The cult of the shed is becoming quite the social phenomenon. Those rickety wooden slats tucked away in among the brambles and the compost bins have drawn the attention of none other than London's mecca of museums, the V&A, which ran an exhibition dedicated to National Shed Week earlier this year. There's been a whole coffee-table book devoted to shedworking, aptly titled Shedworking. Even BBC Radio 2 has caught on - last month it featured Alex Johnson, Shedworking's author and founder of Shedworking.co.uk.

We decided to track down Johnson and find out what all the fuss is about - and look at whether shedworking is something all you homeworkers and prospective homeworkers should be considering, as an alternative to shoehorning your business into an overcrowded study.

Shedworking - why it works

Johnson says in the last few years he's seen the number of specialists selling garden offices go up from five or six to more like 20 to 25. "It's partly because of the recession and the general trend of more people working from home, and partly being able to work there now thanks to broadband."

But it's not just these two factors driving people to the more remote corners of their landholding. Shedworking, with all the peaceful isolation it brings, frees you from two of the worst culprits of unproductive in-house working: noise and distraction, in all their deviant forms. It's also much less hassle on a day-to-day basis if you're currently space-sharing - i.e. having to hurriedly shove your work-things to one side of the kitchen every time a meal is served.

There's a more subtle element at play for shedworking devotees too: "You're psychologically starting the day [when you go there] - it's like going to the office," Johnson explains. Except you get to bypass the sweaty, arduous, face-in-stranger's-armpit commute - and all the time that normally takes. "You just get a better work-life balance. It feels healthier," Johnson smiles.

And you can tailor and personalise your working environment precisely to your tastes. Which can be quite a blessing, as anyone who's ever had a domestic over wall colours knows.

The nitty-gritty

Having your workspace in the garden isn't necessarily a cheap option, but it's more cost-effective than getting an extension or conservatory built: fully fitted-out garden studios start at around £3,000. Not every business has that kind of cash handy, of course, so the investment hinges on how long-term you think you'll need it for - and whether you really do need it.

On the plus side, a good garden studio can add up to 5% to the value of your property, and works well as a selling point in competitive markets. And a few thousand pounds is still considerably cheaper than renting office or workshop space in many cases.

You need to follow some planning regulations too. Your studio has to be at least 5m away from your house, and if it's taller than 2.5m you need planning permission (which normally takes about eight weeks to come through). It's not allowed to take up more than 50% of your garden either. It's worth talking to your planning authority just to be on the safe side - if you're in a conservation area or your house is a listed property you definitely need to.

Shedworking - how to get it right

It is possible to convert an existing shed into a home office, but by the time you've factored in heating, security, insulation and cleared the whole thing out and refitted it again, you might as well have invested in a new one. (Although you could get away with it if you only need to work there in the summer and aren't keeping any expensive equipment in there.)

You can buy a studio from a DIY centre and build and fit it out yourself for as little as a few hundred pounds if you're clever about it, going up to a couple of thousand the flashier you get. Ask staff in Homebase or B&Q for advice. Be warned that things like electrics and heating can get complex - and if you haven't had experience wiring things up before you'll be safer leaving it to the pros.

If you do go with a professional garden studio company, expect to pay £4,000 - £10,000 for a basic model, such as the one below (again from Booths Garden Studios, coming in at £8,397):

That will include a door with a sturdy lock, double glazing, heating, electrical sockets, and proper flooring - so it really is a mini office. Prices go up to more like £35,000 - £40,000 if you want a shower, kitchen or mezzanine level.

Upping your budget can also afford you more contemporary designs, such as Roost's Oval, which starts at £20,400:

Though you can find more affordable cutting edge studios - the Archipod comes in at £12,000:

You may need a concrete foundation laid for your studio, which is normally £2,000 - £3,000, although with some companies the studios have been designed specifically to side-step that requirement. The type of soil you're on shouldn't make any difference or cause problems.
Iain Wetherell from Booths Garden Studios says most of his customers buy the biggest studio they can afford. "We sold a lot of smaller 12 x 10 foot studios last year, but this year they've been bigger - up to 26 x 12.

"12 x 10 is a good size. They can have showers and toilets. But the problem is the drainage gets really expensive. You have to empty it down the toilet in your house." All the other essentials you'd expect from an office - fuse-box, lighting, electrical sockets, toughened glass and multi-bolted doors - come as standard from Booths and many other retailers, but definitely check all these things with whoever you buy from. If nothing else, their answers will provide a gauge of their reputability. Decide whether you need air conditioning too. Once that's all sorted, Wetherell says your studio should be 'basically as safe as your house', so leaving expensive equipment in there needn't be a worry.

The electrics running between your studio and house need to be done by an electrician, and don't usually come as standard with the studio build. Ask for what's called the 'armoured cable' (it's a legal requirement to have that type) to go above ground rather than underground to cut costs.

Phone lines and broadband will depend on your service providers and wiring set-up, as will costs for connecting your home with your studio. You need to work out whether you want a separate phone line - and figure out all of this well in advance of purchasing a studio. Consider devices such as a Wi-Fi booster for internet connection.

Decoration is in the eye of the beholder, but keep an eye out for space-saving and fold-up urniture if you're tight on square metres. Any built-in insulation should combat external noise, but soft furnishing will help too if you expect it to be a problem.

Combating loneliness

The only downside to this haven of peace and isolation is the odd spot of loneliness. So, in case you do get into shedworking and are ever struck by feelings of isolation, check out Johnson's shedworking site, and @shedworking on Twitter. Both have busy communities. Make sure you get to plenty of offline networking events too. Social media should complement real life, not replace it. And you always have the Smarta community. In fact, you could even start your own shedworking group there right now.

Prior to founding Rich Futures, Clive worked at Sony BMG, where he created a pioneering developing business and digital division. He's also held senior business affairs positions with BMG Europe, BMG Music Publishing and WEA Records.

Rich Futures provides a deal-making and business affairs toolkit for the new 'deal economy': it structures and closes deals for clients working with partners to create value. Clients include content owners, artists, brands, software companies, hardware companies, DSPs and media owners - the Royal Opera House and the government's Technology Strategy Board among them.

Clive is an expert in business negotiations, deal syndication and commercial and strategic advice, and will soon be releasing an iPhone app to help business owners and others negotiate their way through life and business as successfully as possible.

Find out more about Rich Futures

We need to chill out. Not in a hippy escape-the-rat-race way, but because interspersing work with healthy doses of relaxation actually makes us more productive. It enables us to retain information better: recent studies by both the University of Michigan and the University of California found memories form better when we take a break from activity. Loren Frank, a professor from the University of California, told The New York Times: "Almost certainly, downtime lets the brain go over experiences it's had, solidify them and turn them into permanent long-term memories." (Note that TV and internet do not count as 'downtime' - only less mentally-stimulating activities such as walking or exercise qualify).

And all this stress is damaging our health, which in turn inhibits our psychological ability to work efficiently. Almost half of 1,400 business leaders, full-time workers and GPs felt stressed in a survey held by Norwich Union last year. One in five of those asked were also suffering from depression, 46% suffered from insomnia, a third from migraines and one in five from anxiety attacks or palpitations - not exactly conducive to a good day in the office, dear.

So while we understand that it might be tempting to work 16 hours straight to get that brief finished, you're not helping yourself if you don't take breaks. We're not going to tow the eight hours sleep a night and eight hours work a day line - we know that's laughable for many of you (though for those of you who manage your time well enough to do it, keep it up!). But we strongly advise just giving yourself 10 or 20 minutes out every now and then. Take a walk around the block, go for a jog, listen to music that makes you sing so joyfully you forget completely what you were thinking about. Just do something to take your mind off what you were doing.

You may lose 20 minutes work-time, but you'll gain double that back in productivity when you return to your task with a refreshed mind and properly formed thoughts and memories to refer back to in the days and weeks ahead.

Want to know the best ways to relax mid-work-day? Read a blog we wrote last year on how to combat stress.

The first debacle of last night's peak-and-trough episode was the customary total flop. Poor old Diane and Tim had chucked £50,000 at a series of books featuring cheery fruit and veg characters, designed to instill the five-a-day mantra into kids. To their credit, they had sold a fair few copies through Borders before it went into administration - but the numbers weren't really there and they weren't really sure how they'd achieve the three-fold increase in sales they'd forecasted. Oh, and then there was Peter Jones's deliciously sardonic point that the book he read didn't actually instruct children to eat healthily at all - instead it sent out the message that kids' friends wouldn't like them if they ran out of sweets and that they should run away from home. Soon criticisms mushroomed and the fruity duo were kicked out the Den like right lemons.

Next up was Patrick van der Vorst, an ex Sotherby's department head who'd knocked up a nice-and-easy website that let your average punter get any item in their home valued within 48 hours just by uploading a photo of it. Valuemystuffnow.com was more or less Antiques Roadshow 2.0. Patrick has formed a collective of 28 experts (all freelance valuation consultant for the big three auction houses) who get paid £1.80 per valuation, while  customers pay £4.50 per valuation.

A prime idea for the 'age of austerity', Theo Paphitis said, with profit margins that sounded good. But Deborah Meaden was (very rightly) concerned about the online marketing strategy. Patrick was spending only £4,000 - £5,000 per month on pay per click advertising and Google AdWords advertising. He was getting 20,000 unique visitors a month - which is a pretty impressive figure. But he reckoned he'd be able to keep that online ad spend consistent yet manage to up his monthly visitors to 100,000 through word of mouth.

This, of course, set off alarm bells in the Den - because as all investors now know, you need a whopping great amount to splurge on PPC these days if you want even a sniff of a chance of being found online. Peter Jones said Patrick would need more like three or five times the £100,000 investment he was asking for, while James Caan said the mode was 'unsustainable'.

Fortunately for Patrick, Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden swooped in to save the day, walking out with 40% for £100,000 - double the amount of equity Patrick had planned to give away but with the huge added value they can bring to his online marketing strategy.

The next pitch caused quite a, ahem, stink in the Den: a cannily-designed extractor fan that drew out odours from toilet bowls more efficiently than the traditional ceiling extractor fan. Builders-by-trade Patrick and Tim seemed to have a fairly thoroughly-thought-out plan, citing the cost-cutting qualities of their extractor, its neat power-saving devices and numerous building regulation standards it had achieved.

But they got pooh-poohed by the Dragons as question-time lingered fatefully on: James Caan said the market was too small and he would never make a return; Duncan Bannatyne said in all his 25 years of building properties and health clubs he had never once received a complaint about a stinking loo so there really was no need for it; and Deborah Meaden came down like a barrister on their backsides to discover the standard they had reached only applied to a very specific type of commercial toilet, ruling out the much bigger market they had laid claim to. The ensuing stink ensured five outs.

Finally, we came to Chris Elsworthy, softly-spoken product engineer extraordinaire who designed what Peter Jones called 'one of the best products we've ever seen in the Den'. The Power8 workbox was a cordless powertool set that converts into eight different tools. It had picked up plenty of attention from DIY fanatics and industry insiders alike, Theo Paphitis called it 'fabulous', and all the Dragons seemed, well, totally bowled over by it.

Ah, but nothing in the Den ever runs so smoothly as it seems. Half-way through questioning, we found out Chris had become entangled in a horrifically complex company and share structure spanning five countries, multiple investors, Hong Kong-based cashflow management and a holding company in the British Virgin Islands that Chris actually owned no part of. Percentages and place-names started flying around the Den faster than a jet set millionaire's convention, and the messy web of Chris's business (or partly- semi- something- owned business) was enough to deter Deborah, Theo and James Caan.

But Peter Jones ploughed on, saying Chris was the 'real value' - and craftily offered the full £150,000 Chris asked for in return for 40% of the holding company, on the condition that all intellectual property rights for the Power8 (currently all owned by the Hong Kong company - do keep up) be transferred to the holding company. Phew.

Then, in an astounding whip of Den audaciousness unlike any counteroffer we'd seen before, Chris replied flatly and with a good dose of condescension: "That values my company extremely lowly. What resources will you put in to make that worthwhile?" A really quite pleasingly flabbergasted Peter Jones stammered something along the lines of, "You need sales and you need me to get those sales," but Chris wasn't having any of it. "I'm not prepared to give away 40% of my company," he retorted, then turned to Duncan Bannatyne. Touche!

Duncan Bannatyne, looking quite impressed, then offered half the amount for just 15% of the equity, assuming Peter would come in with the other half. Chris, unflappable as a block of concrete, said 'that's still undervaluing my company'. And after some further wrangling by Chris, as cool as several frozen cucumbers, the Den-god walked out with £150,000 for 30% of his company shared by Duncan and Peter - but with their equity shrinking to 20% as soon as he had repaid the money.

Chris's slick bargaining was quite a surprise, but he knew he had a fantastic product, and the Dragons were falling over themselves to get a piece of it. So why take investment at all? The inventor's final words to Evan summed up an important lesson thus: "I know I have to give things away to make things happen, and that's what I'm doing. It's better to have a small piece of something large than a small piece of nothing."

That was the year that Serious Fraud Office (SFO) began investigation Polly Peck and Nadir.  The authorities alleged that several million-pound cash sums had been transferred out of Polly Peck and into several accounts in northern Cyprus. These transfers amounted to some £36m. After the allegations went public, and Nadir's home was raided by police, Polly Peck ceased trading with liabilities of £1.3bn.

By May 1993, when the Cyprus-born entrepreneur finally fled Britain, he had collected 66 charges of theft and false accounting. While not technically a fugitive from justice, Nadir absconded the day after his bail expired without alerting the authorities. Speaking to the BBC from his seat aboard a flight back to the UK this morning, he says: "I was a free man when I left. I am hoping that the term fugitive does not apply to me."

But why come back at all?

This is pure conjecture, but my theory is that Nadir - a compulsive wheeler dealer - is itching to get back in the saddle. His business interests have slowly frittered away, as has his personal fortune. It is possible that the remnants of his property holdings, once worth up to £40m, have substantially devalued as a result of the financial crisis. He may still hold considerable political influence in his native country but he has been a virtual prisoner in his Northern Cyprus home for 17 long years. At 69 years old, the entrepreneur is probably seeking a last hurrah. One last venture to see him into his twilight years and ensure a safe financial future for his young wife Nur and his family.

There is also rumour of a deal. He denies this completely: "There is no deal. There is only one deal and that deal is that I am hoping I will see for the first time some justice." However, Nadir does not deny that he has been involved in talks with the authorities to allow him to return, albeit under electronic surveillance with a £250,000 bail on his head.

Nadir is vehement about his innocence, insisting that he has been denied a fair hearing. "When the charges were brought, I proved my innocence to the authorities. But at that time, no one took any notice." He even suggests that it could be the Serious Fraud Office itself that comes under scrutiny. "The abuse of process by the authorities will be the first case investigated," he says. Despite his protestations, there's no denying that at the time of Polly Peck's collapse, creditors were eventually paid a pitiful 2.9p for every pound owed. Shareholders, incidentally, got nothing.

This will be a fascinating case to watch pan out. An entrepreneur, fallen from grace, returns to clear his name. Hell, it has the makings of a great Hollywood blockbuster. We'll keep you posted as the story develops.

Picture: Cristiano Betta

"Absolutely not," says sales expert Andy Preston. And this is a man who knows how to sell. Preston not only has over ten years' experience cold calling, he's even been drafted in by the likes of HSBC and IBM to help their sales teams hit targets. "Cold calling is not dead. It's evolving," he says."There are still just as many cold calls being made now as ever. Social media has become a great excuse for lazy sales people with a fear of rejection to get out of picking up the phone. They don't hit sales targets and, when challenged about it, they say, 'I've been on Twitter'!"

The same rules for effective cold calling still apply, argues Preston. "You need to have done your homework beforehand," he says. "You cannot make a professional cold call without knowing - at least - the name of the person you are trying to reach. Otherwise you create problems with the gatekeepers. People are far too savvy to pass on calls that begin, "Can you put me through to your head of marketing, please?" It's pure laziness not to find out the names. It always has been. These days, tools like LinkedIn and Twitter can help you find out those names. And if you don't do that, you're daft."

Simon Corbett, founder of Jargon PR, wholeheartedly agrees. "Telesales remains a great way to generate new business," he says. "The secret is to always put quality before quantity.  Before you call anyone, look at the person you will be speaking to on-line through sites such as LinkedIn."

But Brad Burton, founder of business breakfast network 4Networking, has a different perspective: "My view? It is dead," he commented on our Smarta web chat last week. "Or as near as, damn it. Telemarketing is a long way around to getting an appointment. When was the last time a telemarketer cold called you and got an appointment?"

Many businesses also share Burton's cynicism, regarding cold calling as, at best, a last resort. Andrew Ball, manager of Chazbrooks Communications , recommends using cold calling only when "you have exhausted all the other possible routes".

He explains: "In an ideal world, you will have potential customers actively searching you out as a result of your professional reputation, with new customers referred to you by happy clients of yours.  As a backup, you will also have an excellent website, staff trained to offer add-on business to your existing clients, and you will be networking at relevant industry and business events."

All well and good, but what if you're in a highly competitive industry? "I think cold calling does work for products such as insurance or mobile phones, and where it really is a numbers game," says Peter Gradwell, founder of internet services firm Gradwell. "If you can afford to ring up everyone in the county and even a small percentage buys something, you will still make money."

Gradwell makes this distinction despite having recently dissolved his telemarketing team. The internet entrepreneur founded his eponymous firm back in 1998. The business now pulls in a turnover in excess of £4m but none of this revenue comes from cold calling. "Gradwell's products are such that customers have to understand the concepts and want to invest in the technology; cold calling is hopeless for this," he says.

"After investing 80-100k this financial year, we gave up on cold calling," he continues. "It wasn't an effective option for us and we found that it didn't generate the results we were hoping for.  We went from having a web driven inbound-only sales team, to implementing an outbound cold calling team, and now we've gone back to inbound only."

In contrast, Jargon PR's Corbett says that ten per cent of his agency's annual income comes from telesales programmes. And this is no two-bit agency: Jargon was recently listed as one of the largest tech PR agencies in the UK.

Helen Beckett is also in the public relations business. She founded her agency Illuminate Communcations after a ten-year career in charity and PR.  Her advice? Always try and offer something for free on a cold call; ideally, something that won't cost your company the earth to deliver. "If you are a creative organisation then you could offer a free 'surgery' or 'brainstorm' or 'ideas session'" she says. "This is a great way of getting to meet the potential client and show what you can do."

It's also incredibly important to motivate your sales team when it comes to cold calling. There's still stigma attached to the practice, even on the sales floors themselves. It's often the new kid or the unfortunate exec who's missed their sales target that gets saddled with cold calling duties. "That's a fair assessment," says Preston. "People often view cold calling as a punishment for not getting sales from the usual channels."

"Every single sales person should be doing some element of cold calling," states Preston. "Before the recession, many sales people got lazy. They all became 'account managers'. Then the recession hit and their rejection skills weren't honed. These were the people who ended up losing their jobs."

It's a harsh assessment. And Preston has another grim pronouncement for shy sales folk, desperately looking to avoid the cold call. "You know where sales suicide lies?" he asks. "Selling via email."

Ten top tips for mastering the art of the cold call

1.) "Remember that the most important person on the call is you," says Preston. "People always say things like, 'the customer is always right'. Rubbish. Get your point across, sell your heart out, or you're dead."

2.) "Think about the time and the day you ring," says Illuminate Communications' Beckett. "For example, the end of the financial year is stressful for a lot of companies, but leading up to Christmas or during the summer there can often be a more relaxed atmosphere in many offices."

3.) "Understand the company thoroughly and think of what pain points the person you are speaking to may have," advises Jargon PR's Corbett.

4.) "Know your product/service well -  preparation and research is vital," Says Chazbrooks Andrew Ball. "People buy from people who love and have faith in their products and companies."

5.) Don't bother with the pleasantries," is Preston's advice. "Nobody cares. If you're at home, about at have your tea at six in the evening, and you get a sales call, how do you feel? Give your name and company, establish it's convenient to speak, then give the reason for your call. This isn't about getting a personal rapport. Stick to the business rapport."

6.) "Be realistic about what can stop you from getting the business - don't flog a dead horse," adds Ball.

7.) "After the call always follow-up with an e-mail that adds value, i.e. that tells people something new.  Don't just send what you have already said," is Corbett's tip.

8.) "Offer a free online tool, piece of valuable research or a guide that is of use to your potential client," Says Beckett. "Even some good food! A cold call from a company that makes chocolate mousse wanting to send free samples is welcome at most offices!"

9.) Corbett says: "Forget old school sales techniques to try to keep people on the phone, just be clear, informed and direct, don't waste anyone's time."

10.) "Ask questions and listen to the answers - getting the questioning technique right is key. Discover their true needs," says Ball.

Words by Rebecca Burn-Callander

Mike Soutar left school at 17 to work as beauty editor for women's magazine Secrets, which specialised in romance stories for older women. By the time he was 23 he was editor of iconic pop mag Smash Hits.

He then took over the reigns of little-known For Him Magazine, rebranded it FHM and growing its circulation from 50,000 to a 800,000 market leader at the peak of lad's mag frenzy.

After a brief spell running Kiss FM, launching Dennis's Maxim in the US and being part of Chris Evans and Matthew Freud's doomed Daily Star takeover, he was recruited as editorial director of IPC Media by Bailey, oversaw the launch of lads' weekly Nuts and 'learnt how to say no'.

In September 2007, he broke out on his own to launch Shortlist - 'a mag men could be proud to be seen with' - with the backing, among others, of Sir David Arculus, his old boss at Emap.

Shortlist, distributed for free, has exceeded all expectations and confounded its critics - and the successful launch of Stylist suggests it's not a one off. Mike has plans for international expansion and future UK launches.

Watch the video to find out more.

• Learn more about Shortlist

Whilst the Dragons understood the idea and the potential market, many were dubious of the long term money making opportunities. For a start, how accurate was the 20% redemption figure they gave? Peter Jones, an expert in the area of gift cards, estimates the redemption rate to be closer to 10%, whilst Duncan Bannatyne was unsure whether customers would change their current habit of storing the card away or spending it to be rid of it. Peter was also quick to point out that the USA market for this business is in strong decline, rather than increased demand.

Theo Paphitis felt uncomfortable with the whole concept, comparing it to ticket touting, but it was Deborah Meaden who finally crushed their pitch by pointing out the lack of legal advice the team had invested in, leaving the business open to attack. Whilst the initial idea sounded like it targeted a large potential market and the pitch appeared to go smoothly, the resulting discussion revealed far too many weak points for the pair to win the £50,000 investment for a 25% stake.

Theo summed up the pitch with some classic common sense advice "Not all good ideas are money-making ideas and the sooner we all start realising, the better our businesspeople will be." Something a number of the entrepreneurs visiting the den should bear in mind before coming up against the dragons.

If you're in the midst of starting up a business, make sure you ask your most honest friends for their opinion, discuss it with a mentor or head to Smarta for a huge selection of advice and tools that will help you identify whether your idea is a money making one, or simply a good one.

To join the conversation, find me on Twitter @shaawasmund, visit my website: shaawasmund.com or leave your comment below.

The market

Google is still the king of search: over 65% of all internet searches are hosted by the Google platform. That's over one billion searches every day. This is followed by Yahoo! with around 15% of the market and Bing with the smallest slice at 10%. For pure PPC, the market is even more dominated by the "Don't be evil" brand. Google is way out in front with an 81.22% market share. Yahoo! has the world's largest market share in online display advertising, but can't quite crack the PPC crowd with less than 10% of the pie. Bing brings up the rear with a tiny 5.31%. The question is, with Google dominating the industry, is it really worth using the other two?

It all depends on your target market. Google tends to reach a younger audience, with ages ranging from 13-34, whereas Bing and Yahoo! typically draw in the 25-54's. If your products or services are aimed at the older generation, it might be worth giving Yahoo! and Bing a whirl. Bing and Yahoo! are also dominated by consumers, whereas Google is commonly frequented by businesses: a useful consideration for business-to-business firms.

It's also worth thinking about foreign markets. If you're selling into Japan, for example, Yahoo! is inexplicably more popular than Google. For customers in Russia, forget all the incumbents and go direct to the national engine Yandex. The Chinese government has been at loggerheads with Google for the best part of this year. To target the Chinese market, save your PPC spend for local search engine Baidu, creepily nicknamed 'The Google killer'.

A question of cost

Google's popularity is, ironically, its biggest downfall: more customers mean more competition. As such, it typically charges more per click than Yahoo! and Bing, especially for the most popular key words.

Another downside of using Google is that you can't see what your competitors are bidding, so you're never quite sure that you're paying the best rate. Yahoo!'s Search Marketing, on the other hand, works more like eBay: you can see rival bids and Yahoo! places your bid at around a penny over your lowest competitor. If they pay £1.60 per click, and you bid £2.00, you'll only be charged £1.61. This makes Yahoo! a great place to try out new key words.

For Kirsty Jolly, who launched her online baby backpack business B2Boutique in 2009, cost hasn't been an issue with Google Adwords. Her products appeal to a very niche market, which whittles down the competition: "It doesn't cost too much because I don't have to compete for words with any big players," she says. "If I was competing with larger companies then price might become a problem".

The amount you pay when using Adwords, however, doesn't actually affect where your ad will be ranked on the results page. This is determined by the ratio of clicks on your ad to the number of times it's shown, known as the click through (CT) rate. In simple terms, you could end up ranking higher than your competitor even if they bid more than you. Great for those with a small budget!

The cost of activating your account is relatively low with Google: just a one-time payment of £5, and there's no minimum spend per month. The minimum cost per click is just one penny. Yahoo! demands a higher investment: the engine requires a minimum spend of £20 per month with Search Marketing and a non-refundable deposit of £30 when you create an account. The minimum cost per click with Yahoo! is also higher at between five and ten pence. Bing offers the best of both worlds, with a £5 set up fee, no minimum charges, and an average click cost much lower than Yahoo!'s. But then Bing is the little guy, trying desperately to lure customers away from the big boys.

Rankings and CT rate

There are a few drawbacks to using PPC. For one, there's a chance your key phrase could be dropped if the CT rate is deemed 'too low'. The different engines vary on the criteria for removing a phrase.

Google has been known to drop key words with potentially low CT rates. If your word has done poorly with other advertisers, you might not get the chance to use it. There are also stories of the dreaded 'Google slap'.  Supposedly, if Google believes your ad and the associated landing pages are of poor quality, it may significantly lower the ad's position on search engine results, or even disable the account completely.  For more information on the Google Slap, click here.

Blowfish Digital's Pavel Romanov reckons Google slap might be a bit of an urban myth: "I've never heard of it. If the site's poor it'll deliver no traffic, but it won't be shut down."

Yahoo! gives advertisers a bit more leeway. It will only drop a key word if the CT rate is low for a significant period of time, which rarely happens. Of course, unlike Google, your ranking is much more dependent on what you can afford to pay.

Bing has really stepped up its advertising campaigns recently, and while it may be currently be less popular than Yahoo! and Google: it's a new platform. With some serious investment from Microsoft, it could become a big player over the next few years.

Which platform is right for me?

To play devil's advocate here, there is a world beyond Google. Yahoo!'s system definitely allows more control over your money: you can see how much competitors are bidding, and usually pay less per click. Not only are key words generally cheaper on Yahoo! and Bing, but you also have the advantage of using whichever words you want, not just the ones Google deem 'successful'.

Google, though, has the bonus of rewarding you with a higher ranking for ads with good CT rates. Google also has the added benefit of an 80 per cent claim to the market. That's a big plus when you consider the increased traffic potential.  Jolly from B2Boutique believes Google is the obvious choice for most businesses: "I use Google Adwords. It's the most used engine, feeds into a lot of other search sites and syncs nicely with Google analytics". Romanov agrees, stating: "Google has the most advanced tools of all three. Bing and Yahoo! can work, but just don't have the volume".

Jonathan Elliott, MD at MakeItCheaper.com says: "The question should be, 'Is it worth investing time into Yahoo! and Bing?' All three engines can work depending on what vertical you are operating in and what your business model is. More advertisers will use Google and therefore the clicks will be fought over more aggressively leading to click prices becoming higher. So, yes, you could potentially see more 'value' from Bing and Yahoo! but how valued is your time relative to actual sales volume?"

Of course, if your budget allows, you could consider covering all your bases: use two or even three platforms.  Anna Wilkinson of aclickahead.com agrees that there's no escaping Google's reach, but argues that you shouldn't limit yourself to a single provider: "Generally what works on one engine also works on the others, so it is good to import the campaigns that are working well for you from one engine to another."

Google may still rule the market, but Yahoo! and Bing have their benefits. It all depends on your business, budget, and target market. It's also worth noting here that there are plans to combine Bing and Yahoo!'s PPC services in 2011. Will this prove real competition for Google? Romanov believes it will up the numbers for Bing but is unlikely to level the playing field. "Even after they join, they still won't be able to compete."

Quite simply, you may get more clicks for your money with Yahoo! or Bing, but you can't argue with Google's numbers.

Students pay for the lessons and we pay the teachers, taking a small cut per lesson.

3. Who are your competitors?

E-learning is the fastest growing emerging market so it is a hugely exciting time. There are other companies offering a similar service but each one has a different approach. We are all fairly new so it will be interesting to see how things develop.

4. What's your USP?

Learn2lingo.com is simple to use. We make it easy for teachers and students to connect in the online classroom and ensure the experience within the classroom is smooth and effective.

5. How have you funded it so far?

We received Angel investment through Angel Networks in the UK.

6. What were you doing before?

I was a science teacher in an urban complex London school.

7. Where did the idea come from?

My housemate, also a teacher, was taking a Spanish evening course but was so tired after school and kept missing her classes. I thought 'surely there must be an easier way'. I came up with the idea that, with live two-way streaming, she could have a lesson with a Spanish teacher in Spain or South America by webcam in her own time and the comfort of her own home.

8. What's the smartest thing you've done so far?

Choosing the right people to work with.

9. What's the stupidest?

Getting distracted. Learn2lingo.com can work in so many markets and the challenge is to focus on the right ones.

10. If your business was a biscuit, what type would it be?

A custard cream, it connects two biscuits perfectly together, just like learn2lingo.com connects the teacher and student online.

11. Which idea are you a bit jealous of?

There are lots of amazing tech companies doing cool things, I wouldn't say I'm jealous of them, just inspired by them. It just shows that lots of things are possible and there are many incredible people doing them.

12. Where are you going to be in 12 months' time?

Travelling to all our learn2lingo.com offices worldwide.