Customer comments on this selection.
 Keep this one next to your computer!
I definitely recommend this book. This was a very readable and approachable book. I consider myself a "non-techie / non-programmer" kind of person, but found Dave's examples and explanations to be very straight-forward and understandable. Now, for the implementation of all this great information!! :P
One of the best investments I've ever made!
I thought I knew a lot about designing an optimal website, using Google AdWords and online marketing. Then I picked up this book, and learned how much more I could be doing, and how many mistakes I had made. There are at least a half-dozen great ideas that can be implemented quickly and at little or not cost to improve your site's placement on search engines, and to attract more relevant AdWord clicks.
Wow! Is this complete
I have opted into online courses and even have an MBA where I studied E Business. This is by far the most complete, helpful and timely guide I have seen to succeed with an internet business. It is rare that I read a "How To" cover to cover, but this is an exception. It is certainly the first time I have had my highlighter out since Grad school. If you want to succeed in an ebusiness, this is the way to get started!!
 Not Bad Overall
While normally I go for books aimed at experts (i.e the ones that are 400+ pages and dry as a salt sandwich), this book had received enough positive reviews that I gave it a shot. I was not disappointed.
For someone with my background (experienced software guru and web designer, with a moderate amount of Google know-how), I was still able to gain some valuable insight. So you're not surprised, this book is as much Marketing 101, as it is about Google (particularly the first half of the book). But it's needed to give the book a solid grounding from which to make its Google-related recommendations.
The bottom line though, hasn't changed from prior years: if you do the right thing and make your site rich in useful content, relative to its general audience and subject, you're going to do well with Google. If it's only moderately relevant or lacking in information "density" (the amount IOW), all the tricks in the world won't make your page rank any better. First, make sure you're really delivering the goods (the information your customers want and need and not a bunch of link farms, fluff, etc), *then* make sure your meta-tags, document names, document structure, Ad Words, and all the rest, are Google-savvy. The latter without the former, is useless. To the author's credit, he emphasizes this in several chapters.
Overall, I felt like there was a little too much "Freshman Marketing" and some of it was rehashed unnecessarily IMO (though someone with minimal marketing background would probably find it useful). I think the first 70 pages could probably be distilled down to about 40 or 50, but who's counting? ;-)
Recommended for anyone getting start with a business web site or who wants to make their existing site better.
Great book, well worth the read
This book is MORE than a book about Google. It should almost have a different title like "Growing Your Business Online: plus strategies for improving your placement on Google".
The book covers so much more than Google placement. It shares responsible, realistic insight into how to improve your web site with the goal of first improving the visitor/customer experience and second to improve your overall relevance with search engines. Dave's advice comes from a respectable, responsible approach to creating genuine results for your web site. He also provides ample warnings about using web site trickery that could leave your site's relevance & credibility in ruins.
A MUST READ for web developers and Internet marketing folk.
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