The question is how do you optimize your site and tap into your piece of the pie?

It comes down to two options - handle your own optimization or hire a professional firm.

After careful consideration, you have decided to tackle your SEO work yourself and control your own destiny in the engines. Congratulations on your decision.

Once the decision has been made, it's important to track your time and progress and determine if the decision is still what is best for you. Things change and what you decided initially may not always be the right decision. Like SEO work itself, deciding how to handle it isn't a one time thing - you have to evaluate the progress and results and you may have to tweak your initial plan of action.

Here are some warning signs that handling SEO yourself is doing more harm than good.

If you decide it doesn't make sense to continue to handle your own SEO, it's not failure, no need to admit defeat, it's simply smart business.

If you find:

- You aren't finding the time to get done all that you need to in order to properly make your site SEO friendly, optimized, and submitted then you really aren't making the progress you need to be and likely won't see the results you were hoping for in the engines.

- You are spending too much time on your SEO, and getting it all done, but the rest of your work has slowed to a halt, and you can't even handle the new business that comes in. That's a problem - a good problem - the new business should increase revenue and you can choose to outsource at that time.

- You work and tweak, and scream, and tweak some more and still no results.

- You had a site that was converting well; you tweaked it for SEO and have rankings, traffic and new visitors, but your site no longer converts

If one or all of these points above are happening to you, it may be time to "call in the big dogs" and get some professional help with your SEO.

Remember, handling your own SEO only saves you money if:

- You have the time to spare and aren't just "borrowing" it from another part of your business that is now suffering.

- You learn enough and actually implement it to get the results you desire.

If you have the time, the knowledge and are getting your SEO work done and seeing results - congratulations. If you aren't, don't feel like you are stuck with your decision you are free to change your mind and outsource at any time to turn things around and start getting your site listed in the engines.