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*Critical Search Engine Optimization Research Just Released!*
Written by renown[ed] experts Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, this report based on a survey of over 400 Web marketers will help you better understand how businesses are making use of paid participation and search engine optimization services to drive traffic to their Web sites. Order today - just $295!
As a general rule, I wouldn't buy a book about anything to do with the internet, let alone SEs and directories, due to the constantly changing landscape.
Though, I am now considering publishing one. *rofl*
Heh, heh...
You've got to hand it to Danny, he's figured out a way to charge $295 for his business card.
You've got to hand it to Danny, he's figured out a way to charge $295 for his business card.
That is one perceptive way to look at it. After reading that the book was based on surveys of more than four hundred web marketers, I have to wonder: does this prove something? hm...
For a while, at my first two jobs in the industry, I kept track of a lot of SEO activity, firms, techniques, etc. Now, I just read here. The other was fun, but all too often, a waste of time. I guess maybe could put together my old notes, and say "secrets gleaned from XXXX number of SEO firms...by the ebook today!"
(on topic) Worth the cost? Could be, it would take a while to talk to that many people, I guess...
I am sure that any information that is in that book, is also here on this board for free and more up to date.
Marckini has the newest book on the market that is geared more towards how to do optimization. It has a good section on YAHOO! but was written before the latest change. You'll find all the info in more current form here for YAHOO! and just about anything else.
If you want to read about the history of web search and details of each engine Marckini's book devotes hundreds of pages to that.
A few more things. Does anyone have a chart that specifies how much 'body text' each search engine likes? Are there any new search engines that I should be submitting to? Lastly, does anyone have anthying to say about the submission software ComandoPro?
Sorry for all the questions. Any asitance would be appreciated.
You will find more information here than in any book. The advantage of a book is that it can provide a clear, concise, sometimes step by step process for handling the basics. In a nutshell -
Keywords in:
The title tag
The description tag
The URL (if possible)
As early in the page as posible - in the first 25 words of the page
In the last 25 words on the page
Sprinkled a couple times in the middle of the page
Keyword text links pointing to the page which reflect the most important keyword of phrase on the page.
That along with building link popularity, how to submit to directories, and reducing the amount of code on a page is what most of the books say in up to 500 pages.
Good SEO firms tend to be expensive because it takes a significant amount of work, not just to get rankings, but to maintain the (client) company image while doing the promotion, adjust and re-work content on the site if the actual site will be optimized, and maybe even create new content.
In addition, just interfacing with a client takes a large amount of time that the company will bill for. Wanna know how you are doing or anlaysis of your traffic logs, want the SEO firm to keep your listings there and change as the landscape changes, it costs money.
The "maintenance" part of an SEO program is often the money maker for the SEO firm and doesn't take any work - if they are helping you optimize your actual site. If on the other hand it involves cloaking or some fancy doorway page network, the "maintenance" part of it may involve dodging hurdles dished out by the enignes for spam activities. The SEO firm controls all of this, so once they stop getting a check, the SE traffic vanishes instantly.
One major firm, last I knew charged a 120k/year min, would sign the contract, do the work, create hundreds of doorway pages most of the time. The research and set-up would take about 3 months. The rest of the year was just reporting for the most part, unless a big change came about like Google replacing Ink on YAHOO! web pages.
