Internet Marketing is a burgeoning field that is evolving at lightning speed. It seems as soon as one method becomes successful, people scramble to replicate it. Like the Gold Rush of yore, the internet is now the new frontier to wealth and success, and online marketing is a top strategy that wise companies use to build and brand their business.

While the art of Internet Marketing does share some similarities and concepts from pre-internet era Marketing, it's the differences that will doom your online business if you don't adapt your marketing strategies to fit today's ever-changing e-marketing world.

The various strategies used in online marketing are enough to make a business owner's head spin -- SEM, SEO, pay-per-click, Adwords/Adsense, blogging and link exchanges to name a few. These methods should all have some place in your internet marketing toolbox, but where do you start?

Internet Marketing is a lot like investing. As a business owner, you need to think and plan both for the short term and the long term. And just as with investing, implementing different strategies -- each best suited for a particular objective -- is the best way to maximize your online marketing efforts.

Two internet marketing strategies -- SEM and SEO -- are often confused or errantly considered to be the same thing. However, each is a unique tool with its own objective and methodology.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) utilizes a pay-per-click strategy to build traffic and revenue for your business. A professional internet marketing specialist can help you by conducting intensive keyword and keyphrase research to create and index for keyword effectiveness specifically suited for your enterprise. You'll then use those relevant keywords and keyphrases in your marketing campaigns.

There are two leading pay-per-click programs available, both through Google. The first is Adwords, a marketing tool where you create a small advertisement that will appear on Google's search engine. As people search through topics that use your relevant keywords, your ad may appear next to the search results. People who then click on your ad are directed to your site and can then make a purchase or learn more about your business.

Adsense is a revenue-generating tool where relevant ads appear on your company's website based on the content and keywords (i.e. a writing services website might feature an ad for printing or webhosting.) When people click those ads, you make money.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on the other hand, is a longer-term strategy that utilizes keyword-rich copy to raise a site's ranking organically. By effectively designating your site's layout and navigation, and then creating relevant content utilizing SEO techniques, you can boost your website's ranking and watch it to continue to increase over time.

Much like investing, both methods have their place and should be used as a two-pronged strategy to build and market your business.

So forget those 49'ers of yore, and remember:

"There's Gold in Them Thar Internet Servers!"

... you just have to know how to mine it, and SEM and SEO techniques are the smart prospector's tools of choice in the 21st century.