What’s a fair price to pay to a SEM company for help with your internet marketing campaign?  Remember, SEO is quite different than PPC or SEM. So let’s talk a little about each.

 PPC marketers typcially charge anywhere from 15-20% of the total ad spend as a fee. This is the industry standard for a company that creates, develops, maintains, and analyzes your pay per click account.  Here are some expectations you should have for that fee.

1. Expect a call once per month with detailed reports pertinent to your business. Reports should include keyword and ad performance as well as CTR percentages and impressions to name a few. The gifted marketer will help you develop trends based on your SEM campaign as well as website analytics.
2. Expect your SEM company to continue to make changes in order to enhance ad performance. Split testing several ads is a must.

SEO pricing tends to be all over the map. SEO is a different game alltogether since it’s not a precision science. There are various techniques that search marketers use to optimize your website. Some of these techniques can take 3-6 months before any fruit can be seen. You may have significant expenses invested before a return is seen. This is a tricky way to go especially in a world where we expect instant results. Here are a few rules before you walk down the winding road of SEO.

1. Always ask for references. CALL THEM! Ask questions about the company such as: Did it help you? How long before you saw results? Would you use this company again in the future? May I ask the price they quoted you?
2. Ask the company if they guarantee results. If they do, be careful. SEO is not a precise science. In my opinion, it’s impossible to guarantee a result. If they have been successful with other websites, then they would be a much safer bet.
3. How long has the company been in business? What kind of education does the marketer have that you will be working with. Will there be any type of coaching or consulting? If so, how often.

Expect to pay anywhere between $50 and $150 per hour depending on the size, overhead, and success of the agency.  In SEO, you definitely get what you pay for, but you should also ask lots of good questions before paying a premium price.

 Remember that pay per click (PPC) advertising is the only one that can produce instant results. If you have any questions about search engine marketing, please visit us online at www.TheSearchFactory.net.

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.