SEM is a form of Internet marketing technique that is employed to promote web sites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages. On the other hand, SEO is the first step in SEM that allows for broad reaching site promotion. SEM not only includes SEO strategies, but also various other methods to increase the web site’s targeted traffic and exposure. Some other SEM methods consist of: paid inclusion, paid advertising, and pay-per-click.

SEM refers mainly to the text advertisements that are published at the top or on the right hand side of the search engine results pages. These ad links are purchased mainly from the major search engines like Google and Yahoo.

SEM also includes any banner ads or ad placement advertising at authority related sites. With SEM, you can have full control over your budget, keywords, and web sites you wish to target.

As above mentioned SEO is the foremost step in SEM and is aimed to increase a site’s organic and natural ranking in the search engine results pages. Furthermore, SEO involves On-page optimisation and Off-page optimisation.

On-page optimisation elements are: keyword density, keywords in the content, title tag optimisation, keywords in hyperlinks and URL, meta tags, sitemap, and link structure. And Off-page optimisation elements include: back links, link exchanges, traffic, keywords in the anchor text, and much more.

Therefore, SEO focuses on increasing the volume as well as quality of the traffic to your web site from the search engines. As the Internet marketing method, SEO considers how the search engines work and what people look for.

Optimising your web site would involve editing its content and HTML coding to improve its relevance to definite keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of the search engines.

Thus, both the techniques-SEM and SEO are important to help you promote your web site through better visibility in the search engine results pages.

These are two different marketing strategies working on different aspects of a website. Before setting on the preferred method it is important to know the underlying facts about each.

PPC familiarizes the user to your web site. If liked the user is then glued to your site. The more the user the better the Search Engines will like your site. This is one of the prime reasons of alluring huge visitors to your site. Search Engine Optimization gets more targeted traffic to your web site through the search engine thus; a lot of marketers would prefer SEO to PPC.

PPC is text-based advertising on a Search Engine whereas SEO has a lot to do with page rank and link popularity. In PPC will have to bid money in order to be listed first but SEO will require content, design and links to make the site linked.

Though it is difficult to manipulate, studies show that PPC brings stability and predictability to some extend whereas SEO involves a lot of tedious task. On the other hand SEO can be done free and you have to pay for PPC.

Needless to say, people should constantly look for new and unique ways to bring traffic to their web sites eventually culminates into business gains.

• Number one page rank is the best

Pay per click is about conversions and ROI. Being number one is a waste if it does not fetch you good click-through rate and eventually conversions.

• The natural page rankings are affected by pay per click

The ad text displayed does not act as anchor text; it only is an advertising punch.

• Pay per click only helps major businesses

This is far from fact as small business really benefits from pay per click through good campaign and landing page design.

• Pay per click is a short term tool

If PPC is promoting your company well with good ROI then it can be for keeps.

• Pay per click is not a life long process

With constantly evolving business needs; pay per click requires constant monitoring, change and hence regular optimisation.

• Don’t be in a hurry to pay. Delaying payment may save you from the fraud.
• Keep your computer free from any bad software and stay away from the prying eyes of software trackers that eye every transaction you make or even every site you visit.
• Delay in divulging business details to a prospective supplier can also check on a fraud helping you to get more concrete information about your dealer/supplier.
• Study the contract thoroughly; you might overlook some business virus which otherwise might look simple and repetitive.

Following three options are worth looking into:

Audio Advertisements / Video Advertisements : These go much beyond the standard text based clicks. In case of a right enticing Audio / Video ads the prospect can really be allured to get to the website

Word of Mouth Advertisements: Very useful but a good Social Networking can really do wonders

Business to business Search Engines : These are alternatives beyond Google , Yahoo, MSN. These search engines are vertically focused and users tend to visit and believe in them

Thus, successful internet marketing would mean increased traffic and return of investment (ROI) on your website. Strategically planned internet marketing ideally involves good search engine and social media optimization.

Benefits of Internet Marketing

• Overcomes geographical limitations: Internet knows no boundaries; your product/service is available to all, increasing the number of potential customers across the world.
• 24 X 7: Your website is available at any given time; this flexibility in time increases its accessibility as compared to a normal store.
• Usage of different advertising media: You can integrate audio, video, blogs and make advertising more interactive unlike in print or television/radio.
• Cost effective: Web services being the only requirement, internet marketing becomes more cost-effective; you save on travel and other advertising gimmicks like trade fairs, hoardings etc.
• Complete display of information: No constraint of time and space allows you to display robust and diverse information.
• Greater return on investment (ROI): A search engine/social media optimized website attracts huge prospective customers increasing the traffic and eventually accrue conversions. This builds up the return on investment, making Internet Marketing a lucrative choice.
• Attracts wider audience: Internet marketing attracts a range of audience who demand diversified services from your website. These services not only include buying of product but also information for research, job search, new business leads, capital investment plans etc.

Different types of Internet Marketing

As the new age marketing tool, Internet Marketing is a cheaper way of publicity even for small scale industries. Some internet marketing methods are-

• Search Engine Marketing: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) includes managing pay per click campaigns and banner ads by increasing the web page ranking and optimizing the website content to make it crawler friendly.
• Pay-per-Click Advertising: In pay per click (PPC), the advertiser pays some amount to the search engine for his ad to be displayed if a keyword related to his business is searched for. These clicks and eventual transactions become the revenue earners.
• Social Media Marketing: A new method of internet marketing; it allows you to use various social networks like Facebook and MySpace for all promotional activities. This informal approach has a wider reach providing a new leap to the business prospects.
• E-mail Marketing: The website owner maintains a subscriber database and uses that to send personalized newsletter thus creating a one-to-one bonding with a prospective customer.

Internet-Marketing Boosters

In today’s competitive market, a constant strive towards betterment is the business strategy motto. A few key energizers to successful online marketing could be-

• Creating online blogs which could include guest and community blogging
• Improving the quality content with good emphasis on real life implications
• Promotional contests like quizzes or e-book circulation
• Effective press releases with updated reviews
• Posting client testimony as a polite declaration of the successful venture
• Prospective customer/ visitor feedback; it acts as an intelligent input for improvising the marketing effort