This simple answer to that question is, any activity that you do where you are promoting your business and your products on the internet.
There are different ways to advertise yourself on the internet.
The main one is search engine marketing (SEM) which, as the name suggests, is strictly using a search engine such as Google or Bing. SEM is divided into two activities: SEO and PPC.
SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is the attempt to get one’s web page ranked as high as possible when people search on terms related to your products on a search engine. By the way, when I say products, I also imply services. Technically, it doesn’t have to be a search engine but any site where you can perform a search. Amazon for example is not a search engine but most times, people search there to find products faster and more easily than drilling down categories. You can apply SEO principles on a site like Amazon so that searchers can more easily find you. And the more easily you are found, the better chance you have at making a sale.
Basically, SEO is trying to figure out how search engines rank listings. The higher your listing is, the better chance you have at being found. Search engines do not charge you any fee, even if you are the first listing. This is called being in the search engine result pages (SERPs) organically.
PPC – pay-per-click advertising – on the other hand is similar in that you choose the keywords you would like your ads to show for. The difference is that when people click your listing, your ad, you are charged a certain amount.
PPC however is not just for search engines. You see them as you surf to other sites that allows ads to be shown. My weather site of choice shows me ads for example as does my preferred news site. The advertiser will pay only when someone clicks their ad – and the website will get a share. It doesn’t have to be a website, my Sudoku app shows me ads as well, although this is more commonly called in-app advertising. And of course, Youtube with text, banner and video ads.
Note that sometimes, a platform charges on a cost per impression basis instead of cost per click. It’s really the same thing, just the model is slighty different. This is called CPM or cost per mille, mille being the latin word for one thousand. You are being charged for the number of people exposed to your ad, whether they click on it or not. This model dates back to print and broadcast media. That is why there exists companies like Nielson that track how popular a show is; the more people read, listen or watch, the more the CPM will be. On occasion, you can buy ads for a certain time frame such as one month. Someone may have an email newsletter sent out on a regular basis, so you know how many people will be exposed to your ad.
Social Media Marketing, or SMM, is essentially posting on discussion websites in order to promote yourself. For example, I currently offer my opinion and answer questions on PPC-related groups in Reddit and will do so sometimes on business groups. This shows you are a leader in your field and people can reach out to hire or buy from you. The cost is only your time to do so but there are people who specialize in this and do it for you.
SMM doesn’t have to be a website. You can for example be a guess on a podcast. As podcasts are accessed online, it’s still online marketing. You could even pay to have your ad on the podcast, audio advertising. Or video if it’s a video podcast.
There are other acronyms people use, frankly I think they make it up to suit their needs. I have had to search the meaning of some. You may see for example SEA for search engine advertising and could cause confusion with SEO. There is ASA for Apple search ads where you apply SEO principles for the Apple app store specifically. They all fall under the SEM umbrella, no need to segment it further.
There may be new things in the future. One I discovered last year is SBO – search box optimization. This is when a search engine shows you suggestions as you type your query, your brand is made to show as one of those suggestions. An interesting technology to be sure.
Need to make heads and tails out of all these acronyms? Lucid Web Marketing will remove the confusion and ensure you maximize your reach and revenues online. ASAP.