if you want fast results, then Pay per click is the right way to go. If you want long-lasting results that take longer to achieve, then SEO should be your choice. Another option is to use PPC until your SEO company’s organic SEO efforts are making you rank on the first page and then drop the PPC.
There are hundreds of thousands of websites out there and if you want to be found for your product or service, SEO or PPC is the way to help others find you. Hopefully, you can now make a better choice of which way to go.
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