This sent me to play in the search engines: ============================================ her site has never once been submitted to any search engine and they all list her sites well ============================================ I think I may have discovered an open secret to this game! If I search 'Linda Caroll' in the ones I use most often, I get a whole page full of Linda's www.lindacaroll.com and some really heartwarming articles. (OK, I stopped to read The Grey Knit Vest--made me cry.) But if I search 'web design', no telling how far I would have to go to find Linda. She's not on the first page, which is about as far as I ever look. So I decided to search me. After all, Linda's beautiful concept for my site has been up for a couple of weeks now, albeit thin on content. Lo and behold! Never2Late4Success is #4 on Google, #10 on Yahoo. Similarly, if I search 'debt management', fahgedaboudit!!! So what did I learn? Brand ME, not what I'm selling. Am I right? Cheri

Hi Cheri: Oh, you're going to love the search engine books. There's three of them. lol. Yes, branding you is smart. But, I also go for esoteric terms that bring me the right kind of people. Usually. lol. When I look in my stats, the number one search string that brings me traffic is "Linda Caroll" - which I find hilarious because if they just add a .com - they'd find me without Google or Yahoo. But, try a Google search for these; (with the quotation marks) "web page design do's and don'ts" "website design information" I have a nice long list of phrases that I'm on page one for. I don't target "website design" anymore. I used to in the past, but found it not the most efficient phrase for converting to buyers. People that search for "do's and don'ts" have already been through a site that doesn't work and are searching for why. They find me. Same thing with those searching for information -- and the other dozen or so phrases that I target. So, a combination of name branding and choosing isoteric phrases generally works. And, Peter made a good point, too. Sites that the engines "find" through linking almost always rank better than sites that were submitted. And yes, I have methods that "help" the process along. You'll find them in the SEO books. : ) Linda

Ahhhh, the low-hanging fruit theory. It's so cool to think that when you're done with us, we won't have to go out and spend a small fortune on those SEO consultants. Cheri

Hi: When I'm done with you, you will be able to teach most of those SEO consultants a thing or two. lol : ) Linda

Wow! Sure is hard to keep up with things around here at times! LOL Linda, did you want us to send a copy of our work to date to you on this second exercise as well before you post the next one?