What is SEO, SEM, and SMM

by Victor J. McCoy

The internet has opened doors for so many businesses to market their services on a larger scale quicker, and in some cases at a lower cost. This is due to the ability of companies to develop effective SEO campaigns along with Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media Marketing (SMM).

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) describes the tactics associated with researching, submitting and positioning a Web site within search engines to achieve maximum exposure of your Web site. SEM does include SEO but it not limited to that process. It includes paid listings and other search-engine related services and functions that will increase exposure and traffic to your Web site.

SMM (Social Media Marketing) is the new buzzword that is used to describe a myriad of Web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially interact with one another via the Web or Web 2.0 as these services are normally labeled. They include Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg, blogs and other sites that have content largely contributed based on user participation — that is, sites that organize and deliver user-generated content (UGC).



SEO ( Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. The goal of SEO is to have your website appear earlier in the search results list for your product or service. When visits to your website increase the opportunity to increase sales of your product or service should also increase.

There are many companies that present themselves as professionals, promising results they may not or cannot produce. Then there are some that will make no guarantees but produce great results in helping your company rankings improve on the internet. But, the key to directing traffic to your website to increase sales is also directly related to your offline marketing strategy as well as your online SEO strategy. A combination of both can produce great results - preferably desired results. Never approach SEO without clearly defining what you can reasonably expect as a return on your efforts. You must understand what "your" objective is as it relates to your entire business. Do not get caught up in someones aggressive sales pitch concerning SEO services. Do your homework and study the different strategies that are being used. The first step is to understand how the search engines work, what keywords or topics people are looking for as well as the actual words relevant to your industry that are being searched. Secondly, you must know how your website HTML has been coded to help search engines index your website. Thirdly, make sure your website has been submitted to all of your local and regional directories. This will help you website become more visible.

If you would like to discuss this further or develop your companies SEO strategy email me at victor@3vdesignmedia.com