Why PPC And AdWords Are Not The Answer Long Term
You’ve started your business, and now you are looking for ways to grow and expand consistently. Sales are adequate, and you are somewhat internet savvy when setting up pay per click and AdWords opportunities, but you find yourself looking for ways to foster continued growth without having to worry about how many people are going to see your banner ads and strategically placed web trinkets.
There must be a better way to foster steady growth and expansion. How do you create the business that you envision in your mind? How do you make your dreams a reality?
There are many ways to promote yourself and your business, but not all forms of exposure and advertising were created equal. There are promotion systems that will support you and systems that will cause you nothing but headaches and stress. Although web advertising is a way to collect random views and exposure, it is not considered a steady way to manage your business growth.
What Is PPC? What Are AdWords? How Do They Work? PPC stands for pay per click advertising. You agree to pay a search engine such as Google a price for listing an ad banner advertising your wares on one of their search engine pages. Every time someone clicks on your banner, you pay a small fee to Google. Once your pay per click fund has been depleted due to multiple visits to your site, Google then ceases to run your ad until you replenish those funds once more.
With all of this additional clicking going on, it is the hope of every business owner running an ad campaign like this that extra traffic will result in additional sales. However, this is not always the case, and running multiple campaigns without subsequent sales can be a waste of time and money. Pay per click campaigns do not supply a consistent source of income, and they cannot ensure steady growth that you need to expand and grow your empire.
Keep in mind my friend, you are paying for the visitor to click on your website. And do you know what a big problem is with that? Well, actually there are three problems at minimum.
If you put even $1,000 in your Google account for clicks -- it can be gone in less than an hour. Those clicks are costing all those non-serious looky-loos to eat up your money to just peak at your site.
Problem #2 is plain hateful! Fact: Clicks from ads to your site will result in 98% of people being on your site for less than 6 seconds! Only 2% might, and I mean might, contact you or take the action you are requesting.
Worst of all -- when all those people are on your site for <6 seconds and then click off because a) they are tire kickers, b) their bored and wasting time, c) they don’t have any money anyway, -- when they leave so soon -- Google, the very company you paid your money to considers such a short visit a “rejection”, (it’s called a “bounce”), and Google, bless their hearts -- penalizes your site and lowers your search algorithm for having too many bounces! What the hell? Yup cowboy, that’s how Google rolls!
AdWords is similar to PPC in that you pay for a premier spot on one of Google’s search engine pages. Strategic keywords are used to formulate your banner ad, and then Google places it on their pages along with an “ad” banner to signify that the site has been sponsored by them. You essentially bid with other business owners for the top spot on their search engine pages, with the hope that your increased visibility will procure a lot of new business. You have the option of paying every time someone clicks on your ad, or you can pay a fee for increased visibility a number of times.
And the bottom line, is see the notes above under PPC about why AdWords also are not helping anyone but Google!
Pros And Cons Of Pay Per Click Advertising
Benefits of PPC and Adwords include:
Increased visibility
More control over your visitor experience
Customizable form of advertising
Cons of this form of advertising can be:
98% plus views do NOT result in a sale
Every single visit costs you, the business owner
Difficult to maintain steady rankings unless you are really on top of your accounts
Although some users in very unique business models have professed that PPC and Adwords have proven themselves to be moderately successful forms of advertising, there is a much more consistent method of growth for the ambitious business owner that must be considered when deciding to invest promotional dollars. Search Engine Optimization is a technique that is being adopted by business owners everywhere that want to take their empires to the next level of growth.
What Is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization generates traffic from free web pages. Seems easy enough, right? Just get into the top 1% of all websites worldwide and get noticed on Google’s first two pages. Unfortunately, for Joe Business Owner, it is quite challenging to do this on your own.
Unless you are intimately familiar with the concepts of crawling, building an index, and analyzing complex algorithms around what customers are actively searching for, you have no business attempting to optimize your position all by yourself. SEO is a very sophisticated process of getting noticed, with hours of research going into trends that are current on the world wide web.
How Does Search Engine Optimization Work? The word “web” describes what is going on perfectly in SEO. Web pages are considered stops along this vast web of information, and search engines need to crawl through all of this information via a series of content valid links. Once these links are established, billions of bytes of code are stored in databases for future use when a customer makes an inquiry for a product or service.
Once a product or service has been requested by a customer, the search begins. “Spiders” bring back information about pages that have relevant content, and these pages are also assessed for popularity. In other words, if they have been viewed multiple times, it is assumed that the content on that page is valuable to the consumer. Search engines then rank the found pages according to relevance and popularity, and voila! Your ranking has been established. Providing high quality, relevant content on your webpage and keeping your information updated are excellent ways to obtain a high ranking on major search engine pages.
One advantage of Search Engine Optimization is that you do not pay for clicks once your ranking has been established. Exposure has done its job, and your web content is pushing you higher and higher up the visibility ladder. How then, do you use SEO to improve your profits?
Getting Started With Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is critical for generating successful web traffic. If properly done, it will improve your rankings and provide a better quality experience for your users. Search engines are looking for relevant content, ease of use on mobile devices, and good user signals when determining how to rank your site. With an estimated 64% of all website traffic being the result of an organic search, it is essential that you provide the tools to make optimization possible.
Another reason that SEO is superior to other methods of advertising and promotion is that it provides leads with higher close rates than ones generated from outbound sources. Average close rates for SEO ranked websites are at least 14 percent, with a dismal 1.7 closed via outbound leads.
SEO is appealing to businesses who thrive on local traffic as well. In doing local searches online, many customers will prefer the option of sticking close to home, primarily if you can provide them a satisfactory service. This will result in increased local traffic and repeat sales from happy customers.
SEO provides instant credibility for your brand, based on your ranking. Customers will assume--hopefully correctly--that because you are in a top position of rank, your products and services are superior to others that do not make it as high up on the list. Sales are all about perception; if clients assume that you provide a valuable product or service, they are more likely to do business with you.
SEO requires less maintenance for you as a business owner, especially if you choose to invest in a quality company to handle your marketing and ranking strategies. Once a web page has been optimized, you can sit back, relax, and let the ranking do the work for you. Of course, some regular upkeep is required to ensure that your content and offerings stay current, but the magic of SEO is that it builds upon itself.
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!
An estimated 81 percent of customers conduct web research before deciding to make a purchase! Well, don’t you? Only SEO provides the long-term and permanent visibility that you need to get noticed. Achieving first page rankings on search engines is critical to your business success and growth.
But here is the problem with 99% of SEO companies -- they are sleazy as hell!
I'm going to make some enemies here► Most SEO Companies use the fact that 99% of clients don't understand SEO, but know that they need it, so they lock in 12-24 month contracts, charge $2-$3k a month, put the company in a software program and talk about nothing but keywords. Rip-off. Keywords are important, meh, but they do not make the difference that they used to anymore.
If you go with SEO, which is your best short 3 month to 6 month and longer option, make CERTAIN that company shows you the following in writing: (hint: they won’t)
Only month to month agreements - You can fire them any time!
No onboarding extra $$$ - None - Just your first month’s fee
Detailed Audit right up front - for FREE of what they will be doing - Yours to keep
Monthly reports that prove their progress
Immediately - First month - connect & correct ALL info with the Top 40 citation sites in your area (Yelp, etc) - this can be done right away - we accomplish in this in less than a week
Only deal with a company that will write a professional press release the first month, and every 3-4 months - and they guarantee to get it on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, Google, Yahoo and Bing news and then prove it with a report linking to all and show the clicks back to your site (included at no extra charge)
Tell the company you want a 90 day plan of 2 blog posts a month - subjects 300-500 words each professionally written rich in keywords -- that YOU get to own and be the author of -- for your blog. Google wants to see 2 blog posts a month or your dead in the water.
They tell you to get an SSL Certificate - and include it if you need one.
And can connect you with online sites that have a high (20+) DA (Domain Authority - means Google trusts them) back linked to your site.
Have a written money back guarantee if you ask for your money back (they will hang up by now).
and more
and they will do it for only $400 a month.
Now, when they hang up on you, or tell you all the reasons they can't or tell you I am wrong, check my articles on Forbes, Inc., Millionaire Magazine, Huffpost, Bloomberg, and ask if they have a PhD (I do) and teach this stuff - cocky, I know, right? If not - and you want all that I just listed, I'm easy enough to find. Mark@MaxGroupBusiness.com
SEO Companies - sorry to blow it for you - but I didn't build my company for you - I built it for all the entrepreneurs working their butts off!
If you found this too assertive, my regrets about that - but I talk to 3-5 businesses a day that have been through 1,2, 5 SEO companies and got no return on their investment and that ticks me off. Oh, and no one knows or owns this game better than I do! And in all the years I've been doing this -- guess how many businesses have asked for their money back? Ahhhh, none. Good luck everyone! It's rough out there!
MaxGroup: Your Solution For Long-Term Business Success
At MaxGroup, your solution for all things promotional is offered in comprehensive packages designed to grow your business exponentially. Their innovative approach to Search Engine Optimization, mobile-friendly marketing strategies, and dedication to researching market trends will keep you at the top of the game. As a business owner, you wear many hats. Unless you have the time to analyze complex algorithms, do countless hours of research, and devote time and energy to maintaining your own website with sizzling keywords and quality content, then you need to turn your promotional needs over to us. We will design a unique marketing plan that will get you noticed so that you can focus your attention on satisfying the scores of clients who will be coming to you. Visit www.maxgroupbusiness.com today for more information. Begin a relationship with our quality company; we will work with you to take your business to the next level. We promise, or your money back!