Are pay-per-click ads the best method of getting customers to your website?

Essentially there are two ways your website can get to the top of a search engine's results:

* Pay-per-click ads, where you pay for your site to appear in the “Sponsored Links” area on the right side of the results page

* Search engine optimization, where your site is optimized to be at the top of the natural/organic results on the left side of the results page (link to our SEO page)

JupiterResearch analyst Niki Scevak stated that one in seven searchers click on a paid/sponsored link. If you do the math, that's only 14% of searchers who are choosing the pay-per-click ads to get to the information they are searching for. It also means, if you concentrate all your search efforts on pay-per-click you will only be reaching 14% of your potential customers.

So while pay-per-click methods might get your listed quickly they may not be driving as much traffic as you want. That is why investing time towards a solid search engine optimization and link management campaign is needed to get your site listed highly in the natural results is a step that cannot be ignored. It helps you reach more searchers.