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  Search engine optimization (SEO) is not dead. I don’t care what ShoeMoney says. And no one makes a stronger case for search engine optimization’s continued survival - and importance - than Jennifer Grappone and Stephanie Couzin in the second edition of their book Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day.

Businesses large and small can use the practices of search engine optimization - keyword research and selection, landing page design, copywriting, and development practices - to attract more visitors and to turn those visits into sales.

Grappone and Couzin walk you through a 3-month plan designed to help you achieve both better positions within search engines and the business results that follow. As with the first edition of the book, after finishing - and frequently while reading it - I said, “Screw this ‘3 months’ nonsense! I’m going to lock myself in my cave and do this in one weekend!” Clearly, this is neither healthy nor effective. More to the point, it also doesn’t establish SEO practices as a discipline. So, while Grappone and Couzin offer a number of shortcuts for the Type A’s in the audience, their method aims to tame the madness.

Of particular note, the book looks at the specific of different types of sites - e-commerce, blogs, and non-profits alike - to determine how to best effect results. Their plan will help your organization - not matter its type - to get the most out of your site.

No, search engine optimization is not dead. And with authors like Grappone and Couzin on the scene, it’s not going anywhere soon. Following their advice may not guarantee you top spot the Google; But, you can expect greater business benefit from your site overall. Guaranteed. And that’s well worth what you’ll pay to buy this book.

I dread what keywords this article is going to bring my way, but, here goes…

While not my typical cup of tea (this is a family show, after all), SEOmoz has an outstanding guide to best practices for SEO from the porn industry. It’s (more or less) safe for work, and something that many small businesses could learn a lot from.

Porn is a funny business. As XMCP notes, it’s “a market that is frowned upon by 90% of the world, is legally not available to anyone under the age of 18″. But it still succeeds. Clearly, you could do worse than learn from these examples. And SEOmoz has provided a filter to teach the SEO practices without having to wade through the muck to get there.

I’m not endorsing the content of the sites evaluated (there are no links from SEOmoz). What you do in your own home is your business, as far as I’m concerned. But my definition of stupidity is being unwilling to learn from anyone. Even folks you wouldn’t bring home to mom. Check it out.

What’s on your mind? Automated features, like the search suggest Mike Moran and I talked about a few weeks ago, sometimes bring curious results. See the ones CNet picked up on it this week. And ask yourself, how can I ensure my brand looks good here?

Copywriting seems hard for lots of folks, at least judging by the copy I read. Would you like to get better at copywriting? Grok.com has a good list of tips to make your copy better. Check it out. And you can check out my favorite copywriting links via del.ico.us, too.

I was wrong . Apparently, I am an SEO guy, after all.

SEO Master - 88%

Are you an SEO Expert?

SEOmoz provides a cute quiz to test your SEO knowledge. And it’s handy learning, too.

OK, I don’t consider myself an SEO practitioner, specifically. Of course, I want my sites to rank well within Google. Oh, and I guess MSN, Ask and Yahoo. They’re probably important, too. But I’m much more interested in Customer Experience Optimization (CEO) than search engine optimization. Still, there are a few simple tips that most site owners should make use of to cover the basics. All are culled from best practices revealed by a number of sites and double-checked against the wonderful Grappone and Couzin SEO book (All references cited below).

Don’t look for anything earth-shattering here. These are the basics. They aren’t guaranteed to give you top ranking, but should help keep you away from the bottom. Plus, they’re good for your customers, too. Which is as it should be.

1. Have a relevant keyword strategy. Choose the words that best reflect the benefits you offer your customers. After all, that’s what your customers are looking for when they search: an answer to a problem. If you’re the right answer, make sure the words on your landing pages show it. See SEOmoz, Search Engine RoundTable and SearchEngineLand.
2. Create quality content using your chosen terms. It’s good for your customers. And for spiders. I like to think of a search engine spider as a little Pac-Man, eating dots of content all over the Net. Give ‘em good eats.

   Separately, good content helps lead to…

3. Link building. Research methods for attracting relevant links. And read LinkWeek over at Search Engine Land. Every week. They understand
4. Write well constructed title tags. Different folks dispute the value of header and meta tags. But title tags get much love from SEOMoz (among others).
5. Measure your results. OK, this one takes some doing. But you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Establish appropriate metrics for your SEO efforts - I like measuring increased rank and decreased bounce rate on search-referred pages - and track your progress over time.

Happy optimizing. These are the items that consistently work for me. What techniques have worked for you?