This week I have read some really great content, and much or it involves working in SEO and being effective with what you are doing. I really feel this is quite timely considering that our little Colorado agency is getting exceedingly more and more busy and I have been working like crazy the passed to months. This of coarse is very exciting but to keep the good times going you constantly need to be progressing. I would like to share a few insights I have had, from both myself and from those much wiser than I.
Nose to the Grindstone…NO!
Something that I keep consciously telling myself and actively peruse is working hard to keep my head up. A great hard worker can work and work and work, and constantly get things done. But a great worker will keep their head up finding smarter and better ways to do things, and working smarter not harder.
Realizing that for a while I kept my head down and just worked to get tasks done and produce results, which is good. However, recently after reading through some great SEO posts and having my own insights on them, you need to look ahead. Keeping your head up to moving forward. An SEO who keeps his head down will eventually hit a wall, lacking creativity, efficiency or maybe just not getting the same results their clients may need.
So insight #1 keep you head up, and work smarter not harder. To help I have found a few sources that I am going to put into action for myself.
Success in SEO Health
Ron Garrett from Distilled NYC very recently wrote about Setting Up Your SEO project/ Agency for Success. I gladly took a few things away(though there is a wealth of knowledge) to help with my projects and personal SEO health. I often forget that SEO isn’t just the keystrokes and relationship building, though it is those things, but it is also the creativity and pure marketing approach that leads to great success. Sometimes you can get caught up in trying to please unhappy clients, or taking on new projects that you just seem to forget that SEO is a brain game and you need to treat yourself right. Obviously I mean excess amounts of caffeine but also keeping you mind refreshed and rejuvenated with sleep, food and breaks as needed to avoid going cross-eyed.
Ron breaks down these topics and many more including setting proper expectations and having a clean project hand offs. It’s a great read, and will help SEO’s and especially the project managers get a higher perspective of ways to improve their everyday to work more effectively. I gain a lot of insight from the post, as a smaller agency and a SEO project manager I can’t explain all the benefit from reading the post so just read it!
**Follow Ron Garrett he is a smart guy at a great agency!**
Using Passion Knowledge and Experience
Knowing the value of your knowledge is important, especially in SEO. After reading How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting written by Patrick McKenzie I felt compelled to write about this. As I have been doing SEO for a while now I realize that when I look back, I was once an electrician with very little SEO knowledge at all. Today I am now doing things that I never really thought I could do. The impact of SEO on businesses is really rewarding at the end of the day. However, I don’t often look back and see all the knowledge gained to really help consult businesses, though it is obviously there. So like Patrick I want to remind everyone that your know how and expertise is really worth something, especially to those who need it. It is a great read and wonderful post to help you appreciate your passion and acquired knowledge. Not to mention knowing how to properly use that for working smarter not harder, making the most of your knowledge.
SEO Health
Sharing the inspiring insights on using your knowledge properly, keeping you head up instead of at the grindstone and having a greater effectiveness and approach I hope helps you as much as it has me. Ultimately you need to remember to have good personal SEO health to keep yourself moving in the right direction for your clients, for your agency and for the industry. You never really know what great things might happen when you are working on all cylinders.
I would also like to thank Jon Cooper and Ashley Tate, if not for me reading your tweets and watching for the good content you share I might not have seen these two great posts.