OK, so you’re a confirmed “do-it-yourself-er”. Some of us are just that way, and that’s OK. As long as you get good training upfront you’ll be fine. Make sure you hire a consultant to know that you’re doing the job right and then get after it. I will warn you, small business owners are the good at the art of distraction. Are you tweaking your PPC campaign but losing business because of it? Know your gifts, and focus on those. If you have time to manage your PPC campaign yourself, then great. But if you’re hiding behind your computer when you should be meeting with customers then hire someone to help. If you’re going to hire, then hire us! Enough preaching and shameless self promotion.

This is going to be a series of reviews on various SEO tools that you can use to enhance your business. Some of these tools are what we use at The Search Factory. As always, if you have any questions regarding what you see here, please feel free to send us an e-mail at http://www.thesearchfactory.net/contactus.htm.

 Tool #1: Keyword Spy

This is one of the best tools in the world. Want to know what keywords your competitors are bidding on? What position they are in? It’s simple with Keyword Spy. You simply type in the web address of your competitor and Keyword Spy spits out the keywords and allows you to download them to a spreadsheet. You can then upload your new keywords into your Yahoo!, Google, or MSN campaign. All this and it’s as simple to use as writing your name.

Think about it, you could spend hours of research coming up with your own keywords for your PPC campaign. And if you’re like me, you’ll wake up in the middle of the night thinking of new ones, having to write them down, and add them in the morning. Or for those neurotics out there, you’ll have to go to your computer and add them immediately-go to sleep for crying out loud!

Keyword Spy takes the guesswork out and allows you to have an upper hand in the fight for online supremacy. Like most online programs, there’s a free trial available online, give it a spin and see if you like it. As always, in order to get the full featured version, you’ll have to purchase.  Simply visit Keyword Spy and see what it can do for you.

This is the question I am asked the most in a given week. The answer is not easy to pin down, but it truly comes down to your needs at the moment.

SEO, or the process of optimizing your website, can take many months for the keywords you choose to eventually show up in the search engines. Companies will charge a monthly fee based on the number of keywords you want. Identifying a reputable SEO company is difficult. You will want to interview several, making sure that they use what we call “White Hat” techniques that the search engines approve.  Some search engines will ban your site if your website uses techniques that are not above board in terms of ethical SEO. Keep in mind, once your site is optimized, it’s difficult to change the text associated with your search results placement. PPC (pay per click) advertising is somewhat opposite from SEO. You can be placed on the search engines very quickly and get a product or site up and running generally within hours. Your ads on PPC can be changed in an instant. This is particularly helpful if you want to publish sale items, special incentives, etc. (EX: A homebuilder offering a special weekend incentive like ($10,000 off existing inventory this weekend only). The flexibility that pay per click offers any profit generating business is well worth the investment. According to a recent survey, 40% of all sales conversions result from pay per click advertising. Ideally, you need a little of both. My company prefers to hand craft and perfect campaigns on the PPC level due to the ability to test and retest every detail regarding our clients’ advertising. Once you have a well crafted and effective PPC campaign, then a mix of PPC and SEO techniques can supply you with a balanced attack.  Know that my statements here will be met with controversy depending on which side of the SEO/PPC fence you’re on.  Have questions? Please call us at 877-567-3272 or visit us online at www.TheSearchFactory.net.  We’ll be happy to help you sort out what is best for your company. Sign up for our free newsletter and to be notified of upcoming search engine training.