I was in a sorority when I first went to college (we won’t expand upon that). Along with the other elements of a hierarchy of ridiculousness that is inherent in such an organization, we had a fashionable sorority “mom” who invested heavily in liposuction and weight loss gadgets for the lazy and unmotivated. One of the most interesting contraptions she used was a fat-reducing shaking machine. Essentially, she would strap herself into an apparatus with a vibrating belt, and let the pounds melt themselves away.
As naïve as I was at the time, I knew this wouldn’t work, as she wanted a quick and easy solution to reduce her chubby middle section. And we all know that there’s no gain from no pain. As most people know, the best way to reduce “chubbiness” is to increase muscle gain, which requires a significant amount of resistant training, and in most cases an expensive gym pass to a health club.
How does this pertain to online marketing? Well, some might say that the difference between weight loss scams and actual exercise and acute dieting is directly correlated to PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). One is a fast and easy solution, while the other one takes a bit more time and effort.
Marketing Collaborative is an advocate for PPC advertising, as we have several accounts that contribute in a small way to Google’s pocket book. However, there’s a significant difference between the two advertising mediums that can be compared to the resistance weight training and quick fat-reducing methods mentioned above.
SEO, at the very beginning, can be a slow process that builds little traffic- although there are exemptions to this scenario. It takes more time and effort, is generally less money, and will produce more over a period of time. Once given enough momentum to build upon itself, SEO will generate more traffic and will return a greater ROI than its PPC competitor. In fact, it’s beauty lies in the fact that you will not be penalized for SEO’s ability to generate a lot of traffic to your website. The reason why is organic listings (the spot to the left of the page- the place where SEO lands you) is more trusted by searchers, and generates around 75% of all clicks. It is like going to the gym everyday to lift weights- it’s slow and painful in the beginning but pays huge dividends in the end (or so I’m told).
PPC on the other hand is like the vibrating belt apparatus. It’s fast and easy — a campaign can be up and running within a few minutes, and will start generating traffic to your website immediately. PPC advertising tends to be expensive and temporary, and will not get better over time. Once you stop paying, all of your traffic will go away. To make matters worse, the keywords used in PPC advertising will only become more expensive over time as more businesses move their advertising dollars to the internet, thereby increasing the cost per keyword. This will reduce Pay-Per-Click’s ROI significantly. In the future, there will be a bidding war that will greatly favor advertisers with huge marketing budgets.
So, there you have it. Would you rather have a fat reducing shaking machine as your advertising program, or a muscle building-fighting machine? The decision is yours.
