Learning SEO skills
Every day I help a dozen or so people learn how to optimize their website for search results. Other days, I help folks understand how to build effective online advertising campaigns. Regardless of their needs, folks usually start at a baseline and seek to learn more in response to a need. They want to make money with their website, so they need more traffic - that kind of thing. That’’s part of the reason why I have this site - to share my knowledge and understanding. There are plenty of other resources available, as well. Places listed here, are a great start. You can also look to join selected organizations such as SEMPO. The Search Engine Marketing Professional’s Organization offers white papers and learning tools to members. They are non-agency focused. As full disclosure, I'’ll state I am a member and Co-Chair for the In-House SEM Committee at SEMPO. On a local level, there are more local groups starting up all the time. I know that in Dallas/Fort Worth, there’’s an active SEM group that meets frequently. These types of groups are springing up all over the place - and if one doesn’t exist in your area, you could start one. Reading some books can be a useful way to learn the basic skills used by professional SEMs as well. Plenty of texts exist on all facets of search marketing. One of my faves is Search Engine Optimization for Dummies. It’s clearly written, easy to use as a reference and easy to find. There are online courses available these days, from companies such as Sitepoint and Bruce Clay. Sitepoint’s kit is very indepth and covers everything you’re likely to need to know. It’s written for folks who have some basic understanding of SEO, though, so it’s not for folks who overheard the phrases somewhere and suddenly want a career in it. I personally have this kit and still use it as a reference guide. There’s a great section on how to best operate your own agency, too - with realistic info on what to expect and how to deal with it. It’s not a “franchise” book, but it’’s the best I'’ve yet to encounter at explaining what I know to be the reality of things. Bruce Clay’’s company offers on-site training. To be clear, the training is focused mostly on Bruce Clay’’s system tools, rather than “in general” type stuff. Plus, on-site means you must travel to California for the training. So, it’s much more costly. That said, I’ve spoken to Bruce personally and had considered going. Still haven’t done so yet, but I’m sure others have gone and benefited from the training. Finally, if time and resources permit, you can always start your own website and play with it as a means to learning the necessary skills. At some point you’ll need to actually work on a live site, so it might as well be your own. If it does well, it benefits you directly. If it does not do well, no one else has anything riding on it.
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