Slashdot Mirror
Search Engine Marketing Kit
John Garrett writes "The Search Engine Marketing Kit is a kit aimed at professional web developers and Search Engine Marketing professionals who are seeking proven strategies and techniques for improving the search performance of websites. In fact anyone who has an interest in how well a website ranks on searches related to the website’s content or target market could benefit from the tips found in this kit." Read the rest of John's review.
The Search Engine Marketing Kit
author
Dan Thies
pages
273
publisher
SitePoint
rating
8
reviewer
John Garrett
ISBN
0-9752402-5-0
summary
A kit on how to optimise and market your website for the search engines.
Dan Thies is a successful search marketing expert who shares in this kit from his years of professional experience. The book is primarily about proven yet reputable techniques to maximize a website’s chances of getting high rankings on searches. High rankings can mean the difference between lots of traffic, and no traffic at all, so for a website that needs traffic to generate business, the worth of good search rankings is invaluable.
The kit discusses techniques for both search engine optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and although the book doesn’t presume a prior familiarity with these subjects it does expect some knowledge of website design and development, at least at a basic level. Search engine optimization (SEO) looks at how a website can be designed and developed to maximize its chances of ranking well in searches, whereas Search Engine Marketing (SEM) looks at paid marketing campaigns in search engines like Google to provide advertising for your website. Both techniques are very complimentary and the kit recognizes the need to address both issues for the most effective marketing outcomes.
The kit combines both timeless and timely wisdom in that some concepts could be out-of-date in 12 months due to the rapidly evolving nature of search, whereas others have stood the test of several years and will probably continue to be sound principles for years to come. Unfortunately it is the very nature of the search industry that no book can be completely relevant for too long, however this kit is certainly a great resource for the present climate.
This “kit” is published by SitePoint, who publish quite a lot of very good material aimed at Web Professionals. The price of the kit is quite high yet SitePoint claim that their kits are more comprehensive than their books, and hence justify the higher price. Having read the kit thoroughly I can say that the kit is well worth the outlay. It represents something of a distillation of years of someone’s professional expertise and experience and therefore contains resources and information that might take years to arrive at by any other means. What I’m trying to say here is that my time is valuable and if Dan is willing to share his best secrets and insights in his kit then I think it’s worth the price! There are several other good books around on the same subject, but this would be the best I’ve come across, of what I’ve read already.
The book comes with a CD-ROM with some very useful resources aimed at professional SEM business. These resources are representative of Dan’s professional expertise and could be very helpful if you are in the business of providing SEM or SEO services to paying clients. The book also discusses software and other tools that can be used for providing SEO and SEM services and again Dan can save tears and wasted money by giving you his clear summary of the best available. (There are lots of resources available on the Web for SEO & SEM, and thankfully Dan has cut through all the hype and spelled out the must-haves very clearly.)
I found that the kit also contains numerous references to resources, both free and paid, that can benefit anyone conducting SEO and SEM for a website. These resources are ones that you might not know exist had you not had the opportunity to appreciate the experience shared by Dan, yet they are resources that can make SEO & SEM more effective and efficient. Again this kind of insight is worth paying for.
The kit is very readable and well set out so it’s not a “heavy” read by any means. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who works in SEO and SEM, so perhaps my understanding is somewhat biased, however I made so many notes, highlights and tags throughout the book on points that I found very helpful, so I think it certainly has much valuable insight to offer everyone. Its very much a resource in the sense that you will want to refer to the content over and over as you put the techniques into practice and particularly for anyone involved in website design and development this kit should become a frequently referred to desktop reference.
As a professional web developer, providing SEO and SEM services to my clients, I have a reasonable understanding of the search industry. I obtained the kit because I wanted to further develop my understanding of this important area and I found it to be an excellent reference and resource. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has the responsibility of getting a website “found” in the search engines. Don’t be discouraged by the relatively high price as the kit still represents very good value for money. My principal advice would be to read it thoroughly, as it contains too many gems to obtain from anything but a careful study. The many tips and techniques are clearly laid out in a logical manner that enables practical application immediately.
John Garrett is a professional web developer based in Sydney Australia. His website is www.softcomweb.biz."
Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Dan Thies is a successful search marketing expert who shares in this kit from his years of professional experience. The book is primarily about proven yet reputable techniques to maximize a website’s chances of getting high rankings on searches. High rankings can mean the difference between lots of traffic, and no traffic at all, so for a website that needs traffic to generate business, the worth of good search rankings is invaluable.
The kit discusses techniques for both search engine optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and although the book doesn’t presume a prior familiarity with these subjects it does expect some knowledge of website design and development, at least at a basic level. Search engine optimization (SEO) looks at how a website can be designed and developed to maximize its chances of ranking well in searches, whereas Search Engine Marketing (SEM) looks at paid marketing campaigns in search engines like Google to provide advertising for your website. Both techniques are very complimentary and the kit recognizes the need to address both issues for the most effective marketing outcomes.
The kit combines both timeless and timely wisdom in that some concepts could be out-of-date in 12 months due to the rapidly evolving nature of search, whereas others have stood the test of several years and will probably continue to be sound principles for years to come. Unfortunately it is the very nature of the search industry that no book can be completely relevant for too long, however this kit is certainly a great resource for the present climate.
This “kit” is published by SitePoint, who publish quite a lot of very good material aimed at Web Professionals. The price of the kit is quite high yet SitePoint claim that their kits are more comprehensive than their books, and hence justify the higher price. Having read the kit thoroughly I can say that the kit is well worth the outlay. It represents something of a distillation of years of someone’s professional expertise and experience and therefore contains resources and information that might take years to arrive at by any other means. What I’m trying to say here is that my time is valuable and if Dan is willing to share his best secrets and insights in his kit then I think it’s worth the price! There are several other good books around on the same subject, but this would be the best I’ve come across, of what I’ve read already.
The book comes with a CD-ROM with some very useful resources aimed at professional SEM business. These resources are representative of Dan’s professional expertise and could be very helpful if you are in the business of providing SEM or SEO services to paying clients. The book also discusses software and other tools that can be used for providing SEO and SEM services and again Dan can save tears and wasted money by giving you his clear summary of the best available. (There are lots of resources available on the Web for SEO & SEM, and thankfully Dan has cut through all the hype and spelled out the must-haves very clearly.)
I found that the kit also contains numerous references to resources, both free and paid, that can benefit anyone conducting SEO and SEM for a website. These resources are ones that you might not know exist had you not had the opportunity to appreciate the experience shared by Dan, yet they are resources that can make SEO & SEM more effective and efficient. Again this kind of insight is worth paying for.
The kit is very readable and well set out so it’s not a “heavy” read by any means. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who works in SEO and SEM, so perhaps my understanding is somewhat biased, however I made so many notes, highlights and tags throughout the book on points that I found very helpful, so I think it certainly has much valuable insight to offer everyone. Its very much a resource in the sense that you will want to refer to the content over and over as you put the techniques into practice and particularly for anyone involved in website design and development this kit should become a frequently referred to desktop reference.
As a professional web developer, providing SEO and SEM services to my clients, I have a reasonable understanding of the search industry. I obtained the kit because I wanted to further develop my understanding of this important area and I found it to be an excellent reference and resource. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has the responsibility of getting a website “found” in the search engines. Don’t be discouraged by the relatively high price as the kit still represents very good value for money. My principal advice would be to read it thoroughly, as it contains too many gems to obtain from anything but a careful study. The many tips and techniques are clearly laid out in a logical manner that enables practical application immediately.
John Garrett is a professional web developer based in Sydney Australia. His website is www.softcomweb.biz."
Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
These toolkits are very interesting for the "now" but not very valid for the future.
:)
Google and Yahoo and others and their search engine mechanics are always working on these manipulations of the results. My big problem with any "buy my hidden secrets" kits is that once a secret is known by the person being manipulated, it is easier to defend against. Do you seriously believe that the top SEO companies would ever tell you anything that they'd want google to find out?
I have some secrets to great search engine placement:
1. Create worthy content.
2. Spell things correctly.
3. Create worth content.
4. Update it regularly.
5. Keep the same domain name as long as you can. I lost some "valuable" second and third positions by letting domain names expire.
6. Try and figure out what the newest "industry catchphrases" are and make sure you use them, except if you're targeting slashdot readers
7. Create worthy content.
8. If you find a way to get a higher page rank, don't tell anyone. Be happy until the search engines close that venue off. If you really want to be placed at the top, just pay the piper for an advertisement.
If you're chasing a niche market, you can hit the top 10 in 2-3 weeks, generally. If you're chasing a broad market, good luck, you're too late.
When it comes to marketing kits, learn from Taco's posts: don't be duped.
Oh, as long as this guy is getting slashvertising to his website, might as well click on my link. It is only fair!
This review is useless. It's paragraph after paragraph of some unknown web weenie exhalting a $200 "marketing kit". No where does the reviewer actually discuss the content of the book. It's an invaluable reasource for web professionals... yeah, yeah... don't be turned off by it's (never actually stated) price.... yeah, yeah... The author is a SEO genius... Ok, we get it! Now tell us something of substance!
I'm sorry but my astro-turfing, sealth marketing spidey sense is on high alert at the moment. This is neither newsworthy or nerdy. How does a pointless review of unknown book by an unknown publisher get the marquee treatment at one of the most widely read sites on the 'net? And who's this "samzenpus" editor?
Hey, I run a technology business of my own; I understand the need to get the word out. Hell, I've even plugged it here on Slashdot before. But I never try to sneak anything under the radar; if I'm trying to promote something, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Who knows? Maybe some people might actually appreciate being informed about a product or service they'd find valuable. These "Slashvertisements" are getting out of hand.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
when is the kit coming out for marketing on slashdot? what's with these adverts?
This whole thing sounds like a spam to me.
sulli
RTFJ.
Posted by samzenpus on 12:31 PM December 16th, 2005 would only take a single character move to make it spamzenus. But then again, if they were really trying to spam Slashdot to gain better PR they would have had to include a link.
;)
I guess we shouldn't even trust the SEO spammers to know what they're talking about
This article should just be removed from Slashdot. Like we really need Slashdot to be promoting the abuse of Google.
Before spending any money on an SEO book, people should make use of the free online resources, for instance Highrankings Forums.
SEM is hard work. But if you want to do it yourself:
Do the above and you will be better than 99% of all web sites.