Apogee Search

Apogee Search is a company that does search engine marketing in Austin, Texas.

They are an example of a SEM company that seems to have the idea tight, instead of counting click-throughs or metrics that a client can’t use to show an increase in the bottom line, they only use hard numbers. Using a company like this would show something in you P&L lines - which line is of course up to them, but I would be willing to bet that they hit more P’s than L’s.

One thing I did appreciate about their site is they list off the free things that you can do for yourself, the things that I encourage people to do. This way you can see if free works for you, or if you need to pull in a real pro to get targeted results.

If you have not tried these items from their list, there is something wrong with your Search Engine Marketing.

Google Toolbar
A great deal of useful SEO info available from the Toolbar. Now available for FireFox.

Google Sitemaps
Use an XML feed to submit your page locations to Google.

Google Analytics
An almost free website analytics system from Google.

Overture Keyword Research Tool
Don’t know what keywords to use on your site? This tool from Overture not only suggests other keywords related to the one you enter, but also tells you how many times the keyword was searched last month.

Search Engine Friendly Redirect Checker
Make sure your 301 redirects are search engine friendly.

SocialMeter.com
How is your site performing with the social networking sites?

SEOmoz Page Strength
Gauge the strength of your page along a variety of metrics.