Key Skills a Good SEO Must Have

[rickanderson]

Originally Posted by inertia

I haven't forgotten about our rap battle Rick! Just working on some more lines!

you sayit like its fact
but im here to sock some
reality to your a$$

while you "worK' i create
on th spot with no thought

i make it up as i type
yo lyrics stale mines ripe

you have to think about yours and cogitate for 20 hours
while i throwdown freestyle
with leftover time to sniff the flowers..

ive made it ive arrived i aint no poor disgrace
it took you 20 years til they let you lock the place
go ahead keep thinking of some clever lines to say
im original freestylin and im competely in your way

in the way of winning... this battle that you want
you're reduced to thievery you'll even steal my font
in over your head and dreamin what to write
im surprised you would even visit this seo site

ya right you're thinking i've been here longer than you
read yo stuff rick its you that could be through..
called yourself a god yet nobody blink
maybe people just use to this canadian dink

Regards
Inertia

i mean..

Rick

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by inertia

Mamoon, you're contradicting yourself. You say you don't take seo seriously but then get offended when i say you're not a serious seo. In fact, you initially offended me by implying seo was "common sense". If it was common sense then why would so many of us spend half our lives on forums, sites, blogs (etc) researching, learning and staying up to date with our industry. You are not an seo! You have already announced that you are:

when did I say I dont take SEO seriously... SEO is "VERY VERY" important... it is something.. one just can not be without ..today..on the WWW...and I have all the respect for it... I believe..its comes under "Creativity" ...basically..in a nutshell...I am just against making it sound over complicated... that's all..

[nahant37]

Originally Posted by rickanderson

Nahan

Hey macho man...next time you pass by....please do.

Thanks but I like it here. I might learn something. Don't take it so hard. Didn't mean to break up the party.

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by allanp73

I believe the forum lost focus once people began to down play the importance of a SEO and lost sight of the difference professional and the non-professional. To put it simply I can paint a picture and it won't look half bad yet I would not claim to be artist. The biggest issue I see is people generally claim they are SEOs when really they are web designers or web site owners have tried to optimize a web site.

To regain the focus of the original post here is a list of good SEO skills/traits:
- knowledge of search engines and the weights they use to rank sites
- ability to research keywords
- understanding of HTML, asp, php, and other web related languages
- understanding of Dreamweaver , Frontpage and other tools which affect the code
- ability to code css
- creative writing skills and proof writing/reading
- understanding of Urchin, Webtrends, and other web analytic tools
- resources for aiding in link building: directory lists, blog sites, article submission sites, forums, affiliates
- understanding of PPC, conversions, user experience, and visitor behavior
- people and management skills
- honesty (this may be the most important skill that is the most often lacking)

You'll notice I didn't mention meta tags, link structures, PR, and many of the basic knowledge elements for a SEO. This knowledge base is essential and anyone claiming to be a SEO better know inside and out.

I hope this helps get things back on track
-Allan Pollett
Global Net Trade - Web Business Development

Amen to that!! I 100% agree!! these "ARE" the points!! bravo!!

[erikko]

for me a good SEO must know how to balance the requirement of the client and the requirements of search engines. It is his duty to know the latest trends in SE's as well as the need of his client

[rickanderson]

Originally Posted by Mamoon Rashid

I am just against making it sound over complicated... that's all..

Ya but if you make it sound overly complicated to the customer you can charge 5 times more than the ethical guys.

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by rickanderson

Ya but if you make it sound overly complicated to the customer you can charge 5 times more than the ethical guys.

hehe.. exactly my point....most of the seo companies are like that.... you know... they are like consultants... they make it sound so complicated...so that they can charge high...

We the IT geeks..are somewhat exploiting the naivetivity of the general public...

[allanp73]

I still find people down play the value of a good SEO. My approach with my clients has been to make understanding of SEO a simple thing. I want them to understand why I do the things I do. I don't try to make SEO scary or complicated but I do tell them there is a lot involved to achieve the best results. My background is I worked as an English teacher for 3 years in Korea, before returning to Canada and becoming a SEO. I taught kindergarten. I learned about dealing with small children and about conveying ideas simply. The same skills are required for a SEO, who often acts as teacher for his clients. I have many clients who at first saw the Internet as something foreign that they knew they needed but weren't sure why and how much business it could bring them. From having worked as a SEO for 10 years I have seen all levels of knowledge of web marketing in my clients and I have never lost a client because of teaching them how to do it themselves or from showing them the factors that determine why a site ranks well. My clients know that they should focus on what they do best and allow me to focus on what I do best. As well they know that I'm always keeping up with the lastest things that impact rankings and that I am their best source for learning about these changes.

I explanded my original list I posted earlier to provide a better understanding for all of the skills and traits of a good SEO. You can see it on my web site at
(Good SEO) Qualities of a Good SEO - Global Net Trade

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by allanp73

I explanded my original list I posted earlier to provide a better understanding for all of the skills and traits of a good SEO. You can see it on my web site at
(Good SEO) Qualities of a Good SEO - Global Net Trade

Nice.. but i think you might want to remove the 13 small W3C errros that are on your website ? and convert your table based website into div based..and also..use CSS file ?
and ...use some meta tags ? and oh yes I almost forgot... use some Doctype ?

hope this helps..

cheers!!

[allanp73]

lol..i actually not proud of my business site. I made it it quickly one day several years back.
The biggest problem for me has been I have been so busy with other people's sites and never spend any time fixing my own.
By the way W3C is lame. The W3C site for years was actually not compliant to its own standard. Many large sites (Yahoo, MSN, etc) fail to meet its compliance issues. An HTML validator is a much better tool to use.
But you are right and I should spend a few moments and clean up the code.

[rickanderson]

Originally Posted by nahant37

I might learn something

Negative...you **will** learn something...now, as they say here in Vancouver..."jaap jone jing sun" "PAY ATTENTION"

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by allanp73

The biggest problem for me has been I have been so busy with other people's sites and never spend any time fixing my own.

I totally understand..as I am on the same boat... I have been trying to update my site..specially the portfolio..that consist of over 400 websites now.. big and small and so far have't been able to do so...so my friend...I totally hear you!!!

cheers!!

and W3C is lame ? hmm.. lets have a discussion on that....thoughts guys and gals ?? ))

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Mamoon Rashid

I am just against making it sound over complicated... that's all..

I agree that SEO is not complicated, however it is time consuming.

Take a brand new site. You can’t jump in and go after the competitive keywords right off the bat. You need to create a list of about 5,000 non-competitive keywords, create pages for those keywords and split them up between about 5 different sub domain names.

You need to optimize each page and link them back and forth between each other. Preferable putting the links into the text for the keywords you want to rank the pages for. Once you finish building and setting up the site you need to start getting links to the internal pages of the site from outside sources. And 9 times out of 10 you can’t do link exchanges because clients don’t understand why they are linking to their competition. And most directories want allow you to link to internal pages. Need a little out of the box thinking to put it all together.

Now let’s not forget that at the end of the day it’s all about the client turning a profit. His site needs to be designed and set up so that it will convert the visitor into a client. Otherwise we are just wasting time.

And each of those pages we designed need to be set up to convert the traffic otherwise the client want make a profit and we want get paid for our services next month.

It’s not complicated…or is it?

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by janeth

I agree that SEO is not complicated, however it is time consuming.

Take a brand new site. You can’t jump in and go after the competitive keywords right off the bat. You need to create a list of about 5,000 non-competitive keywords, create pages for those keywords and split them up between about 5 different sub domain names.

You need to optimize each page and link them back and forth between each other. Preferable putting the links into the text for the keywords you want to rank the pages for. Once you finish building and setting up the site you need to start getting links to the internal pages of the site from outside sources. And 9 times out of 10 you can’t do link exchanges because clients don’t understand why they are linking to their competition. And most directories want allow you to link to internal pages. Need a little out of the box thinking to put it all together.

Now let’s not forget that at the end of the day it’s all about the client turning a profit. His site needs to be designed and set up so that it will convert the visitor into a client. Otherwise we are just wasting time.

And each of those pages we designed need to be set up to convert the traffic otherwise the client want make a profit and we want get paid for our services next month.

It’s not complicated…or is it?

ok like this it is but your smile can make me agree to anything :P

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Mamoon Rashid

ok like this it is but your smile can make me agree to anything :P

lol

I'll never know the truth then, will I?

[Mamoon Rashid]

Originally Posted by janeth

lol

I'll never know the truth then, will I?

the truth is.. that smile of yours... is not letting me have a difference of opinion with you so here you go.. the truth is out :P

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Mamoon Rashid

the truth is.. that smile of yours... is not letting me have a difference of opinion with you so here you go.. the truth is out :P

I wish it was that easy with everyone else.

[Mamoon Rashid]

ok seriously Janeth.....the way you have described.. i haven't done like this before... but if this technique of yours work..then all's good.

SEO is more and more becoming like a Arabian...thousand nights

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Mamoon Rashid

ok seriously Janeth.....the way you have described.. i haven't done like this before... but if this technique of yours work..then all's good.

SEO is more and more becoming like a Arabian...thousand nights

I've done it on a couple sites and it works really well. We actually have an affiliate site that started making money for us the first couple days it was online and has made a small steady income every since.