SEO vs Print Advertising in Atlanta

While on the phone with a client today they asked me how, in terms of cost, SEO compares to advertising in the Yellow Pages or the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC). Perhaps I'm inundated with SEO and thus now a bit myopic but I forgot that people actually use these mediums to advertise their service and products.

I spent some time investigating print advertisement costs, focusing on the Atlanta print advertising market.

What you get for $50k in the Atlanta Journal Constitution

The AJC charges $560 per column inch for a black and white ad. Since there are about 120 column inches in a full page, you are looking at $67k for a black and white (B&W), full page ad; $34k for a half page.

And this runs for one single day. And this is black and white. And you can't measure performance such as "time-on-ad". And you can't solicit a response. And you kill trees.

To the Atlanta Journal's credit, there are 360k daily and 525k Sunday "readers." I think it would be better to call them "soft impressions" since you can't assume anyone is engaging with your advertisement, or that the advertisment isn't being as kitty litter lining.

National Advertising is Worse

Try these numbers on for size (all are full page, black and white):

• Wall street Journal (National Edition) 164k (210k color)
• Washington Post - 100k
• LA Times - 70k

Again, for one day. Sure, you are getting "national" exposure. But can you tell me the last newspaper ad you responded to?

SEO is cost-effective, local or national

To be succinct, a top performing SEO plan will start about $36k across a year.

And that is for an "ad" that lasts indefinitely. And you gain equity (rankings even after you stop "advertising"). And that is "full color" (and possibly interactive). And you can measure the performance in so much detail it will make your head spin. And you will save trees.

In terms of "readers", you will receive as many impressions as there are people interested in your service or product. So while print advertising is limited to general content that is targeted toward your demographic, search engine marketing is targeted on people *actually searching for your product or service*. I'll say that again. Search engine marketing is based on connecting your product and service with people that are already interested and searching for you. Can any print advertising offer that type of consumer initiated demand?