Looking for a Book

I'm looking for a book to purchase and read so I can do my own SEO on my site.

Any recommendations?

this site has a great source of info can start here, or just google up 'seo book'

yeah, but watch out for the seo ebooks

my opinion
you in a very very competitive field, hire a pro

SEO is a rapidly changing field. By the time a book is out some principles are already out of favor. You would do well to read up the nuggets of advice doled out in this forum.

Even if you do hire a pro, it's still well worth learning the basics ... and continuing to learn after that.

But start with learning about site building (if you haven't already!), because a large part of SEO is building a good web site.

...and so I'm going to be contray here:

1 - I think learning the basics is doable from a book. A book also representes a reasonable cost investment for those new to see if they can even wqrap their heads around the topic - setting up a website and managing it will easily cost more and can be about 2 bazillion time harder on the head to learn on by tweaking/playing.

2 - That said, for those new and willing to invest, I'd suggest the following options:

A: get some space on a virtual dedicated server* (say $30/month, usually less). Find a decent HTML editor (I liek Dreamweaver, but got it free, so cost might be a factor for some.) Then grab a book like SEO For Dummies and start learning the basics. If you do not already know some html, you'll be learning two things at the same time (3 if you include the uploading/file management on the server side of things).

B: Same server idea, but start a blog on something like Wordpress - it's easy to install and if you can copy & paste, you can easily change the look & feel of the site to suit your tastes with free templates. Relatively few tweaks - and a good support community - allows WP blogs to be a good way to get started fast and get you past the HTML learning curve to start.

*you'll need more than a cheap "website overnight"-type hositng solution, as you'll want to be able to make certain tweaks to files you place on the server, which you typically can only access/manage on virtual & up server solutions - folks chime in if you know of other soltuions available today that allow access to run htaccess files, etc.

3 - as for books themselves, as I mentioned, I do like the Dummies book (I know, I know, but it's a decent read for those fresh to the topic) with one cavaet, and this applies to any book:

Timeliness - as mentioned above, print goes out of date pretty quick, so places like SEF and other online resources still remain one of the very best ways to get hands-on answers to immediate questions.

4 - online training such as SEMPO offers with their Insider's Program (entry level seo courses) are another alternative if you want to invest the $300 - as one of the builders of that actual program, I wish it was around when I'd started as it would have saved years of online Q&A for me. There are many online training options, but examine them carefully, and don't make the choice solely based on lowest cost.

...and if you're going to run a blog on WP, I'll humbly suggest my own book available through Amazon.

Now - all of THAT said - it's completely viable that you could learn everything you need to know through a forum such as SEF - it will take time no matter the direction you take, so think about the options balanced against your technical apptitude, interest, time & goals. It's not a quick topic to learn, as it has about 17 million small, sometimes hidden "yeah, buts..." scattered in the most arcane places - and expert opinions rarely match or provide parallel answers (witness this thread), but... all kidding aside - it's a skill that's in demand now, and will only continue to be in demand as the Web expands.

Think of the day when your fridge is linked to the grocer's via the internet and it tracks and orders for you as you use food.

CRAP! I just had an idea for my next book:

Appliance repair & SEO: What to do when your fridge fudges it

I was thinking of this more on a business level. This is not a "for fun" site. It is his buisness that he is trying to grow. Trying to learn everything on a molecular level and doing everything yourself is a sure fire path to failure. This is what destroys the small business owner and in my opinion many internet businesses. What he needs to do is surround himself with a team of specialists, webdesign, ecommerce, seo/sem, marketing, fulfillment, etc. These are all specialized disiplines. There is not enough time in the day to be a pro in all these fields and more. What is the value of his time and his real expertise? While he is doing the job of ten people everything suffers. Instead of managing his business he is now "running" his business. He is locked into the resource of himself and not the resources and collective knowledge of a team.

I've seen this many times. I had a client that had a nationaly syndicated radio show that he sold products on. He tried to do it all, the websites, the show, the research, the pick and pack, the shipping, the ordering, answering the phones and order taking, the accounting (what a mess) blaa blaa. He literally worked 24 hours a day, was always behind, and not growing. He was a resource of one.

I came in and brought together a team and 3rd party service (call center, fulfillment etc) and managed them for him. Within no time his sales quadrupled and his work load went to almost nothing. He had time for a life and to develop his show. Not only that, but by using a call center and not answering the order phones himself, he discovered that he didn't have 40 orders per day, but 250. Just becuase he could now handle the volumn. He and his business were now scalable.

So, what I'm trying to say, is that learning seo himself will not build his business. He needs to manage his business, not run his business, and concentrate on his expertise and find out what the real value of his time is and how best to use his time and resources.

mj1256,

That is exactly what I need. At one point when I was ranked very well, I was getting about 1,500 uniques a day and doing very well on orders. I spent most of my time fullfilling the orders and shipping them out. It was a real pain.

Now I have a person that fullfills my orders for me and ships them to my customer. Everything is great, except I have lost my ranking, therefore losing money.

I know this is a great forum and a person can learn allot, but I just don't have the time to learn what is needed. I need stuff done now, and I need to know it's being done by someone who knows what they are doing.

The problem with trying to learn something like SEO from a forum is I may learn 10 or 12 things from here, but there maybe 40 or 50 things that I don't even know that I should be asking the question to.

It's kind of like growing up around automatic cars your whole life. You may never even know a manual exists. Therefore when you are asking someone on how to drive a car, you won't even mention the stick shift or the clutch because you don't have any idea that they exist.

Ah, with more info comes greater clarity.

I'll suggest that you might want to look for some paid help then, thomhee. That's a whole other world to be careful in, however, so the best advice I can give is to ask those bidding on the work for references, and check them out yourself - if you get 3 - 5 and they all have nothing but good to say, then chances are good the person is decent and will get the work done for you.

After that, just be sure YOU lead the ocnversations - you know your product/site and their job is to help make it better.

Thanks, I will do that.

Suprised you don't have a forum category in here that deals with paid help or for people looking for web related experts in SEO, web marketing, etc...

That is what I originally came here for.

Yeah, the forum was/is built around the idea of sharing knowledge, not offering a marketplace. It's been talked about, but it's a real bugger to police and could really harm a good space with a few bad apples in the mix.