Acknowledgments

This book took years of testing and experience to get to a final product. It also took the knowledge and support of some very important people.

First, I would like to thank my two cybermentors, Danny Sullivan and John Audette. Back in 1995 when I created my first web site and was assigned the task to market it as well, I stumbled onto your sites. I was in awe of your knowledge, intelligence, and the way that you communicated your knowledge to your readers. I listened to everything you said and followed your advice. I learned by example. My success as a web designer and online marketer, my clients ' successes, and this book can all be traced back to the day I discovered your sites. I thank you both for sharing your knowledge with me and others, for publishing my posts and my articles, and for allowing me to speak at your conferences. You are great cybermentors.

Thank you to all of the staff at New Riders ”Stephanie Wall, Victoria Elzey, and Lisa Thibault. Your incredible patience, attention to detail, and enthusiasm were crucial in shaping this book. And thank you to my technical editors ”Jim Stob, Craig Fifield, and Mikkel deMib Svendsen ”for your attention to detail and for not letting me get away with anything that was not factually accurate. You are great technical editors, colleagues, and friends .

Thank you to all the folks at Internet.com ”Karen DeWeese, Beth Ritter, Chris Elwell, Chris Sherman, Kendra Jaros, Alison Alessio, and Frank Fazio ”for providing me with a venue to present this topic. You have been wonderful, supportive colleagues and friends.

A very special thanks goes out to the I-Search and Adventive community. Having a forum to share ideas and knowledge helped shape this book. I hope you have learned as much from me as I have learned from all of you.

I would also like to thank the representatives from the various search engines (Google, FAST Search, Inktomi, Overture, Teoma, and so on) and directories (Yahoo!, LookSmart, and Open Directory) for reviewing the book's content for accuracy.

Thank you to all my clients and non-clients who agreed to be showcased in this book. And thank you to my colleagues who had the kindness and generosity to listen to my ideas.

And last, but certainly not least, much love and gratitude goes out to my spouse and business partner, Grant Crowell. This book took a long time to write, especially with the everchanging search engine environment. Grant took the time to take over many of my search engine marketing duties so that I would have time to write this book.