You Can Take The Pain Out of SEO Work

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If you're new to SEO, or search engine optimization, there is good news and there is bad news. I'll share the bad news with you first.

Like a lot of other industries out there, the SEO industry has more than its share of crooks and rip-off artists. If you don't read any more of this, just know that you need to be very careful, and not believe the outrageous claims of the less-than-reputable SEO companies out there. Be on the lookout for stuff like "We guarantee to make you number 1 on Google and Yahoo!" That is the a sure warning sign. No SEO company can make a guarantee like that.

The good news is that there are reputable and honest SEO companies out there if you want to hire one. Be aware, however, that SEO services tend to be quite expensive, so prepare to shell out a nice chunk of change. If you are a webmaster on a budget, this can be a problem.

You Can Learn SEO But Be Prepared For A Lot of Screen Time

If you decide to take up the challenge and learn SEO on your own, there is a lot of help out there from various web sites and forums. I honestly believe you can learn just about everything you need to know regarding search engine optimization just by studying the information on these various sites. Just be prepared to spend a lot of your time parked in front of your computer reading all that stuff.

I don't claim to be an SEO expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I've been able to do OK with the method I just mentioned -- reading a lot of SEO information and tips from various forums. It seems quite intimidating at first, but I have found that a lot of the best tips are quite straight forward and not hard to understand.

I have also found that most of the SEO work I have done involves repetitive and rather boring work like exchanging links with other sites. However, this is still one of the best (probably the best!) ways to help get your site ranked nicely in the search engines.

Or You Can Make It A Whole Lot Easier

Although I will always believe that reading the good SEO sites and forums on the net is a great way to learn SEO, there is a shortcut that will help you jump right in and begin to understand many of the important concepts. Best of all, it's free!

Down load this free SEO book by Brad Callen and you'll find a nice shortcut right to the most important SEO tips and techniques, which you can start using right away. It's called SEO Made Easy, and it honestly does present the world of SEO in a way that is easy to understand and implement.

Who is Brad Callen?

I first heard of Brad Callen when I was researching SEO information back around the beginning of the year. I ran across an advertisement for his SEO Elite Software on the web. Now I'll admit that I can be a pretty cheap guy, and believe me when I tell you, I don't buy a lot of software. With all the great freeware that is available today, I can often find "open source" programs to do what I need, and save myself a lot of money as a result.

I did however buy Brad's SEO Elite software, and ended up be very glad that I did. At first, I was not at all inclined to lay out money for this program, and part of the reason was that the advertisement I stumbled across for the software was one of those one-page "mini sites" that you run into too often while searching for a product. You know the ones. Big bold lettering at the top of the page that says something like:

"Earn $20,000 Per Day Breeding Squirrels At Home! "

Well, for whatever reason, those kinds of ads just turn me off. I'm a pretty cynical guy, and I always tend to doubt bold claims right off the bat. Not that Brad's ad was as cheesy as the example above, but it was written in that typical direct sales letter style. The headline was something like: " Amazing Secrets of An Indiana Nerd Who Failed To Get Any Rankings In The Search Engines For Over 5 Years, But Now Gets The Top Position ..."

I had tried a number of the well-known SEO programs out there, and as a typical SEO newbie, I was expecting to find that one "magic bullet" program that I could turn lose on my web site and be ranked #1 in Yahoo in a week or two! I was very disappointed with the programs I tried. Heck, a lot of them did not even seem to incorporate some of the best and most basic SEO practices I had learned from reading the SEO forums.

Even though I don't care for those one-page direct sales letter sites, something kept me reading the ad for SEO Elite, and I ended up reading the whole darn thing! By the time I was done, I actually wanted to buy it! But, I'm not an impulse buyer kind of guy, so I decided to keep looking around to see what else I could find.

Every couple of days or so, I ended up coming back to Brad's site. Each time I was a little more convinced that I wanted to try the software. The features sounded great and with a no-hassle money-back guarantee, what could go wrong? Still, I waited.

Pulling The Trigger

In the following days, I returned to Brad's site a number of times, and finally I decided that it was time for me to either buy the damn software or stop visiting the site! So I bought it. I paid for it online with my credit card, downloaded it to my system and installed it immediately.

It didn't take me long to realize that it was a very good decision to purchase this software. SEO Elite proved itself to be everything Brad claimed it was and more. I set about putting the program to work right away.

The Real Deal

There are a lot of bold claims made by people out there selling various software packages. Like I said, I don't buy a lot of software, but once in a while I get wind of a new program that claims to address a very specific and unique need I happen to have at the time, and when I can find no "freebie" version of a program like that, I will often give it a try and see how good it is. A few months ago this very set if circumstances arose.

The particular software in question was a lot more expensive than SEO Elite, in fact, it cost around $250. But, since it seemed to be exactly what I needed to help me with a new site I was working on, I bit the bullet and laid out the $250 to download the software. It had a money-back guarantee, so I was pretty sure I could get my money back if it turned out to be garbage.

Well, I'm very glad they had the money-back guarantee because the program did turn out to be garbage. It was a program designed to help me build content for a particular type of web site, and the results were something I would have to classify as SPAM. There was no way I was going to put that kind of sub-standard crap on any site I was building.

I e-mailed the the folks who sold me the software and told them why I was not happy with the product, and that I would like a refund. To their credit, they issued the refund right away. I don't know about other people, but when I spend $250 of my money for something, I expect it to be a quality product, and I won't hesitate to ask for my money back if it isn't. $10 or $20 I might let slide, but certainly not $250!

Anyway, my experience with that over-priced and inferior software product only makes me appreciate SEO Elite all the more. I don't want Brad to get wind of this, but it's easy for me to conclude that SEO Elite is worth a lot more than what he is charging for it when one considers the fact that other folks are getting $250 for software that is basically a SPAM generator for web sites!

Always Improving!

Another thing that impresses me about SEO Elite is that Brad is always improving it. He comes out with new versions of the software on a regular basis, and each time he does, I get a free upgrade to the latest version.

I'm not just talking about bug fixes and small improvements here. I'm talking about major improvements he makes to the software, including brand new features that are extremely useful.

And speaking of bug fixes, Brad stays right on top of any bugs or other changes that might be required. For example, I just fired up SEO Elite and the program informed me that a new version was available and asked if I would like to download it now. I answered "Yes" and was directed to the SEO Elite web site where this message appeared:

"This morning Yahoo made a minor change to the way they display their search results. It's not visible to the naked eye, but from a programmer's point of view, it caused a few problems. We've corrected the problem and uploaded a new version. Please download below."

Do the opening two words of that paragraph tell you something? Yahoo made a change to their search engine and Brad had a fix released to correct the problem that same day. That's the kind of customer service we don't see enough of these days!

Stay In Touch With The World of SEO

Another thing Brad does that is extremely helpful is sending out SEO news and tips on a regular basis. Of course you don't have to be on his mailing list, but his is one of the few lists I choose to remain on because the information I get from him is actually useful!

Just yesterday I got an e-mail from him all about some theories he has about the algorithm that Google uses on their search engine, and whether or not it has recently changed. He also provided some excellent tips for getting your site ranked well in Google.

The Proof Is In The Pudding!

I launched this site (www.homesfornh.com) just a little over a year ago. As you might expect, when you first launch a site, you can expect to be nowhere in the search engine rankings. I didn't know much about SEO when I first launched this site and it wasn't until spring of this year that I got serious about doing some SEO on it.

Using the principles that Brad teaches and using SEO Elite, I was able to get this site ranked number 1 on Yahoo for the search term "New Hampshire Real Estate" and I've been holding that position for a number of months. Sure, once in a while I slip back to #2 or #3 but I usually end up back at #1 before very long.

Do a search on Yahoo for "New Hampshire Real Estate" and see for yourself.

Knowing that it is can be easier and faster to attain good rankings on Yahoo, that is where I focused my SEO efforts and why I rank so well for that particular search term. One of these days I plan to put more effort into getting my ranking improved on Google, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. As most webmasters know, there is never a shortage of tasks waiting to be completed!

UPDATE: I must admit that I have not been putting much effort into keeping this site up-to-date and have not been paying much attention to it as far as SEO is concerned. This is because I am no longer a full-time real estate agent, and have been spending my time doing other things. However, even after neglecting this site for months, it still shows up on Page 1 of the Yahoo results for the above search term.

For a more up-to-date example you might want to check one of my other sites: www.learn-crochet-now.com

I registered the learn-crochet-now.com domain almost a year ago and have used SEO Elite to increase my rankings steadily since launching the site during February, 2005. Do a search on Yahoo! for "crochet video" and "learn crochet" and you should see very resepectable rankings for that site.

You can also do a search on Google for those same two search terms and see that the site ranks quite well there also.

I suppose anyone could go around claiming web sites as their own, and with all the crooks and con artists loose on the Internet, I would not blame you at all for wondering if that site is actually one of mine. How do you know that www.learn-crochet-now is really my site and not some site I falsely selected to claim as my own? Check out this page on that site for proof.

Give It A Try Without Risk

If you want to make learning SEO a lot easier, download Brad's free book and then get yourself a copy of SEO Elite. Even if you are an SEO pro, you will find SEO Elite invaluable. I can honestly say that it is the finest SEO software that I am aware of -- and I tried a number of SEO programs that were supposed to be "the best."

My dealings with Brad have demonstrated him to be an honest guy who means what he says. That is why trying SEO Elite is completely risk-free. If Brad says he will refund your money if you are not satisfied with SEO Elite for any reason, that is exactly what he will do.

I doubt that he gets many requests for refunds, however, because SEO Elite is that good.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that SEO Elite was created for the purpose of teaching SEO. It was created to make the SEO process a lot faster and easier, but is not meant for training. Brad's free book and other material on his web site will provide a great deal of SEO training if you care to take advantage of it.