SEO or PPC?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization describes “tweaking” a web site so that it is ranked as high as possible by the search engines. The immediate advantage of this is that the web site that can achieve high natural or organic rankings when specific terms are searched will receive “free” traffic.

Being ranked high for popular terms pays even more dividends but is usually very hard to do. As more people search for the same item, the demand is there for more companies to try to meet their needs, which results in more competition for the search term.

Listings found naturally in search engines (meaning non advertised listings) will also perform better in terms of click through ratio vs. paid advertising. Companies that can rank high organically among popular terms can choose to not use paid advertising, do better then those companies that do and save countless dollars on ad spending.

Smaller web sites will find it hard to achieve high rankings, there are certain tricks, but sites must be careful not to be too aggressive in their SEO or risk being blacklisted by the engines. Engines index web sites using a sophisticated algorithm to determine how to rank a site or page. The best advice is to create content to appeal to the surfer you are trying to attract.

Basic SEO Tips:

Content. In order to achieve higher rankings, one must use proper content in the web site so that the spiders that crawl sites on the web can understand the site they visit. Content should contain a variety of key words related to the topic of the site. For example, if you are selling computers, the site should list the word computer, but also hard drives, mother boards, monitors, key boards and other words associated with a computer. Sites that do this, will have a better chance of ranking higher then others. A great site to help find key words include the Google Ad Word Program (actually a marketing vehicle but can be used to help develop your word base) and Wordtracker (offers a free trial). Also, with the popularity of blogs, a strategy has been to create one and maintain it with relevant content.

Links. Sites that have other sites link to it achieve higher rankings. It has been proven that more links from important or highly trafficked sites have a more positive affect then links from smaller sites. One strategy would be to approach relevant content sites or semi-competitors and request links or agree to provide reciprocal links. Some sites offer link trading and only exist for this purpose, these sites should be avoided as most engines will see this as a negative. Even linking to to other sites without reciprocation can prove very effective. Make sure these other sites are relevant to your content.

Key Words. There are really only a few major search engines which include Google, Yahoo, MSN and Dmoz. Achieving rankings in these will help a site greatly. There are other services which will submit URL's to other engines, but these are the major ones to be concerned with. Google offers a plug in for your browser tool bar which will show your "Page Rank". This helps gage your site importance and how much organic traffic you may receive. Google also offers a free engine ranking tool Googlerankings that will show if your site is in the top 200 positions in major engines.

Time. Time is also a factor, the longer a web site has been around, the more it is liked. The engines feel that these sites are more then a fly by night company.

Outsourcing: SEO services can be provided by companies that specialize in this, most claim successes, but do not guarantee results. Proven success by no means guarantee what they do will work well for you, as SEO involves some luck too. These companies can end up charging you for their efforts or charge based on traffic they bring. Either way has their advantages. On one hand you pay only if they bring you traffic, but then you pay continuously. On the other hand, if you pay them a one time fee and it works well, the you might get more traffic otherwise.

SEO is a difficult game no doubt, but what about PPC?

PPC or Pay Per Click advertising describes the internet ad strategy of purchasing key words that are searched in engines.When a user searches a term, they are then presented with an advertisement from a sponsor. If the user clicks on the ad, they then pay for that click.

PPC advertising is highly targeted, as companies that purchase key words, only receive traffic that is relevant to their web site vs. say a banner campaign which may display advertising to a general population.

Each term is bid on for rank position, the higher the rank, the more money for the term and the greater the cost.

PPC brings immediate traffic, if done correctly it can turn a new web site into a success almost instantly.

When deciding on a PPC campaign or SEO, it would be wise to do both, or at least until the site is able to rank higher naturally. Companies can experience overnight successes if done properly. In fact, most of the major web sites engage in PPC marketing. If you do decide to experiment with PPC be cautious and play it right, it can make the difference between success or failure.

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