A few questions I receive from time to time are "What is the
real secret to being successful at positioning web sites well in
the major search engines?" and "Is it a special service or
software? What special tool allows you to do that?"

Many years ago I operated a company whose specialty was
installing the fine woodwork found in expensive custom homes.
Our "bread and butter" was the ability to join two pieces of
moulding so that the joint was air tight and almost invisible
and to do this under the less than perfect conditions typical
wood frame construction presents.

In those days I was always asked by those who aspired to be
proficient at the business "What is the secret to making those
perfect joints?". "What special tool allows you to do that?"

I am sure that this scenario plays itself out in almost all
trades and businesses. The answer is invariably the same. There
is no secret - except the secret of being willing to put in the
time and committing oneself to the hard work and practise
necessary to learn and experience all of the variables involved.
Only after months and years of working at it every day will one
become proficient!

Needless to say, that is not the answer anyone wants to hear
but it is the only truthful answer. Those asking the questions
are always looking for an easy way - in the case of search
engine positioning - a special software program or service that
will do it all for them. There is no such thing.

There are however no shortage of those claiming their software
or service will do it all for you. I have tried most of them
over the years and , by themselves, none are up to the task
simply because the nature of the "task" changes day to day and
there is no substitute for a live human being who has the
knowledge and experience to do the optimization and follow the
correct submission procedures for each search engine.

The real secret to being able to successfully position web
sites in search engines is not software or a system. The real
secret behind successful search engine positioning is the
experience of the person doing the positioning and the hard work
that has already been done over a period of several years.

If you decide that you need help in your search engine
optimization and positioning then look for a person not a program.