Search engine marketing or SEM refers to those advertisements that appear usually at the top or on the right side of search engine results page. They’re usually labeled as ‘sponsored links’ or something along those lines. The SEM process is also known as ‘Pay Per Click’ (PPC) advertising as you pay for every time someone clicks on your advertising link, and not for simply displaying the ad.
How SEM Works?
SEM is basically paid advertising in search engines, where you ‘Pay Per Click’. It is text advertising that appears on search result page when certain keywords are searched for. When you search for certain keywords, the PPC advertisements that have bid on those keywords are displayed, and if you click on a text advertisement you are taken to the advertiser’s website. Due to that click, the advertiser’s account is charged by the search engine’s advertising partner.
Benefits
1. Instant Results – SEM is the combination of Pay Per Click and SEO strategies, rendering it appropriate for the internet marketers to obtain instant outcomes.
2. Immediate Access to Targeted Market – SEM gives complete access to the potential customers, a possibility to level strategies and adhere to them assertively.
3. Increased Sales – The paid advertisements in SEM are recognized to generate much more website visitors to the web page, which transform into more customers and better revenue.
There are a plenty of ways to carry out search engine marketing , but the following three are the most common strategies used:
Methods
Keyword Research
Keyword Research is the first thing you need to deal with, as it lays the foundation of your SEM campaign. You should include some good and relevant keywords on your site, as finding the right keywords also helps your SEO efforts. There are plenty of keyword research tools such as Google keyword research tool, wordtracker, wordstream and many more. Some tools are free while others charge you to get advanced results.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
PPC is very vital for successful search engine marketing. In order to lure your target audience towards your site, it’s the most significant advertising technique as it provides you with options, allowing you to display your ads and is reliable for paid marketing, as well.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is yet another SEM strategy which apart from being popular is quite effective. Nowadays, people love to watch clips and videos related to their interests, more than reading about them, especially when they’re in a hurry. Therefore, you must produce short videos about your products and post it on your page, to draw more visitors. Youtube happens to be the most successful in video marketing and it also requires you to choose your keywords properly.
Suhail is an expert in SEO, SEM and SMM. He has good understanding of white hat SEO strategies and writes regularly on different areas of internet marketing.