In the digital marketing arena, the synergy between Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is often underestimated. While each strategy is powerful on its own, combining them can lead to a significant boost in both website traffic and revenue. This article delves into how these two channels can complement each other, and why relying on just one might be a missed opportunity for your business.
Understanding the Complementary Nature of PPC and SEO
At Evan Hoeflich Marketing we’ve seen firsthand how PPC and SEO, often seen as separate entities, are actually two sides of the same coin. PPC offers immediate visibility and traffic through paid ads, while SEO builds organic search credibility over time. When these strategies are aligned, they can create a comprehensive search strategy that maximizes visibility and drives more consistent traffic.
Ways SEO and PPC Work Together
Keyword Data Sharing: PPC campaigns provide immediate feedback on keyword effectiveness. This data can inform your SEO strategy, helping you understand which keywords are worth investing in for long-term organic search.
Improved Visibility: Running both PPC and SEO campaigns means dominating both paid and organic search results. This double visibility increases the likelihood of clicks and conversions.
Testing for SEO: PPC allows you to test the effectiveness of different keywords and landing pages quickly, providing valuable insights that can be applied to your SEO strategy.
Remarketing Opportunities: You can use SEO to attract visitors and PPC for remarketing, targeting those who visited your site organically but did not convert.
Shared Learning: Insights from SEO, like which pages perform well organically, can inform PPC decisions, and vice-versa.
The Downfalls of a One-Channel Approach
Relying solely on PPC can be costly and may not provide long-term benefits. Conversely, depending exclusively on SEO might mean missing out on immediate traffic opportunities and data insights that PPC offers. The best strategy is a balanced one, leveraging the strengths of both.
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, businesses can’t afford to overlook the power of combining PPC and SEO. This dual approach not only maximizes your visibility across search engines but also creates a more robust, data-driven marketing strategy. By leveraging the immediate impact of PPC and the sustainable growth of SEO, you can ensure your website not only attracts more traffic but also generates greater revenue.
Interested in learning how a tailored dual strategy can benefit your business? Contact us today for more insights and let’s explore, the potential of a powerful PPC and SEO collaboration.
If you like what you hear when reading this ConvertKit review, it’s important to know that they offer a free 14 day trial here to test out their email marketing software!
I am proud to say that I have officially made the switch over to ConvertKit!
Now if you’re new to my blog, I’ve been an Internet Marketer since 2007 and have tried dozens (yes dozens) of email autoresponders.
And to be honest, a good portion of these platforms underdelivered in different areas in my opinion.
Whether it was pricing, customizability, segmentation, deliverability, product support etc., I had the hardest time finding an email marketing software that hit on all levels.
But then I came across an article/review online (similar to this one), that basically raved about how much better ConvertKit was than many of the leading autoresponders we are all so familiar with.
At this point, I was fed up with the current autoresponder I was using and was specifically looking for a service that would mesh well and fit perfectly with my blog.
After doing more research and really digging deeper into other reviews, forums and demos on ConvertKit, this seemed like the ideal service for me.
I became a customer and the rest is history.
ConvertKit is simply the best email marketing software I have used since 2007 and by a long shot.
But enough rambling from me, let’s get into the actual ConvertKit review and why it’s a notch above the rest of the competition.
ConvertKit Review – Pricing, Features & More
It’s important to note that ConverKit is wildly popular among bloggers, but their email marketing software can work for anyone and any type of business. It’s designed for creators (as they state on their website), but provides email marketing solutions for all types of businesses and websites. Again, I have used many of the popular autoresponders out there and ConvertKit is just different. Let’s review why ConvertKit stands out from the crowd.
1.) Pricing (Freemium Model, Free Trial Option & Flexible Pricing for More Subscribers)
ConvertKit’s pricing model is just the bomb. They also just released a Freemium model where people can get started without any money down. Within the Freemium model, there’s also perks by referring friends to unlock subscribers and broadcast sending. Here’s a snapshot of a statement released by the owner of ConvertKit regarding the Freemium plan (read the full article here):
“Our mission is to help creators earn a living and we believe that by adding a free entry-point we are removing a large roadblock for beginner creators towards earning a living online.
Right now so many creators start on MailChimp for free and then switch to ConvertKit once they get meaningful traction. That switch can be time consuming and they would be so much better off to just start on ConvertKit, which is tailor-made for creators to grow their audiences.” ~ Nathan Barry
How much is ConvertKit?
If you’d rather just jump into a paid plan, ConvertKit first offers a 14 day free trial to test out their email marketing software and then various packages thereafter depending on your subscriber count. Currently at the time of writing this post, their pricing is as follows:
In my experience, ConvertKit’s pricing is way more affordable than so many email autoresponder services out there. Even up to 5,000 subscribers, you are still paying under $100 per month. They make their service affordable so that any blogger, creator or business can get started. And remember, their 14 day free trial gives you some breathing room and ample time before making a decision to upgrade to a paid plan.
2.) Simple to Use
Let’s face it, many email marketing platforms can be incredibly confusing and difficult to operate. Especially if you’re new to email marketing, finding the right autoresponder provider can be a nightmare. With ConvertKit, you are comfortable using the software from the first time you log in. Your “back office” is beautifully laid out, easy to navigate and they even provide a guided tutorial for first time users. This is a major benefit in my opinion because it makes setting up your first campaign incredibly simple. You can build a capture page, connect it to your website and craft an email follow-up series with very little effort and overwhelm.
3.) Custom Segmentation Options
Being able to segment your email list is crucial for many bloggers and business owners. For example, you may want to keep your paying customers separate from your “freebie” subscribers. Most likely, you will have different offers and messaging for people who have already bought from you. You may also just want to add segments to cater to different topics or interests. An example of this is a new campaign I just started. See the screenshot below:
You can see that I have my main follow up (“Follow-Up Series”) when people opt into my email list, but I also prompt them to answer a question in my welcome email that helps segment my subscribers. Within this welcome email, they can choose 1 of 2 answers by clicking on a couple of links. ConvertKit’s “click-segmentation” feature automatically adds these subscribers to the appropriate list based on their click. As you can see in my snapshot above, I want to know which of my subscribers are beginner bloggers (“Blog Beginner List”) and which are more advanced (“SEO Advanced List”). This way I can provide my subscribers with unique and customized information to fit their needs.
For me, ConvertKit’s segmentation features have been a life saver and many other email marketing platforms don’t even offer this (example, Constant Contact) or require a third party service (example, Aweber) to implement. Having segmentation features like this all under one roof is a game-changer and a major reason why I switched to ConverKit to begin with.
4.) Smooth Integration with WordPress
As a blogger and business owner, I need to seamlessly be able to add my capture pages within WordPress in order to build my email list. ConvertKit does have a plugin to help with this, but I personally like to use MailMunch which allows you to create compelling capture pages and connects directly to your ConvertKit account. All you need to do is input your ConvertKit API key (found in ConvertKit’s account settings) into MailMunch and you’re ready to start building your email list. There’s many other autoresponders where the process is not as simple as this. ConvertKit combined with MailMunch (although you don’t need this) can help to eliminate all of the frustration, confusion and headaches.
5.) Impressive Deliverability Rates
Let’s face it, ensuring your emails reach the inboxes of your subscribers is essential when it comes to email marketing. Again, after testing dozens of email marketing platforms, ConvertKit performed the best in terms of deliverability. There is nothing more frustrating than low open rates and your emails landing in spam. If you run a business where email marketing is one of your main strategies, you need to have confidence in the software you are using to send out emails. Luckily, ConvertKit delivers here too (no pun intended) providing dependability and peace of mind with your email sends.
Below is a screenshot of impressive open/click rates for a new follow-up campaign I am running. This definitely shows me that my emails are hitting my subscriber’s inboxes!
6.) Responsive Customer Service & Support
Customer support is another area that is vital for any online tool or service you purchase. I also think it’s an area that gets overlooked quite a bit. This can lead to a customer being frustrated if the support is lackluster or even non-existent. With ConvertKit, they offer a phenomenal live chat feature, community/forum support and the ability to send email tickets. In fact, when I first signed up with ConvertKit, I had a question regarding segmentation and within minutes I literally received a video response back showing me exactly how to solve my problem. And this wasn’t a video pulled from YouTube, this was created specifically for me and my particular situation. Customer support like this REALLY helps ConvertKit stand out even more. In fact, I was pretty blown away by this first experience!
7.) Fantastic Affiliate Program
Last but certainly not least is the affiliate program created by ConvertKit. They offer a whopping 30% recurring commission for every paying customer you send their way. This blows many other affiliate programs out of the water and when you love the tool you are using, it’s an easy sell. ConvertKit also provides you with all the necessary tools for promotion such as banner ads, affiliate training, various graphics, custom links and more. I even love that they have an “affiliate calculator” that allows you to slide a bar to see how much you can potentially earn selling their software (see screenshot below). Talk about motivating!
Conclusion
To wrap everything up, there is not enough good things I can say about ConvertKit and in fact, I could’ve written another 1,000 words about how much I love this email marketing software.
I am a happy customer for all the reasons laid out above and will continue to recommend this to other bloggers and my coaching students.
I hope this ConvertKit review was helpful and makes your decision a lot easier.
My rating for ConvertKit is a 5/5
Again, this is the email marketing service that I personally use on my blog (after testing dozens) and I’ve really enjoyed my partnership with ConvertKit to date.
