SEO/SEM Power Tools

This is the first in a series of articles on looking at ways web site owners can increase site traffic, develop a revenue sharing site and other ways to boost the success of a web presence - beginning with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Both are tools that every marketing professional has to know about and will have to learn to use to market a web site.

A Few Stats to Get Started

According to The Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Optimization (Entrepreneur Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 2008) 70 percent of adults use the Internet today. More staggering is that 90 percent of the search engine activity is from the big four search engines – Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Ask.

A technology called pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and affiliate marketing has helped these four mega search engines become revenue powerhouses. Amazon.com can also attribute much of its success to PPC as can Monster.com.

The best way to learn a rather complex technology is to break it all down into laymen terms so that marketers of every level and from all types of companies can get in on the powerful features of SEO/SEM.

First Some Must-Know Facts about SEO/SEM

SEO and SEM are used interchangeably these days and both relate to marketing a web site via the search engines on the Internet. SEM is achieved by improving the rank of a web site in the search engines, purchasing paid listings or using a combination of search engine-related activities to get a web site and ultimately a company optimally marketed via the Internet. SEO is the art or process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a web site that others would use as part of a web search.

1. To gain access to the people of a specific target market – which more than likely have a large percentage using search engines on the net – it is vital to achieve a high search rank for the words or terms that said target market would use to search (SEO).
2. To achieve a high search rank, SEO/SEM strategies have to be implemented.
3. To successfully implement SEO/SEM, an understanding of what SEO/SEM is and how it works is a must.
4. Building a successful web site starts with determining keywords or key phrases that a customer base would use to search the net and then building a web site around those words or phrases.
5. SEO/SEM seems complex to start – but looking at and learning each component one step at a time will help build a complete or at least a better and useable understanding.
6. SEO/SEM technologies are closely related to affiliate marketing, social marketing and viral marketing.
7. SEO/SEM has to be a part of a marketing plan. Strategically planning the use of SEO/SEM is needed to ensure success.
8. Keep in mind SEO/SEM are just part of the toolset in the marketing toolbox and cannot be considered an end-all to marketing.
9. Anyone can learn to use SEO/SEM effectively.

Does it All Work – Really?

Is SEO/SEM worth the time, effort and learning curve? Test it by spending time doing serious search trials in the big four and analysis the results list to see which sites come out at the top of the list. Or e-mail amazon.com, monster.com, quickenloans.com or yahoo.com and ask their opinions of SEO andSEM.

Next, Some History and Successes of SEO/SEM

History and success stories provide the best perspective of any topic – including SEO/SEM. The next article will explore the history and a few successes of SEO and SEM. Future articles will provide how-to’s, tips and techniques as well as development do’s and don’ts. For another article in the series go to http://guerrilla-viral-marketing.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_and_success_of_seosem or http://guerrilla-viral-marketing.suite101.com/article.cfm/seosem_design_tips_and_tricks.

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