The whole point of having a website is driving traffic to that website. When developing a web strategy to drive traffic to your site, it’s important to distinguish between SEO (search engine optimization) and pay-per-click (PPC), a.k.a. search engine marketing (SEM). There’s no argument that you need SEO, but there does seem to be room for discussion about whether all businesses can benefit from PPC.
First off, what is PPC? With PPC you are paying the search engine to guarantee your ad appears on the first page of search engine results when a user types a specific search term or phrase, i.e. digital marketing in Thailand or online marketing Thailand. The search engine requires you to choose specific keywords or phrases, further allowing you to specify when, where and who sees your ad. For example, between 2pm and 3pm on Mondays and Thursdays to users in Bangkok over the age of 18. SEO alone will not allow you to target so specifically, but it does allow you to cast a wider net.
The direct cost associated with PPC is up to you. Search engine services, such as Google AdWords, allow you to establish a daily budget or maximum. You specify how much you are willing to pay per click, i.e. 20 cents, and specify your daily limit, i.e. $5. In this example, you are willing to pay for up to 25 clicks per day, or 750 clicks per month for $150. These are the basics as it can become more complex the more sophisticated your PPC campaign.
Calculating ROI can be more exact with PPC than SEO. Continuing with the example from above, if you spent $150 in one month of PPC ads, but sold $350 worth of products or services because people arrived at your website through a PPC ad, then your ROI is 33.3% for this campaign. With SEO, calculating ROI is less straightforward.
PPC should be a part of your web strategy. The extent to which you use it though will be determined by your business goals.
Our next post will tell you why you should be investing in SEO as well.
