SEO vs. SEM: Which One is the Winning Strategy?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are some terms you might hear thrown around in terms of your website design. These two things work hand-in-hand, and it’s up to you how you want to proceed with your online presence.

SEO is really all about how you stack up against others in organic searches on search engine like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Some components that will factor into SEO include your content, HTML tags, organization of site pages, size and age of your site, and other components that are built into the design and development of your website. These factors are typically taken into account when you are paying to have your site designed and really shouldn’t cost anything additional – Fusion Group USA includes basic SEO into website design and ensures that you will not have to pay extra monthly fees for basic SEO.

If you are interested in spending a little more money on online marketing, SEM is something to consider. SEO is really a component of SEM, and search engine marketing includes a few additional things to get your site listed and visible. This will incur an additional cost because it employs the use of paid advertising on major search engines. If you pay for SEM with Fusion Group USA, here are a few things you will get (in additional to basic SEO):

  • Set up Pay Per Click Campaign with Google AdWords
  • Set up Pay Per Click Campaign with Yahoo Search Marketing
  • Perform research to determine the best mix of terms to bid on
  • Set optimum bid levels based on your monthly budget
  • Copywriting of multiple ad listings
  • Custom landing pages
  • Detailed reporting

As you can see, SEM is geared more toward pay per click advertising which entails paying for each person that clicks on your ad. Fusion Group USA suggests that you have a budget of at least $500 per month to make Pay Per Click (PPC) worth your while. For example, a monthly budget of $500 with an average bid of $2 per click could generate up to 250 visitors. Users have to search for words that you choose in order for your ad to pop-up, which means having a marketer that can take the time to research and develop the terms would be to your advantage. You want to make sure you are getting your money’s worth, so having someone to manage your SEM can help immensely and help you make the most of it. For eCommerce sites, paid search visits have a 35% higher conversion rate according to a Market Live study. Investing some money in SEM could lead to higher conversion rates for business.

It’s important to emphasize that SEO is a component of SEM – and a very important one. After all, 94% of clicks are on organic, not paid, listings. This means that you need to show up higher in search engine rankings to be clicked on. SEM can still be valuable though. Think about it: according to a DMR report, there are over 100 billion searches on Google daily. If only 6% of people are clicking on paid ads, that’s still 6 billion people. That’s a lot of people that you could appeal to with PPC and SEM!

Fusion Group USA can help you determine what route is better for you depending on your business and your marketing goals. It’s important to have a basic understanding of these terms and what they mean to you because when getting your website designed, you don’t want to pay for something you shouldn’t be paying for…like basic SEO. If you’re interested in learning more about SEO and SEM and how it could benefit your business, call Fusion Group USA!

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