When forming Internet marketing campaigns, there are many options that need to be taken into account. The clear goal is to get visitors to your site that are intent on purchasing the offered goods or services and to then convert them into paying customers or clients.

The methods on how to accomplish this vary, in serving different needs for business owners. To get search engine visibility, you can 1) optimize your website, or 2) put up Google Adwords pay-per-click ads, for example.
If you run a business on Long Island or in the New York City area, which is the right Internet marketing strategy for you? Here are some details that can help you decide:

What is Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC)?

PPC is a service that Google offers to companies, in order to get themselves and their websites prime positioning on the results pages for specific search terms. Here, companies literally pay Google for each user that visits their website, regardless of what the users are actually doing on the site. While the PPC method promotes companies by way of these ads to users, they don’t do anything for improving the quality or online presence of your site.

The actual price you pay-per-click has nothing to do with the sites’ overall conversion rates or the time users spend on the sites for that matter, with prices ranging anywhere from cents on the dollar to about $20 per click. These prices largely depend on the market you enter as well as your respective competition. If you’re willing to pay for it, PPC is quick to do and requires relatively little effort to get optimal positioning on results pages. It does not involve making beneficial improvements to your site or further establishing your brand, leaving the business owner in a win-lose situation, as merely obtaining better positioning doesn’t warrant any increase in conversion rate.

PPC Summary: PPC gains your website immediate visibility but you will pay per click. It is a great way to get your website visible to customers but you will lose your visibility the second you stop advertising. It is a great, nimble tool to get keyword rankings in a short period of time. If you do not have strong organic rankings, PPC can be an important part of your Internet marketing plan.

What Is SEO (Organic)?

Search engine optimization, SEO for short, is the processes by which one gets to be placed in top organic positioning for given search terms. Achieving SEO doesn’t have a tangible cost, in terms of dollars spent, but does require effort in campaigning. SEO campaigns involve creating an excellent site, building awareness about your site online through various platforms, and even optimizing your HTML code.

According to Ephricon.com, most studies show users are three to five times more likely to click on a site in the organic listings than to click on a paid advertisement, with all things being equal. There are no shortcuts in organic SEO, as you have to deserve to be the #1 organic result for a given search term in order to attain that positioning.

Many companies look to hire an SEO consultant on Long Island, ensuring that you get the wanted results without having to pay Google every time someone visits your site, including those visitors who have no real intention of making a purchase or contacting the company. Ultimately, you need to build a valuable site and influential brand in your respective market in order to succeed in organic SEO.

SEO Summary: Search Engine Optimization is a process and is not advertising. It is a strategy to organically rank your website itself. It is more sustainable and you do not pay per click. Though you need to keep up with optimization on your site monthly, once you achieve rankings, with properly “white hat” SEO tactics you should be able to maintain visibility and get higher ROI over time. SEO is an important part of ensuring that any website is visible to your target audience.

Which strategy should you use?

If you are not sure, it’s helpful to evaluate your marketing plan and to test different strategies to see which has a better result for your particular business. Many businesses use both strategies simultaneously or in combination.

The short answer: For immediate rankings use PPC. For better long term results use SEO.

To find out more information on Organic SEO services and Pay-Per-Click, call Upside at: (516) 610-0922.