Time after time I have heard SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) used interchangeably. Clients and even industry insiders swap the two in and out as if they are the same. So, are they one in the same? Or are they different?

SEM - Search Engine Marketing

This is the process of marketing a Web site via search engines through multiple tactics both paid and organic to increase visibility, brand awareness, traffic and most definitely ROI. SEM encompasses SEO, paid advertising, Social Media Marketing, Blog marketing and Web analytics. Let?s break these down separately.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

A crucial component of any SEM campaign, SEO is a long term strategy that includes using both on and off page factors such as strategic linking, content, addressing site structure / navigation, and technical search friendliness issues. SEO does not happen overnight. But with a little elbow grease your Web site can enjoy quality targeted traffic and top search positions.

Paid Advertising

Cost effective ways to deliver paid traffic to your Web site includes PPC (pay per click), paid links, online media buys (banner ads) and email marketing, to name a few. PPC advertising, when done right, can provide high quality traffic and deliver a fantastic ROI. Paid advertising can also play a critical role in shaping your SEO efforts, because after all, you don't want to have to pay for that success forever.

Social Media Marketing

The term Social Media Marketing is evolving quickly and includes a variety of important social platforms, such as media sharing sites, social networks, and bookmarking tools. Social Media Web sites allow users to submit, share, bookmark and comment on submitted content in different ways. Content has the ability to spread virally as more users save / share / vote on the submitted content, thus sending traffic and establishing links to your Web site. When done correctly, Social Media Marketing can help your Web site's rankings on Search Engines and grow your business' online visibility!

Blog Marketing

Blogs are a great way to interact and gather feedback from your market, build brand and product awareness. Blogging is an interactive marketing tool that allows you to publish any content you want and respond to feedback from readers quickly. According to a study done by Universal McCann, there are an estimated 60.3 million people who read blogs in the United States alone. A complete SEM campaign will utilize blogs in a variety of ways to grow your company's brand awareness and connect with your audiences.

Web Analytics

SEO, paid advertising, Social Media Marketing and Blog marketing are all critical components of a successful SEM campaign. Use Web Analytics to fine tune these efforts by measuring program performance and ROI. The data will tell you what is working most effectively so you can focus on those elements that are making you money.

To Sum Up

SEO and SEM are not the same. SEO is one component of a much broader SEM campaign. Though SEM is all encompassing when it comes to marketing your Web site, SEO plays a critical role, it is often the necessary first step in any successful SEM campaign. Though SEO is just one building block, it is a vital foundation on which an SEM campaign needs to be built on and around. Though confusing, having an understanding of both SEM and SEO will benefit you in the long run. When you are looking for the total package in marketing your website online, it is important to trust your SEM campaign to professionals who fully understand the concepts and operations of this ever changing industry. It takes all of the components listed above, along with a specialized professional to really build the most profitable and beneficial internet marketing campaign for your business.

Labels: Organic SEO, PPC Advertising

My first job out of college was at Deltak, a producer of IBM mainframe software training products. Its only competitor was Advanced Systems Inc. (ASI). Both of these companies are now long gone.

This was back in 1978, just as the nation went into an awful recession with double-digit unemployment, double-digit inflation and double-digit mortgage rates. Those were brutal times!

In 1978, Deltak and ASI were running neck and neck. When the recession ended, Deltak had a commanding lead and never looked back. Deltak grew robustly during this period, growing from about $20 million in 1978 to $89 million in 1982, while ASI had minimal growth. The reason was that ASI cut back marketing and production of training products.

Just as the use of computers was growing rapidly in the late 1970s, today the Web is growing rapidly for retail shopping, industrial purchasing and just about every category of B2C and B2B marketing. Traditional print and broadcast advertising do not work as well as they once did. That is because people across demographics are turning to the Web for information and purchasing.

People use search engines to find information for purchasing. According to IT Facts, "The percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from 33% of all users in 2002, to 49% in 2008." http://www.itfacts.biz/49-of-users-use-search-engines-on-a-typical-day-in-2008/11638

Are you going to Compete or Hunker Down while Your Competitors Take the Lead?

You need to make decisions where to cut back, and where you cannot afford to cut back. Is search engine marketing something to cut, or expand?

You can hang your head that your business is contracting. Or you can grow your business by capturing your potential customers who are moving toward the Web and its search engines. By strengthening your marketing where your market now spends more of its time, you can grow your business in this down economy.

What are you doing to attract your buyers who are using the Web to buy? How do you stack up with your competitors on Google? If you are not addressing search engine marketing, you could end up like ASI as an also-ran.

Search engine marketing will build your market reach and visibility on Google, other search engines and across the Web. The beauty to marketers is that SEM has the tools to measure results and to calculate ROI. You then can use the data to further improve results. No more trying to figure out which half of your advertising budget is wasted. Implement search engine marketing and you will find little wasted budget. In other words, search engine marketing will stretch your advertising budget by making more of it work building business that you can measure.

Are you attracting your fair share of search engine traffic? If your competition is and you are not, then you better engage in effective search engine marketing, or you may not be around when economic expansion returns.

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

You are part of a successful company. You've established a solid team, developed valuable products or services, and you've done alright for yourself so far. However, in today's world doing alright isn't always enough. Search engine marketing has gone from being an advantage to a competitive necessity. SEM, including Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click initiatives have become the foundation for effective Web site marketing.

Last month, comScore, an online Internet measurement service, published the August 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings. They state that Americans conducted 11.7 billion searches in August. If you haven't implemented an SEM campaign yet, you are losing out on customers and sales. Potential customers are using search engines to find products and services. Are they finding your company?

When you're tired of seeing quality traffic and high search engine rankings pass you by, it's time to hire an SEM firm. This step will mean change for some of your employees, and too often, change is met with resistance. Employees are especially resistant to change when they feel their jobs may be affected. In some cases, an SEM firm may lighten the workload of some, while it may add to the workload of others. No matter why your employees feel resistant to an SEM firm, that resistance can harm your company and your SEM campaign.

An SEM firm often works with a variety of employees from different departments. Here is a short list of departments that SEM firms commonly work with. It is important to understand how and why these teams or individuals may view an SEM firm as something to resist.

• Executives: Typically this is the group that initiates or at least approves hiring an SEM specialist. Executive buy-in to the program is the first step to effective implementation. Executive support is necessary; but it isn't the only thing they must provide. In some cases, executives do not fully understand the purpose or need for an SEM firm, and that can cause tension. It is important for executives to learn about SEM, and serve as a resource when introducing an SEM firm into a company. Many employees will watch executives to see how the SEM firm should be treated. When the Execs respond positively and professionally, the rest of the company is more likely to follow suit.

• Marketing specialists: The Marketing department is often an integral part of an SEM campaign. At E-Power, we've often seen an SEM firm come in to enhance the work a Marketing team has been doing online. Very often Marketing teams understand some SEM basics, and have been building their online presence on those fundamentals. When an SEM firm is hired, some problems can arise when Marketing teams feel that they are being replaced, when in reality, their groundwork is being built upon and improved. In the same way that an SEM firm couldn't do your Marketers jobs at the highest level, it takes specialized SEM professionals to get top results for your company online. In the end, it takes team work between both Marketing specialists and SEM professionals to create and effectively implement the latest and most beneficial SEM strategies for your business.

• Technology professionals: A company's Tech team is another vital piece of the SEM team effort. Tech teams are often responsible for following through with an SEM campaign and implementing technical changes to company Web sites or perform other important responsibilities. This may disrupt the current work flow of the department, and may cause some hard feelings. At E-Power, we've unfortunately seen our work get tabled by a Tech department who didn't understand the need for the changes. It is important for the Tech team to understand the benefits a specialized SEM firm can provide. An SEM firm often values the roles of Technology professionals, but it is necessary for a Tech department to recognize the roles of SEM specialists as well.

It takes solid leadership and a strong commitment to overcome the resistance to change. Last month, I wrote about Corporate Culture, SEM, and You, and how to smooth the transition when bringing an SEM firm in. Those tips are very relevant when faced with resistance, especially now that you have a better understanding of how and why different departments may react to the news that your company will be utilizing an SEM firm. Ultimately, a professional and comfortable environment must be established for everyone involved in the SEM campaign. It is extremely important for your company that all employees, both from the SEM firm and within your company, are held accountable for their portion of the work. Your company's future is at stake. Are you taking the appropriate steps to move forward?

Labels: Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

Search engine marketing, specifically organic search engine optimization, cannot be effective without quality content. It just can't work period. Yet, this is one of the biggest challenges faced with a search engine optimization program.

Search engines are really simple creatures, they're robots, computers. They follow links and read the visible text on your Web site. Without visible text, there's not much left for them to read, therefore not much for them to rank your Web site for.

Once a set of target key phrases is established, you need to then be sure your Web site's content supports those key phrases. If your content doesn't use the key phrases you choose, you won't rank organically on the search engines for them. Search engines still also seem to prefer more content than less. Therefore, elaborate on your products or services. Give visitors something to read and something they want to read, all while using the target key phrases you would like to rank for. Now keep in mind, simply putting gibberish online with your target key phrases will not work either. You need to offer visitors and the search engines quality content.

Yes, there are many other factors that go into your search ranking for a specific term, however through all the smoke and dust, content is still a large part of the equation. As they used to say and still holds true - Content is King!

Labels: Organic SEO, SEM Back to Basics

October 15, not your typical day? In fact October 15th has been designated Blog Action Day, a day where bloggers unite for a common nonprofit cause, this year the focus being on poverty. E-Power is collecting food for the pantry run by Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Oshkosh. The church serve approximately 400 families each month. Can you donate food? E-Power will pick it up and deliver it to the food pantry.

In a time of economic crisis, natural disasters and conflicts, people, communities and nations unite to help in any way possible. With economic problems piling up, we need to help people now. Along with poverty comes hunger. We need to help people in need not just around holidays, but year round.

Looking at Poverty in Winnebago County, where E-Power Marketing is headquartered, we see an ever increasing trend of people falling at or below the poverty line. In just 5 years (from 2001 to 2005), the number of people falling below the poverty line in Winnebago County has increased over 50%.

Food pantries are especially in need this season. The floods this past June ruined much of the food inventories as they were often kept in the basement. The economy is sending more into poverty. Please help.

What can you do to help stave off poverty in Winnebago County?

• Get Involved with your local food pantry. Oshkosh Area Food Pantry Hours and Locations


• Many grocery stores have ways to donate; Festival Foods, Copps and Pick N' Save


• Donate clothing, coats, and blankets so that those who can't afford them on their own can stay warm this winter.


• Donate baby supplies (diapers/bottles/formula), school supplies, etc


• Use your own resources, like your blogs or company newsletters to raise awareness about area poverty and hunger.


• Volunteer with local literacy programs (Winnebago County Literacy Council); share your knowledge with those in need.


• Find out about your local school's meal programs, do they offer breakfast programs for children who would otherwise go without?


• Are there elderly nutrition programs in the area that need your help?


• Volunteer at area shelters; serve at area meal sites like the Salvation Army's

E -Power Marketing has participated in several charity events including Race for the Light, a nonprofit to raise funds and awareness for the Christine Anne Center for Domestic Abuse, as well as making charitable donations and helping to coordinate a golf outing for the Oshkosh Area Humane Center. E-Power has also made charitable donations to Jaycees to buy Shriners Circus tickets for disadvantaged kids, Shrine Circus Fund to help kids with serious burns receive medical attention and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. This year, sparked by the Blog Action Day for raising awareness to poverty and by the astounding local statistics mentioned above, E-Power wishes to shed light on local poverty issues as well as coordinate a food drive with a local food pantry, Emmanuel United Church of Christ.

We encourage bloggers and everyone else to get involved with the fight to end poverty, whether it be on a micro or macro level. If you wish to help E-Power Marketing with their Food Drive to benefit Emmanuel United Church of Christ; 1306 Michigan St; Oshkosh, WI; 920-235-8340. Please contact - info@epowermark.com for more information on how you can help.

Labels: E-Power News

Google Webmaster Tools now allows you to see some of the locations of your broken backlinks. Nice! To see the new Google Webmaster Tools feature, login to your account. Assuming your Web site is verified, click on Diagnostics > Web Crawl > Not Found. To the right of each not found URL there is a link for # pages. Click that and a pop up window of locations of that broken link are shown.

Be sure to go and see how many backlinks are broken for your Web site and don?t forget to let the webmasters of the broken link Web sites know that they should update their links!!!

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO