Paid Ads Vs Organic Traffic
When you are fleshing out a comprehensive online business, it becomes important to understand the power of targeted marketing. Many online businesses sputter out of control because they don't have a good grasp of what works and what doesn't.
To do this the right way, you are going to come across the idea of paid ads vs organic traffic on your journey to success.
Keeping this in mind, it's time to look at what each option is all about and what the benefits are.
What are Paid Ads?
Paid ads are often seen on different platforms including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to name a few.
These ads are paid for in a bid to get out in front of a specific demographic. Allowing your business to show up in front of those who would be interested in buying. A significant amount of paid ads come with a CPC model, which means "Cost Per Click" allowing you to only pay for engagement.
This tends to cost more but is ideal for those looking to bring in customers quickly.
Benefits of Paid Ads
1. Easier to Scale
For plenty of online businesses, the goal is to get as much data as possible within the first few months. This allows the business owner to see what is working and what is not.
This is good but there is a price of admission for each click that comes through.
If you are willing to foot the bill, you are going to gain access to a lot of high-quality data points and you are going to scale faster too. This is perfect for larger online businesses as time goes on.
2. Faster Results
The results come quickly and that is great as you are learning more about the business.
Free solutions take time to settle in whether this includes SEO or other forms of free traffic. Since it is organic, you are not going to hit the ground running when it comes to bringing people in using free methods. It will take time.
As long as you are patient, you are going to see the type of results that you are hoping for. This is what matters the most at the end of the day.
The faster your results are, the better you are going to feel about it.
3. Easier to Track
The tracking becomes easier when you are bringing in paid traffic.
You can take a look at how much each lead costs and that is a lot easier to navigate with your budget. You are not going to have to steer too far away from where you are getting the traffic.
For example, if you are running paid ads on Facebook, you can use their ad manager to learn more about how much each lead is costing you and other relevant information that plays a big role in running your business over the long term.
What is Organic Traffic?
Organic traffic comes naturally and is more about building brand awareness through other forms of marketing. Including traffic that comes through Google Search, which involves ranking for target keywords that people search for in your niche.
It is also possible to get this type of traffic through social media accounts as people click on your account or you use a hashtag they are interested in.
Benefits of Organic Traffic
1. Free Traffic
With paid ads vs organic traffic, it often comes down to cost for online businesses.
If you are just getting started, you may not have a large marketing budget to spend. This means you are going to be scraping for free traffic and that is where organic traffic stands out.
This is traffic that can come from search engines or social media platforms and will usually be free. This is ideal for those who are on a budget and don't want to spend money on the wrong part of their business as it is just getting started.
This is a major plus for organic traffic compared to paid alternatives.
2. Ideal for Brand-Building
This is good for those who are hoping to build a long-term brand.
Paid ads are hit and miss when it comes to generating consistent traffic. It is much harder to nail down, but that is not the case with organic search traffic because it will come naturally as you rank for more keywords.
As you gain more traction on social media platforms or Google Search, you are going to gain more clicks.
3. Showcases Brand's Actual Marketing Strength
The marketing strength that comes along with organic search is integral for your business. It is all about building brand awareness and making sure things are done in a way where you do get free traffic from time to time.
You will get to see how your business is doing on its own.
You will know the fundamentals are present when you don't have to pay someone to take a look at the sales funnel or the website.
Final Thoughts
In the end, when it comes to paid ads vs organic search, the goal is to use a little bit of both to build a complete marketing strategy.
Doing it with one strategy works for a little while before you will have to build a more comprehensive approach to your marketing setup. If you don't do this, you are going to remain a step behind.