This year I produced two video newsletters on search engine optimization (SEO) because search is still the dominant Internet marketing platform. Search engine optimization is a great place to start, but search engine marketing, that is buying contextual ads on search engines, is also a highly effective marketing strategy. In fact, over forty percent of all Internet advertising spending goes to pay per click (PPC) search advertising. The pay per click search marketing world is populated by three main players: Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter. Google AdWords being by far the most dominant player. There are good reasons why SEM is the dominant form of Internet marketing. In fact there are three good reasons: context, intent and recommendation.

These three concepts form a matrix by which any form of Internet marketing can be evaluated. When you understand how these concepts inter-relate, you'll see why search marketing is king of the Internet marketing roost.

Let's start by reviewing the necessary and foundational principle of context.   next >