What is Search Engine Marketing?

By Nick James

Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet Marketing that seeks to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs).

But before we examine Search Engine Marketing in detail let's look at what we mean by the term 'marketing'.

According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) "Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably"
I think what they are trying to say is that 'marketing' is all about deciding who your customers are, working out what they want and then developing a cunning plan to sell products or services...

...to them and make some money.
Well search engine marketing is no different but first of all you need to have a website that is search engine friendly.
Every search engine operates to a different algorithm a procedure or formula that solves a problem but they are all based around the following:
- Good site design making it easy for search engines to index the website
- Good content - information that customers want
- Links from authoritative and relevant websites to the site

Design for the search engines but write for your customers
A good website will have well-written, easy-to-navigate pages that aren't 'loaded' with keywords to attract 'search' traffic but written with the reader in mind.
Like any sales presentation you should explain what problem you are solving and what your 'solution' is, what are your USP's (unique selling points) and what a customer/visitor should do next.
OK so back to search engine marketing - you've identified the customers you want to target, you've got a 'search engine friendly' website and your 'content' is written for your visitor - how do you get more visitors to your website?
Let's look at the two distinct ways - the advertising method using something like Google adwords and the 'organic' method whereby... continued on page two >

 

 

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