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Beginner and Comprehensive Guides to SEO, Link Building, PPC, Social Media, Affiliate Marketing and Blogging
Over the years, I’ve come across some really good guides that would be perfect for newbies to get the information they need, without having to dig through lots of blog posts or forum threads. I decided it was a good time to do a quick roundup of ebooks and guides, both free and paid, that would be useful for anyone wanting organized how-to info to study.
Start with Google’s Webmaster Help Center
Before you do anything, you should become intimately familiar with Google’s “rules”, so you won’t accidentally get yourself penalized or banned. Start with Creating a Google-friendly site paying special attention to Webmaster Guidelines.
SEO
- SEO Fast Start by Dan Theis. free
- Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization by SEOmoz. free (old version. new version is in progress)
- Local Small Business SEO Basics by Sugarrae free
- The Blogger’s Guide To SEO by Aaron & Giovanna Wall. free
- Small Business Guide To Search Engine Marketing by Jennifer Laycock $79
- SEO Book Training by Aaron Wall $100/month
- The SEO Handbook $10
- How To SEO Your Site In 60 Minutes: The Complete Guide by Matt McGee $25
Link Building / Link Bait
- Link Building 101 includes both a podcast and an awesome link building poster that does a great job of showing the basic concepts of link building.
- Viral Copy by Brian Clark free
- 11 Experts On Link Development Speak Out free
- The SEO Handbook Link Building Edition $15
- The Professional’s Guide To Link Building by SEOmoz $29
Online Reputation Management
- Elixir Systems Online Reputation Management free
- SEO Space Online Reputation Management free
- Marketing Pilgrim’s Online Reputation Monitoring Beginner’s Guide free
- Online Reputation Management: All You�ll Ever Need to Monitor and Manage Your Reputation Online $19 with free updates
PPC
- How To Write Successful PPC Ads by Karon Thackston $29
- The Mother of All Google AdWords Tips free
- Starting From Scratch: A Paid Search Primer by Ryan Gibson free
Social Media Marketing
- The ABCs and 123s of Social Networking Sites by Me free
- Social Media Marketing - A Beginner’s Guide by Michael Pick free
- The Social Media Manual: Read Before You Play by Muhammad Saleem free
Affiliate Marketing
- IAB Affiliate Marketing Guide free
- The Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner $47
Blogging
- Blogging Tips for Beginners by Darren Rowse free
- Killer Flagship Content by Chris Garrett free
- Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging - Learn from 30 Experts free
- How To Make A Living In Your Pajamas by Me free
- In Your Pajamas by Me (the extended version) $5
Of course, there are probably quite a few more I could list here, but this should be enough to get anyone started down the right path. If you’re the type who likes actual books, with old-fashioned paper, here are a few that are winners.
For just a $5 tip, you can advertise your site or affiliate link on SEO Scoop. Find out how.
If you are the first to "discover" any of my posts in StumbleUpon, one of the following categories would probably be the most appropriate to place it into. You don't have to choose one of these, of course, but based on what I usually write about, there's a good chance any of my posts will fall into one of these categories.
Business * Computers * Computer Graphics * Computer Hardware * Computer Security * Databases * Ecommerce * Internet * Internet Tools * Linux/Unix * Marketing * Search * Self Improvement * Web development * Weblogs(Blogs) * Windows * Writing
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Thanks for the awesome hook up Donna. *-)
March 4th, 2008 at 6:23 am
oh! Thats great lot of information. Thanks a lot!
March 5th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Lots of useful resources. I would throw Aaron’s blogging post into the blogging mix and maybe his 101 linkbuilding too.
March 5th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Joe, I already listed Aaron’s blogging post under SEO (it could have gone in either section). Will go look at the 101 post you mention and check it out. It’s not ringing a bell for me at the moment.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
well this gives great sources for readers like me
March 10th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Hiya Donna… aren’t you just the sweetie puttin my little publication in there… you certainly could have comped one from me ya know - know methinks I am gonna have to tip you $10 to even it out :0)
I am actually re-doing an old post about ‘How to Learn SEO’ and thank you for making some of the research easier.
Once again, much thanks o’ Dazzling One —
March 11th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Hi Donna,
I just want to say I’ve been using your techinques for some time and I have gone from someone who did not know what SEO was to run my own company and sold it successfully. Its been some time but I have been an avid reader of your blog and shyed from contributing.
I just wanted to say, thank you, last night I sold the company for X million pounds and I have still not been able to go to sleep. I just want to thank my mentors, coaches and teachers along the way and you have been one of them.
Thank you Donna.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Wow, Yusuf, congratulations! That’s absolutely wonderful! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Woot!
March 13th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Thanks Donna for the list. Some essentials for learning SEO.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
That’s quite a comment from Yusuf up there, congratulations
Thanks for adding me to this list, some cool free guides I better check out
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 am
Thats quite the information packed list of sites. I’m enjoying going through them. Thanks for taking the time and putting them up.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Nice article and great compilation of nice links to read, i am a beginner with SEO and always find good stuff to builk links for my blog and people like you are more like mesiah helping others. thanks a lot for such nice resources.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Nice compilation of SEO and IM resources. I was glad to see the free ones on the list too.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
thanks for the PPC tips, they’re already saving us money!
October 30th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Thanks for the list!
November 15th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
very great list. it’s very helpful for those who still newbie in seo field like me. thanks!
November 21st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Great resource Donna
I wish I had come across this post some 6 months ago as it would have saved me an awful lot of time.
Maybe consider adding some SEO blogs to the list, a blogroll as such, as there are some fine blogs that contain as much valuable information in them as some high priced ‘printed’ books on SEO.
Thanks again, Dave.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Nice compilation of great free and paid ebooks! Bookmarked and appreciated!
December 16th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Great reference article! Bookmarked
January 13th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Online Reputation Management that is a new topic that I am not familiar with, I will have to get cracking on it so I don’t fall behind the eight ball.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Donna,
Great post. It’s a rare occasion when you find this much useful SEO information in one post.
A couple of the resources I already have but I’ll be getting a few more after this post.
Hitting the seo trail,
Ed
February 19th, 2009 at 10:46 am
That’s am impressive list…
Have you considered adding in the content that used to be featured on Link Building Bible?