A while back I posted about twitter and how I was beginning to use it. As many plans with social media, I failed on my initial trial.

So what makes me a Troll? I always have the nifty Twhirl* twitter console/application open. I never update about what I am doing as I don’t think people are interested in what I am doing. I wish I was as entertaining as these characters. Brian Wallace post about everything, eating popcorn, going to the grocery store, and I bet he twitters in the Tub. Jennifer Laycock talks about what she is reading constantly. How can she be reading if she is Twittering? Kalena Jordan’s “bitch of the day” or latest ranting about who is messing with her in Australia are just out right entertaining. Then theres Matt Cutts’s posting about something that might as well be written in a secret hidden language only Nicolas Gage in Disney’s National Treasure can read.

My life isn’t interesting. I troll around the internet and read about others interesting lives. I haven’t found the greatest utility in Twitter but it is ever entertaining. It is like having a webcam view into the daily lives of ordinary people. The great thing I like about it is that spammers have not yet invaded me. Some of the basics of Twitter allow me to view only the people I want to anyway so I don’t have to worry about them.

So yes when I am on my computer my Twhirl app is open and I am watching you. I might not update often but you better believe I am lurking around.

* Twhirl is an application built around Adobe’s Air. For those of you who don’t know about Air yet you will. I have been watching Adobe Air for some time and super excited about the possibilities. It does have quite a few SEO problems but hey that makes life fun.

If you do a quick search on Search Engine Marketing you will find all types of answers. The most practical answer is advertising through search engines. Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing are two different marketing techniques. Both use search engines, both use keywords, both can be found on the same search engine result pages (SERP), but both are different. They are different in their approach. Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is paid or sponsored search often called Pay-Per-Click. The most commonly used tools for sponsor search is Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing. Search Engine Optimization is for free organic results and used with page content and many other factors discussed at this site.

Both Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing use keywords. They use keywords as a way to sell advertising space. Advertising space? If you have ever noticed along the top and bottom of most Search Engine Result Pages there are links. Those links are being paid to be there. Most all the times the ads are purchased based upon search terms or blocks of search terms.

What does this have to do with search engine optimization? With a joint effort of search engine marketing and optimization can produce a major Return on Investment (ROI). SEO is a long term investment and SEM should be used for the interim. Together the two different approaches can make a big difference on ROI. Using a Pay-Per-Click campaign to "kick start" a marketing campaign is a good idea. Pay-Per-Click offers very little direct SEO advantages besides traffic and visibility. Visibility leads to the potential of bookmarking and linking. Traffic brings search agents to the site also.

Back in the old days, summer 2007, search marketing occasionally gave excellent links. With many sites hosting paid listings on their site, much like SEO by Chris, search bot crawlers would occasionally index paid ads from these text link advertisements. Hosted ads are not supposed to be indexed or crawled, errors do happen (after all humans program the search agents). An ad appearing on a page often means that the ads are contextually relevant giving a credible link. Since October 2007 less of these type of indexing errors. Since these errors are not supposed to happen and should continue to be phased out as indexes are updated.

So what is Search Engine Marketing to Search Engine Optimization? Together in tandem they are part of complete online marketing strategy. Effectively used they will produce a maximum return on investment.

As a search engine marketer I can tell you that social media is marketing. If you have ever been to sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, or Mixx you have noticed most of the content is geared towards selling something. Whether it be promoting the iPhone or a political candidate it is all a sales pitch. Original intention of these sites was an arena for information sharing. Marketing job boards are riddled with postings for marketers with blogging and social-media experience. Social media has become the new avenue of marketing. I have not seen a major university put Search Marketing in the course guide, I am sure it will eventually be an elective or maybe even a requirement.

With new websites and blogs coming up everyday the source of advertising is virtually endless and inexpensive if not free. Blogging services and Content Management Systems make creating websites very easy. The demand for quality advertising comes at a higher premium although in comparison to traditional advertising it is much less expensive considering the number of potential clients it reaches.

Post about Social Media Marketing

• The Five Pillars of Social Media Marketing
• Wiki about Social Media Marketing
• Social Media Marketing for Small Business
• How Do You Value Social Media?

There isn’t a shortage of information about social media marketing. The key to any successful marketing initiative is to plan and social media initiatives needs to be planned.