Hi, my name is Chrissy and I am an SEO neophyte!
Since you haven't seen me in this space before I'll go ahead and give you a rundown of how I got here. I worked in PR, Marketing and Social Media. Anyways, I thought the next natural progression would be SEO. Well, nothing about this progression was natural or even remotely fluid. Everything I had learned up to this point (three and a half years) equated to nothing more than a big pile of crap! Yep, that's right, it was crap!
So, what is it that I now deem to be crap and what have I learned in the last month? Here's a small sampling of what I have learned to be true:
- Formal outreach to bloggers for links does not have to be so formal. The more casual you are the more likely you will be to have them actually respond to you. (Dear nuns, thanks but no thanks for your MLA training!)
- Those 'crappy sites' I used to bounce from only seconds after clicking on them - apparently they aren't so bad after all. Just because it is aesthetically displeasing doesn't mean that site isn't valuable in the eyes of an SEO professional.
- Mommy bloggers are racking in the dough! Seriously though, these women have cashed in and understand the value of working with SEO professionals. Not to mention they are usually very accommodating of our requests.
- Forums, who knew! These sometimes-overwhelming website destinations can hold a lot of value, through profile links and other fun stuff.
- People are actually talking about hedgehogs, that hangy ball thing in your throat, dreams and even dreams about hedgehogs, hens and floating. Who knew?!
- If you're being shady with links and websites, Google will find out! Then you'll be in deep-dark, un-rankable trouble.
- If a client's rankings drop - keep calm and carry on (unless they have been trending down for more than 2 weeks, then it's time to rethink your strategy).
- It's better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. If you have an idea - run with it. Satisfy your curiousity.
- The biggest lesson I have learned so far - social media cannot be quantified...yet. (I still hold hope that one day I will be able to quantify it as something that helps rankings but until then I wait in anticipation like a five year old on Christmas eve.)
My hope is that some of these initial lessons help other SEO neophytes who are transitioning from PR, Marketing or similar industries.
