Paid and Organic Content: What You Need to Know

There are two main kinds of content on the internet today, paid and organic. Content doesn’t really exist by itself, however; it has to be shared in order to have any effect on the world or even to be discovered at all.

If you want your content to be widely seen, it’s important to understand how paid and organic content works so that you can make sure you have the proper mix of both to get the greatest reach possible with your information.

Paid vs. Organic

Everyone’s Heard of Paid Content, But Many Are Still Unsure of Exactly What It Is and How to Best Utilize It. Here’s Your Comprehensive Guide.

The paid-for/organic-produced content distinction isn’t going anywhere—in fact, it may get more nuanced as time goes on. While paid-for content is probably still considered a no-no for traditional publications like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal (and possibly even Slate), today many online media sources are starting to take advantage of sponsored content in order to monetize their own reporting efforts.

This can be beneficial both to brands who want to reach new audiences who want to report important stories that would be difficult to cover otherwise. If you’re trying your hand at producing original content but aren’t sure where to start, paid vs organic can help you sort out your options.

Of course, there are some experts who say you should never include any kind of paid-for content whatsoever on your website, but these people are outliers.

Why marketers are focusing on paid content

It’s hard to ignore paid content these days. We live in a digital world where you need a considerable budget to be able to reach your audience via social media.

If you’re not willing or able to spend money on advertising, then it’s up to you and your marketing team (if there is one) to get creative with how you can promote your business.

Paid content can work for small businesses as well as large brands because it allows them more control over who sees their material. Think of paid content as buying an ad—it's much cheaper than trying to sell directly!

However, instead of paying Facebook (or another platform) directly, you can pay an influencer—someone whose opinion carries some weight in your industry—to write about your product or service. Depending on what that person has set up monetarily, they may even take the payment out of their own pocket!

How Paid Content Works

When a user clicks on an ad, it takes them directly to your landing page. This is what’s known as a direct-response (DR) campaign.

In DR campaigns, you pay for each click; if you want 1,000 people to see your site each month at $0.10 per click for one year, that’s how much you would spend (and in return get 1,000 impressions). If you have really valuable content then your cost per click will be low; if not, then no one will be interested in clicking on your ads even at $0.10 per click!

Additionally, you can also split up various aspects of your paid campaign by using different media types—these are commonly referred to as banners, search engine marketing, or social media advertising. Although their function differs slightly from what their name implies, they all focus on exposing your business to potential leads who may or may not convert into customers.

Maximinzing your paid content budget

When you’re running a business, sometimes money can be tight. For that reason, you need to make sure your paid content budget is being spent wisely.

After all, a lot of marketers will tell you that paid content gives better returns than organic content because it’s so visible. If you can maximize your paid budget—without losing quality—you’ll see even more ROI in no time. Here are some tips for doing just that...

Benefits of Organic Content

Paying for content is great, but not all businesses are built on budgets that allow for such expenditures. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still improve your website or page rank with paid content. It just means you need a little creativity.

Therefore, try swapping out some of your paid ads with organic content—that is, articles or blogs written specifically for your site by professional writers who aren’t getting paid at all!

Conclusion

Paid content is an excellent tool for any business to have at its disposal, but there are certain things you need to keep in mind before diving into paid advertising.

Paid content can be extremely effective, provided you’re aware of what types of media work best for your business. And, organic content isn’t going anywhere—not anytime soon, anyway.

In fact, it makes sense that we’d see a rise in organic content as people become more comfortable with sharing personal stories online via their social networks.

The decision to as to which one is best can only be made by yourself. However, what you need to bear in mind is, there are downsides to either of them as much as they have their own benefits.