Part One

How can I be successful in a market segment that seems to be flooded?

The deluge of half-cocked, irresponsibly guaranteeing, parrot “SEOs” will actually make it easier for the people who relish it, have talent and stay at the forefront to stand out in a crowd. Use said deluge to your advantage, and as a daily motivating factor. Competition is actually a good thing. It validates that the market is hot and it provides you with the opportunity to learn from the dozens of other folks out there.

Has SEO really become ‘easy’ like so many people now claim?

It’s easy if you are willing to put in the hours. There is no free tool that can take the place of experienced keyword and volume research. The creation of engaging original content takes patience and skill. Manual link-building never ceases to be monotonous, albeit rewarding in other ways. Social media, like MySpace and Facebook, is only relevant or applicable to some businesses, and even then requires startling creativity in order to make any difference. High reward efforts like link baiting is second only to chaos theory in terms of unpredictability and luck.

Is Google still the king of the hill?

If you’re focusing 100% of your SEO time on catering to Google’s royal highness - frankly no one is really going to blame you. But as Google, Yahoo and MSN compete aggressively for search market share, they also strive to differentiate themselves from each other. One of the ways in which they do this is by having their algorithms interpret sites in alternate ways. So if you want an SEO strategy that is going to be truly comprehensive, you should be aware of what the red headed step-spiders are looking for when they visit your site, too.