We all know that page one of Google is the best real estate on the Internet, but in most cases, getting your pet care business listed there is a real challenge.

The bad news is that premium ranking costs money. The good news is that Google and Yahoo! are the phone book of the 21st Century, and the return on investment they provide can be fantastic.

You may already be getting cold calls from telemarketers and directory companies promising or even guaranteeing success. To prepare you for these calls, we want to share with you a few tips.

Each company that calls you - even the Yellow Pages - will package, name, and pitch search engine marketing (SEM) in a different way. If you get ten calls, it may sound like ten different things.

If you're not a search engine expert, the sales pitches may be confusing, with lots of tech speak, acronyms, and terms you may have never heard before. The sales pitches will have a common goal: convincing you that your website address will show up on page one of the search engines, leading you to lots of website traffic, phone calls, and new customers.

That is a good goal, but we always remind pet care experts that when it comes to SEM, "let the buyer beware." We recommend that you tread carefully, ask lots of questions, keep your guard up, and consider these seven rules of buying search engine marketing.

1. Know exactly what you are buying.
Fast-talking salesmen can take advantage of your lack of SEM knowledge, making tall promises that may not be kept. Make sure you understand precisely what you are buying before making any sort of commitment.

2. Don't sign a long-term contract.
Twelve months is an eternity in Internet marketing. Commit to a three- to six-month testing process to see if it works in your market. We recommend avoiding any contracts over six months. Search engine marketing companies should prove themselves every month.

3. Be wary of anyone guaranteeing success.
SEM campaigns - much like any advertising campaign - can fail for any number of reasons. There is some risk you will have to take. While there may be a few white knights who really will guarantee "success," many SEM firms actually guarantee a certain number of "click-throughs" but deliver them in a way that doesn't get the phone to ring. Remember, phone call leads matter - "clicks" do not!

4. Don't expect to show up on every search.
Unless you spend a comical amount of money, you will not show up on Google - or any other search engine's page one - every single time you search for yourself. If someone makes you that promise and you are spending under $500 per month in a medium to large market, be very wary. If it's too good to be true...

5. Tie results to your spending.
You should be able to link clearly your SEM spending with your phone ringing. If you can't figure out with certainty that a phone call is due to your SEM campaign, you are probably wasting your money. There are foolproof methods of determining if a phone call is the result of someone surfing your website without asking the caller. Work with a company that uses that technology.

6. Having a professional website is a must.
Don't invest a dime in search engine marketing if you do not have a professional and up-to-date website. You do not want to spend hundreds of dollars a month only to send Internet traffic to an outdated website. Make sure your site is optimized to convert Web visitors to customers. Web visitors need to land on a professionally prepared site with contact information and key services highly visible to someone doing a 15-second scan of the home page. In sum, your home page must clearly say what pet care services you specialize in, where you do it, why you do it better, and how to contact you. It's amazing how many websites fail this 15-second test.

7. Beware of complicated language and acronyms.
If a salesperson is using technical Internet terms (metatags, geo-bias, XML, click fraud) and can't explain things in plain English, there may be a reason for their overuse of jargon. Too many companies use techno-speak to intimidate clients into purchasing SEM. While search engine marketing is dynamic and requires some smarts, you should be able to get a clear explanation of exactly how their campaigns work.

Search engine marketing is a proven tool to get in front of the many customers who use the Web every day to find local pet care services. Follow these seven rules and you'll be spared some of the frustration created by the companies who promise results they won't deliver.

Griffin Davis is VP of Marketing for Market Hardware, Inc. (www.markethardware.com). Griffin has worked in Internet marketing and small business marketing since 1993. Market Hardware helps pet care professionals compete on the Web and offers special discounts for association members. Ask Griffin any website or Internet marketing question by emailing [email protected] or calling 888-381-6925. Follow his Web marketing newsfeed at twitter.com/markethardware.

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