what is search engine marketing
People often confuse the two terms search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Although they may be similar in goals, they are quite different in execution and strategy.
Search engine marketing or SEM is a broader term that refers to all aspects of promoting a site in search engines including paid advertising. Search engine optimization on the other hand strictly refers to optimizing a site both on page and off page to rank well in search engines without paying for advertising such as PPC.
SEO concentrates on organic search engine results, that is the results that show up when someone searches for a keyword phrase in Google or another search engine. However search engine marketing must also take SEO into great consideration as organic listings can not be ignored. After all, why pay for something when you can get it for free? Or more precisely, why pay to get your website seen if you can rank highly for it in the organic listings?
Buying paid search listings is generally done with Google Adwords. They are the largest PPC advertising company. Others include Yahoo and MSN advertisements.
PPC can be expensive if you are not sure what you are doing. Many people hire professional SEM firms to run their PPC campaigns however it is entirely possible to do it yourself with some basic knowledge and trial and error. You need to learn the basics of landing pages, keyword groups and ads and then you just set a budget and you're off. Yes it is easy to lose money in the initial stages however you will get the hang of it and realize just how fast you can gain visitors from pay per click advertising.
Search engine marketing is an extremely powerful method of promoting your website and gaining qualified and targeted visitors.
