We created SpyFu Ad History to make it easy for search marketers to write winning ad copy from day one, and the newly-redesigned Ad History makes it even easier. But we didn’t stop there. Learn how Ad History also makes it possible to quickly set up your ad groups by seeing how your competitors structure theirs.

If you’ve spent any time at all in the world of search engine marketing, you’ve probably run across the term ‘keyword research’ a number of times. There’s a good reason for that. Launching an SEM campaign without the guidance of well-selected keywords is like driving to work with the sunshade still across the windshield of your car: it’s highly likely you won’t get very far. And even if you do, you’ll probably end up nowhere close to where you wanted to go. So just what is keyword research? Why is it important for search engine marketing? And what does any of this have to do with Ryan Reynolds?! Read on to find out!

Experienced SEO’s know that different kinds of sites require different optimization strategies. A site devoted to branding is a completely different animal than one designed for raw traffic. So if you don’t execute the same for every site, why would you sell the same way to every prospect? Here are two powerful ways to focus your pitch to eCommerce prospects to get their attention and sell more services.

Search Engine Optimization can be very intimidating for beginners. Whether you’re an entrepreneur planning to grow your business, a blogger yearning to reach a wider audience, or an in-house marketing professional carrying a new responsibility, learning SEO from scratch can feel daunting. With so many books, blogs, tutorials, and conflicting ‘expert opinions’ to sift through, where do you even start?! And even if you’ve managed to change a few title tags here and there, what should you target second? If this SEO situation sounds familiar and you’re at a loss of what to do first or what to do next, I have some advice:

Proving the value of Search Engine Optimization at all stages of the sales process – from the sales presentation to monthly client reporting – is essential to land and retain clients. Recon files reports for SEO’s focus on proving the Return-On-Investment (ROI) of SEO, and many of the articles we found similarly focus on measuring and reporting this important metric. Brian, in a related post, created a list of the top articles that address the financial aspects of SEO value. While financial measurements of value are the bread-and-butter of SEO’s when reporting to their clients, there are conceptual value propositions to communicate as well which are no less important though not as strictly measurable.

Managing expectations is a key component to successfully selling SEO services and maintaining healthy business relationships with your clients, yet it is often neglected. It is tempting to avoid discussion of limitations during a sale because it can be seen as undermining the value you’ve built up. And in the short term, avoidance may not appear to cause any harm. But as many experienced SEO’s know, failing to manage expectations can have far-reaching consequences.

As everyone knows by now, SpyFu’s spiffy, new Recon Files Ranking Report is live. What many don’t know, though, is that this awesome new SEO reporting tool isn’t the only new-kid-on-the-block here at SpyFu. The company has been growing, and as Mike Roberts mentioned in a recent interview, that growth included hiring an in-house SEO specialist. And as it turns out, I’m the guy who landed the job. Lucky me, right? There is one plot twist, however… 

I have no experience with SEO.