“How to Become an SEO Ninja” is the tagline for Naomi Dunford’s ebook, SEO School. Since I’ve promised to do more book reviews around here, I figured giving you the scoop on a new ebook about search engine optimization would be of interest.
Ever since Aaron Wall joined Teaching Sells and four months later transformed his profitable SEO Book into an interactive training program, there’s been a void in the “SEO ebooks you can trust” market. While I’m sure there are others, I haven’t read those… but I have read SEO School and it’s solid.
Let’s take a look at the particulars.
Will You Really Become an SEO Ninja?
I happen to know a few true SEO Ninjas, and they’re on an entirely different level of existence. So, if you look at it that way, obtaining Ninjahood might be a lot to ask from an ebook about the fundamentals of search engine optimization.
But since we’re talking Eastern stuff here, I’ll paraphrase Buddha:
You’re asking the wrong question, silly.
Those at the highest level of SEO do truly impossible tasks… like salvaging and optimizing a 150,000 page ecommerce site that’s invisible to searchers thanks to 6 years of bad advice and worst practices. A true SEO Ninja can devise black hat moves that Matt Cutts hasn’t imagined yet, and discard the technique 20 minutes before Google catches on.
If you’re the average small business owner or online entrepreneur, that’s not what you need.
Three Reasons Why SEO School is Worth It
I’m going to cut to the chase on this one, since none of us is getting any younger. If you’re looking to eliminate the confusion and contradiction that inevitably surrounds the SEO field, SEO School is worth buying because it is:
- Easy to understand. Naomi lays it all out in an easy-to-understand and conversational style. She had both her 9-year-old son and 70-year-old father read the book before release, and they both got it. Naomi does tend to use colorful language, so if naughty words are an unbearable distraction to you, take that into account.
- Comprehensive. Naomi covers all the bases, from the psychology of search to keyword research to the Google Sandbox to competitive intelligence and more. And she gets to the point instead of padding the book with theory. It’s just “here’s what to do and how to do it.”
- Inexpensive. It’s only $39. Enough said… grab a copy.
But here’s the rest of the story.
Two Ways Naomi Screwed Up
Like I said, SEO School fills a void left when Aaron Wall switched to a more profitable business model. And keep in mind that Aaron was charging $79 for SEO Book, yet nearly went insane because he promised lifetime updates and email support to his buyers.
As mentioned above, Naomi is only charging $39. She’s clearly leaving money on the table, and that’s mistake number one (but good news for you).
To make matters worse, Naomi is not only charging less, she promised support to her buyers as well. So, she makes less, but gets to experience first hand what Aaron went through. That’s mistake number two.
Luckily, Naomi is not going to let things get out of control. Aaron almost shut down his business due to the volume of email from often cranky book buyers, because SEO Book had grown too big for too long.
That won’t happen with SEO School, because it’s off the market tomorrow.
Buy SEO School Today… Because It’s Gone Tomorrow
SEO School has been out for a couple months, and it’s sold really well. To avoid a customer service meltdown, Naomi is taking the ebook off the market tomorrow (that’s Friday, August 8th).
For the small business owner or budding online entrepreneur, SEO School combined with a user-friendly and search-optimized WordPress theme like Thesis will have you set up and on your way.
All except for content, links, and conversion, that is… which is why you’ll want to stay tuned to Copyblogger. 
About the Author: Brian Clark is the founding editor of Copyblogger, and co-founder of DIY Themes and Lateral Action. Get more from Brian on Twitter.
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It’s a good book and if you don’t know anything about SEO - you will certainly make your $39 back by reading it.
thanks for the heads up. It seems like everybody is trying to make a buck of (crappy) ebooks now-a-days.
Bought it, read it and learned a lot. And, now I have a handy, easy to negotiate, reference when a senior moment causes me to forget some aspect of SEO strategy.
While I will confess to having a crush on Naomi I’m not affiliated in any way with the book.
@ James, so you aren’t her husband on the sites about page?
So, let me get this right: She uses a lot of foul language AND had her 9-year-old son proofread it?
When does her ebook on ethics come out?
First off, thanks for the awesome review, Brian. That’s very cool of you.
@ Glen — Nope. Totally different James.
@ Andrew — Good point! We did a little search and replace before we gave it to Michael.
The previous article touched on ju jitsu. This article speaks of ninjas.
I’ll let you, the reader, decide.
@ Naomi - Point taken. Couldn’t resist the little jab. I mean, come on, this is a Comment thread!
Now let me ask you: How many months of an SEOMoz membership will this book compensate for?
I like the take-away purchase tactic. I’ve seen others use this effectively and suspect Naomi will rightfully receive an onslaught of traffic before the clock strikes midnight. Way to offer a double-teaching moment o’ wise ones!
All I can say is: Buy this book! Naomi covers all the basic bases and does it in a way that is sure to make you laugh all the way through. If you have a no-nonsense approach to business and have a sense of humor that can take a few four-letter words, Buy This Book!
It really is wonderful! In fact, it was the easiest to understand info on SEO writing I have seen to date.
And I think that Naomi could give us all a few lessons about “stand up for yourself, take responsibility for your actions, see the humor in life” ethics.
Teresa Hall
Write About Everything
@ Andrew — Ha! As far as that one goes we might have to get Rand on the phone.
“Hello, Mr. Fishkin? This is Andrew from BuildingSystems.com. I have a question for you…”
What, like he’s never heard of me?? (Crickets…chirp…incessantly…)
I’m not Naomi’s husband either. I tried. She said no. Logistics and all.
We received our copy of SEO School when it first came out. It was Naomi through and through, and even if you hate SEO, you’ll love the entertaining read.
If you do want to learn about SEO, it gives you exactly what you need to know. No fluff, no bullshit. Fast. Can’t ask for better.
@ James II — Now you’re just sucking up. I said I won’t marry you, and that’s final. We’ve talked about this. Even in Canada, they look down on bigamy.
Thank you for the tip. I might buy the book.
Bought it. Using it. Love it.
Signed,
Ninja in training.
@James I, I have a crush on her too. She’s just crushworthy that way.
I was an early Ninja adopter, it’s excellent, and SEO appeals to me about as much as dental surgery does. You can think of Naomi as the SEO equivalent of nitrous oxide.
@naomi I’m Canadian but I live in the US. Does that still mean there’s no chance? James I
This is the most un-crappiest ebook you will ever buy (until mine comes out, anyway).
SEO School nails it.
Ebooks are becoming more and more interesting in my opinion, wider variety.
Well, nice review and the book doesn’t seem of much use to me as i’m quite strong with the basics.
And yes, calling her marketing techniques a mistake is a little ridiculous i would say! She’s making it very affordable, and again i would give a pat for that!!
I’ll take a look at it. Don’t want to miss a good SEO book…
I missed it by a few minutes, damn that take-away tactic!
I was intrigued by Brian’s excellent review. I have to agree with DigitalWebTalk, these were clever strategies and clearly not mistakes.
Note to self: Must be more observant in the future…
I missed it too. I liked Brian’s review too, I really wanted to check this out.
I guess I shouldn’t read back posts through RSS. I miss stuff like this. I think they pulled too fast after a review from a top site like this. Oh well.
Nice review. Gonna grab a copy of that!
Seems some good reviews there I shall have to get myself a copy of that…
Ninjas kick ass and its about time I made more money..
Thanks for the info..
Great post… Look forward to finding a copy of the book! I can’t wait to become an SEO Ninja!
The word Ninja is funny. What’s next? Karate Kid? How about SEO Sumo or SEO Judo?
It took me three months to just watch websites building its backlinks and understand how people do it to rank high. There are no secrets, write and promote yourself is all I have to say.