Lead generation is the most common objective of a B2B website. People mistakenly think that on-page SEO will immediately help with lead generation once their new website goes live. That’s typically not the case—organic website traffic can take awhile. If you want immediate website traffic on your B2B website, AdWords is the most viable option. Here are some reasons why…
1. SEO Takes Time, AdWords is Immediate.
If you want your website to organically rank for a targeted keyword phrase, it can take years of content marketing to be on the first page—and there’s no guarantee that first page ranking will happen! If you are proud of your new website and it serves as an effective credibility piece, why would you wait patiently for years to drive the right traffic there? AdWords can start driving relevant traffic to your B2B website the day it goes live.
2. More Control
SEO requires that you pay continuous attention to Google algorithm updates. Updates like Panda and Penguin are best practices for content marketing. However, this means that your website traffic is dependent on Google’s rules and sometimes a website can inadvertently violate one of these rules. One misstep can mean a sharp decrease in website traffic. With AdWords, marketers have much more control. If for some reason Google AdWords becomes less fruitful, you can change marketing tactics quickly. With SEO, you need to constantly “jump through hoops” for Google.
3. You Can’t Tell the Difference
Web searchers can barely tell the difference between organic and paid search results now. Paid sponsored results used to be highlighted. Now, there is only a small “Ad” box next to the result. There is less distrust of sponsored results because web searchers can’t even tell the difference anymore. Your website can be #1 on Google today as long as you have the right AdWords bid.
4. Needs-Based Advertising
If you are going to allocate your B2B marketing budget to advertising, you might as well focus on market needs. For instance, let’s say you are a software firm that targets manufacturing companies. You are more likely to generate sales-ready leads by targeting pain points and keywords like “supply chain software” or “project management software” rather than just advertising in a manufacturing trade magazine. Your target market has a need, will then search for a way to address this need, find your website and if your website looks the part, convert.
5. SEO for Long-Term
I am not advising you don’t pay attention to SEO tactics, all I am saying is that SEO takes a long time and if you want to start gaining a return on your website investment quickly, AdWords is an effective way to drive the right traffic. You still need to be creating keyword-rich website content regularly. This content will help your website to rank organically for targeted keywords in the long-term, but will also help convert AdWords traffic in the near-term.
