It's a question Lena and I get often when we speak to business owners. What's the difference between using pay-per-click advertising and using new media components to raise your natural search engine ranking?
The answer is a lot.
In Pay-Per-Click advertising, you buy certain keyword search terms so if, for example, someone is searching the terms "yoga Brooklyn" your website will come up at the top of the right hand side or at the very top of the left hand side on the first page of a search. The keys to success here are knowing what keywords your prospect will search on and setting a limit to your budget because it can get expensive fast.
Once your prospect gets to your site, you had better be able to demonstrate within a few seconds that you have what they want or need. Marketing studies show surfers click away within seven seconds if they don't feel the site has what they are looking for.
Enhancing your website with appropriate keywords, using a blog (which search engines LOVE because they are updates so frequently, dispersing your articles on the Internet using E-zine banks, and tapping into the power of Twitter (especially to post your URLs) will all help naturally raise your search engine ranks so that if you're using the right keywords in all these posts, your website, blog, article or Twitter feed should appear in the first two pages of a search engine. The key is consistency.
Price comparisons
When you talk about price, an effective budget you set for Pay-Per-Click advertising could be in the hundreds or thousands per month. But new media (using a great website host with shopping cart functionality, blog, podcast and e-zine for up to 2,500 prospects) can cost you an average of $80-$130 per month. And once you get your prospect there you will have plenty of information to show that you know what you're talking about and that you have what they need.
How much do you spend on your pay-per-click advertising?
Alison Woo, Chief Media Maven
