How to Remove the Mystery Behind Search Engine Marketing: The Search Engine Marketing Kit by Dan Thies Tells All

They didn’t have anything like this when I started out as a search engine optimization consultant in the late 1990’s.

Back then, we were more likely to call it “web site promotion”. Today, the craft of getting your web site into search engines is referred to as “search engine marketing”.

Gone are the days where we could tweak a title tag and see a page’s rank shift up or down a few hours later. While you no longer have to make 50 different versions of a page to meet different search engine algorithms, or submit pages every month, the maintenance required for any search engine marketing program is just as complicated, if not more mysterious, than ever before.

Adding to the mystery is the rather complicated process of SEO itself, which is fueled by competition. Many of your industry competitors pay professionals who are trained to design and optimize web sites to work for both people and search engines. The most illogical advertising ploy is a guarantee of rank, with no mention or regard of what happens afterwards. If you site ranks well, but your web site visitors can’t find what they need once they click into it, all that money you paid for fame just went down the drain. What’s worse is when you’re required to pay for every click into your web site and yet earn no revenue to pay for those advertising costs.

If you like to control your web site’s destiny, and your wallet, it doesn’t hurt to teach yourself some of the basic skills needed to market your web site. Long time professional SEO and speaker for Jupiter Media’s Search Engine Strategies conferences, Dan Thies, has written and compiled a new workbook called The Search Engine Marketing Kit.

This wide white binder kit comes with a CD-ROM, and is nearly 300 packed pages of SEO/SEM education printed on sturdy stock paper. The 3-ring binder is divided into tabbed sections covering basics and advanced practices, as well as how to set up your own search engine marketing business if you wish to.

As Dan writes, “There are no really big secrets to achieving good search engine rankings. Your effectiveness as an SEO practitioner depends largely on your ability to manage the process and make good strategic decisions at each step.”

Up until now, his point about making “good strategic decisions” is the main reason I’ve recommended hiring experienced, trusted SEO’s if you are new to the search engine chase to the top. A skilled SEO practitioner understands what you’ll face. They can tell you what your competition will be like and how to do battle. Many of them recommend to their clients that a review for web site usability be performed. The combination of usability and SEO services, along with a web site designed to meet your goals, makes you a very happy customer. In addition, a user-friendly web site attracts links, which in turn, increases your web site’s rank.

Dan refers to this as “harmonizing design and SEO.”

“A good designer who understands search engines can solve any design problem without limiting the site’s search engine strategy,” Dan claims in the Search Engine Marketing Kit.

It’s this unique understanding of the blending and balancing of design, site requirements, your long-term goals and the rules of search engine engagement that Dan brings to his kit. He doesn’t pass judgment on any techniques. Rather, he explains every term, every procedure and, thankfully, he addresses commonly known fears such as frames, FLASH, CSS, and dynamically generated pages. If you want solutions you can trust, buy his book.

There’s more. One of my favorite sections of the kit is in the beginning, where he describes the history of search engines. Did you know that Yahoo! means “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle” or that Google was once referred to as the “Backrub” search engine?

From basics to advanced search engine optimization, to search engine spam, “best practices”, and JavaScript menus, the Search Engine Marketing Kit is just getting warmed up. You’ll also find sections on pay per click and pay for inclusion, blending design and SEO, resources, tools, and interviews with several top SEO professionals. The CD-ROM is loaded with practical tools and applications used for tracking and measurement, maintenance, how to set rates, plan projects, do keyword research and more. There is no wasted space in this kit. Every page has valuable information you can use now, and you’ll have it handy when you need it later.

The instant help, in easy to understand terms, is well worth the reasonable cost of the kit. When you consider what you would pay to hire someone, the kit is a real gem. Granted, there are companies for hire who perform SEO/SEM services and are vital members of our team. However, if you’re of the mind to do it yourself or you want to do SEO for your company’s web sites, or your friends, I highly recommend the Search Engine Marketing Kit by Dan Thies.

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