Book Reviews
What better way to start of the week than with a ninja kick? Or, how about a gentle shove in the direction of Naomi Dunford’s clever ebook SEO School: How to Become an SEO Ninja.
I am frequently asked about SEO. “What is it?” “Do I need it?” “How can I learn it?”
The decoder ring for those of you scratching your heads: SEO = Search Engine Optimization. Want folks to find your site or blog via google searches? Maybe you don’t, but if you’re a freelance web writer then your clients do! It’s my honest (and not so humble) opinion that any freelancer who writes for the web should know at least the basics of SEO or prepare to be out of a job sooner rather than later.
If you’re going to spend your hard-earned money for an SEO ebook, my top recommendation is Naomi Dunford’s SEO School.
Why SEO School?
Most SEO ebooks I’ve read are garbage, and/or they teach backhanded tactics that will get your site sooner blacklisted by google than get you ranked. Most are written by self-proclaimed experts who clearly haven’t taken the time to put their knowledge to work on their own websites but take joy in promising us riches so we’ll buy their books. SEO School is written by Naomi Dunford of Itty Biz. Naomi walks the talk, both on her own blog and in her marketing business. Naomi is a no B.S. chick. Bonus: she is witty, in addition to knowledgeable, so her ebook won’t thrust you into sleepy-time trance resembling semi-hibernation. You have things to do, and Naomi gets that. I read the book in about 45 minutes and laughed about 45 times. Those aren’t bad odds.
The basics of what SEO School can teach you:
- How to figure out what kind of site you have and how to best utilize SEO for your type of website
- How to research keywords for your site and how to research your competitors’ keywords
- What to do with those keywords to get your site optimized
- Why inbound links matter and how to get the right kind
- Special SEO stuff for bloggers only
Before you drop your dollar:
Know that Naomi’s ebook is, in my opinion, geared toward the beginner-intermediate student. If you’re an SEO consultant who has studied search engine optimization and has stayed on top of the latest developments, you should probably save your $39.
Also know that the SEO School ebook is a personal extension of Naomi and, in case you’re not familiar with her work, speaks in a no-nonsense manner. Naomi is a tell-it-like-it-is, sometimes in colorful language, type. For this I love her dearly. If you’re put off by an occasional cuss word and/or prefer to be condescended to, you might want to pass.
P.S. If you buy the ebook and hate it, Naomi will refund your money.
(Note: The above links to SEO School are affiliate links, meaning I will earn a percentage of any sale generated through these links. If you know me at all, you know I would never recommend a product or service I had not myself purchased, used, and found worthy of a recommendation. In other words, I would give Naomi’s book a big thumbs up without the affiliate program, but if you do choose to purchase SEO School I would appreciate if you would do so through my affiliate link.)