What is SEM? How To Do It Correctly?

What is Search Engine Marketing?

SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, has become one of the best ways to grow and develop a business in the ever-increasing competitive online market. With hundreds of thousands of businesses promoting and growing themselves through online platforms and websites, ensuring that you are equipped with the correct tools to promote your brand or business is now more important than ever, and search engine marketing is one of the best ways to do this. Search Engine Marketing and advertising refer to paid marketing through advertisements that appear on search engines results pages. These advertisements are displayed in specific searches as brands of businesses buy the rights to advertise for certain keywords that are most relatable to their product or service. 

A good example of this would be that if you were an online platform that sold Apples in Istanbul, you would buy the keywords “buy apples in Istanbul” on a search engine like Google, and your page would then be advertised when anyone types this into a search engine! The advertisements that are displayed are often referred to as pay-per-click search engine marketing and they can come in a variety of different formats, from small texts to large images that display all the information a customer would need to complete a purchase or take a specific course of action. This type of marketing is extremely valuable as it places your brand or business in direct contact with customers who are looking for exactly what you are offering. 

Search engine marketing in digital marketing works on the basis of a pay per click price plan, and so every time that a person clicks on your advertisement and goes to your page from an advertisement link, you will be charged for this. It is for this reason that it is important that you are promoting to the correct target audience to ensure that clicks and money are not wasted! 

How Does Search Engine Marketing Work?

Search engine marketing is when a brand or business pays for an advertisement to appear on the results page on search engines, prompting users to click on these advertisements which will take them directly to a landing page or home page of the business. Certain keywords or phrases are bought by brands or businesses so that when a user searches for these words on a search engine, the advertisement will pop up at the top of the results page. Search engine marketing platforms have become incredibly popular as the competition between online businesses increases and it becomes harder and harder for SEO tactics to be effective. Search engine marketing is essentially paying to jump ahead of the competition and secure your product or service as one of the first to be seen by customers. SEM consultants will help you to both come up with the advertisements, secure the perfect keywords or phrases and then purchase these keywords from the search engines. 

Why is Search Engine Marketing Important?

There are many benefits and paid search engine marketing advantages. SEM statistics have proven that it is one of the best ways to promote your web page and with search engine marketing tactics and global search engine marketing tools, you can increase the amount of traffic that makes it to your page quickly and easily. Paid advertisements display exactly what you want them to and have been known to help brands and businesses increase their conversion rates. This means that the customers who make their way to the website or webpage and are directed from these advertisements are more likely to make a purchase or complete the desired action, increasing sales and revenue. There are many uses for search engine marketing and this form of advertising has become extremely popular and beneficial as website purchases have become the more popular place to make purchases. Whether you are a small business using search engine marketing for the first time or are a seasoned pro hoping to advertise a new product, the Search engine marketing process is an important marketing step that can quickly lead to increases in your profits and ROI. 

What Are The Types of Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is a form of unpaid marketing whereby a brand or business uses tools and tactics to increase its ranking on search engines. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are often confused because their overall goals are the same; to increase the organic traffic that makes its way to a webpage. SEO however, does not pay to do this and the tactics involved in this form of Search engine marketing include increasing keywords, increasing backlinks and a bunch of other methods that all contribute to a web page rising hirer on the SERPs (search engine results page). 

Search Engine Advertising

Search engine advertisements are a form of paid advertising whereby a brand or business purchases certain keywords or phrases from a search engine and when these words are typed into the search engine, the advertisement pops up above the organic results. While SEO is attempting to organically increase a web page ranking on the SERP, search engine advertising is the process of purchasing a place above the SERPs and putting an advertisement for the web page in one of these slots. You will know the difference between an advertisement and the web page from the label, as advertisements t are labelled as ‘ad’. 

Paid Submission

Paid submissions involve listing your brand or business with a paid directory that will then list the company. This process is beneficial as it helps a companies visibility by increasing business online citation. Businesses and brands should list their business with all directories as this will increase their chances of being recognised by potential customers. 

What Are Some of The Search engine marketing Products?

Google Ads

For brands and businesses that are specifically looking for growth on Google, the Google Ad software has been developed to provide a search engine marketing platform where one is able to purchase paid advertisement slots. One of the best things about Google Ad is that you are able to design your own advertisement and they have a ton of different formats that are available for you to use, from simple forms like telephone numbers and general information to more complex ones like maps. Google Ads is one of the best platforms to use for those who are hoping to use pay-per-click advertising methods to increase visibility and web page traffic. 

Remarketing Search Ads

Remarketing search ads are features of search engine marketing that allows for advertisements to be customised for people that have previously visited your web page. The different advertisements are then tailored to suit specific groups of people and target them according to specific keywords or phrases. This is one of the more complex SEM products and is used to target different groups of people with different information that a brand or business thinks will be more impactful to them. 

Pay Per Click Ads 

Pay per click ads is a method of Search engine marketing whereby a brand or business will pay a publisher every time that an advertisement is clicked on. This is one of the most common kinds of Search engine marketing tactics as it ensures that you are paying for not just an advertisement to be displayed but for the actual site visits. While every click may not result in a desired action or purchase, these site visits are an important part of the online marketing process. 

What are the advertising campaigns you can make with Search engine marketing?

Search Ads

Search ads refer to the target Search engine marketing campaigns when certain keywords are typed into Google and your advertisement pops up on top of the organic results page. This ensures that when certain words or phrases are typed into a search engine, words and phrases that you have purchased from the search engine, your advertisement will be the first thing that a customer sees! This ensures that your advertisements are targeted towards specific searches and people, giving your page the highest chance of receiving traffic.   

Shopping Ads

Shopping ads are advertisements that contain a lot of information about specific products and they use product information that is submitted by the merchant. These types of advertisements are prompted by certain keywords or phrases that are typed into a search engine and the results appear at the top of the page. These types of advertisements are extremely useful and productive and if a customer sees something that they like, they can click on the advert and be taken straight to the page where they are able to purchase it! Things like price, colour and product information are generally shown along with an image of the product. 

Display Ads

Display advertising is a type of search engine marketing that uses images, text and videos to attract customers to a web page. We have all at one time or another come into contact with these types of advertisements and they often pop up when we land on a web page. One of the most common occurrences of this is when you land on a web page and the page immediately asks you to sign up for the newsletter or to their blog. These display ads are very often persuading the customer to action and are clear in their intentions. 

Youtube Ads

While we sometimes find them a bit annoying, one of the most effective kinds of search engine marketing campaigns are Youtube Ads. These advertisements are displayed before, after and during videos on Youtube and are more often than not videos. These kinds of advertisements are not targeted towards any specific search but they can be targeted towards certain youtube videos! These types of advertisements are popular when it comes to mobile search engine marketing. 

How is the Search Engine Marketing Ads cost per click calculated?

One of the most important things to consider when looking into search engine marketing is how much it will cost compared to how much you are going to make. Cost per click advertisements is designed so that every time a person clicks on one of your advertisements you are then subsequently charged for this click. Things like what the keyword is and the user internet can lead you to bid for a lower price or it can lead to prices being higher for specific words or phrases. 

The amount that you pay per click is important to consider as this impacts the overall cost of this Search engine marketing campaign. Getting prices as low as possible will ensure that this marketing scheme will make you money instead of you losing. Search engine marketing cost per click advertisements is calculated by dividing the price of the advertisement by the number of clicks that the specific advert gets though there are other ways that the performance of the campaign is measured. 

How to set a target audience in Search Engine Marketing?

Your target audience refers to the customers you are hoping to attract with your advertisement. Certain target groups are more inclined to react to certain types of advertisements that display certain things, each target group or audience having different reactions to different forms and displays. When it comes to search engine marketing, one of the first steps is defining who your target audience is and how you are going to attract them to your web page. Long gone are the days of traditional buyer personas, it is now more important than ever that your customer base be properly defined! 

This is extremely important when it comes to Search engine marketing as different target audiences would react better to different types of campaigns, different copy and different information. In order to correctly set and determine your target audience, a clear search engine marketing campaign, target goals and a clear set of keywords or phrases should be defined. Having these different elements in line with one another will ensure that your advertisements will be able to easily target your intended audience. 

What Is The Difference Between SEM and SEO?

SEO and SEM are two marketing strategies that are aiming to achieve the same thing; an increase in the amount of visibility that a page receives and in the amount of traffic that is directed towards a page though the difference is noted in how they each achieve this. While search engine optimization uses an assortment of different tactics and tools to achieve a better ranking on search engines, search engine marketing goes right to the source and purchases the rights to advertise when a certain keyword or phrase is typed into Google. 

What are The Benefits of Search Engine Marketing?

Search engine marketing is an extremely beneficial form of marketing and it is noted as one of the best ways for brands and businesses to attract customers. While SEO tactics work to gain organic traffic, sometimes you need a quick and effective way to attract the attention of search engine users. The following are just a few reasons why search engine marketing is such an important type of marketing to learn about and implement if you have a website that is looking to attract more traffic: 

• Gains the attention of your target audience: With the correct keywords or phrases being purchased form search engines, you can make sure that you catch customers looking for the exact product that you are offering and at the perfect time! This ensures that you are making contact with a highly engaged audience who are ready to complete an action or make a purchase, with your advert being one of the first ones that catch their eye. 

• It is quick and easy: One of the main benefits of Search engine marketing is that it is quick to implement an SEM campaign. While SEO and other targeted forms of marketing are generally slow to build up and attract customers, search engine marketing is a relatively quick way to attract your target market. Paid marketing tactics are an easy way to quickly generate customers and with the ability to corner specific groups and keywords, you can easily turn users and clicks into paying customers! 

• The success of Search engine marketing is measurable: Another thing that makes search engine marketing such a popular technique is that a business or brand is able to measure how effective this form of marketing is. While other marketing strategies are able to estimate ROI, Search engine marketing is actually able to measure the number of clicks and purchases made against the cost of implementing a search engine marketing strategy. 

What is the Importance of Account and Campaign Structure in Search engine marketing?

As soon as a brand or business is paying for a form of marketing, it is important that a specific account and campaign structure is put in place. This account and campaign structure ensure that certain targets or goals are met over a certain period. If a Search engine marketing campaign is working well, these targets and goals will be met and if they are not, then you know that something within the structure of the campaign should be adjusted. Not having an account and campaign structure in place can lead to brands and businesses not being aware of how their search engine marketing campaigns are increasing revenue streams. 

How to Create a Search engine marketing Strategy to Achieve Great Results?

A search engine marketing business plan is important to define before you start looking into the different ways you can purchase advertisement slots through a search engine. Deciding why you are wanting to develop a paid advertising strategy and understanding how you are hoping to implement it is an important part of the process when looking to get into paid advertising or search engine marketing. The following are a few search engine marketing strategy examples to follow for those who are hoping to learn more about how they can structure and implement a plan and progress their Search engine marketing plans: 

1. Outline goals: The first thing you have to do when developing a Search engine marketing strategy defines your goals and outline why you are wanting to use an SEM strategy to develop your brand or business. Here, it is important to lay out what you are hoping will come from this marketing program? Are you hoping to receive more hits on your newsletter or blog? are you looking for more site visits? Or are you hoping paid advertisements will lead to more purchases? whatever your reasoning, be sure to outline your goals before proceeding with the Search engine marketing strategy. 

2. Look at the competition: Before deciding on things like your keywords or phrases, type them into a search engine to see who your competition is and how they have marketed themselves. This could go a long way in bettering your campaign and improving on mistakes that they may have made! 

3. Choose a platform: There are many different pay per click platforms that offer an assortment of different services, so be sure to carefully look at each one and decide on which would be better suited to your own web page. many of the different platforms allow for you to run exploratory tests to see whether or not the platform would be a good fit for your business so be sure to take advantage of these tests. 

4. Keywords: One of the most important steps to ensure that your search engine marketing campaign results in an increase in traffic is to get the perfect keywords to suit your target audience. If you do not feel comfortable enough with keyword research to perform it yourself, contact a company like Markethinkers who can walk you through the process of keyword research and help you to find the perfect keywords to suit your target audience!

5. Have a budget plan: Unlike free marketing sources, like SEO, search engine marketing costs money and therefore a budget needs to be put in place to monitor how much you can spend throughout the process. This part of the process can be tricky as you do not want to commit more money than you are going to make back, this part of the process may also require some outside assistance from Search engine marketing consultants and experts. 

6. Have good and persuasive copy written: One of the search engine marketing basics and another very important part of the campaign is coming up with persuasive and good copy that is going to convince a targeted user to click on your advertisement. This copy should be concise and convincing, ensuring that your money is not wasted by those who are not committed to potentially purchasing or completing a certain action. 

7. Have a call to action landing page: Having an advertisement that does not lead to a page with a call to action on it can be the reason why people leave a page without making a purchase or completing an action. To avoid this, it is recommended that advertisements are linked to a landing page that has a direct call to action which will convince a potential customer to make a purchase or complete an action. 

8. Always monitor your advertisement: With so many search engine marketing methods that are constantly changing, it is important that you monitor and keep search engine marketing advertisements up to date. Things are always changing and new updates and changes in algorithms must be noted so your campaign can be restructured and reorganised if need to be. 

Why Are SEO and Content Important for the success of Search Engine Marketing?

Any good search engine marketing guide will put forward that search engine optimization, content and search engine marketing are three concepts that are each very integrated with the other. Content is something that is always going to be necessary, and having good copy that attracts customers and keeps them engaged is always going to be an integral part of any marketing campaign. Whether you are looking to increase your rankings through developing and improving on your SEO or are hoping to go straight to the source and purchase an advertising slot through search engine marketing, having content that is going to inspire a customer to repeat an action or make a purchase is at the heart and soul of any marketing strategy. 

When it comes to SEO, even though this process may be slower than search engine marketing tactics, it is still a very important strategy to work on and the efforts that go into drawing organic traffic will only increase the effectiveness of your paid advertisements. If any user is not sure about your brand or business, seeing your page advertised on both the organic results page and the advertising one will solidify your business as being a top contender to grab a user’s attention! Search engine marketing and SEO are two different marketing tactics that are both aiming for the same thing, to increase visitors to your page and drive engaging content that instils a response from the intended market. Be sure that both your Search engine marketing and SEO are top-notch competitors and your webpage will be one of the most visited and popular pages for your intended target market!