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SEO vs SEM: The difference between search engine optimisation and search engine marketing

25th April 202410th April 2021 by Reka Veszeli

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SEO vs SEM

definition, difference, how to use them

SEO and SEM are two abbreviations that you often hear when it comes to websites and advertising, but do you know what they mean? Don’t worry if you don’t – yet.

I promise, after this post you’ll feel confident to talk about them. We’ll also learn the components of SEO and the most important rules of PPC advertising.

You’d rather watch a video or listen to a podcast? Scroll down to the end of the post or go to the BiteSize Marketing page and check out Ep 6.

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links.

Made by Reka Veszeli, using Canva

Definitions

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation focuses on the visibility of your website. It’s the process of optimising your website to gain traffic from organic search results.

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It’s an umbrella term that covers both organic and paid search tactics in order to drive traffic to your page or offer.

Components of SEO

Technical SEO

You apply Technical SEO to your website to make it easier for search engines to find you and validate you well. You can help it for example by using HTTPS or improving site speed.

Off-site SEO

Off-site SEO is about building a network. Search engines like to prioritize websites that seem credible and have a strong reputation – or related to pages with a strong reputation. By linking your website to other relevant websites and getting others to refer your page you are building a network, that’ll encourage search engines.

On-site SEO

On-site SEO means the things going on your site. Like including the right keywords to your title or image alt texts or improving the readability of the page or blog.

Paid search

Paid search is where search engines – like Google, Bing or Yandex – allow you to show ads on their search results pages. It works on a pay-per-click model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. It means, that relevant keywords play an essential role in paid search tactics.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

Search Engine Marketing is an umbrella term that covers both organic and paid tactics in order to drive traffic to your page or offer. Paid search is also included in SEM tactics.

PPC - pay per click

As mentioned above, paid search works on a pay-per-click model. It means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Sounds great, right? Well…mostly. It means that if nobody clicks on your ad you won’t pay – but that means nobody is interested in your ad.

When you set up a PPC campaign you need to find the ideal keyword, that is relevant and popular. If at the same time the competition is low you found a jolly joker.

A/B testing

I’d like to mention A/B testing, which is a tactic often used in SEM. It means, that you run two different versions of an ad simultaneously at the beginning of a campaign to figure out which one performs better. Once you have clear results, you only go on with that one, that performed the best. You can – and should – test image, title and copy variants.

Some WordPress builders, like Divi also allows A/B testing, so you can use this method to optimise your website.

Image by Reka Veszeli. Made with Canva.

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Master the customer journey – Understand the concept of a lead and learn how to make your sales funnel convert better

25th April 202417th December 2020 by Reka Veszeli

vásárlói életút. értékesítési tölcsér, marketing lead

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Master the customer journey

Master the customer journey - understand the concept of a lead and learn how to make your sales funnel convert better

Understand the concept of a lead and learn how to make your sales funnel convert better

Have you ever wondered how a sales funnel works? If you’ve never done that before, I’m here to explain the customer journey to you and to share all the little tricks you should know to convert leads to buyers.

You’d rather watch a video or listen a podcast? Scroll down to the end of the post or jump to BiteSize Marketing for Ep 2 and Ep 3.

Image source: Pexels.com

What is a sales funnel and a marketing lead?

A marketing lead is a contact with someone interested in your product or service, so a person who might be your next customer IF they go through the complete sales funnel.

To understand the concept of a sales funnel you can imagine a real-life funnel. What goes in at the top are the visitors that are aware of your business and what come out at the bottom are those, who are ready to hit the purchase button.

However in your kitchen, if you pour something to a funnel it will come out at the other end for sure, while in case of a sales funnel you’ll lose some of the leads in the process. That’s why you constantly optimise it – to minimise this number.

Time to understand better and optimise the sales funnel

Note: This is a simplified version of a sales funnel, where I only use the 3 main stages. It is to make the concept easy to understand. If you dive deeper into the topic you’ll find that most funnels have more stages. The most common is Awareness – Interest – Decision -Action, but some have more stages. None of it is right or wrong. I’d say it mostly depends on your business what describe the customer’s journey the best.

Top of the funnel

Before someone enters your funnel, they need to find you. It can happen through online search, thanks to your Google ads or social media campaigns, or via the recommendation of an existing customer. Top of the funnel leads has just started their customer journey with you. The more you know about how your visitors find you, the more efficiently you can adjust your strategy.

The most common top of the funnel strategies are SEO (search engine optimisation), social or display ads, retargeting and PR.

Photo by Reka Veszeli, using Canva

Middle of the funnel

The middle of the funnel leads are already interested in your company, but they still need to learn more about what you can offer them and how it can solve their problems. They are looking for content relevant to their problems and are open for more in-depth conversations.

Because they are gathering information, they’ll appreciate your informative free resources. Offer them a relevant eBook, product datasheets and informative blog posts. Don’t be shy to make the most valuable pieces gated*. You can also shine your interactive assets, like product videos or webinars.

*Gated content is content, that’s only available after a visitor provides certain data; usually name, email address, company name and country.

Middle of the funnel leads will appreciate your informative free resources. Offer them a relevant eBook, product datasheets and informative blog posts.

Bottom of the funnel

And finally, the bottom of the funnel leads are almost ready to purchase. They are aware of your offer and are only evaluating if your solution is the best fit for them. Here, your main goal is to convince these leads to choose your solution.

Your best friends here are customer testimonials, free demos and case studies.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

MQL and SQL

It’s important to see, that not all leads are equal. Some of them are better quality, and more likely to turn into a customer. Most companies label these stages to make the progress and reporting easier. The two most important are MQL and SQL. Although these definitions can vary, the following works well in general.

An MQL or Marketing Qualified Lead is one, who engaged with one or more of your marketing campaigns (downloaded a freebie, subscribed to your newsletter or attended a webinar) and could become a customer if they are nurtured properly. If they are mature enough they can turn into an SQL or Sales Qualified Lead, a person who is ready to have a conversation with the sales team. Most companies use a scoring system based on their behaviour and their interactions with your brand to help determine this point.

Go beyond purchase

The customer journey doesn’t stop at purchase. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting someone you’ve spent valuable time and money on to acquire. Caring for your existing customers build trust with your brand, or increases the chance of up-selling or getting recommended to others.
Offer loyalty programs, special promotions and curate a customer-only newsletter. It’ll pay off in the longer term.

Related BiteSize Marketing episodes

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Hi, I’m Reka,

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What’s the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?

25th April 202421st November 2020 by Reka Veszeli

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What's the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?

and which one to choose to win customers

Inbound and Outbound (or traditional) are two main strategies in marketing. They define your relationship with your customers and the marketing tools you’re using. I’ll help you understand the difference between Inbound and Outbound Marketing and why most modern companies focus on inbound strategies.

You’d rather watch a video or listen to a podcast? Scroll down to the end of the post or go to the BiteSize Marketing page and check out Ep 1.

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Outbound marketng

Outbound or traditional marketing is a tactic when companies push their messages through various channels for a large number of people to make them buy their product or service.

How outbound marketing works

It works kind of like a speaker: it’s a non-interactive, one-way communication, that interrupts the content you are consuming. It pushes the same messaging to everyone and the sole purpose of this message is to sell.

Where you can see it

It usually appears in a form of TV ads, billboards, online pop-up ads, telemarketing, trade shows, magazine or newspaper ads.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Inbound marketng

On the other hand, inbound marketing is a technique for drawing customers to your offers via content marketing, social media efforts, search engine optimisation and branding.

Inbound marketing in action

It is similar to a magnet. Ideally, it pulls potential customers in and it requires interaction between the two parties. The concept behind it is that by providing educational content, your business become known and trusted and potential customers will come to you in their own will, interested in you.

the forms of inbound marketing

Most commonly you see it in a form of a blog, educational video content – either on your website or on YouTube – a webinar or helpful downloadables. Opt-in emails also considered as inbound strategy as subscription is voluntary. Your social media efforts, search engine optimisation and pay per click ads are part of this category too.

Infographic by Reka Veszeli

The final countdown: Outbound vs Inbound

As I mentioned in the intro most brands nowadays focus on inbound strategies. (It is probably not a surprising statement if you follow my blog , video or podcast series.)There are several reasons for that, but I highlighted the main three.

It is cheaper than traditional marketing
It provides you with better quality leads
It is designed for long-term growth as it helps you build brand loyalty that will fuel future purchases too

Related BiteSize Marketing episode

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Hi, I’m Reka,

Welcome to my website. Explore, find inspiration, motivation, and resources.