Inbound marketing is where potential customers find your website through search. Inbound marketing is more successful than traditional "outbound marketing" tactics because you don’t fight to gain your customer’s attention through emailing, cold calling, infomercials, etc. With inbound marketing, you create a content-rich website and let your customers come to you.

Use PPC and SEO to Fuel Your Inbound Marketing

The most effective way to turn your website into an inbound marketing magnet is through the power of search engine marketing (SEM), involving both Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO).

Why are SEO and PPC the best inbound marketing techniques? Simply put, the majority of people begin their buying process with an online search. Think about your own buying experiences. If you’re looking for a product of service, don’t you start with a Google search? Of course you do. Inbound marketing with SEM puts your website front and center for your target audience when they begin their focused buy searches.

Let’s break down how inbound marketing with SEO and PPC helps drive more traffic and conversions .

Benefits of SEO for Inbound Marketing

• Free – Organic SEO costs nothing, just your time to implement it.

• More Traffic from Search Engines – According to Google, organic listings garner the bulk of the clicks and search traffic.

• Good Long Term Outcome – As your website ages and gains more links, your search rankings increase for better exposure and more clicks .

Benefits of PPC for Inbound Marketing

• Fast Results – With PPC advertising, once you set up your account, your ads will display in a matter of hours and start to generate traffic.

• Accurate Targeting - Choose specific keywords to bid on to ensure that your ads only show on highly-relevant searches.

• Precise ROI Measurement – track your ad’s performance with Web analytics software, so you know exactly what you’re spending and making from PPC.

With a well-crafted inbound marketing campaign, involving both paid and natural search marketing, you’ll be on your way to driving more, qualified traffic to your website. But the process shouldn’t end there. In the next section, there are ways to further leverage your efforts for even greater inbound marketing results.

Continuous and Informed SEO and PPC Methods for Inbound Marketing

The biggest mistake most people make with inbound marketing is they "set it and forget it." But much like a shark, an SEM campaign that isn’t moving forward will eventually die.

If you’re going to engage in PPC and SEO, remember these two crucial points to make sure your inbound marketing keeps growing:

• Commit to the continuous expansion and optimization of PPC and SEO efforts

• Use your SEO efforts to guide your PPC efforts, and vice versa

These are important ideas to remember. In order for SEM to continue to produce at a high level, SEO and PPC efforts must be an ongoing process. To do so, use the search data from PPC to inform your SEO efforts, by authoring new content and optimizing for keywords that have proven conversions from your paid efforts. Likewise, use your SEO data to bid on PPC keywords that have generated sales and create optimized landing pages around target terms.

Conclusion: Inbound Marketing Brings Your Customers to You

People are looking for you or what you have to offer on the Web right now. Use the above inbound marketing methods to drive them to your website, with PPC and SEO. And once you’ve got your inbound marketing system running smoothly, don’t fall asleep at the wheel. Keep it up, keep it fresh and keep it going by continuously expanding your efforts and letting your PPC and SEO campaigns inform and benefit one another.