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You make some very good and valid points here, and this is the train of thought for many.
What is more expensive? buying traffic from the search engines directly (ppc, paid for spidering) or SEO
Well, registering for a pay for spidering (PFI) program will do nothing for your website unless it is optimized. The spider will come to your site and refresh your listing, but the pages are still examined with the same algorithm that every other webpage is.
On the other hand, your webpages do not need to be optimized if you are advertising on a PPC search engine. You are correct that with little money, and with one weeks time, you can have an account set up with a PPC engine and your listing will appear at the top of the search results of select engines as long as you bid in the top 3.
There are many issues that may arise if you solely target PPC engines and do not optimize your site for the other search engines. One issue is that due to the FTC's ruling, all of the sponsored listings, which are PPC, will have to be clearly branded as paid listings. The average search engine user realizes that these listings are paid, and are more inclined to click on a top search result.
Another issue that may arise is ROI. You need to make sure that you are bidding on the correct keywords at the right prices, getting the right conversion rates and click thru rates, that will allow you to see a positive return on investment. This is an entirely different topic though.
In my opinion, it shouldn't have to be one or the other, as I think that you can mix the two for the best online strategy. As you said, starting a PPC campaign is quick and easy, and you can be listed at the top within a week. You can use a PPC campaign to jumpstart your SEO campaign, as your traffic will begin to rise while you are optimizing your website and waiting for the search engines to spider your website.
> You can use a PPC campaign to jumpstart your SEO campaign, as your traffic will begin to rise while you are optimizing your website and waiting for the search engines to spider your website.
This is an excellent way to start immediate traffic and sales. ROI of course will be the determining factor and its an excellent way to gain immediate exposure on the Internet's top search properties.
Depending on the competitiveness of your terms, expensive could go either way. Bottom line is that you still need to do a core optimization for any site that wants to rank in the top 30. Its definitely a pay for play landscape right now and I sure don't see much change coming in the near future. There are quite a few smaller engines appearing, but some of them are even charging.
Our roles are changing daily. If Google keeps it up, we all might as well go on their payroll! ;)
ROI, sure that's what it's all about but you have to make sure you watch your ROI with an SEO campaign also. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is not alot to optimize for anymore and optimizing will cost you more then just paying to the search engines.
[edited by: powerstar at 4:19 am (utc) on July 25, 2002]
How long you think Google will be there? How long before they change to PPC on top of the free results like AOL. Not long I don't think
I guess what I am trying to say is that there is not alot to optimize for anymore and optimizing will cost you more then just paying to the search engines.
Again Powerstar, you make some good points, but I am going to have to disagree with this last one.
You still have to optimize your pages and tags if you want to rank well in: AltaVista, Google, AllTheWeb, Netscape, AOL, MSN, Inktomi, ODP, Yahoo, etc. All of these engines require that you do some extent of optimization if you want to see some results.
How long you think Google will be there?
Google, as a company, is actually quite stable and doing well...much better than most of the other search engines. While Google hasn't gone public, they are a profitable company and are a preferred search engine by many. I have a feeling that they will be around for a while.
How long before they change to PPC on top of the free results like AOL.
I don't foresee Google doing this ever. Currently they have the two sponsored listings that are encompassed in the color shading, which are placed above the search results. In addition to these, Google displays their Adwords advertisements to the far right of the screen, away from the actual search results. I think that this is a very good way to seperate the two, and I believe that they will stick with this format.
TRUE
I'll add that you can keep the account and use it as INSURANCE when an SE does an endo [ a Yank term for $#*@s up]
Sorry for the misunderstanding, what I meant when I said "how long Google will be there?" was how long before the change to the PPC results on top and the then the free listings. Like what they are going to have on AOL. Anybody that think that Google can survive by providing free service is wrong in my opinion anyway. Also PPC on top of the results prevent spam and there is a lot of spam on Google. PPC on top will take the incentives out of spamming (again my opinion only)
I like Google. I like to use it and I like to advertise with them the two sponsored listings on the top is the best. There is a big demand for the two sponsored listings on the top but there is only 2 that they can sell.
Google is for profit company and how long do you think before they say..hmmmm..we have the sponsored listings that we make money and the PPC but we also have the free listings that we don't make any money. Which way should we go? What should we focus on? I think the free listings will always be there but they will be push down.
In my opinion, it shouldn't have to be one or the other, as I think that you can mix the two for the best online strategy.
IMHO, it's not an either/or situation. For the best results, you need a mix of PPC and a SEO expert.
I equate your question to being asked "Should I hire a contractor to build a deck around my pool, or should I go to Home Depot and buy the wood myself." I would immediately ask the person:
So, in your case, the question is:
If you feel confident in your answers to these questions, then go for it! If not, you might want to seriously consider hiring an SEO company to work with. They can get you going with PPC and PPI opportunities, and help you with the various other aspects of promotion your site will need. In the long run, you might be far better off than you would be going it alone.
If lowest cost is your real priority, however, just beware of the old addage -- you get what you pay for. Do as much research as you can before you buy, and start slowly so any mistakes aren't too costly.
Either way, best of luck!
And I think that you can not play without paying. Not if you are making a living from your web site. Not in any of the combative keywords. My point is that you can not generate anything without paying and maybe SEO is not the way to go...maybe.
I disagree. I know several here that make a living (in some cases approaching $1000/day) as affiliates in the most competitive categories. Some of them pay little or nothing to the SEs/directories, except for the listing in Yahoo. These aren't old, grandfathered sites, either, many have gone up in the last few months. Except for selecting their merchants, SEO is the primary focus of their work.
