PPC vs SEO : Career Options

I would choose PPC every time it's easier to quantify and your results can be instant.

Once you have the campaign setup in your adcenter the client will be to scared to leave.

My 2penneth

Edward

Hi Soudy,

I would suggest working towards a career in Social Media. Social Media would also leverage your knowledge of SEO and PPC. I currently work for a fortune 500 company where the Social Media department calls the shots. My second recommendation is a career in SEO, I think the Corporate World is just beginning to understand the importance of this discipline.

I am a fan of SEO but I feel that PPC is a much more reliable investment for business owners who want targeted traffic to their website. There is a science for PPC. Perry Marshall is a Google ad words expert. It might be good to invest in his products. PPC can be scaled up to surreal levels and its always a testing, tracking, tweaking process where you can eliminate all the bad campaigns and keep the good ones. SEO is effective only when a client hits the first page. It takes time, it costs money as well. Why not just pay to be on the right and get there tomorrow. That is why I have always liked PPC better.

Do what you like best, if you are a huge fan of seo, then do it. PPC is awesome as well. Just go to dice.com and see what the pay rate is. Also google pay rates for PPC/SEO and get a better idea.

They are both excellent services to provide IMO. As you already know, traffic can come in a flash with PPC. Do remember that getting tons of targeted traffic to a NON-converting destination page = visitors lost/money lost.

Make sure that whatever you decide SEO/PPC..make sure that the page converts. This is way more crucial in PPC, because they lose money and lots of it..if their page does not convert and you shall fail as a consultant/employee

Hi guys ...
Really nice talking about PPC vs SEO, and also really nice above comments, guys, i also have some information about PPC and SEO which i want to share with you, PPC stands for pay per link, and according to my personal mind of view it's really beneficial, and SEO is aslo really beneficial and SEO is SEO Directory Submission, Do follow Bookmark, forum posting, Article submission & link building, face book, twitter, etc...

Not sure why you are asking us. What do YOU want to do? Surely you have a preference. You say you know (and presumably are good at) both. Still, you must be better at one or like to do one better than the other.

Pluses and minuses in both SEO and PPC.

If it's just a matter of which pays more, I'm not sure about that. People will pay what feels right and provides results. There's a wide range of what site owners are willing to pay good money for either service.

More intense? Depends on your definition I guess. Do you want the less intense job? Maybe you like the intensity. You could have clients for either SEO or PPC that are easy or hard to work with making them more or less intense. The intensity can also depend on the client. You could also have problems with PPC and have a hard time reaching targets. When your campaign has a QS of just 3 and the client is paying at least twice what they want or could pay, that's intense. But overall, I'd say SEO is probably more intense.

No matter which you choose, the number one skillset is being able to explain things in a clear manner to your clients, develop trust. If you are talking about which will make you more money, see first answer about which pays more.

If you are one of the directors of this call center, why are you worrying about your job? Do you like your job? Would you prefer going out on your own or change your career path, which sounds is what you'd be doing.

If you want to go on your own, you have to go all out. I know a "real" job helps financially but hinders working on your own business. You can't do both and if you do, you risk losing your job; most employers would not like it if you were working on their dime at your "other" job.

>> So any suggestions on which career path, with less intensive day to day.

Sounds like you should stay where you are at the call center. Probably less stressful and more profitable in the short term and may also be in the long term.

Echoing Edward, PPC is easier to quantify and therefore in a way the easier job which I believe is what you're after. It's more long-term as well. If you don't achieve good SEO results (and in many cases clients want immediate results), the client will leave. They'll leave once you achieve the results too. It should be long-term but many will feel why pay every month if the goals have been met. PPC should be long-term too but clients tend to stay because it's something they can see (the account) and seems more complicated to them. However, many think it can't be that hard once you set it up for them or will just let it run which is of course a mistake. You need to clearly communicate that.

You could offer both if you are inclined and want to do both. Chris said both are normally together in a job description. Not in my experience. Usually, a client wants one or the other but I'd say those wanting/needing both happens a large percentage of the time. Even if they want only PPC, put more value on your services by pointing out your SEO skills. And if they want SEO only, they may want PPC in the future so make sure they know you do that.

I don't agree with all Chris said but he's right in one thing. If you can improve conversions, that's a bigger future. This however is a totally different set of skills (copywriting) and one where very few SEO people are good at. So if you can increase conversions (or get a good copywriter to do that part for you), concentrate on PPC to get the traffic. Most savvy business people will see the value in this, but you have to explain it right.

As for me, I concentrate on PPC. I like it better and frankly, I'm much better at it. I can and do offer my recommendations on SEO with the PPC data to help back it up. Most of my clients have their web designers or SEO specialists so they pass along my recommendations. I also have SEO people if I need them for clients. Best of both worlds that works for me. Something else might work best for you.