Getting people to your website is important, but getting them to buy your products or services is what it's really all about. A website with little or no value to your visitors will perform badly, and if you're paying for the traffic through Google Adwords or other advertising, it will be an expensive failure.
Before you even think about paying for advertising, look at the content visitors will see when they land on your site, is it likely to be valuable to them? Does the page load quickly? Is it obvious what the site is all about? Is the site usable? Does it look good?
Millions of pounds are wasted on Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns because the landing page is poorly crafted, or there is a mismatch between the ad and the landing page content.
Managed correctly, a PPC campaign is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website. Multi-million pound businesses have been built this way. Bidding for placement of Ads within the search results sounds simple, but there is a lot of hard work to be done, especially in the selection of key words and the analysis of results.
You are unlikely to be the only business looking to drive customers to your site this way, you will need to work smarter than the competition to make your campaign pay for itself, let alone make a profit. From the crafting of ad text and the selection of key words, to the analysis and refinement of your campaign, the smallest details can make a big difference.
The long-term strategy of any web business should include good visibility across all Search Engines, using PPC can quickly provide insight into how the content performs, you can create new content and test it immediately, if it works (converts) you can determine which key words you should be using to target buyers using the natural search engine listings.
However, don't fall into the trap of thinking that by identifying the right keywords for your business, you are guaranteed success. Finding the right keywords is only the first step in a successful optimisation strategy. Using Adwords you can immediately drive traffic to your website from these keywords, but what really matters is what they do when they get there.
Use Adwords to measure conversions and link your adwords account to Google Analytics and you will quickly see which of your keywords actually drives sales, enquiries or other goals. Keep testing you Ads and keywords until you are unable to significantly improve the conversion rate. At this stage you should know which ads and which keywords work for you, and you will have the basis for your natural SEO strategy.