27 replies to this topic

[Bri]

The website at the #1 spot that happens to look like a $1/hour web designer built it will not get nearly as many inquiries as a professional designed site at the #2 spot.

I see pages at the number 1 position that look like crap! I will settle for two and three with an excellent title and description in the SERP's.

I dunno how many can make it as ONLY an SEO, though I am sure some can, but it is certainly a worthwhile skill to have as a compliment to any existing related skillset.

Quite a few SEO make it as only SEO's right here in this forum. Seo requires full attention because it's always changing.

[franco81]

Personally I have been doing mostly seo for about 1.5 years for a web design company.

I found I was getting a little bored just doing seo to be perfectly honest, so i started 'renting' a virtual server or some server space - whatever you want to call it - read a bit of the linux newbie administrators guide and just got into it in my spare time.

it turned out to be quite a bit of work for a newbie like me but what a learning experience. it also started to spark a little more interest in seo and starting tying together loose ends in my knowledge of the internet etc. i would really recommend it - you probably won't make much money as a small hosting company these days unfortunately but with a little residual income you can cut your hosting costs right down for your own websites, you can put it on your resume/cv, and you learn a lot.

it has opened a number of doors and interests for me personally - i fully recommend just getting in there and doing it. and it is bound to improve your employability.

[mavahntooth]

IMHO seo alone is not quite a living. don't stop to learn. some says that search engine optimization might be dead near future. so what will you do then?

try to learn new things, for nothing is permanent. goodluck to you

[qwerty]

Even if organic rankings become irrelevant, or if the engines become so personalized that no one will be able to reliably improve rankings, that's still just part of the sort of SEO we recommend here.

As long as companies want their websites to be an aid to their businesses, they're going to need people who understand usability, logical navigation, good content, clean code, etc.

[SanDiegoMedia]

I've been doing only SEO for 3 years, and make a great living.

But you need to figure out what you consider 'only seo'. I consider it dealing with on page coding elements, building in bound links, increasing relaventcy in on page content, and increasing sales while lowering cost per sale.

I think of it as if I was to sell the package to a client and do it myself. The less I can do myself, the less I make. As it stands now, I only outsource the copy writing. I only do that becuase I know its a weak point in my skill set and have some very talented resources that come fairly inexpensive.

If given a site to optimize, could you do it all yourself?? If you could, you can make a living with what you know. If you only do link building who's going to do the on page optimization work? If you don't know how to build links, who's going to do it? Can you write content or know someone that can??

[genkibob]

There aren't too many courses that could really give you the information you would need.  However, our twice a year High Rankings® Seminar would probably be extremely helpful to you.  Next one will probably be in March some time.

jill is there any chance that you will conduct seminars here in Manila or any asian country?

[Sarah]

Or UK? OWG could probably help us out with a good seminar to go to!?

[Jill]

We are hoping to actually do one in the UK! My seminar partner is looking into it. She's afraid it might be too expensive, but we speakers want to go there, so stand by...

[genkibob]

We are hoping to actually do one in the UK!  My seminar partner is looking into it. She's afraid it might be too expensive, but we speakers want to go there, so stand by...

jill hopefully you can conduct a seminar here in Manila, Philippines..only few webmasters know how to do SEO and i think many IT company here will send their people to attend your seminar... tnx to highrankings because im one of the few webmaster here who knows SEO.. .

[ewc21]

I'll have a better chance of attending such seminars if it will be held in Asia.

[jehochman]

How about Reykjavic. It's a cheap flight from many US and European cities. They have thermal pools, strong drinks and good fish.

One of the delights of a visit to Reykjavik is bathing in one of the many thermal pools, filled with geothermally heated water, which are found in every district of the city. Abundant resources of geothermal springs mean that the pools are always pleasantly warm, whatever the weather. Most pools are open-air. All have hot-pots to bask in before or after swimming, and most have waterslides for the young (and young at heart).

[idrive]

I have to laugh at some of the job descriptions and corresponding salaries in Ontario, Canada these days. Toronto is the haven for SEO jobs and I would guess that salaries are somewhere in the $60K range.

It's not alot of money to live in T.O. but for someone with the skills who is looking for a job, it would be ok. For me living in Ottawa, I would not do it. Well that and I don't like the business of a large city LOL.

In Ottawa, SEO jobs are fairly rare but becoming more plentiful. But the job usually requires you to be adept in design software such as Fireworks or Photoshop, know HTML and CSS; sometimes you require programming skills; often over 5 years of experience; be a skilled writer as you will be doing all of the website writing - and sometimes they expect you to bilingual (English French)! Oh and did I mention you will receive two weeks of holidays and a measley $45K? And that's Canadian *grin*

Come on.... I am finding it interesting that along with SEO we are all taking an interest in other areas. I am an experienced trainer so bring the opportunity to train other staff on writing for the web for example; I have also taken an interest in web analytics and would like to take on those responsibilities in my job. I am lucky in that I am equally versed in PPC and SEO. But I hate writing so would never apply for a job where I am responsible for marketing writing.

Some SEO's can design cutting edge table-less designs and know CSS; others know alot about link building; others know about servers... we are a diverse group :-)

[mal4mac]

On the UK seminar, if you just consider London then it will be expensive. It's worth looking at places like Birmingham & Milton Keynes, which are easily reached by train from London and Europe by air.