UniverSolutions Blog
Written by: Sebastien Boyer

E-mail marketing is one of the most effective and non-intrusive ways of staying in front of your existing contacts, thereby increasing repeat business and referral customers. However, if not done correctly e-mail marketing can be considered SPAM and not only become a waste of time but potentially harmful to your business.

By using E-mail marketing software you can email your client and contact list an Opt-in email which means they can reply by approving you to email them in the future. By taking this step the email is registered in your inclusion list and you can then email your client as much or as little as you want.

Now, if you email them every day, they may decide to opt-out which is a feature that must also be included in all of your emails after the first one. It would be wise to email them at least once a month, but no more than once a week. Each email should be different, promoting your services, specials, etc.

UniverSolutions Blog
Written by: Sebastien Boyer

The purpose of this week’s article is to clarify the difference between SEO and SEM.
Most people don’t know what either of them mean. Here is a simple explanation and comparison:

SEO – Search Engine Optimization
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

The theory is that the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine without paying additional money to the search engines for the higher placement. This is called an organic or natural search.

The downside of SEO is that it can take time to achieve and will not usually produce results for at least 3 to 6 months if done properly.

The benefit of SEO is that over a long period of time your website will remain at high ranking position on the search engines without you having to continue to pay more money.

SEM – Search Engine Marketing
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEM allows companies to pay Search Engine companies for their Ads to be place higher on the search results page. This can be done by paying-per-click and also by paying for banners. The ad itself will usually appear higher or lower in the search result on a rotational basis depending how relevant the ad is as well as how much money is being paid to secure the higher slot.

The theory is that the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. The problem is that it can be very time consuming to manage and if not monitored closely an ad can accumulate a very high number of clicks that may not result in new business, yet the paying company must pay for every click. This is usually seen on the search results page as a Sponsored or Paid Advertisement.

The downside of SEM is as soon as you stop paying money for your advertisements with the search engines your ads go down and you are no longer visible online and if it not managed correctly it can also become very expensive.

The benefit of SEM can produce instant results giving your business immediate exposure at the top and on the first page of the search engine results if done right.

Solution: Don’t try to do this yourself!
Hire a reputable and cost effective SEO and SEM company that will provide you with both SEO and SEM at the same time. Make sure that the company already has lots of customers who are successful using there service and make sure that the company already has an established relationship with the Search Engines!