Part 1: Benefits | Part 2: Drawbacks | Part 3: Choices | Part 4: Costs

Of course, it's in our interest to get you excited about Pay Per Click advertising, but the reality is there are some pitfalls as with any other form of marketing.

Don't think about Pay Per Click versus Search Engine Optimisation. Instead, get into the mindset of how best these two forms of online advertising can work together.

Read on to see the disadvantages of Pay Per Click and the solution for having a successful online marketing strategy.

Part 2: Drawbacks

Costs

We talk more about costs in detail later on in this guide, but cost is something worth considering when creating a Pay Per Click account.

Many people approach Pay Per Click as "cheap" because it tends to be a monthly cost. On the other hand, Search Engine Optimisation can be daunting because it is usually priced as one lump sum, perhaps of thousands of pounds. It's important then to look at the long term plan. Are you looking to advertise with Pay Per Click for more than a few months, or even permanently? How many months can you afford to run before it would work out the same as the cost of Search Engine Optimisation?

Establishment

Yes, Search Engine Optimisation takes months to kick in, but once done, you'll remain established for some time, especially if you constantly work on your website. It's therefore hard to quantify how much value you get from Search Engine Optimisation, as it could last for years. With Pay Per Click, when you stop spending, you stop advertising.

For that reason, we would recommend Search Engine Optimisation be your focus with Pay Per Click being a supporting medium of advertising. How much support may depend on how competitive your market is, but by concentrating on your niche, Pay Per Click remains an alluring prospect when it comes to cost effectiveness.

Competition

It's easy to be out priced with Pay Per Click, especially on Google. If it's a good search term you're after, it's likely your competition is already there. In order to get into the top three results (where most users will look first), you may have to bid high. This can easily increase as time goes on where more people choose to advertise for the same search term.

Preparation

Pay Per Click is easy to get going, but that doesn't mean your ads will be an instant success. Careful keywords research is needed to ensure you are not entering a flooded (and expensive) market. Poor ad copy will harm your ad's ranking which means you are spending unnecessarily to compensate. These factors are where we often step in for clients and actually reduce their expenditure with equal or better results.

Click Fraud

Click fraud is where competitors click on your adverts, eating up your budget. It could be the occasional click from a rival business owner at their desk, or a sophisticated program that is designed to click on ads without detection.

All of the Pay Per Click providers will tell you click fraud is under control and you will be refunded upon any detection. Problem is, most solutions to click fraud are reactive. That means you could suffer from the short term loss where new fraud technology goes undetected.

We wouldn't blow click fraud out of proportion, but be prepared to accept that some of your advertising spend will be wasted by click fraud.

Move on to 'Choices'