By Kyle McCabe | August 31, 2010
Search Engine Marketing... it's not voodoo
There’s still a lot of confusion out there about what a search engine marketing firm does – and doesn’t do – and I think this confusion is holding businesses back or causing people to waste a lot of money on false expectations.
Put simply, search engine marketing (SEM) is just what it says it is: marketing. It’s not search engine sales, or search engine lead generation, or search engine voodoo…it’s just marketing; bringing your products and services to market.
I can bring your product to someone who is searching for it (that’s the market). I can’t force them buy it, or contact you, or stop them from going to a competitor. We can take measures to influence these decisions, such as improving website usability, but SEM by itself does not do this.
This is why it’s so important to look at your web marketing efforts in a wholistic way: SEM works with site design and usability works with copywriting works with social communication. And it should all work together with your offline marketing efforts, as well.
Still confused? Tell me about it in the comments – I’ll answer any question you might have.
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Photo courtesy of me’nthedogs
About the authorAs the SEO team lead at RSA, Kyle spends most of his time thinking of ways to get a company-sanctioned afternoon nap. He's an amateur photographer, social media junkie, recovering gamer, musician, blogger, and all-around web geek. He enjoys reading, writing, and breaking bricks. You can find him on LinkedIn, Flickr, and Twitter.
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