• SEO Book, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12 PM

Aaron Wall found a nifty affiliate network that was bringing in cheap clicks and quality conversions--but within days, the conversion stats plummeted, and he found that competitors were gobbling up his keywords, jacking up the bids and even stealing his copy word for word.

Instead of getting into a bidding war in this situation--and increasing nothing but his own aggravation and the search engine's profits in the process--Wall says he turned to SEO.

"Most people are too lazy to spend years researching their topic, years building a brand, years building links, and years building social and customer relationships," Wall says. "But, if someone sees me ranking in the organic results they can't just clone it unless they know SEO well, and are committed for the long haul."

While competitive research tools and aggressive bidding strategies may get the competition a leg up when it comes to paid search, such flash-in-the-pan tactics are no match for a substantial, sustained SEO practice. Wall says that you may want to consider this the next time you're facing a costly, escalating bidding war.

Read the whole story at SEO Book »