Both PPC and organic listings can be effective for driving traffic to a website. The advantages of the PPC advertisements are that little skill is involved in placing the advertisements (anyone in your office can be trained to do it), and the advertisements appear quickly. A PPC campaign can be implemented over a very short time period (one or two days). The disadvantages are that it is very costly, and it is difficult to control a budget and at the same time maintain the same level of visibility. Another disadvantage is that PPCs represent a short-term strategy; as soon as the advertisements stop, the website receives no further traffic. Finally, a recent study from Jupiter Research shows that only one in seven consumers click on the PPC listings. Consumers are aware that the PPC listings are paid advertisements and thus are not as likely to look for information on these listings.

The advantage of the organic listings is that six of seven consumers click on the organic listings. Also, there is no cost per click, so each individual visitor generates no cost. Finally, once the website is listed in the organic listings, it provides a long-term strategy. The disadvantages are that to obtain first-page positions with organic listings requires time. To implement an organic listing strategy requires a person who is an expert in SEO. SEO is not a simple task that can be easily learned by an office staff member. SEO requires considerable expertise, constant vigilance and continuous revision and updating of the website.

A combination of PPC and organic listing strategies are recommended for most Internet marketing programs. The PPCs can be used to generate visitors in the short term, and the organic listings, through an SEO strategy, can be used to generate much higher traffic over the longer term.