Finding an Ad Program to Support SEO

Writing by Brick Marketing in Internet Marketing

SEO is an excellent long term strategy to build up a website presence in the search engines and online in general. However, at times it may be necessary to invest in an online advertising program to support the SEO, especially if you are looking for a short term boost or have a product or service that you are only offering for a limited time. If you are looking for an immediate increase in targeted visitors to your site, online advertising is the best option.

In addition to generating traffic to your website, paid online advertising is good for branding efforts. If you are a new business that is just starting out or just starting to build your online presence, advertising is worth the investment. Even if someone doesn’t click on an ad, they will still see it. If they see it enough times, they will remember it.

There are two primary ways to advertise your website online. The first way is to pay for display banner ads. These ads are typically very expensive. Fees can be charged by CPM (cost per 1000 impressions), CPC (cost per click), or at a flat monthly rate. In order to make the most of your display banner advertising dollars it’s important to spend some time researching the best sites to advertise on. Obviously, the site should in some way be related to your niche. You will also want to use a tool like Compete to see what kind of traffic the site gets. There is no point in spending your money advertising on a site that doesn’t generate any traffic. There is generally a low click through rate with display ads, so if you want to drive traffic to your site it may not be the best option. However, it can be good for branding purposes.

Another advertising option is to run ads in the search engines. While SEO works to improve your search rankings organically over time, a PPC campaign can get your site ranking for specific keywords in the Sponsored section within a day- as long as you have the money to spend of course. PPC ads in the search engines are better at generating traffic because the search engine is telling the user that your site offers what they want or need.

If you find that online advertising works for you, that’s great, but it is not a reason to scale back on your SEO. Think of your online marketing program as a car. SEO is the regular maintenance while online advertising provides the nitrous for a quick boost.