One of our counterparts over at PPC Hero, Brian, actually drummed up the courage to compare PPC to SEO. Maybe he’s just flexing his knowledge. Maybe he thought he could sneak this one past me while I laid sprawled out along pool furniture during my annual Ft. Myers, FL holiday vacation. But what he doesn’t realize is that I just purchased a broadband card for my laptop. And because of it I am able to defend my SEO brethren from anywhere I get 3G coverage.
And so the debate begins…
Brian Connelly is right in his supporting points. PPC is about Speed, Testing, and Control. This approach can be valuable cross-platform. I recommend reading his post.
But in the end, a site’s success – its traffic and conversion – isn’t a matter of “PPC vs. SEO” so much as it is “PPC & SEO.” To speak in military terms, PPC is perfect for reconnaissance. If you have the ways and means, it’s almost silly of you not to use a PPC campaign. All the keyword research and competitor analysis in the world won’t tell you what terms will work best for you as well as your own internal data. And PPC can provide this. Planning a PPC test budget and implementing a PPC campaign is great for not only seeing where the traffic comes from but, more importantly, where the profitable traffic will come from. Once you have that invaluable data in house, perform a competition analysis on these terms, conduct a feasibility study on what it will take for your sites pages to rank for these terms. With this analysis, you now have the groundwork for SEO content themes by which you may now begin your final assault on the search engines.
PPC is both reconnaissance and the first line of attack – the information gathering, long range missiles, and the bombings; SEO is the force behind the site itself – the invading army.
This is why I am a fan of Inbound Marketing. Their approach isn’t so much which discipline works better so much as using whatever works to make your site a valuable tool in your arsenal. Regardless of whether it’s PPC, SEO, Social Media, Blogging, or email marketing, the focus is on the site not the disciplines. In the end, we’re all on the same team – not that a little competition isn’t helpful once in awhile.
And if you read the PPC Hero article, you’ll see that in the end, we both come to similar conclusions.
Happy Holidays goes out to everyone, especially to the members of our armed forces both home and abroad who keep our boarders safe. We know we aren’t able to do what we do were it not for you sacrifice. Thank you!
Check out The Adventures of SEO Boy: Heroic Feats of Search Engine Optimization at http://www.seoboy.com/. Copyright © 2008-2009 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.
