Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about the technical enhancement of your web site code. Also link building – The process of creating inbound links to owns website. This can be done reciprocal links, being listed in e-zines, newsletters, directories, search engines, etc.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is pay per click (PPC) sponsored adverts on search engine results pages. In which payment is based on the number of times the website is selected (clicked) from the results list. Is used in paid placement advertising and paid inclusion. Also known as cost-per-click listings (CPC).

They are quite different types of marketing, ultimately both though draw users and prospective business to your web site.

To increase your organic search engines listings as well as getting users driven to your site:

Get links from press releases and focus on relevant business directories. For example, Google News and NewsNow

The Search engines are changing their alogorithms very often, which means the way they rank web sites can be different depending on varying factors, such as web content, backlinks, etc. This can very often be very complex to understand.

To deal with new alogorithm patterns, resubmission and reoptimisation is required of your web site. With a keyword review for example.

SEO: is an ongoing process, rather like the myth build a web site and they will come, you can’t just do a one off initial campaign and leave it. If you are selling a product online, it is in your interest to invest time in reporting to see whether you are listed higher than your competitors.

SEM: Up to 60% of users to a Google results page do not click on sponsored PPC links. They trust more in natural search results. Therefore, natural/organic SEO is more cost effective than PPC in the long term strategy.

If you have a strong brand it would be more cost effective to choose 3rd position in the sponsored ads as people tend to compare the top three.

To aid success in an SEM (PPC) campaign:

• Produce relevant web content.
• Understand conversion rates and margins
• Understand the search market place within your sector
• Take seasonality into account, eg: “loansâ€? best keyword after new year.
• Deep link advert to relevant page content, eg: item description
• Set clear objectives and keep testing them
• Analyse your results – then track, measure and optimise!
• From this adjust your PPC advert fees accordingly. If a keyword is working, increase the fee, if it is not lower the fee.
  

The key for both SEO and SEM is understanding the strengths and weaknesses in the keywords you have selected for web content and sponsored advert text.

Ask yourself every month “so what?”, and “what do these results mean?”.

Perhaps there are any keyword phrases that your competitors are not using that you can take advantage of.

In conclusion, if you have both good organic listings and good PPC position for keyword phrases it can be very effective and a good strategy to follow.

An SEO package from Callender Creates not only advises you of the best practices, we can also track and report on the position of your web sites. To make sure you stay on the first results page.

Here’s a list of what makes any web site a success, meaning more business for your company.

Follow these tips and you will have a site that is guaranteed to get more attention than a web site that chooses to ignore them!

Make sure your site looks professional
Take a hard, cold look at your site – or ask a friend who will be brutally honest to look at the site. Does it look professional? Are the graphics professional-quality and clear? Are the fonts, font sizes, and font colors used in a consistent way?

Don’t use the name of your company as the web page title
Every web page has a windows-style title bar. The title that appears in that title bar is determined by what you include in the title “tag” in the html code for the page.

Focus the home page and product pages on your customers’ interests, not yours
It’s tempting to write a lengthy description of your business accomplishments and run it on your home page with a big photo of yourself. But prospects and customers have come to your site to find out what you sell and how it will help them.

Avoid a cluttered look
If you sell multiple products, you want them all to be found. And if you are being billed by the number of “pages” on your web site, you may want to keep costs down.

Minimize graphic sizes to make sure your pages load quickly
Photos and other graphic images make your pages look appealing and help illustrate what you sell. So, they are important to include. But don’t let the size of graphics slow down your web site.

Make sure it’s easy to place an order
Imagine how annoyed you’d be if you ran into the supermarket to pick up a container of milk, and couldn’t find the checkout counter? Website visitors are no different.

Be sure your contact information is easy to find
Customers not only want to know what you sell and who you are, they want to know how to reach you.

Share links with other businesses in your community
The tips above will help you get found in search engines and help make your pages more appealing to potential customers.

A lot of our clients have no problems visuallising what they want from their new web sites, however this tends to be the easy part for them. The tricky part is getting the textual content (body copy) for the web site correct, and often the time alocated for this is underestimated.

Relax, to make this job easier we give you just what you’re looking for over at alistapart >> 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web