Where to start first, SEO or SEM?
For a new business it can be a tough choice, should I bite the bullet and invest in SEO for my new site? Or should I try the safe route and spend the money on an SEM campaign? Where margins could suffer being lost in the mist of endless competition?
If you truly are starting a new business and do not have a lot to gamble, the SEM option may be your better choice. You can start to feed your profits by simply turning volume saving money for the SEO investment. I know how this sounds; the SEO guy is suggesting SEM! But if you are in a highly competitive field its going to take a lot of money to move the new site.
A few reasons why it can be such a tough process:
1). Google looks at the age of the domain, a new domain could spell trouble. You would need to build credibility towards the new domain. Rand Fishkin wrote a great article today about this exact subject.
2). Do you have enough real unique content to stand apart? Maybe not, you may just be taking the same data bits from the other sites that are out there. Not a great user experience and Google can see this.
3). You may have invested in the wrong technology, many new online sites get sold this amazing web design with a huge back log of technical problems. It could cost hundreds of hours repairing it. That’s why it’s so important to check the rankings of the other clients. If they don’t rank, something is wrong!
On the other hand if you can get the press coverage and have a unique offering you might just be able to take the risk. To asses the situation go to the search engines, check out the competition. See how long they have been in the business and most importantly figure out how many are competing with you. It’s important to realize that competition is not just the sales guys. It’s also the other sites out there, the ones that you may consider pointless, specs, news etc.
If you truly are starting a new business and do not have a lot to gamble, the SEM option may be your better choice. You can start to feed your profits by simply turning volume saving money for the SEO investment. I know how this sounds; the SEO guy is suggesting SEM! But if you are in a highly competitive field its going to take a lot of money to move the new site.
A few reasons why it can be such a tough process:
1). Google looks at the age of the domain, a new domain could spell trouble. You would need to build credibility towards the new domain. Rand Fishkin wrote a great article today about this exact subject.
2). Do you have enough real unique content to stand apart? Maybe not, you may just be taking the same data bits from the other sites that are out there. Not a great user experience and Google can see this.
3). You may have invested in the wrong technology, many new online sites get sold this amazing web design with a huge back log of technical problems. It could cost hundreds of hours repairing it. That’s why it’s so important to check the rankings of the other clients. If they don’t rank, something is wrong!
On the other hand if you can get the press coverage and have a unique offering you might just be able to take the risk. To asses the situation go to the search engines, check out the competition. See how long they have been in the business and most importantly figure out how many are competing with you. It’s important to realize that competition is not just the sales guys. It’s also the other sites out there, the ones that you may consider pointless, specs, news etc.
by Aaron Shear
4 Comments:
SEM vs. SEO
First off, thanks for the great post Aaron. We position SEM to clients as a means of getting immediate results and SEO as more of a long term investment in owning a better piece of search real estate. We also find that going through the SEM process first provides valuable data to help better develop a well thought out SEO strategy.
I haven't read anything with which I could possibly disagree, well put. No doubt SEM is a necessary aspect of the investment during the overall strategy to gain better organic ranking, in the short and long-term. I personally do not like throwing more money at pay-per-click, but mind you, SEM should also include any paid ad (featured listings) to create more inbound links.
The second posting Michael again - you can see good examples of balance between SEO & SEM at http://www.FirstSEOconsultants.com
I am practising what you preach Great article. Some very useful way to increase visitors to one's blog. Will try to implement some ways to increase my puny traffic ....
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johnpetersen
SEO
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