PPC VERSUS ORGANIC SEARCH

PPC and Organic Search both have their own advantages over the other. But before we can assess which one is more preferable, and more workable than the other, we must first see what both models have to offer individually.

What is Pay Per Click?

Pay per click or PPC, is an advertising model that is utilized on websites where advertisers are obliged to pay their host only when their advertisements are clicked. In the case of search engines, advertisers bid for keyword phrases that suit their target market. Most content sites charge fixed prices with each click, not preferring to use that system of bidding. Many PPC providers are available on the web, but the largest and most preferred operators are Google AdWords, Yahoo!Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter. These operate using a bidding system. This is because Cost per Click usually varies depending upon the search engine and the current competition for a certain keyword that is currently being used. Though the advertising model itself is vulnerable to abuse because of click fraud, Google and other companies have invested in automated systems in order to protect themselves against abusive clicks, usually done by competitors and other web developers.

What is Organic Search?

Organic search results appear in search engine results. They appear according to their relevance to what is searched, not as they are advertised. Pay Per Click is considered as a non-organic search. This distinction is how one should distinguish the two: after entering terms for a search, the first few results are typically advertisements or sponsored results. One can tell they are advertisements because they are usually in a box that distinguishes them from websites in the organic listings; these sites utilize SEO or Search Engine Optimization. The term, as of recent, has grown to be recognized throughout the web marketing industry. As of July 2009, it is used by Google through sites such as Google Analytics. These “organic” listings do not cost money, just to show the user what the most accurate results are, based on the words that they type; however, it is very likely that the companies who are ranking in the top positions are paying for SEO. One of Google’s claims is that a good percentage of their users click for organic searches, as opposed to clicking on ads. The reason many people prefer to click on the organic listings is the belief that companies that rank in the top slots are “authorities” in their field; this is because Google works hard to rank companies on their relevance and strength to the search terms used. Thus it is worthwhile for companies to have an ongoing SEO campaign to help them rank high in the results pages.

Advantages and disadvantages

In order to find out which advertising method that is more suitable to the current work conditions, both advantages and disadvantages for each method must be assessed. First up are the advantages of Pay Per Click advertising. One is that it is faster to set up results for this type of method. Right after setting up a PPC campaign, the ads will immediately show on the pages in less than ten minutes. Another is that it is easier to keep track of what keywords get the most visitors or the most clicks; and what keywords convert into money or profit and what do not.

Another very obvious reason is that it is a good money-making strategy. However, with every advantage that comes with Pay per Click there are an equal set of disadvantages. While it is easy to make money, each visitor has a “click” price. If you stop paying, the visitors may stop coming (unless they are return visitors who previously found and liked your site). Even though a PPC campaign is easy to set up, it takes expertise to fine tune it; there is a large amount of competition and novice PPC advertisers can end up wasting money if they do not have the right knowledge. Also, money would be wasted if the site does not do anything to convert visitors to prospects and eventually to customers.

In the case of organic searches, even though there is not “click” charge per visitor, there certainly will be ongoing SEO costs to achieve and maintain your high search results ranking; it is only after you have high brand recognition and massive backlinks to your site that you can ease off on your SEO campaign. You will always need to monitor what your competition is doing.

If your site is included in online directories or website listings, there is a large chance that every visitor would become a customer. There is also less long term investment, financially speaking. Which means, while the results won’t be immediate, in the long run you will reap the benefits of having the backlinks; this will help build your authority ranking with Google. This will lead to higher ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

The downside of organic searches is that it takes time to increase your ranking in the popular search engines. There are a lot of variables regarding how fast you can expect to rise in the rankings including how competitive your chosen industry is. Also, you need to build high quality and relevant content. Whatever the case, those who want to invest in either type must first assess resources, consider carefully what is best for the website’s niche and decide how much time and expertise is required on your part to get it done right. Chances are great that you will get faster and better results if you outsource your SEO and PPC campaigns to experts; it is the higher and best use of your time and money.

Speedy KAVAINT.COM W3C Software Directory COUNTERDEAL.COM By: Twitter Buttons

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Monday, February 9th, 2009 @ 12:12PM
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Zack Miller

Small business, especially ones that cater to local customers, have been slower to adapt to doing ebusiness. These prorprieters gripe that entirely local businesses don’t stand to gain much from going online, other than providing a small web presence for customers and prospective customers. Small businesses have the ability to absolutely “own their geographies” (see Resource #1 below) by creating and managing their own personalized newswires. For little to no cost, small businesses can leverage the marketing power of traditional wire services with the sensitivity of social media to make a huge splash in their locality.

Marketing via News Wires is So Outmoded

Just a few years ago, if a firm wanted to make a product announcement, they would hire a PR specialist to write up a press release and then spend another $250-$700 to submit their press release. Next up?

They prayed.

They prayed that the distribution list was local enough yet broad enough to get a clear message out.

They prayed that a local news outlet would find their PR interesting enough to pick up the story, but most of the time, little to nothing happened.

Social Media as News Wire Replacement

Along came social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and the whole industry is turned on its head.

* Local yet global: With social media, you can build your network from the ground up. Get trading partners, local journalists, competitors and prospective customers into the fold.
* Immediate gratification: Articles/posts are published immediately. No more waiting for set distribution times.
* Contextuality: Because social networks are built from the ground up, network members are typically plugged in to your messaging and open to it.
* Call to action: Because social networks are digital, all company messaging can include a call to action — something a lifeless press release can’t hold a candle to.

How to set up your own personalized news wire

1. Web presence: You’ll need a website. It doesn’t need to be a blog but it should be easy to post new content on and within your control to quickly publish. Wordpress is a good content management system — it’s not just for blogs any more.
2. Set up Facebook accounts and Twitter accounts and start connecting to friends: Both these platforms are free and are not just used by the technorati. Thought leaders and journalists in your zipcode are scouting these sites for story ideas as well. For Twitter, I recommend using a product called TweetDeck that resides on your desktop. It provides management tools to fully leverage Twitter’s power.
3. Join local Facebook groups to network: Facebook does a tremendous job of creating smaller and smaller groups that share particular affiliations. Join the ones that make sense to your business in your community. More than just providing more channels for networking, this is a great way to ensure that your content reaches the right people.
4. Join any other social networking site for your industry or locality: While Twitter and Facebook are the 800 pound gorillas in the space, smaller networking sites have sprouted up. Go ahead an create a profile on those sites as well.
5. Tie all the nodes of your online presence into one: After all the set up on different social media platforms, it would be tough to manage posting to all these different sites separately. You’re going to want to use Ping.fm, a service that allows you to tie all your social networking personas into one interface. This interface, the lynchpin in the personalized news wire strategy, will enable you to post once and publish the same message out to all your various social networks.

Use content as a hook

By creating your own personalized newswire, you’ll have the opportunity to distribute content out to engaged readers with success times faster than most traditional news wires. Even if your goal isn’t to affect direct sales (after all, you’re a local business), the content you push through your wire will have positive effects.

* Expert label: By branding yourself as an expert (see Resource #3), you’ll be the go-to person in your industry online and off.
* Open up new revenue streams: Industry experts get called upon to speak at industry events and frequently make a couple of thousand dollars per appearance. There are other revenue streams that may sprout up ancillary to your business and as a product of your web presence.
* Meet future partners: There is a lot of value in connecting with industry partners. Maybe it’s a joint partnership. Maybe a future customer. You just gotta be out in front of these people online.

Summary

Social media is not a panacea for local business. Old school rules about location, inventory, and service still prevail. By building your own news wire on top of social media platforms, you’ll be able to get your message out to the right people. Some of this may result in new business and some won’t. Your online activities may vary well open up new revenue streams as well. You’ll be able to communicate with your business network faster and cheaper and better than those same companies set up to do just that. That’s powerful.

Resources:

1. Seth Godin’s Advice for Real Estate Agents
2. Props to Dominic Jones for describing his process setting up his own newswire
3. Check out GaryV and how he’s turned his local wine business into a cash machine
4. Read this article on how to save a local business via social networking (see the comments)
5. See this article on how Twitter can help you build your business

Insight