As fuel prices rise to ridiculous new heights, the costs associated with shopping are causing more and more people to buy online. Another attractive part of online shopping is the special offers that websites have which often cannot be taken advantage of in store. According to the June 2008 figures from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) in the UK, buying goods and services is now the third most common online activity. Supermarkets are benefiting the most, with some 44% of those surveyed declaring that they have bought groceries online. With so many people now spending money online, there has never been a better time to evaluate and strengthen your companys online marketing strategy.

As with any marketing plan for your business, it is important to consider how to reach the widest number of people, and how to show that you have something relevant for them. Both of these tasks can be accomplished with search engine marketing (SEM). With this form of online marketing, you can advertise using specific keywords that you want your business to be associated with. You bid on these keywords on the search engine of your choice, and your website will then gain paid placement in the search results of those people searching for those keywords.

Another aspect of search engine marketing is pay per click (PPC) advertising. What this means is that your adverts can be displayed alongside relevant content and articles on a wide range of sites that are part of the search engines marketing network and you pay for each referral generated, hence the name pay per click. A very common PPC marketing scheme that most people are familiar with is Google AdWords.

The last kind we will consider is search engine optimisation (SEO). More than simply keyword writing, SEO is the process by which your website is optimised to better match your chosen keywords and raise your ranking on search pages. It also encompasses getting your site listed in directories and links to your site placed around the net. Back links will also help to increase your websites ranking. There are quite strict rules regarding SEO and violating these rules can have the opposite effect and result in your site being banned from search engines completely. You should therefore ensure that you hire an expert for your SEO activities who understands the search engines.

There are many different packages available across a range of search engines and each has its merits and disadvantages. Going with a lesser search engine such as MSN or Yahoo, for example, while not having the same impact as Google, will result in cheaper prices for the keywords of your choice. Take advantage of the wealth of people shopping online today with SEM.