I’m relatively new to SEO. I started about 10 months ago, with no knowledge of search engine marketing at all.
The week before I started my internship, a co-worker emailed me a “Basics of SEO” PDF and told me to read up. I did, and I even took notes. (Sidenote: I didn’t actually read the entire thing. But don’t tell.)
My first day was spent researching the basics of search marketing. That’s the day I found SEOmoz.
For me, much of what I’ve learned about SEO has come from hours of reading blogs. I’m a huge fan of Alltop SEO and dedicate a good forty minutes to reading various blogs each day. In the beginning, I was hesitant to leave comments on blogs when I had a question or found a particular post especially informative, but then I finally bit the bullet and started commenting. And it was GREAT to check back and see that a blogger had answered my question or thanked me for my comment (still waiting on Matt Cutts to give me a shout-out, however). I’ve subscribed to several blogs via RSS feed – SEOmoz, Rae Hoffman (freaking hilarious), Dev Basu, Avinash Kaushik, and SEO Chicks (note to self: order SEO Chick hoodie, stat). I read every entry, every day, and often forward them to co-workers, who grumble whenever they see an email from me in their inbox and make fun of me for trying to become a “student of SEO.”
I have a background in English (I wanted to be a high school English teacher. I claim temporary insanity), so I’ve spent much of the last 10 months developing content for our clients’ websites and writing news stories and press releases. I love the content aspect of SEO, especially because my co-workers often depend on me to generate some useful content for link bait purposes. And that usually means that I have to generate said content fast. It’s a challenge, seeing as there are only two content developers in the office – myself included – but it never gets boring.
The reason for mentioning my background is because initially, I thought that a background in English had nothing to do with SEO. 10 months later, I can safely say that a strong background in writing/communications is absolutely an advantage, if not a necessity.
I recently attended a job fair and spent an entire day explaining what I do to prospective hires. Some were familiar with the basics of SEO, and most were not. One guy even claims to have a private tutor from Google. This fascinated me. How do I get one of those?!
The job fair got me thinking – after 10 months in SEO, I still have a lot to learn. However, I’ve also learned a LOT – more than I could have imagined. I mean, last year, I couldn’t even insert a hyperlink. I’ve clearly come a long way.
Some of the things that I’ve learned, in no particular order, include:
- The unbelievable value in establishing good client relationships.
- That without great content, building links is pretty darn hard.
- Eventually, you will become immune to caffeine, and when you do, it will be a sad, sad day. Not to mention unproductive.
- Networking is essential. Get on Twitter, get on Facebook, etc. You’ll meet prospective clients and helpful people in the industry. I mean, even Shaq is on Twitter.
- No one loves cats as much as Matt Cutts.
- There IS a way to request a link from an organization without sounding spammy.
- Blackberry phones are a necessary evil.
- Blogging can be lucrative.
- Page Rank isn’t everything. But it helps.
- Google is like their own country. The power and influence of Google never ceases to amaze me. And I want to visit their campus and ride one of their community bikes around the courtyards. I also hear they have hot dog vendors. Sold.
- In a tough economy, SEO is – knock on wood – kind of recession-proof. It’s a good industry to be in during these difficult times.
So I’m asking other SEO newbies – what’s the most important thing that you learned in your first year or two of SEO work? I’m very interested.
