We’ve helped many startups gain traction with SEO over the years . and we know that many of our blog readers are doing the same with PPC. What’s the biggest limitation for startups? It’s limited budget or staffing. And because of that. most startups can’t take on both types of campaigns at once. So. you have to choose just one.
Many people ask us when starting a business whether they should invest in SEO or paid PPC advertising campaigns in the earliest stages of website launch.
Without further ado. here are a number of questions we ask to guide
Clients to the right answer:
- Do you need results right away. or can you afford to be patient and build a foundation of steady growth?
- Do you know your market and your ideal customer inside and out?
- What does your target keyword list look like?
- How good (or bad) is your website?
Let’s look at possible answers to these questions—and how they should determine your priorities.
What is more important: fast or stable?
You know where I’m going. If you need immediate income. then PPC advertising is a much better option. But there’s one good old special database warning. PPC is fleeting! You’re spending a lot of money on clicks. Over and over again. While with SEO you’re building a foundation for growth. which unfortunately takes a while (weeks at best. months at worst) before you start seeing momentum – at least on Google.
My usual takeaway for brands considering whether to invest early in SEO is threefold:
- Creating an SEO foundation early on helps improve all of your digital marketing initiatives (website architecture. content. conversion optimization. site speed) and create a starting point for free REPEATABLE traffic to your website.
- SEO is great for education and content. which are key to early-stage growth. After all. you need to introduce your startup to people and often you need to educate users on why they need the products/services you offer.
- SEO has a number of how to check internet speed: top 25 methods and tools benefits that grow over time. When you start ranking for keywords or focus on building expertise for a particular category. it becomes easier to rank for other keywords . so it’s better to start as early as possible.
How well do you know your market and your ICPs?
If you know your customers and market well (i.e. competitors. CPC/CPM. specific differences in your business and why and who cares about them). it may be a little less important for you to start building SEO right away (although it is better to regularly create content that educates users about your capabilities).
One of the benefits of SEO is that fax lead it helps you build your position in the market. It helps users understand who you are and your high-quality potential customers.
Both SEO and paid search will return data on things like:
- low impression count/CTR (your content doesn’t resonate);
- time on page (your content is not what the user is looking for);
- conversion rate (you have the wrong offer for this stage of the journey)
- and others.
The difference is that SEO does not require pay per click/CPM.