Well, I’d come up with a great start like, “hey kiddo, you’re looking to become an SEO superstar?”, but I’ll go forward from that path straight to the meat.
To make it in the SEO industry, you really need to just get right down to it and group with others, I mean, that’s all there is to it. There are helpful tips and not so helpful tips. I’d go for entertainment in this post, but there needs to be THE list of what must be done in order to become the TRUE SEO SupaStaR!…
…Okay, that was over the top…”When I get stressed out from SEOing, I put my hands in my armpits and then sniff them like this!”…OoO, just far too sexy.
Anyways, to the meat of the article, past any pop-culture references of years past.
1. Suck up to the right people – Part Deux
You need to start your commenting, your networking and your kiss ass-behavior. Remember that kid you always used to make fun of in class for asking way too many questions and for sucking up to the teacher for that high grade? That’s what you need to do with the gods of SEO…Get out there and suck up to the influencers, for they are seriously good at sneezing all over EVERYONE, especially that Loren Baker….
Here’s a listing of the top SEO oriented blogs (in no particular order) —
- Search Engine Journal
- SearchEngineLand
- Matt Cutts Blog
- Search Engine Roundtable
- SEOMoz Blogs
- StuntDubl
- Jim Boykin’s Blog
- Seth Godin’s Blog
- Lee Dodd’s Blog
- JenSense
- Profy
- Vertical Response Blog
- Branded3
- Pulse 2.0
- Tropical SEO
- M DailyFix
- The Warrior Forum
- MasterNewMedia
- WebProNews
- Marketing Profs
- AOJON
- SEOBook
- Center Networks
- Net Business Blog
- Business 2.0 Blogs
- The Link Building Blog
- Go through the internet marketer’s sites and post comments in their blogs.
- Mashable
- Search Views
- Future Lab Blog
- Read/Write Web
- Quick Online Tips
- MicroPersuasion
- SEO Scoop
- Liew CF Blog
- WebProWorld
- eConsultant
- LinkedIN Profiles
- WebWord
- TechDirt
- TubeTorial Blog
- Dosh Dosh Blog
- Robin Good’s Blog
- SEO by the Sea
- SEOPedia
- Social Next
- ProBlogger
- BusinessWeek Blogs
- Earner’s Blog
- Jeremy Zawodny
- David Naylor
- Marketing Shift
- Forrester Marketing Blog
- Duct Tape Marketing Blog
- Branding Strategy Insider
- ZDNet Social Blog
- Influential Marketing Blog
- Marketing Pilgrim
- Bruce Clay’s Blog
- TopRank Blog
- Business Opp. Blog
- #1 Online Marketing Blog
- Tech Republic
- SEO Egg Head
- Paul Allen’s Blog
- Publictivity Blog
- Guy Kawasaki’s Blog
- ShoeMoney
- Quadzilla’s Blog
- BlackHat SEO Blog
- SEO EggHead
- ProNet Advertising
- Mike Industries
- Social Media Site
- Internet Business Daily
- Read the Top Digg Stories
- Smashing Magazine
- The Final List of SEO Sites
That list goes on, but get your comments on those sites and you are just golden, be sure to know something before you have at it though, for n00bs are just embarassing….I know how to n00b, for I am only 3 years in, Beware.
The blogs are to build your reputation and relationships, the forums are used to build your relationships to the nth degree.
“You know what they say – ‘Its not what you know, its who you know.'” – This can be true, but first, you really NEED to know what the hell it is you’re talking about, if you don’t, you’ll just remain a C-List SEO and won’t add to the conversation at ALL.
2. Overpower the Forums and Make Friends
Just post, post, post and network with others through the forums, you will be rewarded by links, friends and reputation. Here is a listing of the highest forums concerning reputation building: (I’m sure there are more, that’s what the comments are for)
- Cre8asite forums
- High Rankings forums
- SeoRefugee forums
- Search Engine Watch Forums
- SERoundtable forums
- V7N Forums
- WebmasterWorld forums
- WebProWorld forums
- Sitepoint Forums
- Sphinn Social Bookmarking Profile
- Digg – Become the Power User you were meant to be
- Join the SES, SMX and other conference circuits for speaking as well as attending
- There are likely plenty of others – I’ll compile a list of the SEO Forums shortly. (Feel free to add in comments)
3. Dominate your competitors by becoming the Go-to-Guy for ONE Niche
–
Sorry, Andy, for taking in all your initial lists — It’s just because you’re too godly to not follow your original article’s structuring.
Overall, you need to develop your skill set at doing one thing and one thing will be your main attractive power to the SEO community at large
Ideas:
- The Social Media Expert
- The Link-Building Expert
- The Tactical SEO Guy (Hopefully me)
- The On-Page SEO guy
- The Black-Hat Link Spamming Guru
- etc.
Remember, Donald Trump basically named himself an authority in real estate, meanwhile the guy basically went bankrupt and lost everything, only to later rise from the ashes to “stardom” because of The Apprentice. People will believe your authoritativeness based upon what you do and your Authoritative “Mark”. Do what you do best and then multiply those efforts.
Just call yourself the Guru of ___ and you’re Golden in the eyes of the SEO community (especially when going after clients, this will help you out).
4. Get published.
Get your article published on here, on StuntDubl’s blog, on SEOBook (if possible), on SearchEngineWatch, WebProNews as well as all of the other industry central sites. You do that and you will become an SEO god in no time. I also believe that SEOMoz can help build your ranking severely if you connect with them. You will increase your authority and you may then state where you were published.
Also, there are large holes in the large publisher arena such as Business 2.0, Forbes, Entrepreneur, etc. – Try to get your articles published on there as well as on local newspapers and your SEO expertness will only increase.
Remember, “For One to become a Sensei of SEO, one must publish”.
5. Create Your Central Site / Blog and just BUILD
Get your own unique voice in some way, for there is much SEO garbage out there being repeated and repeated into oblivion. Add in the content your rivals seek and try to get on popular stories before anyone else can. Do this and try to make your content as visual and animated as possible and you’ve got yourself SEO Expert status.
This is actually something all of us SEOs have trouble with, simplifying our content and condensing the content from others is not our cup of tea, try hard and try again and we will all get through the issue of complexity.
6. Make friends with your rivals.
(This one piece is just far too important not to add – Thanks, Andy H for this piece)
Whatever niche youre in, you can be guaranteed that other smart guys will be in it, too. Well, I have news for you; the trend in SEO is cooperation. You link to him, he links to you, and it helps keep the OTHER guys out.
Let me put this another way. Ever notice how great everything is to SEO bloggers? So-and-sos service is great, So-and-sos research report is great.
It isn’t always great, but it is a great way to make the other guy remember how great you are, and some day down the road they will give you the ol’ great nod, and a link along with it. Its all a nudge-nudge of course, but hey the dumb readers dont know that!
7. Build up High Value Links to your site
This can be done by mass link buying and from only getting links from authority sites. I also recommend actually HAVING good content to link to. Add articles to your site and try to add in unique insight, especially on the principles of seo for different niches. — i.e. Real Estate SEO, Law SEO/Mesothelioma/Personal Injury SEO, Academic SEO (for .edus), Government SEO (for .govs), NonProfit SEO (For the .orgs of this world with links coming from their sites for free SEO work completed – build them sponsors and members and you will be rewarded).
One main concern is the whole separation of SEO expertness with the content you provide. I highly recommend creating a service site and a site dedicated to building your reputation – Sync the two together and you’re SEO expertness is rocking and rolling.
8. Create Formulas and Simplified Ideas of the Google Algorithms
The basis of this idea – Create SEO algorithm optimization ideas for various areas of the search engine algorithms. Talk about TrustRank and all the pieces of the SEO sections in a simplified and visual manner. Most people have trouble simplifying these complex topics. If you can simplify the topics, you will become a High-ranking SEO expert/professional – Just keep it unique, fun, entertaining, authoritative and SEO-rrific.
9. Start Your SEO Experimentations:
Don’t just take the research and ideas from others, do your own original research based upon the actions taken on your site and the results in the SERPs you obtain. There are so many niches on the web now that you can easily break off and become authoritative even in traffic trading (for adult sites for example or lead gen sites).
Just experiment, see what works, get input from others and come up with your own theories of SEO. The blind leading the blind is always bad, listen to the experts only and listen to your own passion of SEO/SEM learning and you will constantly evolve new SEO tactics and techniques.
10. SEO/SEM is About Passion and Obsession – Go With It !
Partner with other like-minded people and network with local businesses such as Web Design/Dev companies, Ad agencies (after the local ad agencies move outwards to the regional and then state-wide and to the national level) in order to get yourself the clients you need through partnerships and JVs (profit-sharing is a great idea/Word-of-Mouth/Affiliate Fees for Leads) (Thanks, Loren).
Follow-up on every story and theory you see and if at all possible, test the theories. There are great resources out there and you MUST keep abreast of EVERY change in SEO land. There are the experts of SEO/SEM whom may be found through the forums, sites and blogs of the largest idea gathering sites, and then there are the larger learning zones…
Advanced SEO/SEM learning may be found in the articles and reports on the following sites:
- e-Consultancy
- MarketingSherpa
- MarketingProfs
- eMarketer
- SEMPO Learning Center
- And the List goes On (Feel free to add other ideas in the comments / contribute to the Wiki)
Hats off to Andy Hagans for the inspiration to write the full and comprehensive guide to building cred and making it as the SEO SupaStar!
Become an SEO Expert and Rule the web. As SEMPO says, Top of Search = Top of Mind.
