12 Skills To Start My SEO Career

I've had many new emails from people asking what they can do to get involved in the world of search marketing and SEO. Tonight, Mystery Guest and I attended the Seattle Social Work and have an experience that is really interesting to talk to people about SEOmoz, we hired for the position (sysadmin of the Northwest, please email us!) And search engine marketing field. The same problem comes again and again - how to get into the market?

I want to be very honest with this post (and with all my posts), so I would say first that I only had a single experience I rely. I have not done a lot of looking for work in the field (in fact, the last resume that I have is from the 1990s, when I was too young to drink alcohol). However, I can share the skills that have proven invaluable to me from time to time:

1.An Analytical Mindset
Being analytical means of data collection, sorting, and recognizing patterns. This does not necessarily mean depth research (although it is a great trait to have as well). Sometimes it can mean the ability to see the outliers, forming hypotheses and act on it with the right mix of impulsive and carefully.
2.Knowledge of How the Internet Works
It took several years for me to understand how the "tube" in operation - all from the HTTP status code to the IP address for the way in which the server can communicate with a web browser - once I did, my job becomes much easier, especially when talking to developers reluctant to involved in SEO projects.
3.Perspective's empathy with Engineers
I have found that the more I think of things from the angle of an engineer's point of view (a person who cares much more about the search experience for users in the aggregate of the issue raised by single instance), most (not all) search more moving machine entry sense.
4.A Solid Background in HTML
I do not think I could ever feasible in SEO if I do not intuitively understand and markup tags consisting of web pages. 8 years ago, I can hand code a page from scratch, and while I will probably need some cheat sheet to do it today, see the source code is almost never stump me again.
5.An Ability to Search for Common Ground when Meeting People
The network is vital to success in any field, but in SEO, where the natural suspicion of potential clients, developers, marketers, investors, etc. No, I have found it to be a branch you defend when the river about dragging you to the waterfall.
6.A strong memory for Data Relevant
Attractive relevant example from the top of my head - whether they are from previous experience, the blogosphere, the presentation of an event or observation on the ball - has been a great contributor for consulting and speaking. Now if only I could do a better job of remembering names ...
7.Illustrations & Skills diagraming
OK, so I was not going to win any prizes for my art, but at least I can communicate quickly and intuitively in a visual way on the board or to a blog post.
8.Speaking of comfort in Scenario High Pressure
I've told the story in the past how I spoke at a conference in 2005 was sandwiched between Chris Anderson of Wired and Meg Whitman of eBay. Once I somehow, miraculously pull one without making an idiot of myself, I never really felt the pressure on the camera or in front of an audience again. I barely even get the heart rate increases on stage again (which has been helped by the dry cleaning bill, too).
9.Being Stubborn Jackass
Not serious! I refuse to accept that, back when Gillian and I was under a mountain of debt and can not pay the rent, we have to pack up shop. I refuse to admit that SEO is bullshit back when everyone around me in the world of web said it. Once I got into SEO, I refuse to believe that there is no Google sandbox, although much more experienced operators do not believe for a long time. After SEOmoz launched our SEO Tools, I refuse to accept that we can not build our own web index, even when a very smart person told me there was no way. Sometimes, stick to your guns, even in the face of conventional wisdom, turned out to be the right step.
10.Humility and Wisdom to Accept that you'll Wrong
There have been many times when I've swallowed my pride, admit that I was wrong, and accept that I may be wrong again. I've never learned more than I had when I royally screwed up something. And, as my wife likes to remind me - I will never be important enough that I did not have to go home and scrub the toilet.
11.A Thick Skin
SEO field is filled with a lot of unprofessional behavior (and I admit to being guilty of a lot of its own, especially in the first few years after I started this site). You should anticipate the negative and ready for not only did not respond and shrugged, but to be warm, polite and friendly even in the face of antagonism degrading. It is not enough to turn the other cheek - you also need to reach out with a handshake.
12.Proficiency in Written Communication
Mainly because my experience started on SEO forums and blogs long before I had a public face or persona, the ability to write well and effectively send a message to curious audiences have been, perhaps, the biggest catalyst for my personal growth in the field.

I would be presumptuous to suggest that these traits will serve everyone well or that they are the "best" the ability to have. In fact, a missing component of the ones I wish I could write that list is the ability to code in multiple languages. I think I will always be SEO weak because of that, but I also know that the time needed to tide it was time I did not have (and I am lucky to be surrounded by a team of 9 people and JLo to help me out when programming problems arise).

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