PPC or SEO?

by 23 replies
26
Hi,

I'm currently spending around £6k per year on Adwords PPC, with consistently decent results - around 65p per click, and it's kept the business ticking over nicely.

Still, it does seem like we're losing a little ground compared to previous years, although I know our competitors are also struggling.

I've been quoted a similar yearly figure of around £6k from several good SEO companies to get us on the first few results on the organic searches for 3/4 key words (presumably the same ones that perform best on PPC?).

I've heard many people say SEO works better, but £6k is a big risk for me to spend, and it would totally wipe out any budget I have to spend on PPC. If it doesn't work, then I'm a bit screwed, however if it works better than PPC my business could take a really nice jump.

Obviously the problem with SEO is that you can't dip your toe in the water and test it like you can with PPC.

I don't have any time (or knowledge) for doing any SEO myself. I'm pretty good at the Adwords stuff though, and have good quality scores.

My main business is a function band, mostly specialising in corporate events and weddings.

If anyone has any views on whether it would be worth the risk of shifting from PPC to SEO I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Jamie
#search engine optimization #ppc #seo
  • If you do a successful SEO campaign, you can triple your income. You will definately increase the traffic by search engines and this will help you earn more... And yes... I would prefer SEO than PPC
    • [1] reply
    • I am totally agree with this guy because SEO is permanently Source of income and Free of cost and On PPC you will have to spend money in order to get profit.
      cheers!
      • [1] reply
  • I do SEO and PPC locally for customers in my country.

    What I have tried to do is get customers to do BOTH. This is the best way to get the best of both worlds IMHO.

    Also, since you have been going really well with PPC, that means that you can use that data from your PPC campaign, to figure out what words would convert well with SEO. That data is so valuable and you should really utilise it to do your SEO campaign.

    90% of SEO firms don't do this so if they havent suggested it, I would be really careful as it should be a given that any customer doing PPC and going well should have some awesome stats on their niche that can be used to kill the competition.

    Good luck mate!
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks

      I understand that using both SEO and PPC is recommended, but if I do pay £6k for SEO then I can't afford PPC.

      My understanding of SEO that it was simply not worth spending less than this as results would be minimal. I was quoted a figure for a minimum of a year by 2 very reputable companies, who although obviously can't guarantee results, have both got track records of placing companies number 1 ranking on Google for the industries I'm interested in.

      If for instance I pay someone £1000 for SEO, what do I actually get in terms of results? Google page 3 or 4? And is that actually worth it?
  • You would not drop your ppc if it is working for you to pay to build and start a seo drive for the reason being is your traffic / sales will instantly drop of the face of the earth.

    If you can afford to gamble the amount of time it will take and the big if word on getting your site up to number one then it may be an option?

    But even then as suggested you run both, it makes no sense if your running a profitable ppc campaign to dump it, regardless of any seo work.

    Your probably better remaining as you are are allocating a small % of those profits to starting a seo campaign even if its a scaled down one and then re investing into more seo keys as it grows.

    The very last thing you want is to tie up that 6k that is the very heart beat of your business into a white elephant that leaves you all washed up with a ticket to no where.
  • PPC means pay per click and it is a paid and very effective advertising program. We can get instant result from PPC. Most of commercial web site owner use it.

    SEO means search engine optimization. it has free and paid service. It is a long term process so we can't get instant result from its.
  • As it concerned PPC and SEO campaigns both are good on their tracks. You are into PPC from a while and you know what benefits you are having by spending 6k E on PPC and other side SEO has its own advantages, i am into SEO from a long period of time and i know what benefits i am having with SEO Campaign.
    So the thing is don't completely shift yourself from PPC to SEO, firstly took a start with SEO and check the results after a month or two. Then compare with SEO and PPC which is better.
  • It will depend in your campaign or strategy. If you have a good campaign in SEO you will big hits of money.
  • Banned
    They both can be profitable.

    SEO is a bit more friendly for a beginner though. So if you are starting out I would dabble with SEO first
  • I have finally got to page ! using SEO techniques. My site appears higher than the PPC advert, so I have stopped it. I think thats a good way to look at it - SERP>ad placement=STOP
  • You need to remember that SEO is an investment in the future performance of your website and is about getting your website found for as many niche related keywords as possible. If you can do SEO right it will be working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Unless you have a massive budget to continue to spend every single day this is not going to happen with PPC. There are a lot of factors to consider though including what your niche market is, average CPC (cost per click) for your niche related keywords etc etc.

    SEO will not get you the results you are looking for straight away though. So if you can afford to mix it up to start with and then reduce the PPC spend as the SEO campaign picks up this would be a good way to go about it. This way you will generated traffic straight away from PPC. If you do go down the road of SEO don't just chase rankings for a few keywords. Try to get the content on your site right so that you are really increasing the amount of keywords that your site is being found for. The more keywords and content you have contained within your site, the better the potential of any SEO campaign. This take times though as I have already said and there is a lot of planning that goes into any serious SEO campaign for any competitive niche markets.
  • SEO and PPC both can be profitable.
    PPC gives result now. SEO its long term
  • 6K seems high for what you described your keywords to be.
  • both SEO and PPC is beneficial for website , SEO is a long term which helps to get organic traffic from search engines
  • Do both....and don't forget local optimization.
  • I prefer to seo campaign because we only spent little money
  • If PPC is working for you then stick with it. You could spend 6 months with no week by spending your budget on an SEO company. £6k sounds a lot for 3/4 kws.
  • Why do not spend 4K on PPC and 2K on SEO. That way you won't sacrifice anything. YOu already know which keywords convert, so focus your SEO on them. Mind you SEO can be very unstable and you'll need constantly to spend money.
  • PPC is easier to achieves to result if you have a lot of money/buffer in your arsenal. SEO takes time to see a result, and it requires a lot more effort to make it work.
  • using both is good for your business, but you to track it properly to determine your ROI and always conduct a proper testing.

    you need to consider also this simple calculations for your SEO.

    SEO campaign expenses / No. of Visits from organic Search = Cost per visit
    SEO campaign expenses / No. of Conversions = cost per conversion

    using this simple approach can help you determine what is the value of your seo campaign VS PPC.

    - Ed
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • This question has been around for years. I don't know why people have to choose between the two since they can triple their site's traffic and sales by using both. But, if you have to choose one and you have the budget, then go for PPC but if you don't have that much, go for SEO. But if you'll ask me, I'll still go for SEO even if I have the cash. Traffic coming from organic results is still preferred.
  • you can use or join any affiliate programs for extra income, but I think PPC is cost effective,,
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    PPC or SEO?

    Hi, I'm currently spending around £6k per year on Adwords PPC, with consistently decent results - around 65p per click, and it's kept the business ticking over nicely.