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When you think about search engine optimization, you likely think it’s all about keywords, back links, and generating more traffic for a website. Take a minute to think about the other side of SEO. Think about what type of person is the best candidate to be a search engine optimization professional. There are certain personal skills that make someone naturally equipped to offer SEO services.
- An analytical mind is one great asset to have if you are interested in search engine optimization. SEO is about data. You will have to sift through data on a daily basis during your research and you have to know how to look at that data analytically.
- You also need to know the ins and outs of the internet. You might think “I’m not a programmer and I don’t care how the internet works.” It would serve you well, though, to spend a little time on the other side of the computer. Find out what the different codes mean and take a look at what goes on behind the scenes. People that know all about the internet tend to be the most effective when it comes to providing SEO services.
- Strong people skills are also essential. Often SEO services are a hard sell and you have to be convincing. People think you’re trying to sell them something they don’t need. You know they need it, but to make them realizes it, you have to be able to network and deal with people in a powerful way. The first step in search engine marketing is marketing your own set of skills and talents. That is something that comes from within.
- The ability to illustrate important points is also necessary. Part of search engine marketing is visual, which means you have to be able to take out a pen and draw a diagram or illustration with a moment’s notice. Do you have to be exceptionally artistic? No. Do people need to know what you have drawn? Yes.
- A thirst for knowledge is also essential. Why is this so important? Search engine optimization is an ever changing game. If you don’t seek out new information, you will get left behind. You have to have the desire to constantly know more so you can find out what ate latest trends are.
While these talents are all important, you also must be able to build on the talents so you can become a more powerful search engine marketing professional. With the right skill set, coupled with the right information, you can be a powerful search engine marketing professional.
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The worldwide economy is starting to show signs of a thaw – and most SEO professionals admit that even during the “big chill” the past two quarters work for skilled search marketing professionals has been pretty steady. This is one area where the need is growing, despite the bad economy. With that in mind we are going to review some helpful tips for not only landing that search marketing job of your dreams, but also tips on how to keep it (and keep the client happy!)
Don’t Be a Bump on the Log – Show some initiative and enthusiasm for what you do. This isn’t saying go out there and have “skunk projects” all over the place, but rather take an active role in bringing new ideas to the table with your employer. An e-mail to the boss or group every week or so with a few ideas or thoughts can really go a long way. People appreciate the “extra effort”!
Never Stop Learning. I can’t tell you how many people I know who land a job and think that they never have to crack open a book or read something new again. People who excel in search marketing and SEO know that the field is changing by the day – keep up with emerging trends, take marketing classes at your local college and be active in the marketing community.
Create (and Manage) Expectations. There is nothing worse than having people excepting you to deliver it all and then when you deliver your absolute best they are just sitting there wondering where the “rest of it” is. Create and manage the expectations of you and your group up-front. Goals have to be realistic and so do deadlines. However, don’t sandbag projects or always aim low – you build up trust with your employer or client by always being upfront with them.
Keep Your Name Out There. Be known as someone in the industry, not just another number! Start a blog, get involved with online search marketing communities and beef up your profile on sites like LinkedIn. The more you are seen as an industry thought leader, the more secure your position is!
Management Loves Data. Be sure you are generating metrics and people are reading them. Management loves data, and a few variables that are laid out in an easy to use graphical format can go a long way in getting management to understand your true value to the company.
Don’t Play Politics. Take a stand on an issue and stick with it. Don’t change the way you feel about something – like pay per click – every time someone comes up with a new magazine article about it. Keep out of the petty office gossip circles too while you are at it!
Support Your Co-Workers. Remember, you are working for the same company as them. Don’t throw them under a bus or let them drown. If you see they could use a hand, offer to pitch in and help. You never know when they will return the favor!
Speak With Authority. Search marketing changes so rapidly it can be hard to keep up. If you don’t know, or are unsure about something, it is OK to tell people that you need to research the information first so you can give an accurate answer. Nobody knows it all – especially in this field!
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I’m sure you know of someone, or seen pictures of people, who live in absolutely beautiful houses on the inside. We’re talking about marble floors, well-decorated rooms and spacious appointments throughout the house. Then you walk outside and it looks like a train wreck. Overgrown grass, lack of landscaping and paint on the house that is 20 years old. The type of house you’d drive right past without giving a second thought if you didn’t know much better. How many of you are aware that content layout follows this same type of behavior? You can have the best content in the world, but it doesn’t matter if you make it impossible to find and hard to read. People will just “drive right by”.
So how do we fix this? How can SEO work on the content presentation and make it user friendly and easy on the reader to not only find, but to read and hopefully take action? It all starts with great content, no doubt, but the following tips are ways to take that great content and help give it small, but measurable, boosts in the rankings.
First, look at your fonts. Some of us have a habit of using text that is just fine for younger eyes (since most of us tend to be younger), but which is impossible for older readers to see easily. If you are marketing products toward the over-40 crowd you have to design with them in mind.
I recommend sticking with a font such as Verdana with at least a 10pt font. Verdana has good spacing between the letters, is a little big larger than Arial, and the characters themselves are distinguishable. You should always stick to black lettering on a white background for maximum contrast and readability unless you have a darn good reason not to. Just think to yourself about all the potential customers that skip your site because they can’t see the text, or the contrast is impossible to read clearly.
Next, focus on the length. Notice how we write in short, succinct paragraphs? You should do the same. Nobody wants to read paragraphs that stretch on and on and on. Keep it simple and to the point for maximum reader digestibility. Studies show people comprehend and remember small pieces better. Keep the run-on sentences and 20-sentence paragraphs reserved for college papers!
Another practice you should be following when you do SEO is to make use of CSS. Not only does it help maintain consistency, but it also helps to make changes site-wide with a few keystrokes. At one time content length used to be an issue for search rankings, but thanks to widespread high speed access this is no longer a concern.
Now let’s talk about quality – I know you might think we talk about this too much, but quality content is the #1 thing you can do to get better rankings. Here is a list of things that I believe are cruicial:
- Keep it unique. Don’t re-use content and make sure anything you add can pass a service such as CopyScape. If your content isn’t unique you are going to suffer in the rankings.
- Unique page design. Don’t re-use the same HTML layout for site after site. The search engines are watching and take this into consideration.
- Unique titles and meta descriptions. Every page should have these. Your titles should be specific, but concise. Aim for 5 words.
- If you are re-publishing content you must add value to it. Don’t simple re-publish a review from Amazon and think the world will come running to your site. You must add value to it, otherwise why bother visiting your site when they can just visit Amazon?
Keep in mind that as I stated in the beginning, these ideas alone won’t help you much without first focusing in on your content. These ideas are like ingredients in a recipe – alone they don’t make much of anything, but put together they can make one heck of a delicious meal and well ranked site!
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Regardless of whether you are launching a new website or a proven website, it is always adviseable to use organic landing pages. Organic landing pages is a search engine marketing technique that will get traffic to your site without you having to pay for it.
Organic landing pages are used particularly for search engine optimization for a specific keyword. There is ample debate whether your landing page should be written for the interest of the human reader or for the search engine spyders, who in turn provide you with your page ranking and indexing. Higher page rank and better indexing means more traffic, more traffic means more sales. The answer, however, is quite simple. With some ingenuity as well as well placed words, it can be done quite well for both the human eyes and the spyders. Understanding that the google algorithym will penalize you for landing pages solely for the purpose of attracting spyders with no relevant content for the readers. Its time to have content that is not only relevant, but powerful enough to capture the human and the spyder. If your content is good, the humans will find you, and if the humans find you the spyders will come.
Continue Reading: The Success of Organic Landing PagesRelated Posts:
Realizing that most of the web traffic from B2B participants is due to search engine optimization, it pays to spend the time and money needed in your B2B marketing. Great value is derived when search engine optimization is geared not only to the consumer, but to the world of B2B.
Continue Reading: B2B Marketers – SEO and SEM are Vital to Your Continued Success.