Gilbert,
Hi. To answer the first part of your question, If you create a website and you are lucky enough to show up on the first page of the results (or even at the top), that is mostly achieved by Search Engine Optimization. This is done by using tricks specifically designed to catch the attention of Search Engines like Google, Yahoo & MSN. Notice what most of the results are in Google now, they are all business directories or sites that have tons of links too them. The reason for this is because Google is putting heavy speculation on "Link Popularity" to gain a high position in the natural results. Yahoo is currently relying on Keyword Relevance -- in other words having keywords included in your headers to your site that actually has something to do with your site.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is paying to appear on the Sponsored listing sections of the Search Engines either at the top, bottom or right-hand side. This works by setting a budget and time frame on your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. Your budget is then used to bid on keywords -- words or phrases that people type into search engines when they are looking for something. When someone does a search for one of your keywords, then your listing will appear. These listings come with text ads about your business and a direct link to your website. Many companies that offer Search Engine Marketing also offer various types of reportings about your campaign so you can see how you're performing. They can include things like how much you are spending per day/week on your campaign, how many hits you are getting, what pages people are looking at on your site and with some of the better PPC Management companies you can get things like Telephone & Email tracking.
Hope this helps out some.
Re: Search Engine Marketing
