Curious about SEM?
You’ve probably heard of SEO but what do you know about SEM? At Moodeys, we often get approached by people who want to know more about SEM. They’ve heard about it, read about it, or seen the acronym splashed about in online marketing articles, but they still don’t know what SEM is all about exactly.
Since both SEO and SEM are equally important in a well-rounded online marketing strategy, let’s get to the bottom of these essential marketing elements now.
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It’s sometimes referred to it as “search marketing”. Whatever you call it, SEM is a very effective way to grow your business. Chances are, your competitors are doing it already. So, it’s a good idea for you to learn about SEM and get involved as soon as possible.
SEO vs SEM
The big question is, what’s the difference between SEO and SEM?
The answer is simple: Search Engine Marketing refers to paying search engine service providers to display your advert in search results. Whereas, Search Engine Optimization refers to earning high rankings in search engines by having the most relevant content for a given keyword search. Said another way: SEO drives traffic into the top of your sales funnel by putting you on top of search queries. SEM, on the other hand, drives conversions at the bottom of your sales funnel by scooping customers at the point of sale.
But let’s not stop here. Let’s delve a little deeper into the differences between SEO and SEM, shall we?
SEO:
There’s no doubt that top spots in search engines have higher click-through-rates than ads. When you appear at the top of search engines, prospects think you’re the best. They don’t doubt your credibility and authority in the market-place. The sad truth is, if your business doesn’t appear on the first page of leading search engines you simply don’t exist. That’s the beauty and terror of SEO. For this reason, you really do need an expert to guide and support you. Getting to the top of search queries requires significant expertise, time, resources and consistency. But, when you do SEO properly, you get visibility, clicks and traffic for free.
SEM:
In a nutshell, SEM is the process of gaining traffic to your website by increasing your visibility on search engines. It has two legs:
- Free, organic SEO, which we’ve discussed already. You can learn more about SEO by clicking here.
- Paid search advertising, also referred to as PPC (pay-per-click).
Yes, you can pay to have your advertisements appear on search engine results pages (or SERPs). All you have to do is bid on the keywords that users of search engines may enter to find desired products or services online. The highest bidder gets to display their advert alongside the results of these search queries.
These ‘pay-per-click’, or PPC ads, come in a variety of formats. You can place small, text-based ads or product listing ads (PLAs) which are bigger, visual, product-based advertisements. Your objective is to catch the eye of potential customers by using clever stratagems, such as unbeatable offers, glowing reviews, and catchphrases that resonate with the buyer’s pain points.
The big benefits of SEM.
The beauty of search engine marketing is that it gives you the opportunity to put your advertisement in front of serious customers who want to buy your product or service at the exact moment they are ready to make the purchase. If ever there was a last chance to influence customers at the point of sale, search marketing is it.
Another great advantage of SEM is that you can gain visibility and traffic quickly. Sure, you pay for what you get but the results are instant, measurable and scalable. This means you can target specific customers and you only pay for the clicks you receive. The continuous cost makes sense if the traffic you get converts into sales and makes you more money than the cost of advertising. Here’s where it helps to have a pro to steer your campaign. It’s a science to make more money than you spend.
In conclusion:
When it comes down to it, SEO and SEM are very different in terms of strategy, know-how, creative execution, time, implementation, pricing and goals. They’re like biscuits and cheese: Totally different but they go together perfectly. Exposure and content work together to win your customer’s attention and purchasing power.
Come to Moodeys, and we’ll show you how to get SEO and SEM to work together in order to grab the attention of potential customers before your competitors. We know exactly how to fuse these two strategies, produce the necessary content and collateral, and drive successful campaigns simultaneously.