Even in a tough market, search engine marketing is seeing banner growth. The North American SEM industry grew to 12.2 billion in 2007, representing an influx of nearly 25% more revenue than the previous year. Online marketing is steadily edging out print advertising. The question these days isnt whether to incorporate search into your marketing strategy, but how best to do so.

SEM as a Specialty Trade
Search engine marketing represents a dramatic shift from traditional advertising. Experts in this field must master a broad skill set spanning both quantitative and qualitative functions. Heres a look at what it takes to manage an effective SEM campaign--from the technical nuts and bolts to the verbal gymnastics.

Technical Expertise
On the quantitative side, search engine marketers are adept at:

Determining the optimal PPC bidding strategy on Google Adwords and at Overture, using ROI and other metrics

Programming Web pages to optimize them for search. Overture and Google Adwords rank pages based on criteria such as direct links to product pages. An SEM expert will know how to configure domain pointing and redirects to ensure that the pages comply with these search engine standards.

Tracking the results of search campaigns and analyzing these metrics

Mastering site usability and navigation. Getting traffic from an effective SEM campaign is only half the battle. A seasoned SEM expert knows how to program a site for optimal conversion, too.

Technical Issues
Search engine marketer Rob Laporte offers examples of some of the technical issues SEM staff will face:

How to separate static optimized pages from the companys dynamic web publishing system

How to develop a server statistics package for tracking SEM results

How to use the robots.txt file

How to use JavaScript without impacting search engine ranking

How to use Flash without impacting ranking

Whether to use a static IP address

Marketing Know-How
On the qualitative side, SEM experts are skilled at:

Playing the linguistic game of writing for search. In online marketing, the goal of writing copy isnt to win the hearts and minds of the public, but to position a companys marketing proposition with respect to an ever-changing linguistic logarithm. Laporte offers the following definition: SEM is primarily a linguistic activity wherein you match the query language of searchers with the language of your advertising and website through the nexus of search engines.

Anticipating the needs and the associated search terms of a companys customers.

Performing market research specific to online marketing, such as determining the geographic and demographic characteristics of the companys target markets.

Specialized Skills
Few traditional marketers have the technical skills to handle the Web programming demands of an SEM campaign. Few programmers have the research and writing skills to negotiate the search algorithm to full advantage. And neither marketing nor programming professionals have the specialized, up-to-date knowledge of the evolving industry to master the art of SEM.

Specialized search engine marketers bring together all these skills and use them to extract optimal value from online search. Played right, Website advertising has the potential to deliver dramatic gains in site traffic and sales. An SEM service can help your business take full advantage of the 21st centurys most powerful marketing medium.

Sources
SEMPO