As the importance of the web in conveying information about your firm has increased, so too has the importance of search engine marketing (SEM). Given that most internet surfers will only view the first 3 pages for a given key word, high placement on the search engines has become especially critical.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.  SEM is utilizing various means of "marketing" a website in order for it to become more relevant in regard to search engine searches and their rankings.  SEM traditionally consists of Ad words; which comprises pay per click, article submissions, advertising and making sure SEO has been done.

Pay-per-click (PPC) services allow high search engine placement through paid sponsorship of relevant keywords or phrases. This placement is a function of the ad copy developed for the keyword listing, its relevance to the web page to which it’s pointing, the amount the firm has bid on that particular word or phrase as well as its overall PPC budget. Because of the large number of variables involved (e.g., how much competitors are bidding on the same words), it is critical that pay-per-click efforts be constantly monitored and revised as necessary.