I was extremely flattered the other day to find that SEO Consultant and all-round search guru, Shimon Sandler, had ordered a ReviewMe review from me. Shimon's name will forever be etched in SwollenPickles.com history as the first person to order a review from Swollen Pickles. So, strap yourselves in readers, and lets see what Shimon Sandler Dot Com is all about...

Who is Shimon Sandler?

Shimon is a Search Engine Optimization and online marketing guru who has worked on a number of large programs including work for a number of Fortune 500 companies. That sort of thing looks very good on the resume!

Shimon's expertise and advice are obviously well respected, and chances are that if you've done a bit of reading on SEO then you may have stumbled across one of his articles. Besides that, his blog currently has over 900 subscribers (including me), so it must be good.

What makes Shimon Sandler's blog worth reading?

I have to be honest, my understanding of SEO is rather limited. Up until recently I had a very vague idea of what it entailed, however, even then it seemed to me to be all about tweaking a website and link building to ensure a site ranked highly in the SERP's for particular keywords. Not surprisingly, my knowledge of SEO was paper thin. Thankfully Shimon provides a solid overview of what type of service you should expect to receive from a Search Engine Optimization consultant.

Is it idiot proof?

As someone who knows very little about the subject, Shimon's SEO Basics and PPC Basics guides are handy resources. For example, his PPC Campaign “Kick-off” Templates post provides beginners with a template useful for anyone looking to start their first PPC campaign. It includes things you really should think long and hard about before diving into the PPC deep end. There is also an example PPC Strategy Document that you could use as the basis for developing your own PPC campaign.

Can't you just summarise it for me?

To summarise, Shimon's blog is well written, clean and most importantly, full of useful content. His blog would no doubt get the thumbs up from anyone looking to promote their site online, or even make some cash through online marketing campaigns. So take a look at Shimon's SEO blog and let me know what you think.

End note:

Thanks for ordering the review Shimon, you're a true pioneer!

With the football season gearing up in Australia I can honestly say, I'm well over it already. Tonight the Socceroos play the first of their world cup qualifying games at Telstra Dome. Sure to draw a big crowd, sure to create a lot of interest... and wait for it... sure to be the subject of some intense sports betting!

If that sort of thing floats your boat, then luckily betfair have you covered. To be honest, betting doesn't appeal to me, call me risk adverse. Then again, perhaps the idea of having to step into a dingy TAB facility puts me off a fair bit as well. I guess that is the big appeal of online betting. You can lay your money on the line without having to walk into a smoke filled, sticky floored, betting place.

I guess the other benefit of football betting is that it is really only a two horse race. With the narrow field, you're more likely to back a winner, in theory anyway. Football fans have had a lot to drool over these past couple of days with the NFL Superbowl taking place yesterday. For me the interest isn't in the game, it's in the advertising. Companies always fork out cash big time to get noticed during the Superbowl in the US. My favourite of this year? Has to be Will Ferrell.

Netcars.co.uk is promoting itself as one of the webs leading automotive and motoring sites. For all my Aussie readers they are very much like a UK version of the CarSales site we have in Australia.

Like CarSales, Netcars.co.uk have positioned themselves as a 'one stop shop' for anyone looking to research a car purchase, find out about car loans, or even selling second hand vehicles.

The 'sell my car' feature could be useful for any brits looking to off load their old cars. For ten pounds you can place an ad on the Netcars site for a two week period. To put it into perspective, the site reports to receive over 250,000 searches for used cars each month.

Whether you are looking to by a new or used car I'd strongly recommend doing some research into the cars safety rating prior to purchase. After taking a look around the site, I couldn't find any safety rating information on Netcars.co.uk. In my opinion including safety rating information would improve the overall usefulness of the site, and would mean that users don't have to visit another site to gather that information.

Overall, Netcars.co.uk is a well designed site. It is simple and intuitive to navigate and features a lot of useful information for any prospective car buyers and sellers based in the UK.

What the freakin hell do I know about drug treatment centers or “rehab”? The quick answer would be nothing, but if I said that, this post would be a little on the short side.

So here's my comprehensive list of things I know about rehab.

1. It's a great place to meet burnt out celeb starlets. Case in point: Lindsay Lohan.
2. Perfect place to hook up with aging rockers to form a super group. Case in point: Any "super group" currently doing the rounds.
3. TV has taught me that high class rehab looks very similar to a day spa. Of course TV is always an accurate representation of real life.

Thanks to television and trashy gossip magazines that is all I know about rehab. I'm so enlightened.

Billiards is one of those games that I'd like to be able to play a lot more of if only I had more time or resources. If you are going to go out and buy all the gear you need, including the table, billiards quickly becomes a rich mans sport. At least, that's what I learned today.

From what I can tell www.borderbilliards.com is a relatively new site. It does not yet have a page rank, and its Alexa ranking is in the millions. Obviously whoever is behind it is out to create a quick buzz, and I'm more than happy to oblige.

The website itself is well designed, looks the part, and technically seems to function ok. The major problem is that the owner seems to have decided to 'go live' with the site, before all of the content was ready. So what you find is that when you click on some of the links, take the information page as an example, you end up with no content, just a white space where the content should be. » Read the rest of the entry..

"Tell us about the most romantic experience you have ever had, and the importance of romance in relationships."

Well, there was this one time, I was seated at a restaurant, for the sake of the exercise, lets call it 'McDonalds'. I had finished meal, but was still hungry. As I approached the counter the waitress smiled, and asked, "Another cheeseburger sir?” » Read the rest of the entry..

Millionaire Memorabilia is an online retailer that sells a massive range of collectible memorabilia, ranging from hand-signed and unsigned, movie, sports, music and historic collectibles.

One of the things I loved about visiting the Hard Rock Cafe was browsing through the huge amount of music memorabilia. As a music freak, it was heaven. That's what I like about the Millionaire Memorabilia website. There is a lot of music related gear up for grabs... if you can afford the price tag that is!

As of writing this, they currently stock a guitar mounted and framed, hand signed by Aerosmith. Granted, the guitar isn't a proper Fender Strat, and it was probably never taken onstage by Joe Perry, but it'd still be a pretty cool addition to the pool room... if you have $3,995 lying around that is.

For sports nuts, the Millionaire Memorabilia website also has some nice looking framed and mounted sports memorabilia. I noticed quite a bit of material relating to Miami Heat basketballer Dwayne Wade. Some nice photos of him signed, throwing it down Michael Jordan style. The wide range of Miami Heat merchandise makes me think that the company might well be based in the Miami area (not that I'm that knowledgeable when it comes to US geography).

Anycase, if you're into collectible memorabilia of any kind, check out their website, it's an old school sort of design and layout, but some of the products offered are quite cool.

This post sponsored by  Millionaire Memorabilia.