The Keys to Effective Search Engine Marketing

At imagistic, clients constantly ask us “What really is search engine marketing? What’s all the buzz? And can it help my business?” Simply stated, Search Engine Marketing is any activity intended to bring traffic from a search portal (Google, AOL search, MSN, Yahoo!, etc.) to another Web site.

It is an umbrella term used to cover a set of marketing methods to increase the visibility of a Web site in search engine results pages (SERPs). If that still sounds too convoluted, just remember: if you’re trying to get visitors to visit your Web site, you’re undertaking search engine marketing.

It’s hard to ignore the stats: In 2006 Harris Interactive reported that about 80% of all internet traffic begins at a search engine, and DoubleClick reported 41% of Web users used search for simple navigation (typing a query to find a site rather than typing a Web site URL directly into their browser). Forrester Research indicates search engine marketing will be over a $7 billion dollar business in 2007.

SEM is an important tool for businesses who sell goods and services online or who use their Web sites to generate sales leads.

Next time we will go into the four principle methods under the SEM umbrella.