Wow, this is such a common question. It’s a real nightmare for businesses because they want to get sales leads quickly and the only way they can do this is through Adwords. Unfortunately, this chews up a lot of their advertising budget, leaving very little for SEO. The only issue with this is that they really want their website to rank organically so they have to do SEO. It’s a real issue because at this stage the only thing happening is money flowing out of the coffers to Google and SEO agencies. So to make it easier for everyone I thought I would point out the pro’s and cons of each and let you decide for yourself. These are honest points based on years of dealing with people who are forever asking me this question. Adwords or SEO.
Pro’s of Adwords.
- It’s immediate. You can be there advertising yourself that day. It’s a really satisfying feeling seeing you brand new ad on Google. Even better when some body calls you from it.
- You write almost anything you like in the ad. Obviously within Google’s restricted space. But you have flexibility with what you can say.
- You can customise your ad to appear at certain times of the day and geo target it for certain areas.
- You can measure the performance and ROI – Google’s reporting tools are really very good. PLUS they have a great customer service team. They are based in India but they are super responsive and really eager to help with any issue you may have in setting up your Adwords account and campaign.
- You can turn it off anytime you like. Start and stop your campaign at your leisure. If you are too busy turn it off. It’s immediate.
- You can set the daily budget and control how much you want to spend. You can also almost set the level where you would like you ad to appear. At the very top of the page or at the bottom of the page – it’s up to you. When it comes to Adwords you are really in control.
Cons of Adwords.
- OMG the cost. You better have a healthy Adwords budget if you want to get in the top 3 positions. This is where you want to be if you expect to get any clicks. In some cases the cost per click in competitive areas can be over $50 per click. Yes you heard it right that’s $50. Other niches are far cheaper and come at about $5-$10 per click. For this type of money you need to be converting all those inquiries to make it pay.
- What about those clicks that don’t result to a lead. Who do you think is clicking on these ads? You become very paranoid and suspect of your competition. Are they clicking on your ad? This can become very frustrating as the dollars add up and the phones not ringing. This is the worst pat about a PPC campaign. It’s this click fraud factor. It can really unnerve you. I’ve witnessed first hand people becoming seriously paranoid about this.
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- The trust factor about your business is not as high with Adwords. People tend to trust organic listings rather than Adword listings. Sometimes you can be perceived (and I’m not saying you are), as dodgy.
Advantages of SEO.
This is a big list so I will try to limit it to a few of the biggest advantages.
- Customers who are searching online go with organic listing before any Adword listings. They really trust what Google ranks and will prefer to deal with companies that are organically on page 1.
- Your business seems much more credible and professional if it is on page 1. Trust is a big thing in the online world and having Google place you right up there is huge kudos for your company.
- 80% of the people call natural rankings and 20% call Adwords. I know where I would want my website to be.
- Once you have established a strong SEO foundation (this means you have to have found the right SEO company to get you there), you are likely to stay there. This is great news if you rely on Google for those sales leads.
- It is a lot cheaper than Adwords and the ROI is much better. Talk to us about the cost of your SEO campaign – if you are an existing business that has been ripped off by other SEO companies or are just unhappy with the results you are getting. Please get in touch with us.
Cons of SEO
- SEO takes time. You have to be in it for a long time to see results. This can take any where up to a year for competitive niches. You have to be patient and understand that Google will penalise websites that climb the rankings too quickly. This is deemed inorganic ‘spammy behaviour and Google is awake to this sort of fraudulent activity.
- THIS IS A BIG POINT…..many companies trying SEO for the first time, unfortunately end up choosing the wrong agency. There are far too many scam and con artists out there fronting as SEO companies offering SEO guarantees and telling you anything to get your business. Once they have you, you are in their clutches with a binding contract. Finding the best SEO agency in Melbourne is the challenge all local business face. If you find the right one, that’s great but it can be a long shot. Watch out for pushy sales people offering too good to be true results. These are all designed to lull you into a false sense of security.
- If you want to rank you have to spend a decent amount of money every month. Because is an on going continuous campaign, you have to be paying for this every month. If you have a new website and you are just starting the SEO process, you will be paying money out without much return. You need to give it at least 6 months to start seeing a positive return. You have to be honest with yourself and see if you are able to hold on that long. If you can you will see huge dividends, if not, and you want really quick results don’t even bother starting any type of SEO.
- Your rankings will fluctuate regularly and there is nothing that any one can do about this. Google constantly updates and tweaks it’s ranking algorithm. One day you might be in position # 2 and the next day # 8. This can be frustrating, but the aim of SEO is to firstly get you to page 1 and secondly ( which is the hard part) keeping your there with as little movement as possible. This is what we do best as Melbournes # 1 SEO team.
If you are still unsure about the type of marketing that best suits your business and need a clearer understanding about SEO V’s PPC, please get in touch with us on 1800 916 191, we are your Melbourne SEO Experts.