What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
SEM is a digital version of marketing; an example is marketing your business online within search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.
There are five online marketing goals to consider:
- Brand Awareness/Affinity
- Sell Products/Services/Content
- Generate Leads/Pipeline
- Drive Traffic/Visitors/PageViews
- Provide Information/Research
Marketers can easily make the connection between offline and online by looking at "retail shelf-space" and "digital shelf-space" and learning more about the digital shelf-space.
The quickest and easiest SEM methods for testing and measurement include:
- Google AdWords
- Yahoo! SEM
- MSN adCenter
- ASK Sponsored Listings
- Google Maps
- Yahoo! Maps
- Verizon Superpages
- Google Base (product feeds)
- Google Books (publisher feeds)
- Comparison Shopping Engines (Shopping.com, NexTag, PriceGrabber)
- Keyword Discovery and Research
- Web Site Diagnostic Audit and Modifications
- Content Strategy and Editing
- Web PR
- Paid Search Advertising
- Natural Search Optimization
- Blogosphere
- Social Media Sites
