Seo vs Sem. which is better ?

[vickeyr]

which is better ?

search engine optimization

search engine marketing

[John Taylor]

Why should they be mutually exclusive?

The best long term strategy would be to
combine both SEO with SEM.

John

[jimmorris]

The head of my PPC/SEO Services Division does both.

She has a blend of direct response marketing background, SEO and PPC blended all in one. In fact, she won't do any PPC optimization without doing SEO on the client's site. To SEM she then incorporates link getting procedures...

[vickeyr]

but doing both on a result based point-of-view

[nata_sha]

Actually, there’s no clear winner among these three. While Internet marketing is the more composite and the most rewarding one, it has some cons like considerable research, expertise and expenses are required, on the other hand SEO is much easier and inexpensive but it doesn’t guarantee to yield the desired results. At the end of the day, you should pick the one that suits your goals and objectives. Hence, the winner is the one (and will be decided by you on a project to project basis) that will be able to meet your targets while using the minimum of resources.

Source: SEO vs SEM vs Internet Marketing | and the winner is? | SEO & SEM Blog

[vickeyr]

ok, which requires least capital to start up with

[nata_sha]

^^ SEO needs "no" capital to start with ...

[vickeyr]

time and effort is also considered capital, Its called "sweat equity"

[TheMagicShow]

Seo is a great way to bring traffic to your site as is ppc. The key differences in these two methods is that seo costs you nothing but time, ppc on the other hand can cost you and arm and a leg if not properly done.

My only gripe with seo is that, let's say you spend so much of your time to get the ranking that you desire, google does its little dance, and your rankings that you worked so hard for are gone.

PPC on the other hand can bring tons of targeted traffic and you have control of your marketing that seo doesn't give you 100% .

I like both of these marketing vehicles, but ppc is my choice for traffic. Yes it does cost money, but it can be recouped, and if you work your ppc campaigns the right way, evenually you can pay much less.

[jerson]

Theyr bot great.

[Andyhenry]

This question is not sensible - they are different things and have different impact depending on how you use them.

A sound SEM strategy will include SEO. SEO does not necessarily require SEM but as soon as you look at off-page SEO, you're starting to cross into SEM.

Starting from a point of one or the other doesn't make sense - they're both just part of a rounded marketing mix.

What you really care about is what makes money and that's difference for different businesses in different niches so there is no answer to a question like yours.

Andy

[vickeyr]

Really the focus here is to have both all of you say. there are different effect high and low. the depends on the niche

but the question is overall which is the winner.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by vickeyr

Really the focus here is to have both all of you say. there are different effect high and low. the depends on the niche

but the question is overall which is the winner.

There is no winner - it's not a sane question.

If you want to get your post count up please find a sensible subject to do it with.

[vickeyr]

]I am not trying to get my post count up, this is a legit problem

Let me give you a scenario of a small micro-NICHE


Ex: ppc bully - Google Search

There is no NICHE that is not saturated these days as you can
You can't do SEO Or SEM

see from the link above

This is the state of every market

I am not kidding, every NICHE that you try to target. overwhelming level competition.

So want to do, this is huge problem.

For Internet marketers like us, does anybody have an answer

[Andyhenry]

This is not true - you've generalised to the point where you can't do anything.

Not EVERY niche is saturated, I find new niches all the time.

Since you're selling a product called make20kweekly you must be ok too..

[vickeyr]

that's my point you need to find new niches to stay alive in the market.

the Example was point in the level of competition out there for a micro-niche,

I takes too much time in SEO, and too much Money in the SEM Model,

to get any significant success in a Simple Market, such as above

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by vickeyr

that's my point you need to find new niches to stay alive in the market.

the Example was point in the level of competition out there for a micro-niche,
I takes too much time in SEO, and too much Money in the SEM Model,

to get any significant success in a Simple Market, such as above

You don't NEED to find new niches.

I don't know why you're saying such things.

I have several successful businesses in micro-niches and several in general niches - each one of them could be my only income. I do it because I know how to make it work - if you're not getting the results you want either do something different or learn how to make it work.

Your generalisations about things being impossible are just wrong.

[Kurt]

I missed the memo: Exactly when did SEM mean the same as PPC?

SEM was around way before PPC, now they mean the same?

[GeorgR.]

your questions does not make sense since both things are very related, and especially your statement about niches is so no true either.

You would get a shock if you do PROPER keyword/niche research, and i already found "bizarre" things where i NEVER thought that there is a market.

Example would be...(ok, i spill a secret now)..."How to jump higher"..."how can i jump higher".

Now do some research and you see TONS of people are looking for this and there is a market, and there are products.

Also..if the niche "only" has a few hundred searchs/month....the better, the less competition you have. Saying "every niche is saturated", well, it's just not true.

As to your question in regards to SEO:

"Years ago" SEO (at least on-site) was more important to me than today. The reason is that i "hacked together" self-made static sites from scratch and they had to be optimized in many ways.

Nowadays, those efforts have almost gone with blogs/wordpress...and maybe you need to have this or that plugin...that's it. I do not do "extensive" on-site SEO anymore, content is more important, everything else follows. (Incl. On/Off site SEO).

[vickeyr]

Guys I am not telling You every niche is saturated, I am sorry if you did'nt catch my point.

I my point is a micro niche is worth may up to a 1,000-100,000 $ a year. I know this is true cause I've tried and tested. In keyword(s) profits margins.

but before you make a niche work in the testing phase. while it is going on for like 3 weeks - 3 months. you spend about 5,000 - 10,000 $ on adwords or others. when your profitable after all the researching & testing the competitors lunge in like rabid dogs and take away your profits. by you entering into a bidding war with them,

I mean cut you margin by lets say 50%, if thats all your profit margin was you be bankrupt if you don't look at you expences

[vickeyr]

the point is you are always a ranking war or a bidding war, not in small niche but a big niche

[prestige00]

Yeah Kurt, I was thinking the same thing.

For me, they go hand in hand. Part of off page SEO is really venturing out to SEM to complete it in a way.

So I don't know. I think there really is no answer to the op's question

Rick

Originally Posted by Kurt

I missed the memo: Exactly when did SEM mean the same as PPC?

SEM was around way before PPC, now they mean the same?