Try Before You Buy
By using Pay Per Click (#ppc), companies who want to get the most out of their online content can test out their search engine optimization (#seo) strategy before investing in any specific plan. With PPC, businesses can gain crucial insight into which keywords work and which don’t before going all-in with SEO.
The prime advantage of PPC is the speed with which it gives businesses results. As I’ve discussed in previous blogs, effective SEO doesn’t happen overnight – it takes months, or even years, to see the type of results most companies need and want. PPC, on the other hand, can provide results in just a few weeks. Using PPC as the foundation of an #SEO strategy is essentially like being able to taste wine at a restaurant before ordering the bottle.”?
Overcoming Skepticism and Sticker Shock
I know some companies have well-founded resistance to PPC. For one, they assume that it doesn’t work. PPC does work for many brands – there are lots of people who click and those people can provide valuable feedback about the most effective keywords and the frequency with which those clicks turn into conversions.
The other main objection I commonly hear about PPC is its cost. So let me just say, yes, PPC is more expensive than doing SEO alone. And so there is inevitably a temptation for companies to do a quick cost-benefit analysis and then embark upon SEO without first performing PPC in order to lower their overall marketing expenditure.
But companies should take a more far-sighted view of SEO. The calculation of whether PPC is worth it or not should come down to the desire to get the most out of your SEO strategy. With PPC, it’s like you’re getting the answers to the test before you take it: instead of wasting money and waiting six months to discover that certain keywords are off-target, companies can spend a few more dollars up front for immediate results. And with PPC, you get upfront knowledge about the evolution from marketing-qualified leads to actual customer.
Practice Makes Perfect
PPC can also give companies insight into how to set their future budgets. If you can get 1,000 clicks with 10 conversions for $2,000 a month with PPC, companies can then factor this into their SEO program going forward. Due to the cost, PPC is not right for every business. But companies that can afford it should make the investment. PPC accelerates the SEO process by greatly improving companies’ ability to hone and optimize their keywords. Especially if companies are already confident in their content, PPC can make the difference between an SEO strategy that generates results and one that does not.
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