Categories
Plumbing SEO

Why SEO Is Better than PPC for Plumbers

The debate continues: Which is better, SEO or PPC?

More users trust SEO search listings over PPC listings.

PPC vs SEO gif

Studies have shown that more users trust organic search listings over paid advertisements. Research has shown that around 70% of internet users click on organic search results (SEO) as opposed to only 30% clicking on paid search results (PPC). Most internet users distrust paid advertisements, and most of these consumers are well aware that PPC is an advertising tool. This results in a lot of users bypassing paid advertisements and clicking organic, natural results instead. And to make matters worse, some users that have clicked paid ads don’t end up finding the product or service they are looking for. Thus, businesses that use SEO are better able to provide consumers with more interesting and valuable content. 

SEO is very cost-effective and gives greater value for money.

SEO gif

Both SEO and PPC naturally have costs for initial set-up and hiring PPC specialists or an SEO company to come up with a digital campaign exclusively for your business. But if you use an SEO campaign, there is no need to pay for every individual click or visitor, but you will only pay for the services that your SEO team or vendor renders. With PPC, constant investment is required. If you stop paying, your ads will stop, and your lead generation will be discontinued.

SEO can build and keep an advantage over your competitors.

A woman client calling a plumber to fix her kitchen sink.

It isn’t easy to build an advantage and keep it with PPC. If you are already making profits based on clicks you pay a certain amount for, then it will not last if a competitor bids a higher price for the same product. If your competitor has some venture funding and decides to use it on PPC, it can drive the average cost of a click higher, and your profits will be driven downward. An investment in SEO is much more challenging. You strive to make your search engine results higher for relevant keywords. You come up with great content that is of great value to consumers. You generate inbound links. And your links show up on high-quality websites in your industry. Soon, your rankings will start rising, and with this, traffic and leads generated through search will increase. It takes time to accomplish this. You may have a higher initial cost, but the clicks are free. This investment, however, gives you a more sustainable advantage over PPC. Your competitor will find it more difficult to take this advantage away.

SEO gives better ROI than PPC advertising.

Plumber standing near kitchen sink

Based on a four-year study of profit generation for both SEO and PPC, it has been shown that SEO that creates organic traffic generates $2.74 in profit for every dollar spent in that year. In 3 years, SEO’s average profit is $4.58 for every dollar spent in one year. Comparing this with the profits garnered from PPC advertising, it was shown that for every dollar spent on that year, the average profit is -$0.95. While over three years from the dollar spent in one year, the average profit is -$0.85. This means that for every dollar spent on both SEO and PPC, SEO will yield an additional profit of $2.75 but PPC losses -$0.95. Thus, SEO gives better ROI than PPC advertising. 

SEO has more effective promotion results.

SEO gif

Applying SEO to your website may take around three to six months before your website will appear on search engine results. This is because indexing and ranking a website takes time for Google to do. But over a long time, SEO leads to consistent traffic, whereas PPC only gives an initial boost to traffic. PPC can be beneficial if you have a brand new site that has not yet appeared in organic results. However, with a PPC campaign, traffic immediately stops when the budget is withdrawn. Thus SEO continues to shine. It is a more effective way of promoting your website in the long run.

Ranking #1 in search results will not happen overnight with SEO. But SEO has proven long-term benefits. The reasons given above why SEO is better than PPC should prod you to invest more of your time and resources focusing on SEO rather than on PPC.

Categories
SEO

Ways to Improve User Experience on Your Practice’s Website

You can have the most equipped practice packed with experienced and passionate healthcare professionals; however, if you fail to invest in a good website, you will deter a lot of potential patients from making their first and subsequent visits. We live in an age where patients turn to the internet before visiting healthcare establishments. A poorly designed website is, therefore, detrimental.

Your patients may visit your practice physically a few times a year; however, they have health concerns more often. Having a fully functional website allows them to get health-related information with ease. It also keeps them connected and loyal to your practice.

Here are some effective tips for improving the user experience on your practice’s website.

Have Legible Typography

Typography

Having a site packed with useful information is great for your practice. However, is the information easy to read? One of the most critical design aspects of any website is typography. Your content must be legible; otherwise, it won’t matter. According to CommunicateHealth Creative

Director, Molly McLeod, Sans Serif fonts are great for the web. She recommends a font size of 16 and above alongside a widget that is easy to use if you want to make text bigger. A line of text shouldn’t exceed 75 characters (approximately 15 words), and the line-height should be 140 percent+ to allow white space between every line. Paragraphs should be brief with spaces in between and headings and subheadings should be progressively smaller. Lastly, lists should be bulleted.

Include Call-To-Action

CTA

To boost user experience on your site, you need to make sure you maintain the attention of every patient that visits your site. To do this effectively, you must navigate them by using interesting and relevant Calls-To-Action. As the name suggests, a Call-To-Action prompts a website visitor to take specific action which can range from submitting their email address to signing up to receive newsletters or buying a product.

In addition to Call-To-Action buttons and links, you must organize your navigation tabs and make them engaging. Besides using interesting wording, the buttons and tabs should complement each other. The prompts should also be eye-catching. If a potential patient on your site doesn’t see or notice anything else while they are on your site, they should at least see or notice the Call-To-Action.

Ask for minimal information

leave additional information

Although having Call-To-Action buttons like sign-up buttons is important, you should ask for minimal information to avoid “turning off” your site visitors. 67% of people spend 1 to 3 minutes filling out an online form. Experts recommend form designs that take a minute or less to fill and ask for minimal information such as names and email addresses. Long forms with complex information requests confuse, frustrate and/or annoy your site visitors. For a practice site, you should be extremely sensitive about the information you ask for and leave additional information requests optional.

Website Must Be Mobile Friendly

mobile-friendliness

The latest 2019 mobile internet user penetration statistics show that 63.4% of people who access the internet globally do so via mobile devices. This statistic alone highlights the importance of having a website that works perfectly when viewed via Smartphones and tablets, among other internet-enabled mobile devices. Your practice website must be designed to look and work perfectly when accessed from any computing device with more emphasis on mobile-friendliness. Besides boosting engagement, a mobile-friendly website is good for SEO. The #1 search engine globally, Google, considers mobile-friendliness when ranking sites. Responsive sites have great functionality and loading times – important search engine ranking factors.

Create Engaging Content

Content

You should have a blog to give your patients ample and important information on health and medical topics that might capture their interest. Your patients have no reason to keep coming back to your site if all you have is old basic information. A blog allows you to share expert information on a wide range of topics. However, stay away from complicated medical terminologies and use simple language instead.

Offer Help

FAQ

Lastly, your practice website should have a help/FAQs section that offers help on common issues. You can use the inquiries you get to create a helpful FAQs section. Having real-time communication, i.e. phone numbers and Live Chat will also go a long way in offering instant help to potential patients looking to visit your practice for the 1st time or existing patients looking for additional information.

Don't Go Yet!

Request A Custom Quote For Your Design & SEO.

Whether you have a complex project or a simple one, we will provide you with a straightforward custom quote.