Boosting Revenue via SEO and SEM

If you run a business website, whether it’s an e-commerce store or an extension of your brick and mortar office, then you should know a little something about SEO and SEM.

But, like many new website managers, you may also be putting all of your eggs in one basket.

Let’s dig in a little about what the two options are, what they can do for you, and how to incorporate them both into your marketing plan.

What’s the difference between SEO and SEM?

SEO (search engine optimization) is focused on gaining organic traffic and increasing your rankings through keyword research and online techniques that raise brand awareness. It takes time to cultivate, and you’ll want to be patient during this process.

With SEM (search engine marketing), you’ll get faster results because you’ll be paying per click. The results will be faster, and you’ll save time gathering data, but you’ll also be paying more for it.

In some cases, one will work without the other, but if you want to make the most out of your marketing dollar, you can combine SEO and SEM.

How to combine your marketing efforts

If you’re just beginning combining these to online marketing techniques, then start with keyword research.

Instead of making two separate keyword lists, find words to target that will be used for both SEO and SEM. You’ll want to test the content through SEM first because you’ll get results faster and have a better understanding of what to expect when you put it through the SEO pipeline.

If your keywords don’t have much success with paid clicks, it may not do that well when it comes to gaining organic traffic. As you keep testing your keywords, you’ll start to notice other ways to unite your SEO and SEM efforts.