I’ve spent so much time this past year, especially with the arrival of Twitter, reading, perusing, digesting the writings and blogs of numerous SEO gurus and wannabes, that I’ve not actually done much work.

Not only do I spend an inordinate amount of time reading these worthy blogs etc, but I then spend a disproportionate amount of time worrying which, or any, of the excellent tips and advice I should implement.

• Should I search the ethernet for PR4+ blog posts, which don’t implement the ‘no follow’ and then try and figure out how to, sneakily, get my link in, so it looks oh so natural?
• Should I be making fan pages on Facebook, My Space, Bebo, Squidoo and Wikipedia?
• Should I be creating numerous twitter accounts to cater for the wide range of products I could twit to unsuspecting followers?
• Should I be writing numerous blog posts to my various alter-ego blogs and inter connecting them all?
• Should I be creating more niche websites on the WP platform?
• Should I be searching out different hosts so that I don’t host my sites on the same IP address?
• Should I be signing up for the latest SEO/Affiliate conference, although they cost a fortune?
• If I sign up for the latest SEO/Affiliate conference will I make myself ill worrying about networking?
• Should I be writing dozens of articles for article sites
• Should I be writing concise articles, inserting just the one link to my site, for other complimentary sites?
• Should I be spending most of my time finding those ‘impossible’ PR8 one way links which will lift my site up to Nirvana Link Heaven?
• Should I just concentrate on good content and bugger the SEO side of stuff?
• Should I forget about good content and concentrate on the on-page stuff?
• Should I use ‘no follow’ to sculpt my site into the silo effect? (no I haven’t got a clue, either!)
• Should I start using pivot tables to analyse my data from Google Analytics?
• Should I start actually analysing my data from Google Analytics?
• Should I be concentrating on the long tail keywords and not the short tail ones?
• Should I be using Linkscape or Majestic – or both?
• Should I start buying links? (that’s a rhetorical question Matt, I’m a Yorkshire lass!)
• Should I start selling links? (another one of those rhetorical jobbies!)
• Should I start interlinking my pages with the relevant anchor text (don’t forget to alter it, though) from within the content on similar pages?
• Should I ‘no follow’ all my affiliate links?
• Should I ‘no follow’ all my outbound links?
• Should I bother with recriprocal links?
• Should I bother with backlinks from sites with PR1 or less?
• Should I submit to directory sites?
• Should my main content be moved to the top of the page with the help of CSS?
• Should I start following all the Twitterartis mentioned on the latest top 500 worldwide SEOists
• Should I stop salivating each morning at the thought of the little pearls of wisdom which might have appeared in my Twitter timeline overnight from SEOists with strange names?

And all the while my Nursery Furniture page is going AWOL, there’s dust bunnies blowing through various empty pages, merchants have changed networks, my best selling products are out of stock, my husband, child and dog are heading out the door, my rear end is taking on a black leathery patina – a large black leathery patina – my head is so full of nonsense that I can’t think straight – and I missed Christmas!

The end result – I’ve hardly done any of ‘em, a few comments on obscure blogs, submitted to a few directories, started downloading competitor sites into Linkscape and produced some extensive excel spreadsheets and erm, that’s it really ….

But thank heavens, the work I’ve done for years on the website – updating, removing and adding products, writing concise descriptions with relevant keywords and ensuring good descriptive (but not over the top) urls is still paying off and the majority of the pages are still ranking high and producing a healthy return.

THE CONCLUSION – JUST BLEEDIN’ GET ON WITH IT

3 nights at a 4 star hotel in Monte Carlo – yep
Helicoptor transfer – I might have to wear a scarf and big designer glasses , but – yep
Karting Grand Prix – possibly, I’m quite happy to watch though
Full Day Offshore in a Powerboat – I’m sure I can drape myself across the hull, or even the pointy bit – yep
Nightclubs – yep and without falling over – fingers crossed
Full day in Mini Cooper over the Alps – gulp ! – might just have to forgo that one and indulge in some shopping

So I’ve set my stall out – created a couple of site wide banners and this page aimed at Christmas Experience Gifts for Kids, which is doing quite well and appearing on the first page of google for some quite nice terms.

I think that grandparents, aunties and uncles are the type to go for unusual christmas gifts for either boys or girls, I mean, most kids get everything they need/want during the year – the downside of carboots and ebay!! So a day driving a ferrari, or indulging in a photo shoot or pop video, being a zoo keeper and tons of other future memories is going to go down extremely well on Christmas morning.

I only stand an outside chance of winning one of the 6 places, but at least this year, I’m giving it a go and hat tip to Graham for suggesting this trip – maybe next year a stay at a 5 star spa break with a personal shopper thrown in?