Whether it be friends, family, acquaintances, etc., I often receive the following type of email:
Hey Dan,
I have a friend that runs a website and is looking for some SEO help. Anything you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Friend, family, acquaintance
In an effort to automate as much of my life as I can, this post is the answer to that question. Then, the next time I’m asked, I can just send a link here. 
Smart, eh?
So here’s my advice:
Based on the site, I’m guessing that their looking to do the work rather than outsource for money. Based on that assumption, here are a few suggestions…
1. Go to this page:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291
And click on the PDF link at the top that reads “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide”. Read completely.
2. If they wants to take a deeper dive, I’d suggest reading this:
http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
It’s a little dated, but the content is high-quality, easy to understand, and still very valid.
3. If they feel like buying a book, my first suggestion is not an SEO book, but a usability book called “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug. It had a profound effect on how I look at websites. For an SEO specific book, I’d suggest “The Art of SEO“. It’s relatively new, but I know all of the authors, and it is full of more than they’ll ever need to know about SEO.
In a nutshell, learn the basics of SEO (crawlability, TITLE tags, content, links), make changes to the site to make it enticing for spiders and users, and build links.
OK, what additional advice would YOU give to a beginner?
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