Why is Search Engine Marketing Effective?
Do you know the methods of SEM and why they’re so important? The short answer is any promotion you do online equals more clients and greater sales for your business.
A 2007 study conducted by Arbitron and Edison Media Research revealed a startling statistic: 33% of U.S. consumers placed the Internet as the second most important form of media they use next to television, which ranked 36%. That means without having an effective online marketing plan you’re losing sales. SEM is effective because you can create buyer awareness for little or no cost. Plus, the methods of SEM can be done by every business – large or small – with great results.
Learning More About The Methods of SEM
Think about it…there’s a whole generation of buyers who never experienced life without the Internet. What’s more, there are people today online who watched Elvis live on the Ed Sullivan Show. All these age groups are buyers you can reach thanks to various forms of SEM because they all use search engines. But let’s focus on one of the most popular methods of SEM…SEO.
The King of SEM Methods – SEO
For starters, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are two separate entities. An easy way to remember this is to realize SEO is only one of many methods of SEM.
By using what’s called ‘keywords’ and ‘keyphrases,’ content creators focus on words that people might put into a search engine when searching for their products or services. SEO can be worked into several areas of a site including:
• Web copy
• Metatags and descriptions
• Keyworded Web Images
• SEO keyword articles (like this one)
The best part of all is that SEO is just one of the methods of SEM that get people to your site so they’ll do business with you…and that’s the entire point of having an online presence.
Other Methods of SEM
Again, SEO is only one area. There are also other methods of SEM that are quite effective. They can include things like:
• Press Releases
• Banner Ads
• Submitting to Search Engines
• Linking to other sites
• PPC (Pay-per-click) campaigns
In the end it doesn’t matter which methods of SEM you choose. It’s only important to remember that, as with any type of marketing plan, off or online, you need more than a single method to see solid results.
