Search Engine Optimization vs. Pay Per Click = Buying vs. Renting

One of the best analogies to compare SEO versus PPC advertising is to consider the decision of buying versus renting a home.  If someone were to ask you if it is better to buy or rent a home, what would you tell them?  Hopefully you would tell them that it depends, right?  What does it depend upon?  Well, the price of course!  In the following exercise, it is very important to understand how to compare the prices of each option.

While many people would say that it is always better to buy than rent if you can, this is not always the case.  For example, lets say you have the option of buying a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in a nice neighborhood for $250,000.  Is this a good deal?  Maybe its a great deal, but what if I told you I would rent it to you for only $100/month?  How can you go wrong?  You can see where even though we were taught it is always better to buy, there are situations where renting is better if it is cheap enough.  The biggest caveat to renting is the risk of the price going up in the future.

Comparing PPC versus SEO is a very similar exercise.  PPC advertising and SEO optimization both get you essentially the same thing, the use of valuable internet real estate.  The higher up you are on the pages you desire, the more valuable the turf!  When evaluating between these two core internet marketing strategies you need to take into account the cost of each.  This is going to depend on a number of important factors, including the keyword phrases you are targeting, the demographics you are targeting, and especially your geo-targeting.  Some industries like plastic surgery, weight loss, and internet marketing are extremely competitive, while others like awnings, aluminum products, and related are often not as difficult or expensive.  Nationwide campaigns are often more competitive than local ones, though not always.  Location plays a major factor.

The math to determine the better strategy between SEO and PPC is quite simple.  Similar to the cost of living in a home, either rent or mortgage payments are made monthly for the right to live in the home.  Lets break down the cost of PPC vs SEO in the same manner.  We need to determine the number of times your PPC ad is clicked per month, the cost per click, and the total monthly cost.  We then need to compare this number with the cost of getting your website ranked organically, or even receiving traffic from web 2.0 marketing techniques, to determine a fair comparison.  You can see the comparison is a little more complicated than saying PPC is better or SEO is always the best.

Any reputable internet marketing company should be able to provide some guidance for you in this SEO vs. PPC comparison exercise.  A good way to find one is to make sure you include the term “best” in your search query.  For example, you may want to try a search along the lines of “Best Internet Marketing Company” or something similar including the term “Best”.

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