This course introduces students to SpyFu and demonstrates many of its essential features.  SpyFu enables users to view key marketing information from their competitors.  Both pay per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) features are showcased.

The course provides an over-the-shoulder view with video of both the instructor and the SpyFu user interface.  It provides an introductory demonstration of the software designed to familiarize students with the most useful options.  Upon completion of the course, students should have a good sense of how to formulate a comprehensive marketing plan covering SEO and PPC strategies used by their competition by using the SpyFu application.

In the PPC section, students will learn how to view and download advertisements that competitors run and the search engine search terms they appear on.  Students will also learn how to view a chronological history of such ads.  This will enable students to take a look at what has historically proven as more likely to be worth buying to competitors over a given period of time.

Students with similar competing products and businesses that run similar ads on similar keywords may therefore hope to achieve similar results.  This is particularly useful when a new entrant to an industry competes against a large business with millions of dollars to experiment with various marketing strategies.  However, competitors of all sizes can provide enormously valuable information.

In the SEO section, students will learn how to view the keywords that their competition ranks for naturally in the search engines.  Students can also learn how valuable the market believes those keywords are by seeing estimated cost per click information.  Additionally, traffic metrics are included as well.

These and other metrics can show you how powerful particular pieces of content (such as blog posts or videos) are for competitors' business.  By figuring out the blueprints to the competitions' marketing success, students can attempt to compete on a more level playing field. A courtesy review copy was provided.