SEO vs PPC – Which is Better for Lead Generation Websites?

Many people often try to decide which is better, paying for clicks with Adwords, or optimising a site to get free search engine traffic.

The answer will always be the same. If you are able to profitably drive traffic to your website with each of the methods, both should be used for the greatest returns.

However, you need to remember that paid search engines and free search engines are very different from each other.

We’ll take a closer look so you can clearly understand what the pros and cons are for both the free search engines (SEO) and the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) option on paid search engines.

SEO vs. PPC

Paying for clicks works well because:

1. It’s a very fast way to generate targeted traffic – you can literally generate visitors to your website within 10 minutes. SEO takes much longer to see results.

2. You have total control over where you send your visitors (e.g. when a person searches for “red widgets,” you can send them to a page that talks about “red widgets”. When you use search engine optimisation, the search engines make the decision for you.

3 You can test different offers, copy, and headlines in order to see which combination works best.

4. You can drive traffic with ease for a wide range of keywords. When you use SEO, you are best off focusing on a smaller keyword list.

5. In order for PPC to work well, your website doesn’t need to bee search engine friendly. Some sites, like those built with flash are known to be search engine Unfriendly, but they are okay for PPC traffic.

6. You’re optimising for conversion results, not the ranking formula for a particular search engine.

7. You can easily change positions on the page in order to find the best Return On Investment.

8. Changes in ‘the rules’ of Pay-Per-Click search engines tend to be smaller and less frequent than changes to the ‘free’ SEO rules.

Using SEO for traffic is effective for a number of reasons:

1. It costs nothing-its absolutely free.

2. You can generate hoards of traffic for search terms that it would be un-economical to bid on with Pay Per Click.

3. The long term returns on your investments are usually better than they would be with PPC. It does take longer to see results, but it’s a lot cheaper in the long term.

4. Once you have earned good rankings, it’s pretty easy to keep them with very little additional effort.

5. You can build great momentum that will make it possible for you dominate the market and leave your competitors to bleed themselves dry trying to compete using PPC search engine marketing as they have to pay for every click.

To conclude, both PPC and SEO are useful to any online lead generation you are doing for any business website.

But the Search Engine Optimisation field is riddled with mis-information and half-truths that can waste your time, blow your budget and frustrate the heck out of you, all at the same time.

Author: David B. Ascot is sharing his sales lead generation tips to ensure your company succeeds through online lead generation.