Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is money you pay to an Internet Marketing company to advertise your business on the Internet. It is not SEO. Search Engine Optimization is the modification of your existing Web site so it shows up in the center area of a search engine results screen.

 

SEM is a budgeted monthly advertising expense. Consider a budget for SEM just as you would for radio ads, newspaper ads, or billboards. With traditional forms of advertising you pay a certain amount of money for a period of exposure. For example... $300 can get your radio ad played 12 times off-prime time between 9pm and midnight for a week. For $600 you can get the same radio ad played 12 times during prime time between 5pm and 7pm for a week.

SEM pricing works a bit different than set scheduled times on radio, but it's similar in you get better exposure if you pay more. For example, for $2 per click you can get an advertising link to show up between the 5 to 10 ranking area on the right side of the search result page (The right side of the page! You cannot pay to show up in the center of the screen, that is SEO). But for $8 per click, you can get your advertising link to show up between the 1 to 4 ranking area on the right side of the screen. When people do click those ads on the right side of the search results screen, they are more likely to click the top 4 links than the 5th through 10th links. Prime space advertising on the Web cost more money :-)

 

So, when those companies come a calling, telling you they're going to get you top rankings in Google and Yahoo, what they're trying to do is sell you SEM or Internet Marketing/Advertising. Which may not be a bad thing for your company, but realize it is a monthly marketing expense. And with all advertising/marketing it only works if you consistently use it.