Paid advertising vs. SEO, what would you go with?

[AndreasJacobsen]

SEO is free and needs patience but paid advertising you can get fast results but required.
Both are important for your marketing strategy but if you have one choice, which one you would go with?

All comments and tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks you

 

[elcidofaguy]

Both! Generally speaking I start out with paid ads and in parallel implement SEO with content building and link building.... I use paid ads primarily for list building as I found I get a better ROI on my investment versus direct sales... Overtime I reduce/stop on the ads as organic traffic picks up....

 

[ParisMurray]

ParisMurray

I surprised why marketers used paid ads for list building, why not for direct sales?
which hides behind this method?

 

[elcidofaguy]

elcidofaguy

Well from my experience I've spent a lot of money on ads and also lost a lot of money... That is why my preference is now towards list building, the exception being Adwords which frowns upon that due to info harvesting policy so I use that for direct sales...

I suggest that you try it and learn from your own experiences... You may come to the same conclusion as I have, especially if you have lost a significant amount of funds when attempting direct sales such as on FB.... With list building at least you can use that to sell to again and again so you are best protecting your investment for the long haul....

Indeed I recommend that you find out for yourself, as that is the only way you'll learn in this game ;-)

 

[BeeMobile]

I would say SEO as it is free and will continue to work in the long run. With paid advertising, it works as long as you pay. And you are never sure you will get some good results. Your ads may be of low quality or target the worng people/keywords. You are never really sure about the ROI you will get with paid avertising.

 

[oldnickb]

Paid advertising is ok if you already have an offer that you know converts, otherwise you can rack up huge losses very quickly.
The important thing is to track and test everything.
From my own experience I would avoid PPC, although I have had some success on bing recently.
Solo ads can be great as long as you test small batches - there are a lot of good suppliers although finding them can be hard.
Adswaps haven't worked for me at all.
Banner advertising can work well with the right offer, CPA possibly?
Press releases done well can be a goldmine but you need to get the format spot on.

SEO is hard and time consuming and subject to search engine whims. I watched 3 sites slowly climb to the second page of google, then get de-listed overnight. Wouldn't waste my time on it again.

 

[BeeMobile]

BeeMobile

Would you have a list to provide us on the good suppliers? I think it would be interesting for many members of this forum.