With tons of competition and copycats online, you need a trustworthy search engine expert to help you tackle the competition and outdo your competitors in internet sales. There are many ways to go about killing the competition online and as long as it is honest work by your search engine guy, your web site will reap profits from it.

Millions of people use search engines to find products and services online and many global companies grew from merely having a web site and search engine expert. To be precise, there are about 20 web pages added to the web every second. 85% of internet users use search engines to search for products and services online. With so many websites, how are your potential customers able to find your products and services?

– Benefits of search engine optimisation –

1) Generate online sales and revenue

2) Advertise products and services globally

3) Greater market capitalisation of products

4) Create and establish brand name

5) Tap potential internet markets

Natasha works in Definite Web Designs Australia, providing SEO consultancy to Australian and US businesses.

(http://www.definiteweb.com)

When you first launch a website, you naturally want all the content crammed into it that you can lay hands on. But if it’s real traffic you’re looking for, consider taking a more patient approach.

Anyone involved in SEO can tell you that organic growth of relevant content is the most successful long term strategy for search engine placement. When people read that, however, their brains toss the part they don’t understand or want to deal with: “organic.” What they see is “successful long term strategy” and “search engine placement.” And that’s where the trouble starts, because it’s the organic growth that does the work.

What do people mean when they talk about organic growth?

Organic growth means slow, steady, continual growth - the way plants and animals grow. When Google ranks your site they look for this pattern of growth to help determine whether your site is “for real.” Think of an informational site you visit a lot, a forum perhaps, or a site like Wikipedia. Those sites did not spring into being overnight, chock full of content and with a hundred links pointing to them. They started as miniatures of themselves, and as people posted messages and articles they got bigger and bigger.

How can this be harnessed to help promote a website?

Timing of updates can be more important than size of updates. A lot of webmasters have a hard time updating their site regularly. They have day jobs, families, and other websites to run. This can lead to a tendency to update sites in large infrequent chunks.

To get the maximum benefit from your updates, do this instead: When you get time to update your site, prepare and arrange your new content so that it can be uploaded in small pieces. Get everything ready to go so that the only task remaining is the actual publish. Then upload each small piece separately, allowing a day or two to pass between each upload.

By doing this your website ends up with the same content, but search engines monitoring how frequently you update will see a pattern of steady growth. You can still write or gather all your content in one fell swoop, just dole it out to your webserver slowly instead of as a single publish. You won’t see immediate results, but give this a month or two and search engines will take notice, to your benefit.

Daniel Detlaf is a lifelong student and one-time Day Trader with a few things to say about internet marketing. Visit the home of his ebook "Make An Honest Living" at http://www.makeanhonestliving.com

Organic SEO seems to be the catch phrase of the moment. However, unlike many other linking tactics and strategies, this one actually works.

What is Organic SEO or Organic Search Engine Optimization?

Explained simply, it’s where all your linking structures originates from the content up — in other words, you let all your content created for your sites, blogs and articles do your link building for you.

Actually, the answer is as simple as this article. You’re probably experiencing one of the best examples of Organic SEO right this moment by reading this article. Article marketing is pure Organic SEO. You let your article and your author’s resource box build one-way links from related niche sites back to your site.

But the keyword is content. You must create high quality original content for this system to really develop and flourish. The better the content, the faster your rankings and traffic will grow. By producing valuable content in articles, sites and blogs, you are building real traffic and real links that the search engines salivate over. And they will reward your site with higher rankings and even more traffic.

Try Article Writing…

Frankly, I was rather surprised at the effectiveness of article writing. It seems like such a benevolent little creature. You write about your own experiences on the subject of your site or blog, keeping your articles short, around 500 to 800 words, although some of my best performing articles have been longer, about 900 to 1200 words.

I have only written about 60 articles. But the benefits have been enormous; spreading my content all over the web and building one-way links back to my sites and blogs. Some of these articles like the ones in Addme.com or Webpronews.com get archived and will provide good deep PR links for years to come.

There are a few techniques I use to extend the effectiveness of my articles. First, I always start with a keyword or keyword phrase that I want to target with a particular article. I do major, major, major research on my article’s keywords, using sites like nichebot.com, overture.com, and a few others.

I check how much competition there is for the keywords. Combining a new keyword with ones you already have positioned high for in the search engines works well. For example, I have optimized my site for the keyword ‘Free’, it appears throughout my site. When I introduce a new keyword phrase I sometimes combine it with Free. Pick the right keyword combination and you will gain an edge over your competition more quickly.

Always put your keyword phrase into the title of your article. I also make it a habit of not picking the top keywords in a niche, I go for middle ranked keywords — I am better assured that I will rank on the first page SERPs for these lower keywords. Why waste valuable time shooting for the stars when you can easily land on the moon!

I submit my articles mainly to a short list of online article directories ( ezinearticles.com, buzzle.com, isnare.com, goarticles.com, ideamarketers.com, and articlealley.com ) these work the best for me. These sites rank well in the search engines and even though the surfer may go to another site to read your article first, it then delivers a much more warmed up and targeted visitor to your own site.

Other webmasters from your niche will pick up your high quality articles and place them on their sites. Organically growing more related one-way links to your site. Google looks very favorably on these one-way links and will reward your site for having them.

Article marketing is one Organic SEO tactic every website should be using. Instead of paying high prices for seo services, why not write or hire someone to create keyword rich articles for your site. The benefits will surprise you.

Try Blogging…

Blogs are another form of Organic SEO. It also builds links and traffic to your site the natural way — by providing valuable content.

For those marketers and webmasters who practice Organic SEO, the free blogging systems are a godsend. A skilled marketer can legitimately use these online blogging programs to boost their site’s rankings, traffic and income. What more can any online marketer or webmaster ask for?

I use numerous blogs to compliment my sites. I base these blogs on the major keywords of my sites. For example, one section on my main Internet Marketing site examines laptop computers, I created a blog with Bloglines.com covering the same topic. Although all the content is different from what you will find on my main site.

I also use Blogger.com because it’s owned by Google and is very simple to use. I find posting my weekly ezine on Blogger adds another way I can get my message out to my subscribers. Not to mention, all the linking and pinging a blog brings into play.

I also use the open source software and system, WordPress for another of my blogs on marketing. This is a php database supported program that was a lot less easier to set up on my site than I first expected. It’s one of the best blogging systems I have worked with and is highly favored by the search engines. If you’re not using it — try it.

In addition, I have just started using LiveJournal for another blog and that system is also very easy to use. I usually post to my blogs once or twice a week, just short helpful tips or links that a visitor or search engine would be interested in. Keep in mind, all these free blogging sites are PR9 or PR10, has to count for something.

Spam has become a problem with many of these blogging systems, I now usually block all comments or moderate them. All this spam just goes to show how effective getting links in related blogs can booster your rankings for competitive keywords.

I have found blogging to be a very effective tool for getting your keywords indexed and ranked very quickly. I also like to use blogs for those golden double-header listings in the SERPs, preferably at the number 1 and 2 spots! That’s where you get two listings from your site for a certain keyword on the first page, this I find, brings in a lot more traffic than a single listing.

In art there is something called the Golden Section, a perfect proportion that works magic into any painting or picture. It is an organic and natural effect that appears everywhere in our world. For webmasters, having your site listed 1 and 2 for your keywords has to be another form of the Golden Section, made especially for us.

In that same light, Organic SEO is a natural and effective way for webmasters to grow their links and rankings. Articles and blogs are two special tools we can use to further that natural growth. Create your own Golden Section and give the search engines something to talk about by trying Organic SEO. Build your links and rankings the natural way.

Your site’s salvation is only a keystroke away!

The author runs a modest Internet Marketing web site where you will find helpful online guides on RSS/Blogging, Laptops, SEO, Spyware Removal, List Building, Internet Fax and quite a few Free Marketing Tools. Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) seems to be the buzzword these days. What is organic SEO? In its simplest explanation, organic SEO is publicity through content distribution. All your incoming links originate from content you created for your website or blog. And boy, search engines love this kind of linking structure.

Marketing through articles is organic Search Engine Optimisation. Your article and the link in your author’s resource box generate incoming links from other niche websites related to yours.

Good quality original content will generate incoming links and drive targeted web traffic to your website fast. This is the kind of activity search engines love, and would in turn lead to higher web page ranking and increase in web traffic.

Writing Articles

This is an effective way of gaining publicity for yourself and your site. Write about your experiences, expertise, hobbies or passion. As a rule of thumb, keep your articles at about 400 to 700 words in length. The issue is not the length of the article. It is the quality of it. But for a start, it is good to adhere to the rule of thumb.

Tips on effective use of articles

Before you start to write, do a research on keyword phrases related to your topic of interest. There are a few free online webmasters’ tools you could utilize (nichebot.com, wordtracker trial). Normally, the top ranked keyword phrases are highly competitively. A top ranked keyword with little or zero competition is a rare find these days. Go for the middle ranked keyword phrase. After all, your goal is to be found on the first page of SERP for your selected keyword phrase.

Include your keyword phrase in your article title and repeat your keyword phrase at least once or twice in the body of your article. You may also want to use sparingly and strategically a variation of your keyword phrase or terms related to it. You may notice in this article I use SEO and Search Engine Optimization, which are interchangeable terms but to the search engines they are variations. I also use search engines and webmasters which are terms related to SEO.

Using a variation of your keyword phrase and terms related to it makes your article more relevant to your topic. With such an arrangement, chances are you may score well at the search engines for more than one keyword phrase.

Post your articles on your site, blog and article directories. Spreading your content all over the web is a fast way to get website visitors. I submit my articles to ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com and articlealley.com. These article directories work well for me. Their high rankings at the search engines give me good publicity.

Other webmasters related to your niche will pick up your high quality articles and link to your web page through your author’s resource box. This is an organic way of growing incoming links. Major search engines like Google look favorably on organically grown one-way links, and reward you.

Most webmasters archived articles for 1 or 2 years because this is a quick way to increase content and the size of their websites. So you can be assured of incoming links for at least 1 or 2 years.

It would be worth your time and effort to write or to hire someone to write keyword rich articles and distribute them over the web. The results can be astounding at times.

Gerrick W
mailto:gw@1stinternetmarketingsolution.com
Information and Software Tools You Need to Effectively Promote Your Online Business. Visit: http://www.1stinternetmarketingsolution.com

This year, like many people, I wasn’t able to attend. However, I wanted to keep up with the news, so I found a great source of reports and updates. I will summarize the most important sessions to the best of my ability.

In my opinion, one of the most crucial topics is Vertical Creep.

Vertical creep is when non-organic and non-paid results start occupying top spots in search results. Verticals started showing up in search results back when Altavista was popular, and since then have grown into a much more sophisticated part of the overall search engine results page. Greg Jarboe was the first to speak of vertical creep and introduced everyone to verticals.

All the engines have verticals in some form or another nowadays. Google has its famous “OneBox” which is generally the place immediately below the top sponsored ads but immediately above the organic results. This is where you will find news, Froogle, and image results which may match a query.

For example, I wrote a few weeks ago about how, when you searched for Olympics on Google, you were presented with video results at the top of the page. But it doesn’t stop there. Do a search for New Orleans, for example, and in Google you are presented with not only news results but also map results, pushing the organic results down so that only the top 2 or 3 results are showing. Much less than the typical 4 or 5 we are used to seeing.

One of the biggest impacts of Verticals is the “stretching” of the search results page. It is becoming ever clearer that everything but the top 1 or 2 organic is worth less because it could be pushed below the fold, whereas sponsored’s value is increasing because there are less organic results visible.

According to Gord Hotchkiss, however, the impact on verticals, at least on Yahoo! And MSN, isn’t as great. His firm has recently completed research on how users interact with search engines. The Yahoo! MSN research performed by Hotchkiss’ firm is a follow up to Google research the firm completed last year at this time.

According to Hotchkiss, Google does a better job of incorporating Verticals into results. Google users are more accepting of them while Yahoo! and MSN users tend to scan more of the results on a page, thereby negating the impact verticals have on organic results.

This could mean a couple of things. First, as Hotchkiss suggests, Google may have “trained” its users. We are used to seeing the verticals (and hit bolding and inconsistently displayed sponsored results) and are therefore more accepting to the varying page changes, while Yahoo! and MSN users are less forgiving, perhaps because they feel the results displayed are less relevant. This isn’t too hard to believe considering he gave an example of searching for New York Pizza on MSN and NOT getting pizza places but getting news about pizza in New York.

Personally, I too have experienced this, especially with MSN. It seems to have more of a problem determining what types of verticals are relevant to the searcher.

Bob Carilli was up next and presented a case study on how effective verticals have been for one of his clients.

Through some analysis they found that Froogle shopping results were showing up a lot for his clients’ competitive keyword terms, yet the Froogle listings were unoptimized.

They responded by creating a data feed for Froogle which was optimized to target these great phrases which had poor Froogle listings. As a result, his client’s site quickly moved to the top of the Froogle listings for those phrases. While it is unclear, I would assume this would have translated into similar top rankings in the Google area where Froogle is displayed.

This also shows that, as search marketers, we shouldn’t rely solely on SEO or PPC. There are dozens of verticals out there we could tap into if we had an open mind.

If you look at Google alone, there are opportunities in Google News (with properly optimized press releases), Froogle, as mentioned above, Google Local, Google Base, Google Video and more. Similarly, with Yahoo! and MSN there are verticals to research. Both engines also have a shopping portal, as well as news, video and local results.

In the end, verticals could become the “poor man’s” SEO tactic. If you can’t compete organically and can’t pay for top sponsored, perhaps you can optimize your product feed to appear ahead of all your competitors?

Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for Textlinkbrokers.com. Textlinkbrokers is the trusted leader in building long term rankings through safe and effective link building. Please provide a link directly to Textlinkbrokers when syndicating this article.

The best traffic comes directly from the search engines. Your visitors have found your site through a keyword search. You paid nothing and you got an interested visitor. The way you get this has to do with things like keyword usage in your actual text, your inbound links, and developing quality and informative subject matter (which is the most important).

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is what it’s all about. No matter how nice your site looks it will not get very much traffic without focused SEO efforts. Pay-Per-Click Advertising, banner or text ads can be helpful in supplementing your traffic but this can be costly if not done correctly.

Using Keywords and Phrases for an introduction to the concepts of "On Site" SEO. Equally important, if not more so, is "Off Site" SEO. This is where your inbound links come into play. Generally speaking, the more inbound links there are that point to your sites pages the better your search engine rankings will be. Naturally, all inbound links are not equal in the value that they contribute to your site.

Usually you will not have direct control over off site SEO. The best way to increase your one-way inbound links is to build a genuinely helpful and content rich site. Sometimes a friendly request to another webmaster may get you a one-way link. Ask for links from only relevant and quality sites. Always be polite and in your requests. Explain why you chose their site and why their visitors could benefit from your content.

There are four primary factors involved in the "value" of an inbound link:

The Rank of the Site

It is well known that Google uses links as a significant factor in determining PR (Page Rank). Simply put, consistently adding links will have a much better effect than adding links in bunches.

The search engine notes the discovery date of links, the life span of the link and the speed at which a new web site obtains links. This approach reveals that Google is discounting quick link exchange strategies such as buying bulk links for your site. Instead, Google appears to consider a natural linking evolution as a sign that a site is legitimate.

The specifics of a good linking strategy are a bit difficult to nail down. Factors that might be considered include:

1 The anchor text of the link.

2 The discovery date of the link.

3 The growth rate of links to your site.

4 The rate at which links to a page appear and disappear.

5 The age of links with older links carrying more value.

6 Numerous links to a new site will be looked at as spam, unless some of the links are from highly valued sites.

7 Link growth that is constant is optimal.

8 Sudden bunches of new links will be devalued as spam.

Google values sites that are in it for the long term, update regularly and consistently grow in link popularity. Taking this theme into account, it is easy to understand why the Google sandbox exists.

One-Way or Reciprocal?

One-way links to your site are much better for your site from an SEO standpoint. The main value of an inbound link is in whether or not it will generate traffic to your site. Get reciprocal links from sites that will bring more visitors to your pages.

The Relevance of the Site

What is going to make you the most amount of sales if you are trying to sell fishing equipment? A link from an outdoor hobby website or a link from a bubble gum corporation? I think the answer is straightforward, the outdoor hobby website. The trick is to know your market and understand your customer. What age group would your customers be, and what other type of website would they look at if they were interested in your product? What about demographics? Does your product or service need to be promoted only in certain countries? If you’re selling fishing equipment in the U.S. a site who’s traffic comes from outside the U.S. may not be desirable.

There are two types of inbound links - One Way and Reciprocal. Usually a one way link is gained by another webmaster finding your web site useful enough to where they voluntarily post a link to it on their own site. A reciprocal link is a "trade" where both webmasters post links to each others sites. One way links, naturally, are worth more than reciprocal links. Recently much has been written saying that the value of reciprocal links can be very low or none at all.

Be careful when selecting sites for reciprocal linking. Your outbound links are part of your on page SEO and they are important. You do not want to have links pointing to questionable web sites or "link farms". Always go for sites that are relevant to your own content. The best way to increase the value of your website is to concentrate on linking to helpful and relevant content. Think of the value to your web visitor when choosing other sites to link to. The search engine "spiders" who crawl your site will recognize links to good and especially relevant web sites.

How to look for sites to get inbound links from Do a search on a site that is similar to yours. Type link:http://www.domainname.com in the search box. This will give you a listing of the sites who have links pointing to the site you are interested in. Now you will see who is linking to the site that is similar to yours! Visit the sites and request a link from those who seem the most relevant.

Another good way to increase your inbound links is to join as many quality and relevant forums as you can. Search for forums that deal with the same subject matter as your site. Join the best forums you can find and try to become an active member. Be sure to read the rules or guidelines for any forum before you post a message. The best way to get involved is just to read the messages. If the forum is about an area of interest related to your site’s theme you will be sure to have replies to questions or questions of your own.

Dont forget place a link to your web site in your profile. Take it a step further and put a link to your web site in your signature. The search engines often pick these up!

The Wording of the Text Link

Text links that contain relevant keywords are much more valuable than those that do not. Suppose you have a web site about fly fishing. A link to your site using the words "Learn how to catch the big ones with fly fishing" would be much more preferable to a link that says simply "yourdomain.com". Obviously you will usually have little control of the format of any inbound links to your site. But when you do have a choice always opt for the use of relevant keywords.

Make SEO an ongoing effort. Inbound links take time to accumulate and it can be very time consuming to search for quality reciprocals. Spend time on it when you can. Always grow. Never consider your web site complete. Update and add new pages as often as you are able. The search engines love fresh, new and updating information.

Copyright 2006 David Slone You may republish this article on your website provided author information and active link be intact. Visit Webmaster & Work at Home for more articles about Web Mastering. A Successful Link Exchange A Beginner’s Guide to Exchanging Links

The latest news to hit the Internet’s ‘water cooler’ is that Lycos and Ask Jeeves are to begin their own SEO services..

Search engine optimisation (or SEO) is any practice related to the end goal of improving your website’s positioning in the search engines.

The brief history of SEO is that it first started out solely as the remit of the developers themselves. This was back in the day when one person designed, built, maintained, hosted and marketed a website.

The Ever-Changing Internet Landscape

During the past few years, however, the entire Internet industry has divided up into a myriad divisions to such an extent that SEO is now a booming sector in its own right. Entering the term "seo" on Google returns nearly 20 million results!

Now businesses recognise that it is no longer possible to expect one individual or company to possess all the necessary skills ‘under one roof’ to be able to achieve great results on the graphic design, technical construction AND marketing of their website.

This has led to the trend of bringing in specialist search engine marketing consultants or companies to assist.

As Google and the like are spending millions every year on developing their tools to accurately sift through the billions of web pages that exist it really is a full time occupation just keeping track of what has an effect on search engine ranking and which strategies work best.

Everyone Wants ‘Organic’ Nowadays!

Ask Jeeves and Lycos are now offering their SEO service to help companies get found in the ‘organic’ results of search engines.

‘Organic’ results are those results in a search engine listing that are non-paid. Almost all search engines now offer businesses the shortcut of simply paying to get an ad listed whereas as a latest study indicates that only 28% of searchers will click on an advertisement as opposed to one of the ‘organic’ results (on Google).

This is the reason we’re all fighting for high rankings in the ‘organic’ results. This demand from businesses is also presumably the main driving factor behind Ask Jeeves and Lycos starting to offer their own Search Engine Optimisation services.

Money Well Spent?

In short - I’m not sure.

If you have a 50 page website, getting Lycos to provide you with SEO services will cost you a tidy $10,000. They also include the questionable tactic of re-submitting your website over and over to search engines which is both pointless and risky as some will act against those that submit more than once.

$10,000 sounds like a lot to me for a service that is only dealing with search engines and which talks of ‘recommendations’ that you then have to implement yourself.

Really though - it comes down to what you are trying to achieve with your website.

My two cents on this is that the Lycos service doesn’t devote enough attention to links - your money may be better spent on getting more high quality in-bound links or on a well-managed Pay Per Click Campaign.

Ask Jeeves http://www.askjeeves.com

Lycos’ SEO Service http://ranking.lycos.com/sitesidemore.html

Search Engine Users Survey http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/software/article.php/3348071

Michael Cheney is Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM. Take the Free 7-Part Course "Internet Marketing Made Easy" and get your free sampler of ‘The Bible’ here: http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/

Does your company’s website really need to be listed in both the organic or “natural” search results as well as the paid “sponsored” results? According to panel of search engine experts at a recent Search Engine Strategies conference, the answer is yes. Most search engine marketing experts agree that a combined approach—one that relies on both organic search engine rankings and paid listings works best.

Higher click-thru ratios According to recent research, websites that are listed at the top of the organic search results and the paid listings will triple their click-thru ratio. Three times more people will visit your website if it is listed in both places because there is a “second opinion effect”. Searchers see both listings and are encouraged by the fact that a website is listed in both the organic listings and the paid listings.

Greater penetration of search results By optimizing your website’s content to rank well in the organic search results, your website can be found for many keyword phrases and combinations of keywords. Good organic search engine rankings typically take months to achieve, and are fairly easy to maintain on an ongoing basis. Pay per click (PPC) can be implemented quickly—it can also be turned on and off as needed, depending on your company’s budget and current promotions.

More keyword research Keyword research tells you how many people per day search for what keyword terms. There are many tools available that allow you to perform keyword research even before you achieve organic search engine rankings or start a PPC campaign. Once organic search engine rankings are achieved, keyword research using existing website statistic data allows you to enhance your listing of keywords—you can combine your organic keyword list with your PPC keyword list to focus on the keyword phrases that bring you the best ROI.

Build credibility Organic search engine rankings provide very high levels of credibility and broad coverage on potentially every search engine worldwide. When a website is listed well in the organic search results, the website usually is found for not only their chosen keywords but many combinations of keyword phrases related to those chosen keywords. It’s those other combinations of related keywords that bring a website a lot of more visibility in the search results, frequently causing a website appear to be found “for everything” related to a certain industry. The results can be staggering—a properly optimized website can appear in the search results more often and for more related keywords than a company who has not done any organic search optimization.

Appearing the paid results also helps to build credibility—just because a searcher doesn’t click on a paid ad and visits the website doesn’t mean they haven’t seen the company’s sponsored listing. Paid listings also can provide some visibility and credibility for certain keywords that aren’t usually obtainable through organic search engine optimization.

Bill Hartzer manages the Search Engine Marketing division of MarketNet, Inc., a leading full-service interactive design and development firm in Dallas, Texas. Hartzer recently joined MarketNet, where his vast experience significantly bolsters MarketNet’s already robust search engine marketing offerings.

Hartzer is a successful writer and search engine marketing expert. During the past fifteen years, some of his many accomplishments include:

• Search Engine Optimization Strategist, Intec Telecom Systems PLC
• Webmaster, Intec Telecom Systems PLC
• Founder, Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association
• Owner/Author, Corporate Web Site Marketing
• Administrator, Search Engine Forums
• Frequent Speaker, Search Engine Strategies Conferences
• Frequent Speaker, WebmasterWorld’s PubCon Search Engine and Internet Marketing Conference

A lot of people ask me what is better for their business, pay per click sponsored links or SEO. This is an area where it really depends on your business and your budget.

For those of you who don’t know pay per click ads work like this: everyone enters bids on how much they are willing to bid for certain keywords. The person with the top bid is in the first slot and the next highest bid gets the next spot ect. The person with the top bid doesn’t actually spend how much their bid is, they only pay a few cents more than the next highest bid. Whenever someone searches a keyword you are bidding on they will see a link to your site in the sponsored bids section. Whenever someone clicks on that link you get charged. This can become very expensive because it is open ended. You can set limits per day or only deposit limited funds into your account if you want but as soon as you hit your limit or your account runs out you are removed from the sponsored links. Also, sponsored links tend to get less traffic, usually about 10-20% of what the sites in the natural results get. Why? No one can say exactly why but there have been studies done and they have all shown that people tend to skip the sponsored links or use them last if they can’t find what they want in the natural results.

Pay per click adveritising does have it’s advantages. If you need results tomorrow then this is definitely the way to go. PPC can be a lot more flexible and is good for companies that have an off season. PPC is what it is. A quick solution. Traffic now. If that’s what you need then it’s the way to go.
On Thursday I’ll go in to the pros and cons for hiring an SEO company. As always thank you for taking the time to read my post and if you have any questions feel free to send me an e-mail.

Jeffrey Henderson
Director of Marketing
ViP Search Engine Marketing
jhenderson@vipsem.com
www.vipsem.com

I am the Director of Marketing for a professional SEO firm in Burbank, CA. I am relatively new to writing articles but I really wanted to de-bunk a lot of the myths out there about SEO and to help people understand what SEO really is. I hope that you, the reader, benefits from these articles and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Hi everybody. Last week I went over the pros and cons of using pay per click advertising. Today I will go over the pros and cons for of going with an SEO Firm.

The first thing you need to look at is how much demand there is for your product/service. You can go to overture and use their keyword tools or you can go to my companies website and use our tools. We get a live feed from wordtracker for keyword counts and from overture for the PPC bids. If their is a large demand for your product then pat your self on the back for choosing a good business to get into. Now what you need to look at is your conversion rate for your site. What I’m talking about is the percentage of people that go to your site and actually become a customer/client. Then what you need to look at is the average conversion for your keywords. That’s the amount of traffic you could expect getting to your site for each keyword if your site is in the top 10. Now that you’ve done this you just need to see if the increased income of getting this traffic to your site justifies hiring an SEO Firm to work on your site.

In some industries you can’t go wrong. A few examples would be real estate, mortgages, lawyers and law firms, plastic surgeons, and laser eye surgeons. There is a huge demand for these services and if you get a couple of extra sales every month then the money you would make would more than offset the cost of going the SEO route. Other businesses need to really look at what they can expect to get out of having this service.

If you need help figuring out if SEO is for you I am more than willing to do a full site analysis to see if you would benifit from SEO or not but with the tools on our website and a calculator you should be able to get an idea if this would work for you.

Jeffrey Henderson
Director of Marketing
ViP Search Engine Marketing
www.vipsem.com
jhenderson@vipsem.com

I am the Director of Marketing for VIP Search Engine Marketing, an SEO/SEM Firm in Burbank, CA. We have been in business for seven years, specializing in SEO/SEM for the last three years. We provide a very comprehensive service that we back up with a money back performance based guarantee. I can’t say we are the best at this but we are definitely one of the best. We believe in building strong partnerships with our clients. Our business is based on the belief that when we take on a client that we become a part of their business, throwing in our lot with theirs so to speak as our success is based on theirs.