Search engine marketing gets your website good rankings and "visibility" on the search results page and internet as a whole. Search engine marketing or SEM involves two main areas including:
On-website development encompasses any work done to the website itself.
The big things here include SEO or search engine optimization, copy writing, content and link baiting.
Off-site content publishing is more varied and can involve everything from blog writing, press releases, directory submissions, social book marking and link building.
Other services such as email marketing and incorporating your website with you printed marketing pieces, or event promotion can further success.
Competition for "Hot" keywords get tougher every day. Despite that, great results can be archived even on a limited budget with the right SEO strategy. As an example a small independent insurance agency will have a difficult time competing with national heavy hitters for a term like "auto insurance" - but traffic can be increased dramatically by targeting to correct keywords where competition is not as fierce, and by a off-site marketing strategy of content publishing, localizing the site and building quality back links.