Have you ever wondered how many of your shopping choices are truly your own? In the world of e-commerce, it doesn't happen often. What you see in search results or on advertising banners is often the result of a precisely planned SEM campaign. See how you can use it in your e-business.
What is SEM?
Search Engine Marketing in English, marketing in search engines in Polish, SEM for short. This term refers to all activities aimed at increasing the visibility of a website in search results, both through paid PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising campaigns and organic activities related to SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
The goal of an SEM campaign is to reach the right audience when they are looking for information, products or services related to the company's offer. SEM ads, for example on Google, appear after entering a phrase in the search engine (e.g. "creative toys", "hair dryer") and lead to the product page, category or company blog, precisely meeting the user's needs. This is done through appropriate targeting.
SEM = SEO + PCC. What will you get when you buy an SEM campaign?
In the offers of SEM agencies you will find, among others:
- Paid campaigns (PPC — e.g. Google Ads) — these include ads in search results, product campaigns or display ads and remarketing;
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization) — in particular, activities such as website positioning, e-commerce positioning, SEO Content, SXO (combination of SEO and UX — User Experience);
- SEO and PPC audit, consulting;
- Content marketing — activities in the field of content marketing are to provide valuable, engaging and helpful content that will attract recipients and help build a lasting relationship with them. It works at various stages of the sales funnel, from building awareness to supporting purchasing decisions.
In practice, an SEM campaign is a combination of SEO and PPC services tailored to the client's needs. Marketing agencies often separate these elements to more precisely define the offer and at the same time show how extensive a range of activities they undertake as part of comprehensive marketing in search engines.
See what payment methods will increase conversion in your online store
Is it worth investing in an SEM campaign?
Why pay for ads when you can focus on SEO activities? Or, why wait for the effects of SEO activities (it is estimated that satisfactory results may come even after a year or more), when you can buy an ad and be sure that the link to the website will be visible at the top of search results immediately after the campaign is launched?
SEM campaigns are effective thanks to complementarity, accuracy and the ability to measure their effects, as well as thanks to the diversification of marketing activities.
The advantages of activities including marketing in search engines are:
- Speed of operation thanks to PPC campaigns;
- Building brand visibility and increasing traffic to the website;
- Possibility of precisely reaching a selected group of recipients (targeting);
- Accurate monitoring of effects in real time. Possibility to analyze the return on investment (ROI) on an ongoing basis;
- Possibility of flexibly adapting the strategy to changing needs. For example, if you are a producer of Christmas baubles, you can increase spending on a PPC campaign during the Christmas period and end it in January, when the boom for baubles is over;
- Building a long-term position of the website in organic results (SEO);
- Data from PPC campaigns, such as the effectiveness of keywords or user behavior, can be used to optimize the SEO strategy.
How much does an SEM campaign cost and how to finance it?
The prices of SEM campaigns for e-commerce depend on such aspects as: the structure of the website; its current condition; the industry in which you operate; the type of market in which you offer products or services (from local to international); the competitiveness of selected keywords and their quantity; the number of product descriptions, categories, blog texts, etc. provided monthly; the budget allocated to PPC ads. The reputation of the marketing agency you decide to cooperate with and the duration of the contract with it also have an impact on the monthly amount you will see on the invoice.
In summary, the cost of an SEM campaign is always calculated individually. It can also change over time: initially it will be higher, because it will include, for example, a website audit and more PPC activities, but over time the costs for paid campaigns will decrease. It is assumed that the average budget for an SEM campaign for a small company is from PLN 2,000 to PLN 5,000 per month. In the case of large e-commerce stores, competitive industries or activities carried out on international markets, it can reach from several to even several dozen thousand zlotys per month.
If you are looking for a way to finance marketing activities, consider financing for companies, which allows you to cover the costs of an SEM campaign and invest in the development of your e-commerce. PragmaGo x Przelewy24 Finance allows you to obtain financing at the level of up to PLN 150,000 only through the Przelewy24 customer panel. This does not require many formalities, and the decision to grant financing is made in a few minutes.
What is SEM? Summary
An SEM campaign is all activities in the field of internet marketing, focused on increasing the visibility of the website in search engines through paid ads and SEO activities. It includes, among others, creating a network of links to the website or online store, content marketing, marketing in Google Ads, website positioning.
A well-designed and conducted SEM campaign can help build a brand for both a company that is just starting out and improve conversion and increase sales in the case of companies already operating on the market. This versatile tool allows not only to attract new customers, but also to effectively maintain the attention of existing recipients. A professional SEM agency will not only estimate costs for you, but will also present potential profits, which can be much higher.
