When times are tough, marketing needs to work hard and prove its value—and that’s what search does. While other forms of advertising (TV, print, display) are facing cuts, search is surviving because it’s extremely measurable and enables advertisers to easily tie revenue and ROI back to the ad level.

Even in this challenging economy, paid search will continue to be one of the best-performing marketing methods out there. Search marketing has weathered economic storms of the past. In fact, Google and the entire industry was born out of necessity, during the dot-com bust. When times are tough, marketing needs to work hard and prove its value—and that’s what search does. While other forms of advertising (TV, print, display) are facing cuts, search is surviving because it’s extremely measurable and enables advertisers to easily tie revenue and ROI back to the ad level.

But as paid search becomes ever more crucial, it’s also becoming more complex—and the stakes to wring every last dollar out of your search marketing spend are higher. As a serious search marketer, you need the right tools and applications to run your campaigns efficiently and effectively. Just as you wouldn’t set out to landscape your garden with a plastic shovel, you shouldn’t try to manage your crucial, revenue-driving search campaigns with a hodgepodge of spreadsheets and online tools. To help you get the most out of your search programs—especially in these challenging economic times—I’ve put together some meaty tactical tips that serious search marketers can use to help generate the highest returns out of their search dollars.

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