Search engine optimisation or Cost-per-click?

I used to believe that the ideal way to promote your website was to optimise it for the search engines so that it comes up on the first page when someone searches on a relevant phrase.

Now I am not so sure.

Dramatic figures from a survey in the US recently claimed that webmasters were planning to spend 30 times as much on cost per click advertising as on site optimisation.  I don't believe the figures; but it is certainly worth reassessing the relative importance of the 2 strategies.

The obvious reason for optimising the site is to gain leads, orders or customer service for free.  If you come at the top of the rankings for the right terms, you will get a regular flow of traffic without further effort.

BUT, actually, that happy position is hard to achieve. It requires time and effort (=money!) to optimise, to keep fresh, to improve the content... and there is no guarantee of success, particularly if your competitors are doing the same.

By comparison, cost per click advertising is immediate - and cheap. It is also measurable so that you know within a few days if a given spend has been profitable or not. There is no other promotional strategy that gives such an immediate return on you money. So of course it makes sense to spend on cost per click advertising so long as it makes a quick profit.

Some marketers now also claim long term benefits of brand awareness from cost per click advertising just like from more traditional media. I am not ready to go that far; but so long as it is making an immediate profit for you, you can afford a relaxed view about any other longer term benefit.

If you discount the possible, but immeasurable, long term benefits, cost per click adverts are not an investment in the future. The day you stop spending is the day you lose traffic.  And this is where the search engine optimisers win out. They will have been investing steadily in the 'value' of the site. The return will be a regular flow of traffic that may well continue for years eve if you stop further promotion. 

For new sites, there is a particular benefit from cost per click advertising. Because it is the quickest way to attract traffic, it can also provide the quickest test of the site. If your visitors do not convert to customers, enquirers or what ever you want them to do, you must find how to improve the site until it 'works'. There is no point in promoting till then.  So websites and cost per click advertising are the ideal test market format.

To maximise web profitability you will need both strategies. Their relative importance will depend on the stage of the product lifecycle you have reached and the competition you face. The costs should still be a fraction of what you would have to spend to get the same result in traditional channels.

Regards

Stephen Orr