The two most predominate methods of driving traffic to your website are PPC and SEO. How do they compare and when should you use one over another? Knowing the answers to these questions can make a big difference in your ROI (return on investment) and the quality of traffic that you will receive.

Organics Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Pros:

• Higher ROI: With Organic SEO your rankings in the SERPS (search engine results pages) will continue to increase even after your campaign ends.
• Long Term Value:  As long as the search engines continue listing your website(s) in the SERPS you properties have a longer shelf life and in fact are gaining value, think of it as compounded interest.

Cons:

• Results: Results can take months or in some highly competitive niches even take years.
• Higher Upfront Investment: Launching a PPC campaign can be done on a shoestring budget, SEO however has much higher upfront costs.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pros:

• Speed: Results with PPC are immediate. You can literally create a new AdWords account and have it online in less than an hour
• Cost: With PPC you pay for the amount of traffic you want depending upon your budget
• Split Testing: You can split test ad copy to see which coverts the best

Cons:

• No Long Term Benefits: When your budget runs dry, the ads stop appearing
• Click Fraud: The overall industry average for click fraud during the second quarter of 2010 is reported at 18.6%
• Level of Trust: Because customers realize that you’re paying for your placement using PPC the level of trust is reduced over organic SEO.

Knowing these facts we recommend that you consider using PPC alongside SEO to optimize your keyword research, split testing, and conversion factors.