
People often confuse SEM for SEO – they are not the same thing. Search Engine Marketing is the marketing tactic of bidding a price for your ads to show up for a specific search query – and paying for each click that your ad receives.
Here is the Difference:

SEM allows websites to have the chance to compete in natural search rankings in competitive fields. For instance, a smaller t-shirt company will have a tough time naturally ranking over some of their larger competitors.
While SEM does allow you to rank quickly and generate traffic quickly, it can be costly if your campaigns are not set up correctly, monitored daily, and kept up to date.
Clients of ours have started out with SEM on there own and have spent a lot of money without seeing truly positive results. Our methods of monitoring, set-up, and constant attention to our clients Return on Investment allows us to give our the best results possible to compete for business while spending as little as possible.