Please post your comments and questions on the SEO Fast Start ebook and portal here.
40 thoughts on “SEO Fast Start Feedback”
Ok, Dan.. Thru to page 24. Great start so far. Even though it is the basic stuff I have been learing through you in other portals, I really like the way you broke down how a spider eats your site up.
Just scanned the PDF Dan, looking good. I’ve found learning about your keyword process invaluable. Should be interesting to watch what you build; a best-practices portal is a great idea.
I am just about to the last chapter, and aside from my eyes getting a little crossed at the in-depth link stuff (eg. “third level push”) I both understood and agreed with all you say.
I love your framework and methods!
Thank you for making this content available.
Dan, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you started this Portal. I have been following you for a while and previously in Stomper. I think I have the record for watching your videos the most!
Thanks to you (and me (:) I am on page #1 of Yahoo #4 for “treadmill” 235K searches a month.
Please let me know if I could help the Portal in any way. I would love to volunteer.
I have immediately started updating my clients sites by implementing your methods.
I have many clients that start out with 5 page websites. It seems that putting 2nd tier category pages would be unnecessary (or a bit overdone and not very useful). Therefore, i think of these sites in terms of 1st tier and 3rd tier.
Am i correct in thinking of it this way? And is there any significant difference in how i should think about the ‘nofollow’ linking?
It seems that the more pages a site has, the more internal ‘pointing’ to important pages takes place.
Thanks Dan for the useful resource. I’m looking forward to the development of your portal.
mhdoc, there are plenty of SEO challenges with a one-page site, such as not having the ability to cross link pages with anchor text, but there are cases where you just don’t care. SEOFastStart.com is pretty much a one-page web site, for example, since this portal isn’t linked from the home page.
Thanks Jeff, I am going to be inviting some folks to help out as the community grows. We have a couple thousand already registered, so I expect we’ll need to add forums and stuff before long.
Claudia, that’s correct. With a 5-page site, you probably only have 2 tiers – it’s not really “what’s on the page” but how far it is from the top of the site that tells you what tier you’re in. Category type pages are typical second tier pages for a larger site. But in terms of content, yes, I think you’re looking at it the right way. Nofollow isn’t especially relevant for a small site, although you still do want to be mindful of outbound links, especially from the home page.
The book is a solid step-by-step system for the novice and more advanced. I felt that the introduction information was a much needed refreshers. The advanced sections were brand new to me and had me saying:
“WOW…Why wasn’t I told this while paying for my expenses trainings.”
Thanks for the FREE information. Now would you let me pay for something already! Talk about wallet out! lol
Maybe you’ll be in Chicago soon and I can buy you a drink and here about ‘The Secret To Success In Life’. lol x2
Hi Jeff… at this point, I have nothing to sell you.
I know that’s unusual, but my focus is on building a strong user community and getting people to read the book. I will probably do an in-person event sometime this year, but not until I hit my subscriber/member targets.
Hi Dan, for months have I been scanning the net learning about SEO. I was strongly considering hiring a pro to do it for me. But….when you quit your real job, to do your dream job….money is a factor.
I have read your guide and it looks fantastic. Aside from a lot of great advise, I liked it has the honest approach to SEO. You definitely know your stuff, and are not one of those people that just say they do. That’s the unfortunate thing I walked away with visiting other sites.
I still need to build my company website. So in a way, I feel that my site, which will be built using your guide….will be growing up with your community. Lets hope that both of them ends up being succesful.
Thanks for the guide! Hopefully next time I post, I will be proudly presenting the amount it took for me to score high on google. But I guess I still have to deal with the sandbox.
Dan, I hear you on the coffee. I guess it will have to be another type of beverage when we catch up (: Nikkie, it’s the right move…stick around here! Also, I don’t know how your doing with one way links. You should check out: (link removed, see Kelley’s comments below)They will submit your site to 650 directories for $99.00 and will go as fast or as slow as you like. So you don’t have to be concerned with getting too many links too fast. You also have the option of only going with PR4 or PR5 directories for a fraction of the cost. I had a positive experience using them (: Jeff
Great job! The site architecture and linking are very useful. It left me a little crossed brained. A couple of weekends and I will have the links part figured out. Thanks!!!
Nikkie, I forgot to mention… WebMarketReports was recommended to me by a full paying StomperNet member who claimed to have success. I believe many of the directories are on the StomperNet directory list. Your site would be hand submitted to the directories. Jeff
Hi Dan,
I was in the process of following Stompernet SIMPLE when your text arrived. I soaked it all up and incorporated alot of your suggestions like nofollow and contextual links within the website. I even kept track of my inbound and outbound links! I encountered a roadblock today, though, and I’m wondering what you suggest. Although Sherman Hu recommended using the WordPress publishing platform for our 1st SIMPLE site, I have experience with MS Publisher and decided to use it instead. Today, I completely finished loading the site, and it looks just like I want it to look, but on Firefox, I lose the graphics and columnar formatting. I hate to lose all that work including your linking advice, but if 1/3 of users are on Firefox, I’ve just eliminated that traffic because it looks like gobbledeegook. Should I cut and paste the MS Publisher content to WordPress and start all over again? Thanks so much for your help. I’m feeling discouraged right now, and I thought I was going to get the weekend off!
Jeff, I don’t endorse anyone doing directory submissions personally. Out of 650 directories, it’s likely that the vast majority are going to give you no link value at all. The main benefit to hiring someone like that is that you get to stop thinking about all the micro-directories for only a hundred bucks. I’ll gladly pay $100 if it means I don’t have to think.
Diane, I wouldn’t attempt to create a web site with MS Publisher. There were many reasons we decided on WordPress for those sites.
As just one example, there’s a Google Analytics plug-in for WordPress, where all you do is copy and paste your code from Google Analytics one time, and it tracks file downloads, clicks on outbound links, etc.
It will probably take you less time to move your content into WordPress, than to figure out how to to just that one thing with your MS Publisher site.
Am I the only one with an almost mortal fear to trust any company that claims to help you with link juice and/or search engine submission? Without knowing anything about SEO a few months ago, I was already thinking “pull this leg and it plays jingle bells.”
Dan, I hear you. I was getting bogged down searching for related directories. The submission company was cool since they set-up a yahoo account for me and forwarded the progress.
Nikkie, no problem for the info. I am here to help.
NO, you aren’t the only one with fear…AND you do have to be careful. There are many companies on the web claiming to help that can actually have the reverse affect on your site. The fact is, linking tricks or unethical tactics (Black Hat) can get your site banned and you need to know exactly what those things are prior to hiring someone.
There really is no magic wand for success. I think it boils down to the natural progression of many things.
I guess when I really think about it, those things are everything that Dan & the SEO Fast Start teach (:
Sorry to be a pest but I signed up directly to your site and not as a consequence of downloading the ‘SEO fast start’ book. Looked for it here so I could read and comment, couldn’t find it so I googled it. Trouble is I’m already on your list so I can’t download it. Is there any chance of shooting one off to me manually?
Unfortunately, I went to the above site yesterday to check it out. Unknowingly, a malicious script was downloaded to my system. $500 and 24 hours later my computer was repaired but I had no idea this is where the virus came from.
Guess what, just now I went their again and the same thing has happened. I don’t know if the site owners are aware they have been hacked or if it’s their own doing, but I hope I can spare some members here the misery and expense that I am going through right now. I am running AVG Pro by the way.
FYI: I informed WebMarketReports owner of the script problem with his site. Apparently his site was hacked. He corrected the problem and is looking into HackerSafe.
Do you have any places to look for tips on optimizing for the new Yahoo Search Marketing? I added ysm in with a copy of on of my better google adwords campaigns and it’s performing decently. I’ve looked around on the web but can’t find much info on how to dig deep and optimize ads and keywords further with ysm.
Craig, any luck with your YSM ads? I found a little info on the YSM Blog: http://www.ysmblog.com
Dan has a keyword video where he discusses PPC ads and increased conversion by using proper landing pages. If he stops by maybe he can forward it to you.
They’re performing about the same as my Google ads without any additional optimization. The volume isn’t there on them but conversion is. I’m going to be taking some time to do some more Y! specific keyword research.
Hi dan,
Your book has been a great asset to our team and myself. ihave just been given the daunting task of doing the emarketing for our site and the SEO.
I am also using the SEOBOOK from Andy Wall. Your book has really helped us to focus on the real world of SEO. you should rename your book Real World SEO. thanks for helping us through the noise of information and distilling it into a concise easy to use format.
I look forward to your next books.
All the best
Brian Mcfarlane
Montreal, Canada
Bill Quinn recommended your free download. Only my system doesn’t recognize it as a valid zip file, so I can’t unzip it. Can you please email it to me unzipped? Sorry to ask, but not sure what else to do. Yes, I did register.
I’ve read and studied SEO Fast Start twice and am going over parts of it again. Without doubt it is one of the top if not the best free SEO Training books, I have had the good fortune to discover.
SEO Fast Start is very organized and structured, just the way I like life to be. The site development process map on Page 1 is very easy for me to grasp, now that I have a fairly good comprehension of the whole SEO Process from start to finish.
Ok, Dan.. Thru to page 24. Great start so far. Even though it is the basic stuff I have been learing through you in other portals, I really like the way you broke down how a spider eats your site up.
Awsome start.
Todd
Hi Dan,
Thank you for this, it is much appreciated
Just scanned the PDF Dan, looking good. I’ve found learning about your keyword process invaluable. Should be interesting to watch what you build; a best-practices portal is a great idea.
Wow! Great, great job.
I am just about to the last chapter, and aside from my eyes getting a little crossed at the in-depth link stuff (eg. “third level push”) I both understood and agreed with all you say.
I love your framework and methods!
Thank you for making this content available.
Joanne Marcinek
Ask Joanne, LLC
The section on site structure is going to cost me my weekend and then some
At some point I would appreciate a little elaboration on why small (1 page?) sites are a bad idea. I find them useful for my collectibles sites.
Dan, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you started this Portal. I have been following you for a while and previously in Stomper. I think I have the record for watching your videos the most!
Thanks to you (and me (:) I am on page #1 of Yahoo #4 for “treadmill” 235K searches a month.
Please let me know if I could help the Portal in any way. I would love to volunteer.
Sincerely,
Jeff Knize
Elite Health & Fitness, Inc
I have immediately started updating my clients sites by implementing your methods.
I have many clients that start out with 5 page websites. It seems that putting 2nd tier category pages would be unnecessary (or a bit overdone and not very useful). Therefore, i think of these sites in terms of 1st tier and 3rd tier.
Am i correct in thinking of it this way? And is there any significant difference in how i should think about the ‘nofollow’ linking?
It seems that the more pages a site has, the more internal ‘pointing’ to important pages takes place.
Thanks Dan for the useful resource. I’m looking forward to the development of your portal.
claudia
Thanks to everyone for your support!
mhdoc, there are plenty of SEO challenges with a one-page site, such as not having the ability to cross link pages with anchor text, but there are cases where you just don’t care. SEOFastStart.com is pretty much a one-page web site, for example, since this portal isn’t linked from the home page.
Thanks Jeff, I am going to be inviting some folks to help out as the community grows. We have a couple thousand already registered, so I expect we’ll need to add forums and stuff before long.
Claudia, that’s correct. With a 5-page site, you probably only have 2 tiers – it’s not really “what’s on the page” but how far it is from the top of the site that tells you what tier you’re in. Category type pages are typical second tier pages for a larger site. But in terms of content, yes, I think you’re looking at it the right way. Nofollow isn’t especially relevant for a small site, although you still do want to be mindful of outbound links, especially from the home page.
Great Dan! I am looking forward to the growth.
I think for once, we are all in the right place at the right time.
Why? Because I have seen your work AND… I have a growing business from listening to you.
Jeff
I finished the book… Great job!
The book is a solid step-by-step system for the novice and more advanced. I felt that the introduction information was a much needed refreshers. The advanced sections were brand new to me and had me saying:
“WOW…Why wasn’t I told this while paying for my expenses trainings.”
Thanks for the FREE information. Now would you let me pay for something already! Talk about wallet out! lol
Maybe you’ll be in Chicago soon and I can buy you a drink and here about ‘The Secret To Success In Life’. lol x2
Sincerely,
Jeff Knize
http://www.treadmill-world.com
http://www.uspropertybuyers.com
http://www.foreclosuresandflips.com
http://www.knizeappraisal.com
(not sure if I could add sites this 1x)
Hi Jeff… at this point, I have nothing to sell you.
I know that’s unusual, but my focus is on building a strong user community and getting people to read the book. I will probably do an in-person event sometime this year, but not until I hit my subscriber/member targets.
Okay… I tried! I thought you would at least tell me that I can buy you a Latte (like Brad Fallon does on his Blog) (:
Alright, I am here for the long haul. Lets build the community!
Jeff
Hi Dan, for months have I been scanning the net learning about SEO. I was strongly considering hiring a pro to do it for me. But….when you quit your real job, to do your dream job….money is a factor.
I have read your guide and it looks fantastic. Aside from a lot of great advise, I liked it has the honest approach to SEO. You definitely know your stuff, and are not one of those people that just say they do. That’s the unfortunate thing I walked away with visiting other sites.
I still need to build my company website. So in a way, I feel that my site, which will be built using your guide….will be growing up with your community. Lets hope that both of them ends up being succesful.
Thanks for the guide! Hopefully next time I post, I will be proudly presenting the amount it took for me to score high on google. But I guess I still have to deal with the sandbox.
I’m trying to wean myself off of coffee, Jeff, or I would…
Dan, I hear you on the coffee. I guess it will have to be another type of beverage when we catch up (: Nikkie, it’s the right move…stick around here! Also, I don’t know how your doing with one way links. You should check out: (link removed, see Kelley’s comments below)They will submit your site to 650 directories for $99.00 and will go as fast or as slow as you like. So you don’t have to be concerned with getting too many links too fast. You also have the option of only going with PR4 or PR5 directories for a fraction of the cost. I had a positive experience using them (: Jeff
Great job! The site architecture and linking are very useful. It left me a little crossed brained. A couple of weekends and I will have the links part figured out. Thanks!!!
Nikkie, I forgot to mention… WebMarketReports was recommended to me by a full paying StomperNet member who claimed to have success. I believe many of the directories are on the StomperNet directory list. Your site would be hand submitted to the directories. Jeff
Hi Dan,
I was in the process of following Stompernet SIMPLE when your text arrived. I soaked it all up and incorporated alot of your suggestions like nofollow and contextual links within the website. I even kept track of my inbound and outbound links! I encountered a roadblock today, though, and I’m wondering what you suggest. Although Sherman Hu recommended using the WordPress publishing platform for our 1st SIMPLE site, I have experience with MS Publisher and decided to use it instead. Today, I completely finished loading the site, and it looks just like I want it to look, but on Firefox, I lose the graphics and columnar formatting. I hate to lose all that work including your linking advice, but if 1/3 of users are on Firefox, I’ve just eliminated that traffic because it looks like gobbledeegook. Should I cut and paste the MS Publisher content to WordPress and start all over again? Thanks so much for your help. I’m feeling discouraged right now, and I thought I was going to get the weekend off!
Jeff, I don’t endorse anyone doing directory submissions personally. Out of 650 directories, it’s likely that the vast majority are going to give you no link value at all. The main benefit to hiring someone like that is that you get to stop thinking about all the micro-directories for only a hundred bucks. I’ll gladly pay $100 if it means I don’t have to think.
Diane, I wouldn’t attempt to create a web site with MS Publisher. There were many reasons we decided on WordPress for those sites.
As just one example, there’s a Google Analytics plug-in for WordPress, where all you do is copy and paste your code from Google Analytics one time, and it tracks file downloads, clicks on outbound links, etc.
It will probably take you less time to move your content into WordPress, than to figure out how to to just that one thing with your MS Publisher site.
Thanks for the info Jeff.
Am I the only one with an almost mortal fear to trust any company that claims to help you with link juice and/or search engine submission? Without knowing anything about SEO a few months ago, I was already thinking “pull this leg and it plays jingle bells.”
Dan, I hear you. I was getting bogged down searching for related directories. The submission company was cool since they set-up a yahoo account for me and forwarded the progress.
Jeff
Nikkie, no problem for the info. I am here to help.
NO, you aren’t the only one with fear…AND you do have to be careful. There are many companies on the web claiming to help that can actually have the reverse affect on your site. The fact is, linking tricks or unethical tactics (Black Hat) can get your site banned and you need to know exactly what those things are prior to hiring someone.
There really is no magic wand for success. I think it boils down to the natural progression of many things.
I guess when I really think about it, those things are everything that Dan & the SEO Fast Start teach (:
Jeff
Hi Dan
Sorry to be a pest but I signed up directly to your site and not as a consequence of downloading the ‘SEO fast start’ book. Looked for it here so I could read and comment, couldn’t find it so I googled it. Trouble is I’m already on your list so I can’t download it. Is there any chance of shooting one off to me manually?
Thanks, and all the best,
Cameron.
Hey Cameron, WordPress upgrade last night messed up the site navigation, the download page is here: http://www.seofaststart.com/portal/download
Thanks, Dan!
I’m cutting and pasting into WordPress SemiPro right now. It looks good in both IE and Firefox. Thanks for all your help!
Unfortunately, I went to the above site yesterday to check it out. Unknowingly, a malicious script was downloaded to my system. $500 and 24 hours later my computer was repaired but I had no idea this is where the virus came from.
Guess what, just now I went their again and the same thing has happened. I don’t know if the site owners are aware they have been hacked or if it’s their own doing, but I hope I can spare some members here the misery and expense that I am going through right now. I am running AVG Pro by the way.
Kelley Rao, Webeze
Site referenced is webmarketreports… don’t go there, trust me on this one.
Thanks Dan, I’m constantly referencing this. A rock solid foundation for my internet skyscraper!
Kelley, I am sorry this happened to you. I am unsure what happened. The above site did a great job on a few articles for me too.
Dan, can you please remove my previous post referencing webmarketreports.
Thanks,
Jeff
Done Jeff, thanks for the heads up Ms. Rao!
FYI: I informed WebMarketReports owner of the script problem with his site. Apparently his site was hacked. He corrected the problem and is looking into HackerSafe.
Jeff
Dan,
Do you have any places to look for tips on optimizing for the new Yahoo Search Marketing? I added ysm in with a copy of on of my better google adwords campaigns and it’s performing decently. I’ve looked around on the web but can’t find much info on how to dig deep and optimize ads and keywords further with ysm.
Craig
Craig, any luck with your YSM ads? I found a little info on the YSM Blog: http://www.ysmblog.com
Dan has a keyword video where he discusses PPC ads and increased conversion by using proper landing pages. If he stops by maybe he can forward it to you.
Jeff
Jeff,
They’re performing about the same as my Google ads without any additional optimization. The volume isn’t there on them but conversion is. I’m going to be taking some time to do some more Y! specific keyword research.
Craig
Craig, it sounds like your doing well. And dedicated to say the least!
If your interested, the keyword video I referenced is below:
http://www.seoresearchlabs.com/keywordvideo/
Jeff
Hi dan,
Your book has been a great asset to our team and myself. ihave just been given the daunting task of doing the emarketing for our site and the SEO.
I am also using the SEOBOOK from Andy Wall. Your book has really helped us to focus on the real world of SEO. you should rename your book Real World SEO. thanks for helping us through the noise of information and distilling it into a concise easy to use format.
I look forward to your next books.
All the best
Brian Mcfarlane
Montreal, Canada
WOW! My Wedding Favors is back at #1. I am not that surprised… It is pretty amazing to see though.
Jeff
Hi Dan,
Bill Quinn recommended your free download. Only my system doesn’t recognize it as a valid zip file, so I can’t unzip it. Can you please email it to me unzipped? Sorry to ask, but not sure what else to do. Yes, I did register.
I’ve read and studied SEO Fast Start twice and am going over parts of it again. Without doubt it is one of the top if not the best free SEO Training books, I have had the good fortune to discover.
SEO Fast Start is very organized and structured, just the way I like life to be. The site development process map on Page 1 is very easy for me to grasp, now that I have a fairly good comprehension of the whole SEO Process from start to finish.