What is SEM? Learn About Search Engine Marketing from Jordan Hardy
What is SEM?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. SEO is part of SEM. SEM is often not as cheap as SEO, but can get more results overall.
A successful SEM program often includes:
- SEO - Search Engine Optimization, where many factors are considered in making a website more search engine friendly so that it has a higher chance of ranking higher on search engines.
- PPC / Paid Ads - PPC stands for Pay Per Click. There are many types of ads that can be paid for, whether per click, amunt of time live, etc. Some ads are text links, some are Flash, and some are images. Some ads are meant to fool users so that they have no idea they clicked on an ad. Ads can cost the advertiser anywhere between $.01 and $100 per click. For example, a common search query that has low value and not much competition, such as a tulip, may be $.01 to $.50 per click. On the other hand, a porn link or Mesothelioma click may cost $10-60 per click.
- Social Bookmarking - Websites such as Delicious and Digg are ways to find interesting items other people have bookmarked on the web. If your website is bookmarked on any of these sites (there are many out there),this is a great technique of marketing you.
- SMO / Social Media Optimization - There are many social websites out there that are valuable to be part of. An example of one of the many would be Stumbleupon.
- Article Websites - There are many valuable article websites that are worth writing for or getting links from.
I would also include other items such as Wikis, email marketing, and reviews as related and affecting SEM. SEM is really about paid ads on search engines plus organic SEO, with the goal to increase visibility in search engines.
