SEO, PPC, Social Media - Which Is Best For Me?

For many new start-ups and businesses that have relied on traditional marketing methods, the task of creating their first digital marketing strategy can be a daunting one to say the least. There is a vast amount of different digital marketing channels available to businesses and three of the biggest, as I’m sure you’ve guessed from the title of the article, are SEO, PPC, and Social Media Marketing. So, which one is the best to use?

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. There really isn’t any one method better than the other. It just comes down to what works best for your business. Some of the factors you should consider are:

• The size of your business

• The budget you are working with

• The products or services you offer

• Your customer base

• Your goals and objectives

What works for your business may not work for another business. So, which of these marketing methods will work best for you? To get a better understanding of which is best for you, it is important to first understand what they have to offer.

What Is SEO?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is essentially improving your search engine rankings. Google, for example, will crawl through and analyse webpages for quality links from other webpages. Simply put, the more quality links you have going to your site, the more likely you are to rank higher in Google. In order to do this, you should be creating quality content and getting links from SEO-friendly directories. Check out this article to find out how you can easily boost your SEO - 4 Extremely Easy Ways To Boost Your SEO Today!

What Is PPC?

PPC, short for Pay Per Click Advertising, is basically buying visits to your website. While SEO is more about getting visitors to your site organically, this method of marketing allows you to pay for each visitor you attract. You create an ad for a search engine so that when someone searches a keyword or phrase, you come up at or near the top of the results. Then, for each person that clicks on that link to visit your site, you pay a sum of money. The sum of money you pay and your place in the ad results can change depending on the keyword or phrase as well as the quality of the content. It is more or less an auction. To get to the top of the ads, you may have the highest bid (amount of money you pay per visitor). However, sometimes, those with lower bids but better content can still get to the top.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is, in essence, gaining traffic or attracting attention through the use of social media. There is a huge amount of different social networking channels including:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• LinkedIn

• Pinterest

• Instagram

There are so many different social networking channels with a huge range of different features and uses for businesses to take advantage of. It allows businesses to find and share things related to their business as well as assisted their SEO efforts by sharing their own links.

Which Marketing Method Is Best For Me?

There are a lot of benefits to each of these marketing methods. Firstly, Search Engine Optimisation has a number of benefits including:

• The traffic you get to your website is free

• You can achieve a level of trust from rising up the rankings organically rather than paying for visitors in order to be at the top

• Organic traffic is more likely to lead to sales than paid traffic

However there are some downsides to using this method including:

• Not being able to control your position in search engine results

• It is a long-term strategy, meaning you aren’t likely to see results straight away

• It requires a lot of work and time

PPC, on the other hand, gives you complete control over what you appear for in search engines and can get noticeable results quicker. Check out this article to find out more - How Long Does PPC Take To Get Optimal Results? There are a number of other advantages of PPC including:

• Being at the top of search results and, therefore, being instantly visible

• You can set your own budgets

• You can make changes to your campaign quickly

• You can start or stop doing it quickly

However, again, there are still some potential downsides to using this method including:

• Not every click will turn into a customer

• The more clicks you get, the more expensive it gets

• It is easy to waste money on things that may not be relevant to you

Finally, social media marketing has its own benefits including:

• There are literally over a billion social media users

• You can easily interact with your target audience anytime

• There are many different ways to interact with your target audience

• It is cost-effective

Again, though, it does have its drawbacks which includes:

• You may receive less traffic to your website than you would from PPC and SEO

• Your brand image may be effected by negative comments from social media users

• It can take a long time to build up a decent social presence

It is because of each of the above points and more that we really can’t pick just one of these marketing methods as the one every business should be using. Different businesses will benefit more from one of these methods than others. A lot of businesses would greatly benefit from using a couple of these methods, if not all of these methods, in their marketing campaigns.

Not Sure Which Method Is Right For You?

There are a lot of valid reasons to use each of these marketing methods, if not all of them. However, a big factor when considering these methods is the business itself. How big is the business? What does the business do? Who is the target audience? It is important to consider these factors when deciding which marketing methods you’d like to use.

If you’re still unsure which method is right for you, it may be time to seek some professional advice. Here at the JDR Group, we offer our expertise to businesses that we believe can benefit from these marketing methods. Please, feel free to get in touch.