There is a constant debate in the Internet marketing world about whether cost-per-click or search engine optimization will get a site more visitors. Both Internet marketing techniques have advantages and disadvantages. Here is a basic rundown of what each one entails and how each goes about getting visitors to your site:

Cost-per-click (CPC) is exactly what it sounds like. When a potential customer goes to a search engine and types in keywords that you have specified to match your business or service, links for your site will pop up. If they click on your ad, you must pay the search engine for that click. You must bid for your keywords; the more popular your keywords, the more each click will cost. The more money you pay for your keywords the higher your ads are placed within the CPC listings.

The biggest advantage of CPC is that it is quick. CPC will provide you with an immediate spike in qualified visitors, lead and sales to your site. You can see the results of CPC within days or even hours. CPC also gives you the ability to test your web site and track your conversion rates, leads, opt-ins and sales. CPC allows you to easily turn your keywords on and off as well.

The disadvantage to CPC is the cost involved. Depending on the traffic goals for your website and your keywords you can spend anywhere from $100 to $100,000 on CPC. If there is a high market demand for your keywords and clicks, your CPC campaign could generate tons of traffic but it would also cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per day.

Natural or “organic” search engine optimization (SEO) optimizes your web site and makes it more likeable in the eyes of search engines. SEO works by increasing your link popularity on the Internet and adjusting your web pages and keywords to give you higher rankings in the search engines for your chosen search terms. SEO works on getting you higher rankings within the natural search engine results rather than CPC ads.

An advantage of SEO is that searchers statistically click on natural search engine listings more than pay per click ads, so you will get much more traffic for less money. In addition, reciprocal and non-reciprocal links give lasting results that provide traffic increases for the long term instead of just spikes in traffic as in CPC.

A disadvantage of SEO is the time that it takes to generate links and adjust your web pages and keywords to get the high natural search rankings you would like to see. It can take at least three months to see any benefits from your SEO campaign.

Many people believe that the Internet marketing strategy you choose is just a matter of taste, but if you were dying of thirst in the desert, you wouldn’t hold out for a delicious icy cold drink that was more to your liking; you would buy the first cup of hot water you found because it would provide your desired results (to not be thirsty anymore) faster than to continue looking for another drink. The hot water would probably be more money than you would have liked to spend (because you’re in the middle of the desert), but it would tide you over until you found a place with cheaper, colder drinks.

As a short term Internet marketing strategy CPC has the clear advantage over SEO. However, an SEO campaign will increase your profit margins considerably over the long term. Ultimately, your goal should be to maximize your return on investment (ROI) through a combination of CPC and SEO. A CPC campaign is your best way to get fast results and a good return on investment while you are waiting for your SEO campaign to start getting long term results for your site.