How to Develop a Proper SEM Strategy: Your Complete Guide

For your marketing campaign to go the way you want, you’re going to need a killer SEM strategy. Here’s how you can get started with developing yours.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is currently one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. In fact, it beats social media by over 300%. SEM involves two forms of search marketing: organic search and paid search.

Without a plan, however, you could waste away your entire marketing budget and valuable time. Here are the six steps you need when forming a strong SEM strategy.

With these tips, you can boost your brand, generate web traffic, and acquire new leads!

Start strategizing with these six tips today.

1. Know Your Goals

First, consider your overall marketing and business goals. Are you trying to generate web traffic, increase brand awareness and trust, or boost sales? You can tie these goals into your SEM strategy. 

For example, if you want to generate more web traffic, you’ll need to cover an array of keywords. If you want to boost sales, you can create campaigns that focus on your products or services. 

Try to create SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, results-driven, time-oriented) goals to stay on-target. 

2. Research Your Audience

Who are your customers? What are their interests and main concerns? The more you know about your customers, the more likely you’ll appeal to their interests in your campaigns.

With search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll target customers based on the keywords they use in a search. With pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, you’ll target based on demographics.

Don’t forget to consider your local customers, too. About 80% of local mobile searches lead to an in-store purchase. Segmenting your audience into groups will help you appeal to each customer.

3. Update Your Website

Your SEM strategy will rely on your website for success.

Make sure your pages load quickly. Adjust your navigation to ensure content is easy to find. You can also update your content to make it easier to read by using bullets and headlines.

Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure you’re optimized for mobile, too.

4. Complete Keyword Research

The backbone of a strong SEM strategy is your keyword research. You can use SEMRush, Google Trends, and Keyword Planner to get started.

What keywords are your customers searching for? Which phrases are your competitors targeting?

Consider your brand, industry, products, and services when developing a list of keywords to target. 

You can use this beginners guide to learn more.

5. Determine a Budget

While SEO is organic (and therefore free), PPC requires you to pay for each click on your ads. Make sure to set a monthly budget for yourself.

Otherwise, you might unintentionally spend more than you intended.

6. Craft Content

Once you’ve compiled your research, start creating content! For SEO, you’ll need high-quality, well-researched blog posts. You can also create videos, infographics, and quizzes.

For PPC, you’ll need attention-grabbing ads. Make sure your headlines are clear and concise. 

6 Steps for a Proper SEM Strategy: Your Roadmap to Success

Once you’ve used these six steps to get started, don’t forget to review your campaigns. Reviewing the data will help you make informed decisions for further improving your SEM strategy.

Then you can accomplish your goals and boost your business! Start search engine marketing with these tips.

Looking for more SEM tips? Explore our Popular Blogs today.