I would like to know how much you have spent on Adwords ads? The reason I ask is because I have never had to do this as I just get page 1 SERPS for any search term I need/want so have never had need to use AdWords myself. Now obviously AdWords appear elsewhere - like in Google Alerts for example so I see why you might see things out of the box other than Google searches on Google per se. But other than things like that I would like to know not just how much you have had to spend on AdWords I would like to know your reasons for this expense and other reasons you justify this as opposed to a spend on SEO as an alternative?
When building a website from the ground up, you can optimise it as you are going along, this will get you the best results, i agree with you Revelations-Decoder's, in the long term, seo will benifit your website more than adwords.
Adwords doesn't appear in Google alerts. I do ppc and seo - it's not an either/ or - best practice is to use both. It's easy to get on page 1 of serps quickly for uncompetitive terms - if the term is competitive and/ or you want quick results, use adwords. If you are already on the first page but not in the first 3 results, use adwords to put yourself in the eyeline of the majority of searchers who never scroll down. If you are in the first three results, use adwords to make sure your competitors don't get a march on you by putting their sponsored result above you.
I am often shocked at some websites that have been profesionally designed and how SEO has not been taken into account Allder Web Design. I come acorss cases on a regular basis and it never ceases to amaze me tbh.
Ad words is never a replacement to good SEO, again you can spend a lot on ad words, get high click through rate, but also a high bounce rate. Good original content is always key to long term success. If you can keep the clicks coming back, it's success! I have spent $60 maximum on ad words, there are other methods out there. Ad words can be quite costly especially if you don't bid on the right yet affordable keywords! if your budget is small, I wouldn't recommend Ad words to start with.
Plus there is the estimated 28% click fraud rate to consider. I am sure there are people who secretly pay others (where the economy means it won't cost a lot) to click their competitors PPC links to. Well I have read reports of it happening and I would think ot happens now and again.
Adwords is great for a product announcement or press release but can get expensive quickly. Make sure you are targeting by region and language.
Google Adwords may not be a good seller but it can be helpful in getting leads which can be converted later.