Good Place to Start Answering the Question: "How Do You Optimize Your Web Site for Search Engine Visibility?"

At the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Boston in 2003, one of the sessions I attended was called Search Engine Friendly Design: Essential Basics and posed the question: "How can you build a web site from the ground up that pleases both crawler-based search engines and your visitors?" The speaker was Shari Thurow, Webmaster/ Marketing Director of Grantastic Designs. Although I had been building web sites for 5 years at that point, I was new to search engine marketing and listened intently as Ms. Thurow discussed "search engine friendly" design that could tap into "organic" or editorial listings naturally.

The session was designed for beginners who needed an overview of important design issues to keep in mind while building web sites. At the end of the session, my head was spinning with all the new ideas she imparted, my hand was cramped and my notebook was filled with hastily scribbled concepts I was still struggling to grasp. Ms. Thurow held up a copy of her book and said after the session she would give it to the person who asked the best question about the session they had just heard. Now, I certainly intended to buy the book after listening to her speak, but I didn't think I had a chance to get that book at the end of the session, because I didn't think I had enough solid knowledge to even formulate a decent question. I did, however, have a question I really wanted the answer to, so I worked my way up to the dais. When I finally had my chance I asked her, "So how does someone get started in becoming a professional SEO [Search Engine Optimzer]; where do you begin?" That must have been the question she was waiting for, because her answer was simply a big smile as she whipped out her pen, opened her book and wrote, "Best of Luck to You! -- Shari Thurow" on the inside cover and handed it to me.

That book did indeed prove to be invaluable as I got started in the search engine optimization field, and I have referred back to it often since then. While you may not be able to get it for free like I did, it's well worth the roughly 20 dollars you'll spend to buy it from Amazon.com, and will pay for itself over and over again in the increased search engine traffic the techniques will bring to your web site.



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