Paid Social Media Advertising vs Organic SEO - Which One is Better

1. What is paid advertising and how does it work?
Paid advertising is a form of marketing where businesses pay to have their products or services featured on platforms like social media or search engines. For example, Facebook Ads and Google AdWords are both paid advertising platforms that businesses can use to reach new customers. Paid advertising can be an effective way to reach a large audience quickly, and it can be customized to target specific demographics or interests. However, paid advertising can also be expensive, and it is not always guaranteed to result in new sales or customers. Small businesses should carefully consider their goals and budget before investing in paid advertising.

2. What are the benefits of using paid ads over organic SEO techniques?
Paid ads are far better for getting your message out to your audience quickly. Furthermore, paid ads allow you to track how many people have seen your ad, clicked on it, and even converted into customers. This data is extremely valuable for understanding what works and what doesn’t work in your marketing strategy.

 
With organic SEO, you also have to ability to gather valuable data about your audience through analytics tools. Google analytics is cost free and simple to set up for your website so that you can begin to track which content resonates best with your audience, how they are finding your website, how long they stay on a page and more. It’s not quite as laser focused as the paid ad data but pretty valuable information in it’s own right.

3. What is organic SEO?
Organic SEO techniques are also important for growing your business. Organic SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results. This can be achieved through on-page optimization, such as using keywords and phrases throughout your website content. Organic SEO can take more time to see results than paid ads, but it can be far more cost effective in the long run.

4. What are the benefits of organic SEO over paid ads?
When it comes to online marketing, organic SEO is the best long term strategy. However, it can take months to gain traction. But, it is far less expensive than paid ads, and it can ultimately lead to more website traffic and conversions. Given that consumers are bombarded with paid ads almost everywhere they look, paid ads can often get ignored or, your money can get wasted by people clicking on your ad without taking any further action.

5. Which option is right for you – paid ads or organic SEO techniques?

Both paid ads and organic SEO have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to consider your goals and budget when making a decision. And, it also depends whether you have a new or established business. In general, if you are a new business, you will want to start with both paid ads and organic SEO right away. Then, once your business reaches page one rankings in the search engines for several search terms and you’ve got regular traffic and sales, you can drop the paid advertising and save your paid ads budget for special promotions during the year, particularly around the holidays. So for example, if you own a floral business, you can save your paid ads dollars for Christmas, Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day for example. Conversely, if you have an established business with a regular clientele but, you want to expand your reach, organic SEO might be the best course of action.