In my last post, I mentioned how important SEO is for driving traffice to websites, and how at times, the organic results are more “trustworthy” than the paid listings. While some consumers may feel the organic results are better, PPC still plays an important role in internet marketing campaigns.

First of all, with PPC, you get immediate results, depending on how much money you are willing to spend on a per-click basis. It’s just a matter of outbidding the other companies looking to rank on the same keyword as you. This doesn’t always mean, however, you’ll get the best results if you pay the most amount of money. They key is finding out the ideal amount to bid for keywords that will result in the best ROI. If you’re an HR Outsourcing company bidding $5 per click on Human Resources, it might not get you the traffic you want. It may be people just looking for information about Human Resources, rather than a company to provide those services. Your money will probably be better invested in bidding on a keyword like “Human Resources Outsourcing.” There will probably be less traffic than more general terms, but the traffic will be more qualified. Another benefit is that the per-click costs will be lower than that of more generic “head” terms.

I would say that managing a good SEO campaign in conjunction with PPC is very beneficial. Once the SEO campaign is doing well, if the internet marketing budget is tight, it may be best to phase out parts of PPC to save money, since you don’t have to pay for each click when traffic gets to your website through the organic results. It can be good to rank on both organic and paid listings, though, because if people see your website in both the organic and paid results, they can’t ignore you. They know you’re important because you’re right there. We call this a “road block,” and it is very good for driving traffic to your website.

There are many things to consider, but there are advantages to both SEO and PPC. It’s just a matter of figuring out what is best for your company and your budget.