Wondering if you should invest in email marketing vs SEO? This article explores the benefits and drawbacks of each approach and offers advice on how to combine them for maximum impact. So keep reading.
Digital marketing takes many forms, and it can be tough to know which one is best for your business. Email marketing and SEO, for example, can both create impressive results for your business, but which should take priority?
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing, much as its name suggests, uses email to connect with, inform, and promote existing and potential customers. It is an incredibly powerful way to increase brand awareness and sales and is relatively simple in concept (if a little trickier to master in execution).
For example, if you or your chosen SEO agency has not crafted a well-thought-out campaign, it can all too easily fall flat on its face.
However, you invest heavily in determining who your target audience is and how to write compelling subjects with engaging sales copy. In that case, you can have a much easier time and ensure that as many people as possible open your emails and subsequently take positive action.
What is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process by which you boost your ranking in search engine results pages by improving and developing your website and meeting various criteria.
You can organically increase traffic to your site over time by improving your SEO in many ways. These include increasing your page load speed, gaining high-quality backlinks from reputable sources, and creating unique and creditable ‘people-first’ content.
The higher up you sit in the rankings on Google and other search engines, the more visible you will be to potential customers – and indeed the more conversions you can achieve through your website. Here are some tips that can help you in optimizing SEO of your WordPress site.
Organic searches account for the majority of website traffic, so it is a strategy well worth adopting. More importantly, an effective SEO strategy can ensure that your website appears in front of the right people who are actively searching for the products or services that you offer.
Make no mistake—it is a slow burner, and you won’t see instant results. However, when executed well and the ball gets rolling, it can be transformative for your business.
Email Marketing Vs SEO: Which is Best?
To determine which is better, we should first properly examine each form of marketing and how it can benefit your business.
Email marketing is:
- Low cost
- High impact
- Flexible and can be used as often or seldom as you wish
- A great way to engage with current and potential customers
But:
- Likely to end up in a spam folder
- Difficult to create the perfect message to drive engagement
SEO by contrast, is:
- Always ‘on’ and working for you so long as you are investing
- Sustainable
- High ROI
- Consistent
- A fantastic way to drive traffic to your site
- A great way to boost credibility
But:
- Trickier to understand and execute effectively
- Slow burner
Ultimately, it would help if you didn’t concern yourself with which is best because, in truth, they are both equally valuable in their own right. As such, you should consider focusing on both methods together.
For example, when working on your SEO, you can attract as many ‘ready to spend’ customers to your website as possible. But, for those who don’t convert into customers right away, you can capture them in your email list by offering a free, high-value eBook and then filter them into a weekly newsletter with all manner of useful content, VIP discounts, and promotions.
If, however, you can only choose one, start with SEO first. Then, once you have established a sustainable ROI, you can invest time and resources into building a solid email marketing campaign to accompany it.