Online marketing: SEO or PPC
Every business recognises the importance of being found in search engines. Traditional marketing such as leaflets has lost its effectiveness due to search engines empowering consumers with the means to find the answers they are looking for when they need them. Most businesses have recognised this, which is why they compete to be the top result for their target audiences’ search queries.
There are, however, two ways to gain page 1 visibility, each with their own advantages and disadvantages:
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
Advantages
- Quality SEO can help to establish you as a highly trusted practice in your location.
- Traffic to your website is FREE and continuous
- Traffic to the website has a high chance of converting – 14.6% (Search Engine Journal)
Disadvantages
- Results and return on investment can take time.
- Costs can be high in competitive locations.
- Poor SEO or spammy tactics can cause penalties.
- Search engine visibility can be limited i.e. only ranking in your business’ physical location.
PPC – Pay-per-click
Advantages
- Achieve results fast – gain page 1 visibility in a couple of days.
- Highly measurable
- Targeted – chose the keywords you want to be found for.
- Increase your visibility – be found outside of your physical location.
Disadvantages
- You pay for the traffic – each click on the ad is a cost.
- Clicks and visits don’t always lead to conversions.
- People are naturally sceptical about ads.
Is there a clear winner when it comes to deciding which form of online marketing to chose? No.
The advice of most online marketing experts, including Dental Design, is for your marketing strategy to use both SEO and PPC.
There are an endless number of scenarios where SEO and PPC are needed, and below are a couple of examples:
Scenario 1 – Your organic visibility is poor and you are struggling to gain enquiries from your website.
SEO can help to improve your organic visibility, however, as it can take time to see results you should use PPC to help gain additional visibility and enquiries.
Scenario 2 – You rank well in your physical location but are interested in increasing the number of enquiries for a particular treatment.
Continue with your SEO to maintain your organic visibility and prevent your competitors from outranking you. For the treatment you wish to gain additional enquiries for, you should use PPC to promote this treatment in surrounding locations to help bring in enquiries from these locations.
If you are interested in the online marketing services that Dental Design provides, please feel free to give us a call on 01202 677277.
More posts from our team
Five Star
Reviewed Marketing
"Would definitely recommend to a friend"
"I cannot recommend Dental Design highly enough"
"Really great company to deal with"
"Very professional, efficient & adaptive to new situations"
"I cannot recommend them highly enough"
"Has been invaluable and gone out of her way to help us"
"We love the look of our practice website. Very professional!"
"Dental Design stood out both in their knowledge of the industry and their professionalism"
"The team and package offered at dental design was unrivalled"
"absolutely fantastic and are always on hand to help"
"Dental Design are fantastic to work with"
"always met with a swift and professional response"
