The average small business spends one percent of sales revenue on marketing. For some businesses, that could be a significant amount of money. For others, one percent of revenue may not give you much to work with.
Whether your marketing budget is $100 or $100,000, you still want to spend that money on initiatives that work. One of the best things your business can invest in is search engine marketing strategies.
Our guide will break down what SEM is, and we’ll show you some of the many ways it can benefit your business.
What is SEM?
To begin, let’s answer the question, “What is SEM?”
SEM – or Search Engine Marketing is a form of internet marketing which uses search engines to get ads in front of your audience. It is the inorganic or paid way to get your business’ website on the top of a search engine result page.
5 Ways Your Business Will Benefit From Effective Search Engine Marketing Strategies
1. SEM Makes Your Website Visible
Search engine advertising puts your website, business, and products, and services, front and center when people search, without all the guesswork of ranking for SEO.
SEM makes your website visible to the people who are looking for your products and services immediately.
In fact, if you have a new website, using an SEM campaign can be a very cost-effective way to test a new website’s UX and design and gain critical exposure right out of the gate!
2. SEM Compliments SEO
Many business owners have already adopted search engine optimization to some extent. SEO is a number of tactics you can use to help your website rank higher in search results.
Ranking can be difficult for certain keywords. Unless you’re ranking #1 for your chosen keywords, your SEO may not be driving the traffic you want.
That’s where search engine ads come in. You may be able to win bids on popular keywords. Consider that the conversion rate for SEM is higher than for organic search as well.
Even if your SEO efforts ARE effective and you rank organically for all the keyword terms you’d like to, by implementing a complimentary SEM strategy, your business can dominate the precious Page-1 real estate!
So by using both strategies together, you can increase your conversion rate exponentially!
3. Search Engine Marketing Strategies Allow You to Target Your Market
Do you need another reason to run an SEM campaign? Here’s a good one: You have increased control over who sees your ad.
With SEO, you can rank for local keywords. You can also try to rank for more general keywords. This strategy could mean your website crops up for anyone searching from anywhere.
With search engine marketing strategies, you can narrow your marketing to a specific audience.
You can set target markets to limit the people seeing your ad to those who are likely to respond. This can include setting geographical limits or using local keyword searches.
By using better tools for targeting, you can make sure your investment in SEM strategies pays off.
4. SEM Is Cost-Effective
Think about your marketing budget again. With limited funds, you want to be sure the marketing strategies you choose are going to deliver.
SEO is often the most cost-effective choice since it has long term effectiveness well beyond the initial efforts expended.
Furthermore, you don’t pay for your rank, as it is organically achieved. You may even be able to do it yourself.
By contrast, SEM may seem to be quite pricey. The more popular the keywords you want to bid on, the higher the cost.
That said, properly implemented, SEM can be cost-effective as well. Ads are relatively simple to put together.
Local keywords often don’t have much competition, so you can get them for a lower price.
This, combined with higher conversion rates, make it a cost-effective choice for businesses.
5. SEM Can Deliver Short-Term Results
If you’ve been using SEO for any length of time, you know it isn’t a quick fix. In fact, it can take months for even the best SEO strategy to start paying off.
If you’re hoping to drive traffic to a two-week sale or another event, think SEM. SEM delivers immediate short-term results. It’s another reason it pairs so well with a great SEO strategy.
Design Your SEM Campaign Now
Effective search engine marketing strategies can deliver many benefits to your business. If you’re not already using them, don’t wait.
Design an SEM campaign to compliment your other marketing initiatives.
Need a hand getting started? Our expert team is ready to help you use SEM more effectively.
