People tend to approach SEO and Pay-Per-Click as separate strategies, but it just might be helpful to look at them as two sides of the same item, as there are many ways in which they complement each other and lead to a much more fruitful search blueprint.
What is PPC and how does it work
PPC or Pay-Per-Click is one of the tools you can help yourself with when promoting a business on the internet. It works in an extremely simple way, and that is why it is so popular; you just run your ads and pay the necessary amount, which depends on the number of clicks they receive. There are many PPC platforms you can use, the most known one probably being the Google Adwords.
- Quick results; every business needs results as soon as possible, and PPC might be the fastest way to run a marketing campaign and receive instant results. If you have a site already set up, you can just take a minute to create an Adwords account, setup the ads, run them in the search engine network and start getting traffic.
- No reliance on search engine algorithmic or SEO changes; once a profitable campaign is created, you do not need to worry about the changes the search engine is doing to their algorithms.
- Reaching the right audience; when you run a PPC campaign you can choose exactly when and where your ads will appear based on a few factors, like keywords, device, location, date, and more. This kind of flexibility allows you to split your market and deliver your services or products in front of the right audience.
- The results are measurable; you can basically measure everything related to the PPC campaign, from costs, profits, clicks, views and more. From the second you launch PPC you know just how much you spend and whether you are generating profit or not.
- Brand recognition;PPC can be used to target keywords related to your business, and people who are searching for those keywords will see your ads constantly.
As you can see taking the PPC route has quite a few benefits for advertising your business, mainly because it can generate quick results by targeting the right crowd at the right time. PPC and SEO Link Building can easily work together in a lovely harmony for the best outcome possible, as they are two of the major elements of digital marketing.
Disadvantages of PPC advertising
Yes, even though there are many reasons to support the marketing with PPC, there are a few disadvantages you should be aware of;
- It can get very expensive; you know by now, that you pay for every click you get, even if the people clicking to get to your site don’t actually purchase anything. If you are not careful and attentive you can burn through you budget before you know it.
- Many people tend to ignore sponsored ads;think about it, how many times did you actually click on an ad that was listed next to your search purpose? The majority of people tend to just ignore the ads, and rather click on a link that gets them to the wanted destination.
- People’s skepticism; there is so much advertising, in every corner and at every turn, that people have become skeptical. Everyone knows the ads are there to make a sale, and when someone is surfing the internet for information, they might not appreciate an ad being shoved down their throat. Using exclusively PPC for promoting a business has some odds playing against you from the very beginning (meaning, a negative client reaction to your ads).
- Deciding on the wrong PPC marketing firm; there is many firms offering a great PPC services, really, so many that it makes your head spin, and all of them are promising to deliver the heaven and earth. But unfortunately the majority of them cannot fulfil the dream. This is where you have to be picky, after all, you are the one paying for the service. So look for a firm that has high recommendation from customers, and that takes the time to explain sponsored advertising; you should know what you are spending your money and your time on.
- Clicks do not equal conversions; this may be the biggest downside of PPC, because it does not matter how many clicks you get, there is absolutely no guarantee that any of those people will purchase something from you or become your actual clients. It just might happen that you pay for 1000 new leads to come to your internet site, but if none of those leads are interested in what you are providing, you can be out of money without nothing to show for it. This is the worst case scenario, but there is a chance this can happen.
Link Building and PPC combined
Combining PPC with Link Building might just be one of the top strategies to promote your business and achieve great rankings in the search engines. Have a look at some strong positive points of Link Building working with PPC;
- Visibility
Without the doubt, the most obvious benefit of combining PPC and Link Building efforts is greater exposure on the pages of the search engine. Some people are often leaning toward reducing pay-per-click performance after the search term classifies as number one, but you must remember that the top few results on most search engine result pages are PPC ads. Paid search outcomes and dominating the organic will very much increase traffic, and leave an impact that you are an authority in a specific market.
- PPC ads testing for the stepping stone
Usually what works for PPC also works for SEO, so by establishing which PPC ads come up in the majority of conversions, you will get a good idea on how to create quality title tags and site content for the webpage you want to have organically ranked. A major plus of testing page attributes by using PPC ads is the instant results; you will know very quickly what works and what does not.
- Keywords
Advertising with PPC ads has a clear goal: finding out which keywords your clients use to locate your service or product. If you enable site search on your internet page and analyze the frequently used terms, you can get some priceless insights into your customer’s requirements and search patterns.
- Controlling negative marketing
It can happen, that someone will leave a negative entry about your business, and PPC and SEO efforts make a great team for damage control; combining the two improves the managing of a conversion much more effectively. When you get a bad feedback, link the PPC ad to any negative keyword, so if someone searches for that term, the pay-per-click ad will be at the very top of the list. This technique will help you to tell your side of that story.
- Visibility on social media
Considering the landscape of social media is changing on daily basis, a big part of those changes has been the exposure of well targeted marketing opportunities. For example, using Facebook profile information it is possible to reveal an ad only to 30-year old women living in Munich who are interested in modern art education and classical instruments; the group might be small, but it sure is precise. The data you collect from a campaign like this may reveal small details about the audience you are targeting, and assist you to refine your overall Link Building strategy.
Here are only a few of many approaches, where PPC and Link Building combined work magic, you just need to figure out which one works best for you.
PPC and Link Building in Social Media
Think about this for a moment; millions of people spend a great amount of time just scrolling through the Facebook home page, following and participating in debates on Twitter, looking for tutorials on Pinterest and/or updating their Google+ profiles every free minute of every day. And because of these social media enthusiasts, the social media sites make a great medium between the crowd and yourself. These places are all about building relationships, and if you have a particular crowd in mind, you can target them directly with a few PPC ads and links. Many of these people, are a visual type of individuals, therefor a fine ad might attract the right attention. And the best part is, you are right there to interact with any potential customer. With a good relationship-building made on social media can ultimately lead to more and more links for your company, resulting in more satisfied customers.
If you do not have an account in any social media site, it may be the time you make one, and give it a try; the results might surprise you, in a positive way of course.
FAQs on Link Building and PPC
1. Can I actually find out what keywords people use to see my PPC ads and use them for my website?
Yes, that is the dream, right? With PPC you can get a lot of information on your potential clients, and work with those details to refine your Link Building strategy. Track the keywords that are most frequently used, and use them to get a higher ranking of your website.
2. After I get good traffic through PPC, will it affect my website if I dismiss them and just go forward without them?
As mentioned earlier, PPC ads are usually on the top of the search list, so if you are not spending more money than gaining, it could be wiser to leave them. But if you did a proper Link Building campaign, and your internet site comes out at the top of the search list, you can reduce the ads, just make sure you keep on running the website properly.
3. How does the ‘’controlling the negative feedback’’ work with PPC and Link Building?
Simply link a PPC ad to a keyword in that comment, and if someone should search for that term, your ad will show up, and after clicking it, they will land on you page, where you can either strategically dismiss the comment or just link it so it lands on the positive feedback page; it is up to you, how you handle that part.
4. Do the benefits of PPC improve over time?
They do not. Gradually they can increase the quality of the audience you reel in, but other than that PPC ad benefits do not improve. Even months into a campaign you will still be paying a fixed amount for every click your ad receives, and if you do not spend more money, you will not see any better results. That is why it can work miracles when you add a good SEO strategy, because with consistent effort, this keeps on growing over time.
The final verdict on Link Building and PPC
Well, looking over all the evidence provided, I believe it is safe to say that combining PPC and Link Building makes a strong case when it comes to online marketing. There are a few reasons to oppose, but they are everywhere, so if you do your homework, and find a good firm for PPC advertisement, you will get the insights needed to build a great Link Building strategy. Just remember to keep track of the keywords people use, the investments you make, so you do not lose money, and keep on improving.
If there are any uncertainties or questions, do not be afraid to contact us, and we will do our best to shine a light on your doubts.