Which Suits Your Business? SEO or PPC?
This is an age-old question which we have faced time and again. Clients ask us all the time to suggest which one is better? Which one should they consider? Well, to be honest, there is no right answer to this and I will try my best to provide a holistic view on this matter.
Let’s start with SEO
SEO as we all know is short for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of constant content optimization of websites and webpages so that it improves the potential of your site to rank in the organic results in various search engines. SEO provides organic traffic which is free of cost but it takes a while to rank in organic search results.
SEO is a long term process and you might need the help of an expert to achieve top ranks faster. It takes us primarily a little over 3 months to rank for low competition keywords and somewhere around 9-12 months to rank for high competition keywords. Rank here refers to the first page ranks only.
Let’s take a look at some PROs and CONs of SEO
PROs
- Organic Traffic – No marketing can provide free, credible, and organic traffic like SEO does. It takes time to reach the top ranks but it sure is worth the time and effort. Once you reach the summit you can even pause your SEO for a while and it will not matter. Ranking in the top spot means you start reaping the advantage of the vicious cycle of SEO. More people will link to your site which will in turn drive more and more traffic thus fortifying your position further in the search engines results’ page.
- Credibility – Some users do not pay attention to search ads on the results page. Having your site turn up in the organic results will boost your credibility as a brand. Viewers will put more trust in your brand and will more likely consider you for their requirements.
- Cost-effectiveness – SEO is not entirely free, to be honest, as it takes a considerable amount of time and effort (read investment) to build your position in the organic results. Once you acquire the ranks it helps drive a lot of traffic and boosts your business. As it’s organic you are not charged on a per-click basis and you can continue to reap the benefits for as long as you want without any other cost implications. The ROI, when compared to other paid media, is way better.
- Competitive advantage – it takes a lot of time to enter the top ranks of SEO. It is neither quick nor easy. So once you fortify your position in the organic results, it will not be easy for your competitors to buy a spot above you. So you can continue to reap benefits from your organic traffic while they have to put in the work to get a spot in the top ranks. It’s always good to start SEO early because the early bird gets the rank (considering that you do everything right and you are not competing with giants like Amazon or eBay).
CONs
- Keyword competition – It might happen that the keywords you are targeting are showing results for big brands. This indicates that you need to rethink your keyword strategy because it will take years to outrank big brands or conglomerates who have a huge team working round the clock for their organic rankings. You cannot possibly compete with them and win soon enough.
- Content Development – The only way to achieve strong organic visibility is through quality content assets. Constant content optimization and content development require a dedicated in-house team. You can also hire an SEO agency for the same but there is a cost implication in both options.
- Time – SEO is a time taking process and it is not a myth. If you are willing to rank organically by using the right measures then you need to be patient. SEO doesn’t come with quick results but it does provide sustainability and a good ROI over long periods of time. If time is a constraint and you are looking for quick results then SEO is not meant for you.
Now we shift our attention towards PPC
PPC or Pay-Per-Click advertising solution is provided by many online platforms. Google has Adwords, other social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Quora also have their own respective PPC offerings.
PPC is a marketing model where ads are displayed and you pay for the clicks which ultimately drive traffic to your website. PPC is flexible in nature and you can target your campaigns with laser point accuracy. It takes experience though to set up a successful PPC campaign right off the bat. You may need to optimize it constantly if you have never run one before.
Let’s look at some of the PROs and CONs of PPC
PROs
- Fast and effective – PPC campaigns are the best bet when you want results and you want it now. A PPC campaign can be up and running in a matter of weeks and unlike SEO it starts providing visible results right from the start. PPC is the fastest way to reach in front of customers who make search queries with the intent to purchase. A short PPC Ad campaign can also serve as an effective tool for testing a new product or a marketing message. It delivers quick results and indicates key gaps in the process.
- Targeting – PPC provides the best targeting options to position your brand in front of potential customers. You have control over various factors viz., Query Keywords, Time, Days of the week, Geographical location, demographical factors, devices, and other audience factors. SEO in comparison is far more scattered.
- A/B Testing – PPC provides the flexibility and the option to test multiple ad sets, landing pages, and even CTAs to ascertain which performs better. This can prove to be beneficial as this information acts as market feedback and thus can be implemented in other areas of marketing.
- Insights – PPC provides marketing data and insights, unlike organic search. It is very easy to determine which keywords are performing better and what is the conversion percentage and cost implications for the same. Analytics software (Google Analytics) provide the option for deeper research and study of each campaign.
CONs
- Can be Expensive – If not managed properly the cost of a PPC campaign can spiral out of control. Lack of proper research and experience can prove to be costly in this scenario. Targeting entire counties or international campaigns will come with a huge price tag.
- Continued Investment – Unlike SEO, PPC is pay for results marketing. Once you stop the investment the traffic goes away and the leads cease to pour in. Paid advertising is viable as long as the acquisition cost is right.
- Expert Management and Optimization – A successfuland cost-effective PPC campaign needs the expertise of a veteran. A lot of things need to be monitored and optimized viz., Bids, Quality Scores, Positions, and Click-through rates. You need the help of an expert to keep things in check and manage your costs efficiently.
- Constant Need for Improvement – PPC Ads become boring and repetitive after a while and you need to change and improve your ad copies and messaging from time to time. PPC ads can be easily imitated by your competitors too. They can even get a glimpse of your entire funnel and strategize accordingly.
SEO vs. PPC – Conclusion
Well, I tried to give you a quick glimpse of both the worlds of SEO and PPC. The factor that will influence the decision to choose one over the other is the nature of your business along with the time and financial prowess that you have.
So the question that you need to ask is not SEO or PPC. The questions are: Do you need leads now or can you manage without them for the time being? Are you in for the long marathon or do you want to win the short sprint? Do you have any website traffic or is it too dry out there? What is the level of competition in organic search keywords that you are willing to target? What is the cost per click in PPC?
Chalking out clear short and long-term business goals is an essential step that needs to be taken before concluding whether to choose SEO or PPC.
SEO and PPC – The Suggestion
This is every marketer’s dream, the best of both worlds, an integrated symbiotic strategy for both long and short-term returns. SEO and PPC together make a great team and support each other beautifully. You can do a lot of things if you integrate both. PPC can provide keyword and conversion data which can be used to optimize organic traffic i.e. SEO. High cost, high volume keywords for your business can be moved from PPC to organic search. Leverage Remarketing to cast a net on your organic viewers and boost your conversions.
Though implementing both SEO and PPC may not be an option for most businesses, it does ensure improved results. Utilizing both paid and organic channels ensure brand visibility and authority.
Do reach out to us if you are still confused between the two. For more such insights and updates keep an eye on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Does Your Business Need PPC?
In this blog, we will try to define what PPC is and then touch on the important points as to why your business needs PPC irrespective of the industry or niche it belongs to. Chances are that you already know what PPC is but still we will get that out of the way to get rid of any confusion.
SO, what is PPC?
PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click advertising. No brownie points if you have guessed it already. It is a standard marketing model in which every time an ad is clicked the advertiser has to pay a certain amount. It is a shortcut to getting more website visits. Instead of working towards it organically by earning the visits, you are basically buying visits.
Say, you set up a PPC campaign for the keyword ‘latest footwear’ or maybe ‘trending’ or ‘trendy footwear’. Now each time a user places a search query for these words your Ad is highly likely to show up (depending on the bid you placed). We will assume that it does and for each click, the search engine will charge you $5. This might seem high at first but say one $5 visit resulted in a $500 sale. The profit margin is high and the return on investment is off the charts, right?
The formula for a fantastic PPC campaign comes from years of experience and experimenting. Focus on the following points to come up with a successful PPC advertising campaign:
- The relevance of Keyword – Having the right set of keywords list, keyword groups that are related to your niche, and compelling ad copies is the key.
- Landing Page – This is the page where the viewer is redirected to after clicking the ad. So you know how important this is. Clear call-to-actions, query-specific content, and persuasive visuals are the few basic points that need to be considered for creating a successful landing page.
- Creativity – Both the creative and the ad copy for your PPC campaign is crucial. Coming up with the right balance of both that churns out clicks is essential for the success of your campaign.
How can PPC marketing help your business?
The most important role of PPC marketing is it guarantees your company’s appearance at the top of the results page. SEO can help you to reach the top spot organically but it is a time taking method. PPC ensures instant results.
The sponsored ads are shown above organic results and this plays a vital role for mobile viewers. With the dearth of screen space, searchers are more likely to focus on the sponsored ads first.
Setting up a PPC campaign for seasoned veterans hardly takes an hour and if you have the funds required, PPC will ensure the best results for your investment.
PPC marketing is also popular because tracking results is much easier. You have the luxury to track every dollar spent on each ad set and keywords for each campaign. This allows you to determine your ROI in a much more accurate and efficient manner. Testing and experimenting with multiple campaigns also become much easier in this scenario.
PPC provides the ability to schedule your ads, set up location-specific ads, and the time for which these targeted ads will run. PPC also provides you access to each search engine’s affiliate network websites and products. PPC marketing can drive instant results for your business provided that you implement it properly.
If you have a small business and do not have the luxury to splurge on PPC marketing you can always opt for organic marketing. SEO and social media campaigns are the best organic marketing methods to drive results and they prove to be valuable assets for your business in the long run.
Google’s Request Indexing Feature Temporarily Disabled
Google announced on their Webmasters Twitter handle that they will be temporarily disabling the “Request Indexing” feature of their URL Inspection Tool. This tool could be accessed from the Google Search Console. The announcement was as follows:
The URL Inspection Tool was primarily used to request a crawl of URLs individually. This is important after a new page is added or changes are made to an existing page of a website. Though not a full proof action, it necessarily accelerates the rate at which Google indexes the new content.
Google had mentioned previously that it does not “guarantee” immediate indexing through this process and may even choose not to index the new content at all.
Since it has been mentioned “infrastructure changes” it might lead to some enhancements to this feature and the inside story is that this might take at least a few weeks if not a few months.
Google has mentioned that it will continue to detect and index new content through their regular methods so it is something that site owners need not worry about much. Site owners can make do without this feature temporarily it will not have any noticeable impact.
Functional SEO Tips for Ecommerce Business
An e-commerce website is like an online virtual store and just like its brick and mortar counterpart, it needs to attract customers in order to be successful. While brick and mortar stores have a con that they are rigid and cannot be moved once placed. An e-commerce store has the power to shift placement whenever it’s required. The whole game boils down to reaching out to the right set of audience and attracting organic traffic to the website. This is where SEO plays a key role. If implemented strategically, over a period of time, SEO will not only help you to reach to prospective customers who are looking for your products and services, it will also create a brand presence by helping you reach top ranks in the SERPs. If your website/e-commerce store is visible, more and more quality traffic will start pouring in and the chances of conversions will rise.
Below I will provide a few tips which can help you optimize your ecommerce website and boost your chances for more conversions.
- Keyword Niche
Finding the right set of keywords for your niche will determine the result of your SEO efforts. An extensive keyword research should be conducted and choose a set of keywords that match your business. The main focus should be to keep in mind the nature of user queries and frequently used search terms. Keep some Long-Tail keywords in your bucket and these will help you rank for specific niches faster. Determining the specific search queries of your end customers and evaluating the users’ search intent will help you to finalize your set of targeted keywords.
- Say No to Duplicate Content
Ecommerce websites face a lot of issues because of duplicate product descriptions. Since many ecommerce websites list products from several vendors they put up descriptions which are generally provided by the vendor themselves. The problem is these sellers provide the same description to every ecommerce portal they sell their products through. This creates a huge issue and affects the ranks of the ecommerce websites substantially. Try to use unique descriptions for your products and you will be good to go.
- Image Optimization
The importance of ALT Tags cannot be stressed enough when it comes to e-commerce websites. Generally, there is a huge inventory of images on e-commerce websites. Apart from them being attractive and unique so that your viewers are compelled to buy your products they can play another important role in driving traffic to your website. Important Keywords can be added to the ALT tags of the images on your website. This will result in them popping up in Google’s Image Search Results and will in turn help you to attract organic traffic to your website.
- URL Optimisation
URL mapping and optimization is very crucial for SEO. It helps search engine bots to properly crawl and index your website’s pages for the right keywords. URL optimization and proper structure plays a vital role in indexation of your website. Also having a neat and efficient URL structure improves the overall user experience of your viewers thus decreasing the bounce rate of your website and increasing the chances of conversions.
- Broken Links
This is a major headache and the worst nightmare of any ecommerce store owner. Having a broken link means disrupting the flow and overall experience of your viewers. Imagine clicking on a product to view its description and landing on an “Error 404: Page Not Found” is something which you would not want to happen. Right? Having broken links or ignoring them specifically when you are selling from your website is something that you would want to steer clear of. There are a host of online websites which can help you detect such broken links. So remember to run regular checks on your website and do get any broken links fixed if any crops up.
These SEO tips will help you get started for sure. There are a lot of factors which you also need to consider while running an eCommerce website. Do feel free to reach out to us if you are facing any issues and we will be happy to assist you.
Do check out our last week’s post on Digital Marketing Tips for Ecommerce business in case you have missed it. Also do follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn to get such tips and updates.
Digital Marketing Tips for Ecommerce Business
Attracting the right set of customers is the key to success in any business. The same theory applies to e-commerce as well. The percentage increase in revenue from sales in e-commerce has been rising at an exponential rate. This not only means that the pie is getting bigger but it also suggests that it will become that much harder to get hold of the crumbs. With cutthroat competition, every business will feel the heat. Attracting the right set of customers will be much tougher and albeit expensive too.
With the shopping spree of the much-awaited holiday season coming up, soon sales volume will increase. It’s high time that e-commerce businesses start plugging all the gaps and implements a full proof digital marketing strategy to take advantage of the season. Funnel specific marketing is very important. You should have clear marketing tactics to target your customers at each stage of the sales funnel. I will be sharing a few tips to boost e-commerce sales figures.
- Google Shopping Ads – Organic visibility at its best
This is a really obvious one. Google Shopping Ads is an e-commerce marketer’s best friend. With millions of search queries on Google each day it is really stupid to ignore this space. Just imagine how easy it will be to have your products displayed directly to your end customers without even attracting them to your website. With the right set of keyword targeting, shopping campaigns are the best bet that any e-commerce business can take. Customers will be able to see your products at the top of the Google search results page when they are looking for the same kind of products that you are selling. Not only that but customers can also see product photos, price details, ratings, and reviews by other customers, any special offers, and other important information that helps them in making a decision.
All you need to do is create a Google Merchant Center account and link it to your Google Ads Account. Upload your product inventory via a spreadsheet to Google Merchant Center. Now you can easily run Ads and Google will automatically show your products whenever a relevant search query is placed. A Google Shopping Campaign can help you drive quality traffic to your website in no time.
- Instagram – The Ecom Paradise
Shopping on Instagram has made life much easier for e-commerce businesses. Marketers don’t have to worry about driving traffic to their webpages from social media anymore. The audience and followers of a page can complete the whole shopping experience directly from Instagram itself. Instagram is a social media platform where photos and videos are shared. The visual appeal is the strongest here. Consumers go through a varied range of micro-moments while scrolling through Instagram. To come across a visually attractive post of a product and the urge to buy that product is a common occurrence on this platform. Marketers tap into the impulsive buying behavior of the consumers. How the product is showcased plays an important role in this process.
All one needs to do is set up a business profile on Instagram and upload their product catalog to Facebook. After this, the option to tag products in the organic feed and Stories will appear. Now the audience who used to consume organic content can directly purchase products without even visiting the website.
- Remarketing – Reeling in the lost ones
Remarketing works like a magnet in e-commerce which reels in customers who had visited your website before but didn’t purchase anything. It increases the conversion rates of an e-commerce business by a considerable percentage. Say you had checked all the boxes and spent a lot of ad revenue to attract a considerable amount of visitors to your website. Now you cannot simply expect that once those viewers land on your website they will become a paying customer, right? Some will purchase and some simply won’t. Now you just can’t let go of those who didn’t right? If you do you are simply wasting all the efforts up to this point. This is where remarketing plays its part. A cookie is placed on the system of those who have visited your site and exits without making a purchase. Now if this visitor enters another site that hosts retargeting ads then he/she will get to see ads of your products. It’s that extra layer of marketing to convince a set of consumers who are already interested in your offerings. They only need an extra nudge or two.
- Pop-ups to drive extra revenue
This is the least favorite one (especially for your viewers) because it has a bad reputation of being overtly pervasive in nature. The fun part is that it’s not only pervasive but persuasive as well and that’s the only part a marketer needs to bother about. Pop-ups are Ad windows which temporarily comes over a viewer’s display screen and showcases them additional offers or discounts. Pop-ups can be used to convince your viewers into buying something purely out of impulse. If used strategically, pop-ups can drive a huge amount of extra revenue to your business by convincing your viewers to add that one last product to their shopping cart. You can either tickle their FOMO by putting up a limited-time discount or BOGO offer or you can showcase products which the viewer is most likely to purchase.
- Power of Referral Marketing
The process of incentivizing your existing base of customers to be your brand ambassador in their individual networks just to promote your brand and spread the word is otherwise known as referral marketing. This is a really effective method if used wisely. It is a fact that the rate of success that your loyal customers will have in converting their friends and family members is much more than you will have by showing them your advertisements. It is somewhat similar to customer reviews but better, where the customer himself is convincing others. Referral Discounts, Bonus Cashbacks, and first purchase offers are some examples of methods used in referral marketing.
Well, those are some key pointers that I had to share for e-commerce businesses. Do feel free to reach out to us if you need any help with your business. Keep an eye on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages for more such updates in the future.
Check out out our last post on Points to Consider Before Starting Your Own eCommerce Business to gain valuable insights before starting your business.
Charges for Google Shopping Ads Will be Removed
Earlier this year due to the pandemic, Google rolled out free shopping ads in the US. Since April, Google shopping listings have been free in America. Google has plans to extend this benefit to more countries over the world. Soon retailers across Europe, Asia, and Latin America will be able to run free Google Shopping listings.
The change will most likely start taking effect from mid-October. The financial and situational crisis, that hit many businesses, was the main reason behind this change. Many businesses have since moved online and more and more consumers have also started showing a rise in online shopping activity. This change will not only benefit retailers but also consumers who will now have the benefit of choice irrespective of the scale of business they are transacting with.
This change will provide an opportunity for many struggling businesses to resume operations and reconnect with their consumer base. Many businesses have a robust stock of items that people are searching for online but there is a huge gap because they do not have any online presence whatsoever.
Google saw a significant rise in the percentage of engagement between consumers and merchants after they rolled out free shopping listings in the US. Google wishes to expand this benefit beyond borders now so that retailers all over the world can take a sigh of relief.
Retailers who can afford to pay though can still do so. Google has left that option open. It is quite obvious to state that paid listings will benefit more than the free ones and will appear in ad slots above the free ones in the Shopping Tab. So it is still advantageous to pay for shopping listings on Google.
So, how will you run your free Google Shopping Ads?
- Create a Google Merchant Center Account or sign in if you already have one
- Click on Growth in the left navigation menu
- Go to Manage Programs
- Select Surface across Google
- Use Product Feed to add your products
- Follow through with the website verification process
- Confirm that the website belongs to you
- Click on Activate and you are all set
Stay tuned on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages as we will share the news when this goes live in India.