SEM stands for “search engine marketing.” It is the process of gaining traffic from or visibility on search engines. The phrase is also sometimes shortened to “search marketing.”
SEM is an umbrella term that covers two broad areas:
- Gaining traffic through free SEO efforts
- Gaining traffic through paid search advertising
A good SEM plan:
- Research your target audience.
- Set your online goals and key performance indicators.
- Build an initial list of important keywords that represent your current and most relevant content and potential content.
- Validate your keywords by testing and refining them with your keyword selector tools such as Yahoo Keyword Selector, Google Keyword Selector, Google Trendsand Keyword Discovery.
- Check your current ranking.
- Optimise the website by improving your web design, architecture and web page content.
- Pursue link-building and partnerships.
- Colonize the Web by publishing and circulating it in wiki, blogs, and video and picture sites(e.g. Flikr and Youtube).
- Get in the news such as Google News with RSS feeds.
- Install good tracking software, and track and analyze your performance for better results.