Search Engine Optimization (
SEO) is an industry these days, and it's a jungle out there. Google and other are constantly tweaking things to stop
SEO comment spammers and other abuses, which work on the principle that a site with lots of links to it are more valued.
I've never used
SEO, but I have found that unique "keywords" always get through. If what your son's friend is offering is the same as many others are offering,
SEO can give a site a temporary boost, at a price, but what if everyone thinks the same way and does the same things? It's going to be an uphill struggle for attention. (see "
attention economy")
I've come to the conclusion that normal business rules apply, except that the market is bigger. You need to have a "unique selling point" in your market, the kind of thing that a bank manager would use in evaluating your business plan for a loan. The difference is that the markets for luxuries like art are now global, and highly competitive.
Example: three years ago I bought a piece of musical gear, an Akai MPC1000 sampler/drum machine, and wrote a FAQ on it based on my experiences. It's always near the top of any search for "MPC1000 FAQ", if not the top, because there are not many relevant FAQs around. I could have made some money from relevant ads, but I'm using free web hosting by wordpress.com, which doesn't support ads, but also costs me nothing.