[seo147]

When I first started building websites, I had never heard of the term SEO, let alone SEM. I knew that building a website was not enough. Once you had it, the next step was to find ways to promote the website.

In the late 1990’s, when I was first starting out, I believed that the best way to promote a website was through word of mouth and traditional paper advertising. I had no idea how to promote a website through the Internet. In those early days I tried everything from driving around with a sign on my car to handing out business cards and giving away pens and pencils with my web address.

Fast forward to the present and there are many ways to promote your website on the Internet. A quick search online and you’ll see the acronyms SEO, SEM, SMM and SMO all over the place. But what do these terms mean and what is the difference between them? It can get confusing trying to figure out jargon. So let us define each term and identify what makes it different.