Review: Search Engine Marketing Kit

Upon first glance, The Search Engine Marketing Kit, authored by Dan Thies and Dave Davies, appears to be a more daunting read than it really is. The material stands about three inches thick complete with 4-inch three-ring binder. The thickness is deceptive in that the pages are printed only on one side. But running at over 350 pages, the SEM kit is no slouch in dishing out the info.

Designed to be the go-to manual for all things SEM related, the SEM Kit successfully delivers. The kit, which includes a CD loaded with documents, covers search engines, SEO basics, advanced SEO, PPC, and link building; giving the reader a well-rounded knowledge base for developing successful SEO and SEM strategies. The authors have even included a chapter on running an SEM firm, which can be particularly insightful at understanding the various strategies and options available to anyone running, or thinking of running an SEO business. Normally I’m not one much for interviews, but I did find the interviews chapter to be particularly worthy of a read (I’ve copied the pages and passed them around the office.)

There wasn’t a chapter in the kit that I didn’t find useful or engaging. Though the dual authorship created some minor confusion when referring to things in the first person, I often wasn’t sure if it was Dan or Dave speaking at that particular point. This is the only major flaw in the kit, they need to clean up the author speak in order that when referring to a particular author we know which author is speaking. But other than that, the SEM kit is a fantastic read and great office resource that we’ll keep referring back to for a long while.