SEO vs. PPC: The Best Tactic For Local Businesses (Part II)

The business of Search Engine Marketing consists of two basic practices; Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) and Pay-Per-Click (“PPC”) advertising. Which tactic is best for local businesses?

This has been one of the most debated issues between Internet Marketers. Some of the more popular claims and accusations include “PPC is expensive, SEO drives free traffic” and “SEO involves tricking the search engines for higher ranking – it’s not ethical”. I’m going to take the high-road here (sorry, I don’t like controversy): a combination of both SEO and PPC, if executed correctly, is the most effective strategy for local businesses to increase their local online visibility. Part I of this post discussed SEO. This post will address the pros, cons and considerations of PPC.

Like SEO, a PPC effort is only as good as the planning, research, maintenance and ongoing analytics/tracking behind the scenes. Although Google, Yahoo!, Bing and others all make “self-serve” tools available, many local businesses have chosen to hand their advertising campaigns over to third-party companies or agencies. This may be a smart decision as significant time and investment is required to properly execute a campaign. An added benefit – the reporting they often provide includes lead activity and call tracking. A/B testing, multiple ad groups and other complex strategies may also be included. Either way, your ongoing return-on-investment should always be the primary focus.

Some of the most common mistakes by the do-it-yourselfer?

• Not “localizing” your advertising campaign. Ever search ”italian restaurant” from your office in Atlanta for example, and see a Boston-based steak house advertising in the Sponsored Results? Happens all the time, it’s a sure sign of a business owner trying to manage their own campaign.
• Bidding on the broad, primary (most expensive) keywords, without any competitive research or consideration to geo-modifiers or long tail terms.
• Ad copy which uses your business name as the headline, or a landing page that is not prepared to drive strong conversions.

Think of a PPC campaign working with a SEO project this way: SEO has successfully indexed your site on the first page of Google for two or three keyword phrases, but what about the literally hundreds of other terms that potential customers or clients are using? A PPC campaign not only plugs these holes, but also insures your visible on the other Search Engines your local prospects are using.

PPC has other benefits as well. First, instant measurable results. Secondly, you can adjust your investment and campaigns settings to achieve new or revised seasonal goals. In a nutshell, I’d illustrate it this way -