Here’s How to Prepare Before a PPC or SEO Campaign

One of the biggest misconceptions about SEO is that you can jump right in and be successful, but another is that SEO takes a very long time to reap rewards. The reality often lies in the middle, and this means that properly mixing organic and paid traffic can pay dividends much quicker than traditional pure organic search. 

Over the years at Armada Digital, we’ve seen consistent success for clients that have followed these three steps before starting an SEO or PPC campaign:

1. Invest in Your Platform (Your Website) 

Your website, AKA your platform, is the ultimate destination for almost all of your traffic. The key to a well run SEO campaign is to drive the right kind of traffic to your website. However, if your website is outdated and doesn’t convert—that traffic is worthless. 

So it makes logical sense to first invest in the platform and make sure that the user flow and calls to action match the objectives of the site. 

Don’t forget to also invest in the visual elements of the site and your brand. If you have new team members, get new headshots. If you have new projects, get photography or videography. These are SEO rich assets if deployed correctly. 

2. Create a Foundational SEO Strategy 

There are two types of traffic: organic and paid. Organic traffic is traffic to your website that you didn’t have to pay for—where users found you organically. The goal is always to increase organic traffic overall, but also to get the right kind of traffic. 

The beauty of SEO, though, is that you always have data. Run a keyword report and create a keyword shortlist. Then go back and evaluate against that shortlist what pages should be optimized for what. 

Having a sound organic strategy also helps reduce paid advertising (PPC costs) because you’re bringing in free traffic for valuable keywords or phrases on the organic side. 

3. Allocate an Initial Ad Budget for Testing 

The biggest waste that we see from businesses when trying PPC on their own is to throw the full weight of their budget immediately in. Run properly, PPC campaigns take constant refinement. 

The first month or two should be devoted to testing out different ad groups and keyword combinations. The reason being twofold: 1) you need an adequate sample size of data, which a month usually provides, and 2) different factors in PPC will always yield different results. 

All this means that the key is to find what works for your business in driving actionable leads, then double down on those keywords and phrases long term. 

You don’t have to spend a ton right away. Spending smarter initially will lead to better long term results. 

Build Smarter Campaigns

With those 3 steps in place, we’ve seen businesses drive consistent and sustainable leads through SEO and PPC. The key is to be strategic and follow what gets results. Use your organic traffic to offset PPC costs, but use a successful PPC strategy to help get clients and results as soon as possible. 

If your trades company or professional services business is considering investing in SEO in 2026, reach out to us today and let’s get you on the right path to more leads and more customers.