Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become one of the basics of having an online business presence.
Whether you are blogging for cash, run an online E-commerce site, or have an off-line business you want to promote online, you soon learn that just ‘having a website’ doesn’t mean that you will have a path of punters beating a haste-y to your door.
To be seen by those lovely paying customers you first have to be ’seen’ by the Search Engines - typically the BIG 3 - Google, MSN and Yahoo.
Now there are a lot of Guru types that will sell you their ‘best’ (cough, cough) SEO secrets for a premium dollar tag, and even some ‘SEO Experts’ will even rent themselves out and make you pay for the privilege. However, if you are new to working online, (and there’s a good number of people trying to make a go of starting their own work from home online business), who do you go to about SEO and who can you trust?
My natural skepticism tells me not to trust the ‘hype’, and it’s a natural consequence that cynicism is a by- product of years of feeling duped by the so-called experts that abound the web.
Even the good guys get tarred with the same brush, after all most folk who are once bitten are twice shy.
To put it another way… fool me once - shame on you; fool me twice - shame on me!
Thankfully the average online surfer is becoming more savvy at spotting the posers and are voting with their feet. But how do you spot the genuine SEO Expert?
The rule of thumb I use is watch what they have to share with you for free, then test it.
- Was this recommended to me by someone I trust?
- Is it fluff or real advice - Can I use it? Does it work?
- What evidence is there that the info is current and leading edge?
- Can this person back up their claims? Will they let me peek behind the scenes?
- Is this person using my need to learn as an excuse to slam me with yet another daily latest-and-greatest-you-just-gotta-buy-it-to-pay-for-my-new-luxury-car email.
OK. Enough of the rant.
What I am leading to in all this is that I have come across (thanks to an Internet Marketer I know and trust) a great SEO resource from Dan Thies…
Fresh Start SEO - a free SEO book for you to download
Fresh Start SEO is free SEO e-book (97 page pdf) with clear step-by-step instructions for Search Engine Optimisation. It is a process-driven method which saves beginners and advanced webmasters time and money. Dan offers free ongoing support through his website, blog and newsletter to a growing Fresh Start SEO Community.
The SEO Book is totally free - you don’t even have to sign up to his newsletter if you don’t want to. (However I highly recommend that you do because Dan is the kind of guy you want to listen to)
I have my own copy and am currently devouring it before I put Dan’s theories to the test and apply it myself.
Dan Thies (Get used to this face… you will see a lot of it in his SEO Fast Stat website) has been writing about, teaching, and practicing search engine optimization for over 10 years. He is referred to as ‘Our Adwords and Keyword Guru’ by Andy Jenkins of StomperNet fame.
Now unless you have been dead or on holiday somewhere near Jupiter, You have got to have heard the buzz around the web about StomperNet’s latest release Going Natural 3.0. If you haven’t, check out Dan’s video and the other great videos freely available now.
You can watch Dan’s “Adwords Serets” video on the StomperNet Going Natural 3.0 site.
