Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
To keep you ahead of the competition!

People just love to search the web. They use the main search engines like Yahoo!, Google, Ask and MSN Search to find one thing only information.

 

Which brings us to the question, What is SEM?

Simply put, search engine marketing (SEM) is about connecting searchers looking for information related to your brand with what they are looking for. It is about making your brand visible within the search engines to attract new visitors to your site(s)

I think we all agree a good search engine ranking is like having a crack sales team. Just one of the major search engines can send a huge amount of leads to your website in a very cost-effective manner. Remember search engine marketing (SEM) is an exacting science

In a survey by Coremetrics demonstrates how exactly challenging SEM can be. According to the survey 31 percent of the marketing professionals surveyed felt that SEM is the most important skill for their current role and additional 60 percent feel that SEM skills have become more important over the last few years. Even a more telling finding was 41 percent felt their SEM skills are in need of some improvement.

I can personally testify to the rapid change in search engine marketing. almost half of the marketers that I know are personally struggling with search engine marketing. The good old days of using your instincts and creative skills are over. Marketing professionals today are finding themselves having to become consumer behavioral analysts, understanding the psychology behind the online shopper and learning how to use an analytical software to identify what will help retailers get the most bang for their buck.

However, what I find really surprising is only 16% of search engine marketing budgets is allocated to "Organic Search" or search engine optimization (SEO). Why? Well, paid-search is easier and quicker for lazy marketers to understand, and it is often the lowest hanging fruit for companies new to internet marketing. The trouble is, paid-search costs money and the cost is getting higher because all those lazy marketers keep bidding the price up instead of optimizing for organic search.

 

Where do you begin?

Take heart, in spite of the turbulents, Within SEM, there are three main opportunities for organizations to get their message across, to gain visibility and to direct visitors to their sites.

1.) Insight
As always, carefully choosing the correct keywords that best targets the maximum click through at the lowest cost requires being very specific and insightful as possible. It has been proven again and again that generic keywords are not only expensive but they deliver very poor return on the investment. To help find specific keywords that best target your marketing program, I suggest some of the following techniques:

• Think niche. By using software tools that can conduct a on-site search, natural search and custom SQL queries on your own website you may identify terms related to your site that might surprise you.

• look for keywords that tie into your brand. However, trademark issues sometimes occur when overzealous resellers attempt to purchase brand-specific terms that compete with a brand advertiser's keyword lexicon, But don't worry most top search sites, like Google and Yahoo!, have defined best practices that will assist with conflict resolution in this arena.

• Controlling trademarks
  Remember it's up to you, Mr. Big Brand, to keep tabs on who's doing what with your key words and phrases. While search sites have stepped up or modified policies on protected terms, much of the onus for protecting and controlling keyword buying falls with you the brand owner.

• People are lazy. They don't care if your name has one "L" or two in it. Competitors, affiliates and those harboring ill intentions for your brand will find every possible loophole in laws, policies and practices and exploit them.

• Seasonal Opportunities -- there are certain keywords that are more valuable to you at certain times of the year because of seasonal purchasing habits or related industry events.

More to come check back some

In conclusion
As you can see I've only scratched the surface of what SEM can do. Through evolving technology and greater effort placed on understanding our online customer's preferences, we can expect our SEM efforts to deliver ever increasing impact to our bottom lines.

But remember your success requires a constant process of updating your knowledge and refining your skills. Is it any wonder why search marketers are often daunted by the challenges. But those marketers who continue to educate themselves and strive harder to understand the online consumers preferences will find future success for both themselves and their clients.