Customer Reviews

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): An Hour a Day

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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As an seo consultant this book has played a HUGE role in helping me acquire the knowledge of seo i have today. I was a virtual seo newbie when i got this, my job requirements as an internet and ecommerce manager had been changed to include seo techniques and practices and i was more than a little worried that my ignorance of the subject would be found out, but by the time i'd read this twice i practically felt like i'd been involved in seo for years (yes, the transition was that smooth).

Here are my thoughts on this book.

Search engine optimization: an hour a day is a great read for anyone who wants to know all about SEO. It's a well structured book that takes you by the hand, one step at a time, and leads you through everything from the basic fundamentals to the most advanced SEO techniques used by seasoned professionals. It's incredibly detailed, maybe too detailed, from the fundamentals of keyword and website analysis to paid advertising, so much that at times it seems it's a little more information than you can handle all at once(especially for an seo newbie).

I've read reviews that said it was too wordy but i think the book was meant to be taken a little at time, especially by newbies, not just rushed and digested in a single reading. You need to practice the techniques a little at a time to really grasp the importance of each. The fact that the book uses scenarios from real businesses as examples for readers to follow helps to give people who are unfamiliar with the whole SEO concept a clearer picture of what the authors are talking about.

The text and language of the book is easy enough to understand. The tools and resources mentioned throughout the book and especially at the end are very useful for anyone who's interested in keeping up to date with the ever changing rules of seo.

Another invaluable resource that really makes me feel this book is worth it's weight in gold is the third part which outlines a detailed 3 month seo plan to get your website to the top of the search engines for your chosen keywprds. Believe me it works! I know because i use it all the time for many of my clients. If you want to get your website to the top of the search engine rankings, "Search engine optimization: an hour a day" is all you need.

As said by other reviewers on this page, SEO: An Hour A Day is a must have.

I first heard about SEO last year. After having had my own site for my art, for many years, I was pressed into action to build a new site for a new family business. Thats when I started hearing about a lot of new jargon and things that made my poor little artist's head ache. I had all sorts of strange people emailing and phoning me offering to sell me services to improve my SEO? What's that? I though they meant that they could make me the CEO. It was then that I was then told that SEO is some kind of black art so I knew then that I had to find out more.

I agree that if your are completely new to web development and business some of the buzz words, marketing and technical speak can seem a bit foreign, but coming from a world where art speak prevails, I have managed to wade through these to get to the practical instructions. As an old colleague said to me years ago: "if fine art printmaking was easy everybody would be doing it". I would say that the same is true with a new subject such as SEO, making this book a great guide in deciphering the black art.

Not only does SEO: An Hour A Day explain how to use keywords and meta descriptions, it also encourages the use of better copy, therefore making your website (and the web in general) a more interesting and user friendly place to visit.

Stephen Vaughan

Really liked this book. It was written so even a non-programming novice can grasp the concepts of SEO. I especially liked the approach: to keep quality content the number one focus, and not write specifically to SEO.. and the explanation on why that is a better approach. The search engines are a constantly changing dynamic, and this book does a great job explaining why, and what direction they are moving in, as well as tips, guides and tools on how to maximize search engines finding your own site.

Okay guys. So I am a recent college graduate who was hired by a starting law firm to be their first employee. Therefore I am the office manager, the accountant, the paralegal, and the executive assistant, all rolled up into one position. Quite a lot, but heck I was cheap and I was smart. Yet, the main reason they hired me was for my technical abilities. And this book helped push those even further. When asked by my boss to increase our presence on the web, I was met with a large challenge. We are new, so we didn't have that much money (or time) to spend on upgrading our website, managing it, and making it #1 in google. Just to make sure you know: we still aren't #1. There is no fast fix for this. It takes time, effort, and well...reading and analyzing the tips they offer in this book.

I would recommend it to pretty much anyone trying to increase their website traffic, or trying to increase their online presence. Even if you only use some of the recommendations they offer YOU WILL SEE RESULTS. Since we've been using this for almost a month now our web presence has grown and I firmly believe we will one day out SEO our competitors.

Thanks again to Jennifer Grappone(who is a very nice lady BTW) and her partner, for creating such a unique and helpful (AND EASY TO READ!) book.

-J.D.
Mays and Kerr Law Firm
[...]

Ok, maybe not the mother. But for sure this book is in the Top 3 of all books about SEO. In all honesty I owe this review from so so long ago. I started working with this book a year ago. Due to the nature of the website I administrate I guess it's taken me more than usual to move forward through the book, but I can say one thing: All this time I've felt like this girls have been next to me, guiding me every single step of the way to the point that sometimes I felt like the only thing missing was one of the showing up and grabbing my hands and start moving the mouse and typing for me. And the day I was at a crossroad, I wrote to one of them with a question and she actually replied to me (thank you so much Gradiva)!!! The pearls of wisdom that come inside this book are simply priceless. I knew very little about SEO when I started using this book, these days I feel pretty comfortable about my knowledge on the field. The book goes beyond SEO by teaching you how to create report for your supervisors, and guiding you on how to direct and coordinate your teammates to make things work. I'm looking forward to reading the next edition to learn about the newest updates and tools that come to the industry of SEO.

This book is perfect for the beginner. It assumes you know nothing about SEO at square one and takes you through each step with plenty of clear explanation. The instructions are very easy to follow and the authors don't load it down with too much theory/history/speculation of SEO, which is something that frustrated me with other books I've bought on the subject. The writing is clear, simple, and direct.

Following the steps outlined in this book got my brand new website ranking #4 on Google for my key search terms in two months. This book definitely delivers!

I needed a book about SEO to further drive up volume to our B2B website. Of the three books I read on this subject, this is the one that gave the most workable advice and tips for achieving results. Our search engine rankings have been going up since we started applying it and traffic is increasing. Well worth the price!

These two women know what they are doing!! Their expertise in communication on the web is mirrored in the layout, organization and basic user friendliness of the book. I would absolutely hire the authors to do my web optimization work except they have convinced me that I can do a good bit of it myself.

I picked up the book thinking it would be a book on web technology and, although that is true, it is even more about marketing tactics and strategies. The thinking they had me do, very nicely stepped out in hourly increments, has had as much of an impact on my overall marketing strategy as it did on my SEO strategy. In fact, I suspect the authors would say there is only a very fuzzy line between the two.

For me, the practical impact of the book was to show me how to narrow and focus my web presence [...] from a generalized executive coaching practice to the very specific niche of senior executives in technology-oriented organizations. Now I just have to do it!

EXCELLENT BOOK!!!

John Eggert, Ph.D.
Executive Coach for Technology Professionals
The Idea Leadership Company
JohnEggert@IdeaLeadership.com

After checking out numerous books on SEO I choose this because I liked its simple comprehensivness. The approach of this book is likened to the same manner one would eat an elephant, a bit at a time. I especially appreciated the authors use folksy humor to present complex materials, putting the reader at ease. The numerous notes made thoughout the book explaining important details, the right/ left brain debates were most enlightening.
I have studied SEO for awhile now and have had quite some success mostly from what I have learned in this book. I am not sure if this makes me an above average student or if there is much more that I am missing, perhaps I will have the good fortune to have my skills critiqued by the authors to find out.

If you have a website, you need this book! It is a must have for the novice, new comer, experimenting with a business to expert, to been doing this for so long can remember when I started, seasoned vetern. The information is easy to read and understand. It gives you step by step instruction on how to improve your website and the SEO. You don't have to be Einstein to appreciate the time that went into creating such a MUST have manual. This book is a bible for those who have internet based businesses. It holds "secrets" the expensive professionals have. If you want to have more control over your business, the customers you are attracting, how your website is being seen, then you MUST purchase this book. I give this a triple thumbs up!!!!