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PPC guru Andrew Goodman guest blogs on the PPC vs SEO debate. We recommend his post PPC for Small Businesses as essential reading to understand the PPC vs SEO debate.

PPC, or Pay Per Click, refers to Internet advertising where plain-text ads are generally displayed at the top or sides of a search page. The most common example, of course, are the ads on a Google results page. Though often overlooked in favor of SEO (search engine optimization), PPC is a great model to consider for getting noticed and selling product online. PPC isn’t a poor cousin to SEO: It often beats SEO hands down as a marketing channel. Here’s why:

1. With PPC, you have a lot more control

With SEO, Google is the boss, and you have a limited ability to guide the user’s experience. But when it comes to PPC, you call the shots. PPC provides you with control over your ad copy (so that you can test it to maximize performance); control over the choice of landing page; control over which keywords you show up on, how visibly, etc. That should lead to better results and fewer excuses.

2. Tighter feedback loops

With SEO, you mainly work on building reputation externally and creating content elements on your website. It takes months to find out whether these experiments and work projects impact ranking and revenues. Before long, another year has passed. With PPC, you’re constantly finding out what works so you can get results and learn from them immediately.

3. Better appreciation of cause and effect

As a result of the above two factors, your tests provide meaningful and often indisputable conclusions about which keywords work at what price; what landing page format converts; which ads do a better job of filtering out the wrong searchers, etc.

4. Better service

If you’re an advertiser, Google and other publishers have an obligation to help. On the SEO side, they owe you nothing. It’s true that on the SEO side there are some tools and resources nowadays, but on the paid search side you can call the support line anytime. Larger accounts and agencies have teams of specialists at their disposal, and there are also special private education events and more.

5. Fewer algorithm changes

SEO is determined by algorithms — complex formulas that calculate which site should rank first for what searches. The problem: Algorithms change. One day you can be riding high, convinced that your tactics are aligned with Google’s view of “great content.” The next day, your traffic drops by 50 or even or 80% because Google is sweeping through the content universe trying to weed out spam and discounting commonly used SEO tactics … and you’re caught in the net. 
This type of business risk is not as acute with PPC, because search engines have much less spam to worry about in the paid search universe. Though there is a Google Quality Score algorithm on the paid search side that rewards advertisers for relevance, the changes here are typically smaller and less devastating. Google deals more respectfully with a finite universe of known advertisers with credit cards who pay for each click.

–Andrew Goodman is the founder and president of Page Zero Media, a full-service digital marketing agency founded in 2000, focusing on SEM and display ads. Clients include DirectEnergy, Nuts.com, and Postmedia Digital. Andrew is author of Winning Results with Google AdWords (2nd ed., 2008), writes a regular column for ClickZ, and maintains a streak of speaking at every SES conference in North America since 2002 (39 and counting).

pagezero.com

This post was written for Wave by guest blogger Dr. Ava Cross.

All professionals deliver presentations — to groups of 5 or 6 and to audiences of 100 or more. Presentations not only provide opportunities to sell your products and services, but also to make a personal impact on people and cement your firm’s overall image and reputation. Here are 5 tips that will help you present with confidence and ease.

1. Know your audience

Learning about your audience — their backgrounds, age group, general interests, and attitudes — will help you determine how to select, shape, and deliver your information. Some audiences will be familiar with your company, and some won’t. Some audiences will be subject matter experts and others won’t even know the basic terms. Some audiences may be resistant to your message, and others will welcome it. Knowing your audience will help you pitch your information so that they can act on your objective.

2. Determine your purpose

What is the point of your presentation? What information should your audience take away? Do you want your audience to consider using a specific service or product? Or do you only want to raise your company profile? Think about the end point of your talk, and work toward that goal.

3. Organize your information

Prepare your talk with a clear introduction, middle, and conclusion. Use your intro to state your credentials, reveal your purpose, and preview the main topics you will cover. Then deliver the substance of your talk, being sure to have a clear strategy – for example, you may need to start with simple information and then move to the more complex. In your conclusion, recap your key ideas and your main objective. And remember to use transitions that guide your audience through each part of your speech, so they can follow your talk easily.

4. Prepare visual support

Visual support will reinforce key ideas and communicate complicated information, such as company growth. Keep it simple: Be sure your visuals enhance the spoken message, not hijack it with text-heavy slides or complex charts. Remember to prepare a title slide with your name, contact information, and speech title and date. You might also want to prepare handout slides so audience members have a take-away. Finally, proofread visuals carefully — spelling errors can destroy your credibility.

5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

Almost everyone is nervous before delivering a presentation. We worry about making mistakes and how our audiences will view us. The best way to overcome nerves is with thorough preparation and rehearsal. Practice your presentation several times a day before delivery. You might want an audience of colleagues or to record yourself, so you can monitor your pace, eye contact, and mannerisms. While practicing remember to control your pace by breathing and pausing, and use eye contact to roam the room, so people feel you are speaking to them individually. Maintain good posture, but avoid stiffness – your audience wants to see a professional, but also someone they can relate to.

Originally from New York, Ava Cross teaches in the School of Professional Communication at Ryerson University. She is the author of Talking Business: Strategies for Successful Presentations and the Canadian author of Excellence in Business Communication, both published by Pearson Education Canada.