How to Become an SEO Professional - Skills Required
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One: Strong Copy Writing Skills
Search engines want content. People do "web" search and not image or video search when performing searches online. To optimize for key words means those key words must be contained on your web site. Since you are the SEO expert you cannot afford not to write copy. Your favorite word processing package should be good enough to use to help you practice write articles on various subjects on the web, write SEO copy for your website, become a blogger, build an impressive copy writing resume and get links back to your pieces (as well as get respect from your peers).
A working knowledge of content management systems (hence languages such as PHP and databases such as MYSQL) and also how blogs work is good but not essential.
Two: Web Analytic Skills
You must be able to track and define your users behavior when on your site. This is so that you can see how successfully you optimized your site, and what "turns on" your users. A particular site I edit provides a broad range of software offerings but our web stat software showed that some particular programming languages received more attention than others. Some "long tail" keyword phrases (5 words or more) were surprisingly successful over the long term, which gave an idea of what should be targeted in future key word campaigns. Software packages such as Onstat for web hosts and Counterize for word press powered blogs.
Knowledge of JavaScript is essential for discovering on page actions and times spent on specific pages. But it is not absolutely essential as a skill for search engine optimization.
Three: Personality Traits
More important than particular skills is a personality ethos (or way of doing things). This third point is probably the most important set of skills an SEO professional must possess. You can think of them as traits instead of skills. They are invaluable; if you disregard everything else you can't disregard this.
As an SEO professional, you must read voraciously on SEO, Internet marketing, new technologies, changing and emerging trends and everything search engine related. Most importantly you must know what's new in search engine optimization and also which way is up. Permanent subscriptions to Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land, WebProNews, Webmaster World and SEO Chat are not merely advised; they are absolutely mandatory. To become a search engine professional you must have an appetite for learning that would be dangerous if applied to food.
Another trait to acquire is strong communication and teamwork skills. Unless you are really multi-skilled (know every conceivable programming language on earth and have strong copy skills on a divergent series of topics), you will be working on teams. Even as a lone SEO consultant, the design aspect of your clients' sites should not necessarily be yours to handle. This is also true of programming and server side interactions.
If you believe a client needs a forum or a custom designed guest book, you do not have to be the designer, but you will have to communicate your needs to the web programmer. Programmers are usually geeky technical types who are overworked to start with, so they will appreciate clarity in communication. If you have any unfriendly qualities (and we all do sometimes), you will have to work so that they don't show in your professional communications. Ideally you should eliminate them, but then your personal life is not really any of my business, is it?
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