Abstract
Background: No empirical work was found on how marketing expenses compare when used solely for either the one or the other of the two main types of search engine marketing. Objectives: This research set out to determine how the results of the implementation of a pay-per-click campaign compared to those of a search engine optimisation campaign, given the same website and environment. At the same time, the expenses incurred on both these marketing methods were recorded and compared. Method: The active website of an existing, successful e-commerce concern was used as platform. The company had been using pay-per-click only for a period, whilst traffic was monitored. This system was decommissioned on a particular date and time, and an alternative search engine optimisation system was started at the same time. Again, both traffic and expenses were monitored.Results: The results indicate that the pay-per-click system did produce favourable results, but on the condition that a monthly fee has to be set aside to guarantee consistent traffic. The implementation of search engine optimisation required a relatively large investment at the outset, but it was once-off. After a drop in traffic owing to crawler visitation delays, the website traffic bypassed the average figure achieved during the pay-per-click period after a little over three months, whilst the expenditure crossed over after just six months. Conclusion: Whilst considering the specific parameters of this study, an investment in search engine optimisation rather than a pay-per-click campaign appears to produce better results at a lower cost, after a given period of time.[PDF to follow]
Highlights
The growth of the Internet has produced an important information resource during the last two decades that has advanced at a much faster rate than was previously envisaged
The results proved that print advertising did not directly affect the number of advertisements impressions produced by the search engine
An experiment was done on the XYZ website to start implementing search engine optimisation (SEO) immediately after the pay-per-click schemes (PPC) was terminated
Summary
The growth of the Internet has produced an important information resource during the last two decades that has advanced at a much faster rate than was previously envisaged. It took seven years to reach a 25% international market share – 70% faster than the development of the radio and 80% faster than the development of the telephone. This growth makes the Internet the fastest growing technology the world has ever encountered (Singh 2002). Boyes and Irani (2004:191) support this trend by claiming that the Internet had acquired 50 million global users in five years as opposed to the 38 years it took for radio and 13 years for television. No empirical work was found on how marketing expenses compare when used solely for either the one or the other of the two main types of search engine marketing
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
