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“SEO is [not] a set-it-and-forget-it item you tick off a to-do list,” remarked author Rebecca Lieb. In an article by David Berkowitz in Media Post’s Search Insider, entitled “You Can Still Handle These SEO Truths,” Lieb answered a few questions about SEO and her new book.

Whoa. What she said is so totally true, and I say the same all the time. To me, SEO is like a living, breathing matrix that constantly has to be monitored and adjusted with the changes in the environment. Search is always changing, and so, SEOs and anyone who wants good search engine ranking has to change with it.

Lieb is a woman after my own heart, and I plan to check out her new book,  The Truth about Search Engine Optimization, for sure. I’m guessing there will be many more, “Right on sistah!s” in there, too.

Here’s another quote from the article: “And if you’ll indulge me a second, there’s another myth I’d like to bust: that search is for geeks and techno-nerds. I’m not a developer; I’m a writer and editor, but search turns me on.”  Whoa. She could BE me. LOL

What about search turns me on? The fact that it’s an inexact science. It is never static (as aforementioned) and it’s totally exciting. What new curve will the Google ghods throw at us today, folks? And about that, here’s something I never understood. Google does the “dance,” but they should revise that term. We’re the ones whose feet are being shot at all the time!

And that keeps it really exciting. Are you up on the latest stuff? How valid is what you learned last year? What changes have to be made because of this zig or that zag? Are you sick of constantly having to learn new stuff? Oh, man… That’s what turns me on! I love learning!

And SEO always keeps you guessing.

And why many of the top gurus, including my own boss, don’t see extremely high value in SEO.

Of course, they’re wrrr… wrrrong. Eh!

What’s better than getting streams of traffic you never have to pay for?  Not much. And the funny part for me is that I study it all the time, but rarely get to put this stuff into practice. There’s never enough time at Overcome Everything, and because I’m working for that company, my own company is like the shoemaker’s children. It never has shoes.

Ah well…

In a perfect world, Google wouldn’t make us crazy by trying to outsmart us outsmarters, and I’d have time to prove that SEO is the most important (not the least important) part of your business.

If you don’t have time for all the ins and outs of SEO, just take enough time to do proper keyword research, and use keywords in everything you do. That’s the least you can do, and over time, it will help your business. You may not get to the top of Google for a keyword like “golf,” but you might be surprised at terms you are ranking for and getting some of that cool search engine goodness after all.

So, thanks to Rebecca Lieb and people like here that are out there laying down interesting stuff about SEO. To me, it’s the best!

Over the past year or so, I’ve become quite enamored of video. I’ve been making lots of short films for my blogging business, for Overcome Everything, and for a special project I’ve been working on for more than a year. If you want to get into a sci-fi video novel, this is my client’s site: http://CugelsCastle.com

Anyway, these are all different types of videos… screen capture, talking head, and Power Point. The first thing I did was buy Camtasia. Why not, right? Everyone uses Camtasia.

OK… Works great for most stuff, but when I started working with the video novel, I bought Sony Vegas Pro 8 Editing Workshop. Wow! I mean it’s so much more powerful! It’s very easy to add rolling credits, a watermark, and to edit. I totally love it. I know I’m only scratching the surface with the software, so I plan to learn tons more about that.

Cameras were a problem, too, believe it or not. We bought a digital camcorder last year and though that would do the best job for the talking head videos. Wrong. When it came time to render them, it was a total hassle. I had to reformat them, and then the sound didn’t always meet the facial expression. I worked that out with Vegas, but there were just a ton of glitchy things that happened.

Well…

Brian Edmondson, our resident video guy at Overcome Everything, told me to get the Mino Flip Video Camera. It’s like $150 less than we paid for the other camera we bought, so I didn’t think too much about it. Then, Brian made some videos with it for The LIst Building Club, and the picture and sound were so clear that I went out the same night that I had seen Brian’s videos and bought one for less than $200.

Wow!

If you’re doing video or contemplating it, the Flip Cam is the easiest way to go. I LOVE that thing! Plus, you can take it anywhere because it’s so slim and small. (Yeah, I was lucky enough to have waited until the slimmer version came out.) It’s just the best.

So, if you’re hesitating about doing video, don’t. It’s becoming more and more important online.  And, I have some great advice for you, which can save you tons of aggravation and time:

1) Get a Flip Cam

by Douglas Spotted Eagle

2) Get the free version of Sony Vegas and work with it until you feel you’re ready to upgrade. Then, work with it for a while. Try not to get too frustrated. But if you do, there’s a book you ca buy: Sony Vegas Pro 8 by Douglas Spotted Eagle. I haven’t had to look much up, but it sure comes in handy when you’re scratching your head.

3) If you’re lucky enough to be in Stomper Net, watch the Stomper Vision videos by Mike Stewart. Awesome! If you aren’t in Stomper, buy the course. It’s totally worth it and helped me to understand Vegas a whole lot better.

And then, shoot some video! It’s a blast!