Experts .... Please help me figure out SEO

amitdgr · 11-11-2008, 08:22 AM

Hi all,

First, this is my first post here So excuse me if I sound uninformed (because I am)

I am looking to start my own SEO business(yes, I know it is not easy). I have very basic web design knowledge (read: HTML).

My question is, Is it advisable to attend one of those SEO Training classes ? (Please note that I am a complete noob when it comes to SEO)

MaskedMarvel · 11-11-2008, 11:13 AM

You want to start a business about SEO but you don't know anything about it? I know this sounds harsh but I don't think you have enough knowledge to start a business.

About the SEO training classes, sure you could go if you want to learn more but is it free? You can learn a lot from this forum. You might want to do a bit research on your own before taking that class.

amitdgr · 11-11-2008, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaskedMarvel

You want to start a business about SEO but you don't know anything about it? I know this sounds harsh but I don't think you have enough knowledge to start a business.

About the SEO training classes, sure you could go if you want to learn more but is it free? You can learn a lot from this forum. You might want to do a bit research on your own before taking that class.

MaskedMarvel.... I wont start the Internet marketing business before I master SEO and its siblings (It may take a while, maybe few years

)

I am not sure where do I start. So felt maybe class would help.

I will roam around the forum and try to fend for myself

But will bug you if I need more help.....

MaskedMarvel · 11-11-2008, 11:57 AM

hehe sure. I'm not an expert but I'll try to help you the most I can and that's what forums are for.

Have fun learning!

micoblanco · 11-11-2008, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amitdgr

Hi all,

First, this is my first post here So excuse me if I sound uninformed (because I am)

I am looking to start my own SEO business(yes, I know it is not easy). I have very basic web design knowledge (read: HTML).

My question is, Is it advisable to attend one of those SEO Training classes ? (Please note that I am a complete noob when it comes to SEO)

What do you mean by business? Are you going to be a (A)freelance agent then look for a client or you're going to (B)put a small office/firm and you will recruit your personnel?

If your idea is letter A... maybe your IDEA is okey. Attending training/classes about SEO will definitely help you in understanding what SEO is all about but if your idea is letter B... I think you're going to have a hard time or you're going to have a big problem.

Maybe the first thing you should do is to fix your though and think it over again. Starting a business (letter B) requires time and money. It is a very important thing. You can waste your money and time and gain nothing if your going to enter a situation that you didn't even know. (unless you're very lucky!)

Note: We can't learn all the things we need to know about SEO in just attending a seminar or classes. For me, SEO is continues learning. Especially, SEO is in the Internet field and as we all know, in this kind of field... everything changes in just a moment...

poksa · 11-11-2008, 05:55 PM

there are actually lots of ways to learn SEO...you can try, webinars, online videos, forums, e-books, etc...its actually all up to your interest of whether where you want to learn SEO...seminars or trainings are also ways...the bottomline is that it all depends on you.

Copybuild · 11-11-2008, 06:58 PM

In starting a SEO business, you need to have an SEO consultant in your company. SEO expert would help you in your step by step progress.

zeruel · 11-11-2008, 07:41 PM

With regards to the reply of micoblanco, whether your choice is A or B, I suggest you should learn first what SEO is all about. It is not easy. And maybe ebooks, seminars or forums is not enough for you to really learn what it is all about.

The best thing to do is to start a website or maybe a free hosted blog. Pick your niche, then optimize it and apply what you have learned or read. SEO knowledge shouldn't be just a theory or something, you should know how to implement it technically.

After some time, look back on what you have accomplished and ask yourself if you are well enough to start your choice of business.

Good luck..

heatman07 · 11-11-2008, 07:51 PM

You need to have enough knowledge in SEO and you also need to have a good amount of money. You must also have an SEO Consultant and alot of potential clients.

amitdgr · 11-11-2008, 10:16 PM

Wow !! Thank you guys .. I really did not expect so many replies

@micoblanco : I am a newbie. So the continuous learning part will come, but later. Is attending a training class bad ?? I really have no clue, that's why asking you guys here.

@zeruel : That is a nice idea

Start my own site/blog and optimize it. But I have no clue about optimization !!

@Copybuild and @heatman07 : I myself intend to be an SEO consultant

@poksa : I am trying to figure out the best way to start. Thanks for your tip. I will look for eBooks and other stuff.

I understand SEO is not easy. It is a very dynamic field. Here is what I plan to do.

1) Learn web design and SEO and then work on freelance web design/SEO projects.
2) If (1) works properly, then hire junior developers/SEOs to help expand.

It will take time. Few years maybe. But I am really interested in this Internet Marketing field (SEO/SEM/PPC and so many yet to come technologies)

I need your help in guiding me as to which would be the best place to start.

Now I have another noob question:

There are thousands of brands in one industry. And there are hundreds of SEO consultants helping them increase their website rankings. But there are only 10 top results in google. What happens when so many SEO consultants (assuming all are good at what they do) work on websites of the same industry.

Is this too dumb a question ? If so, please excuse, I am a newbie here.

Rankenstein · 11-12-2008, 03:13 AM

Not a dumb question.

This is a bit chicken and egg, if you know what I mean. I've found that SEOs who pay attention not just to keywords and links, but also site quality and giving the surfers exactly what they are looking for, will win through.

The better the 'quality' of the site, the better the chances of ranking well. Usually that equates to money, as well.

A decent SEO will have more likelihood of landing the big/quality client, and therefore as he is good and the site is good, he'll tend to do much better than the 'lesser' sites will.

However, if a company hires an SEO to work in house, they'll have him full time, whereas if they hire an SEO company, they might only get 2 or 3 days work a month out of them, so the in-house SEO tends to do better as he can put in 20-odd days a month - 5 days looking for links, five days mucking about opening up the database, or five days working on geo-targetting, a couple of mornings a week on a blog and so on.

But yes, it is a problem, and you can't always get the ranks you want for popular phrases so a proper SEO will
a) Be able to tell if he is able to (or should) go for the popular phrases or not
and
b) Anyway make sure that he covers as many keyphrases and niche rankings as are available. All the geo-targeting stuff, postcodes, main streets, alternative phrases, and really try to get into the mindset of all the ways surfers might look for a product.

amitdgr · 11-12-2008, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rankenstein

Not a dumb question.

This is a bit chicken and egg, if you know what I mean. I've found that SEOs who pay attention not just to keywords and links, but also site quality and giving the surfers exactly what they are looking for, will win through.

The better the 'quality' of the site, the better the chances of ranking well. Usually that equates to money, as well.

A decent SEO will have more likelihood of landing the big/quality client, and therefore as he is good and the site is good, he'll tend to do much better than the 'lesser' sites will.

However, if a company hires an SEO to work in house, they'll have him full time, whereas if they hire an SEO company, they might only get 2 or 3 days work a month out of them, so the in-house SEO tends to do better as he can put in 20-odd days a month - 5 days looking for links, five days mucking about opening up the database, or five days working on geo-targetting, a couple of mornings a week on a blog and so on.

But yes, it is a problem, and you can't always get the ranks you want for popular phrases so a proper SEO will
a) Be able to tell if he is able to (or should) go for the popular phrases or not
and
b) Anyway make sure that he covers as many keyphrases and niche rankings as are available. All the geo-targeting stuff, postcodes, main streets, alternative phrases, and really try to get into the mindset of all the ways surfers might look for a product.

Rankenstein (nice name

) ,

I understand from your post that website content quality is very important.

Just as I had suspected, Internet Marketing is going to be tougher. People will have to come up with new and innovative ways soon.

Rankenstein, does it pay to know web development/design in this internet Marketing field ? I mean do i need to know Perl or PHP or Rails etc ?

Thank you for the reply

Rankenstein · 11-12-2008, 03:48 AM

You don't need to know those things, but the more you do know about them will be helpful, no doubt about that.

amitdgr · 11-12-2008, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rankenstein

You don't need to know those things, but the more you do know about them will be helpful, no doubt about that.

Point noted Mr. Rankenstein the moderator

phoenix06007 · 11-12-2008, 03:58 AM

its a good idea to attend to that class assuming that you do not have enough knowledge in SEO.join in any SEO forums to gain more knowledge by participating in threads and asking question and of course practice makes perfect so practice your SEO

amsoni · 11-12-2008, 04:24 AM

I think you should gain knowledge about SEO, yes its good to gain knowledge about SEO from SEO Training classes

jhnrang · 11-12-2008, 04:32 AM

You seem to have a level head -and enthusiasm.

What I would suggest is - subscribe to the best SEO blogs - read them and also be regular on quality SEO forums like v7n. These way you will get the BASIC CONCEPT of what you are pursuing.

Its only after that you should attend special SEO training classes. Before that, you will spoil the money because - it will be difficult for you to follow the terms, concepts and other auxiliary things related to SEO.

Best of luck.

jamesfoster · 11-12-2008, 04:37 AM

Its better to have some good knowledge about SEO before starting business. Training classes are always helpful.

amitdgr · 11-12-2008, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhnrang

You seem to have a level head -and enthusiasm.

What I would suggest is - subscribe to the best SEO blogs - read them and also be regular on quality SEO forums like v7n. These way you will get the BASIC CONCEPT of what you are pursuing.

Its only after that you should attend special SEO training classes. Before that, you will spoil the money because - it will be difficult for you to follow the terms, concepts and other auxiliary things related to SEO.

Best of luck.

Thanks jhnrang .... I will hang around some SEO blogs and v7n

Can you suggest me some good seo blogs ??