After reading about SEO for the past couple of years, I finally picked up SEO School from Naomi Dunford at Ittybiz. Now I know this has been out for awhile and I’m late to the game, but I just had to write about it because it is such an incredible resource. Although I had already taken a great 13 hour online SEO course, and felt I understood the basics, Naomi’s killer sales page convinced me I had to read her book too. And so should you. Here’s why:
- Naomi provides in plain, colorful English everything you need to do to be ahead of pretty much anyone who doesn’t bother with SEO.
- She tells you what you need to worry about and what you don’t
- She doesn’t cause acute paralysis by dumping more information than you need to build a solid foundation.
- It’s an entertaining read – you don’t need a pound of chocolate-covered coffee beans to get through it. She makes you WANT to keep reading because it’s enjoyable.
- Her reputation for being the best marketing potty mouth around lives on in this book. But behind that potty mouth is one of the smartest marketing brains online. Seriously. You get the straight scoop without any hype (and this being a hype-free zone is a requirement before I’ll support something).
- You get actionable steps normal people can understand without re-reading seven times, and can use immediately. Just the term SEO scares many marketers I know. This strips the fear away and makes you want to get to work.
- She provides links to dig deeper and explore other tools as you go – it’s like peeling the onion to reveal only what you NEED at each step.
- It’s soluble brain food you can digest in an afternoon or evening, not a 1,088 page mammoth like The Source by James Michener.
- It simply rocks and is so worth the $39. Think about how long it’d take you to research and develop this step-by-step guide. Your time’s worth far more than that. It’s about focusing on your core competencies rather than trying to do everything yourself. It’s about GTD and working smart.
About the only thing I’d take issue with is when Naomi talks about keyword research being boring. Perhaps I’m just a geek, but I love competitive research and uncovering the details. It’s a bit of a game to me. But perhaps you do find that boring – but it’s essential to SEO success. Hire it out if you can afford to, but someone’s got to do it.
So who shouldn’t buy SEO School? People who prefer dry, complex language to Naomi’s colorful wit. These would be people without a sense of humor or the easily offended. And it’s not geared for major companies with large web teams and extremely complex websites and layers of management. It’s written for small businesses – those that don’t have web teams who can afford to outsource their SEO.
Grab your copy today – you’ll be seoooo smarter tomorrow. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I’m not paid to write this nor do I get anything for you buying it. I just think it’s a must read for any small business with a website or any business that doesn’t want to end up like the school pictured for that matter.
