Each SEO practitioner has their own style and technique on when to use PPC and when to use SEO.

But here are some of the ideas that seem to be common among SEO people.

1. Use PPC while you wait for your SEO efforts to take effect.

We know that search engine optimization is a process and you cannot take your site to the top of the search engines in a week (not unless it is on some unpopular keyword). It takes a couple of months to really see your site on page 1. While waiting, it might be a good idea to use PPC to generate traffic.

2. Use PPC to test different versions of sales letters.

When you are doing internet marketing, you need to develop different sales letter and test to see which among them is the best one at converting visitors to clients.

The strength of PPC advertising is that you get immediate access to targeted visitors. You get to test sales letters quickly and then you can launch a massive internet marketing campaign once you find out the exact sales letter to use.

3. Use SEO for long term benefits.

You can benefit from PPC now but you would most probably benefit with SEO in the long run. Once you land on the top search engine results, targeted visitors are essentially free.

4. Use SEO for non highly-competitive keywords.

If you would want to rank on non-competitive keywords, it might only take you a few weeks to rank to the top of that keyword.

example. "cheap wedding cakes in san francisco california"