According to a recent U.S. study, only 20% of all businesses outsource search engine optimization programs to professional SEO firms. The remaining 80% either do not conduct search engine optimization at all or they believe they have resources and skills to do it in-house. Of this 80%, it is probable that 90% of these companies can’t be found on web – they don’t exist. In order to generate any amount of significant web visibility, your website must typically rank within top-30 results.

So, question comes down to what is in your company’s best interests? Conduct your SEO program in-house or out-source it. To answer this question, let’s first take a look at knowledge, skills and resources necessary to implement and maintain a successful search engine optimization program.

SEO knowledge and skills required

1) Basic understanding of how search engines and directories work. This may seem overly obvious, but you would be amazed how many people do not understand how they actually work. This knowledge provides foundation for your SEO program.

2) Website design Although SEO is not completely a technical marketing process, it does require a fair amount of technical knowledge of what constitutes search engine-friendly web design. Certain web design elements can either help your search engine rankings or hurt them. You simply have to know which is which.

3) SEO experience This is most important and most difficult knowledge to obtain. If you have never implemented a SEO program, then you are in for a big surprise. Search engine optimization programs require a lot of research and are extremely time consuming. Most importantly, they require actual SEO experience. This means knowing what SEO strategies and tactics work and which ones don’t. In-house vs. out-sourced SEO programs

If your company is considering conducting your search engine optimization program in-house, here are some questions to consider.

• Who will be responsible for analyzing, developing, implementing and measuring success of your SEO program?

By following simple methods listed below, you will be able to determine right mix of keywords and phrases that will generate targeted prospects to your website. Remember that good search terms are ones that are related to your business and have sufficient monthly search traffic.

How to choose best keywords and phrases?

1)Select keywords that represent your company’s “bread and butter.” What products and service lines are most profitable, have strongest sales, and continue to show good market demand. And yes, typically 80/20 rule applies here. 80% of your sales and sales leads are produced by 20% of your keywords and phrases.

2)Look at complementary products and services that people tend to buy that you don’t offer. Often, these keywords generate good prospects and typically have less competition than your primary keywords and phrases.

3)Use online tools to help determine keyword variations and search frequency. The best free programs to use include Overture’s search term suggestion tool - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion and Google’s AdWords suggestion tool - https://adwords.google.com/select/main. 4)Use WordTracker - www.wordtracker.com. For a small fee, you can use this tool to find niche keywords, use thesaurus to find related search terms and determine general monthly search frequency. This is a great tool and worth investment.