If you want to start a career in SEO, an official degree in digital marketing, communications or computer science may be of use. But, as the IT businesses grow with each year, you need to learn to stand out of the crowd of people with the same degrees. And, since SEO is the definitive future of online marketing, but its ever-changing nature doesn't allow colleges and universities to teach it as a subject, you need to learn it by yourself. Fortunately, many SEO experts have opened up numerous times and shared their experience with the community, so you will have an opportunity to learn what you need to know to start a career in SEO.
Creativity
This is the first and most important skill you have to possess if you want to venture into the world of SEO. To build something new and truthful, you need to think outside the box. You need to make a product or service easily reachable by potential clients if you want a business to succeed. The key to it is being catchy and simple. And by all means, refrain from copying content from other sites. You need to create and stick to a unique style that is preferable in the SEO stream.
Words
Forget about the stigma of English and Journalism majors being a waste of time and useless. Having a writer-oriented background is a huge plus when it comes to SEO jobs. That's because SEO involves writing well because you need to be able to communicate not just to search engines but to humans too.
Learn the basics
The best part about learning SEO is that you don't have to pay to learn the basics. There are so many free e-books, blogs, videos and web sites dedicated to this subject that are worth paying attention to. You can start with Google's SEO Beginners Guide, because SEO mostly orients towards that search engine. There are many SEO services all around the globe that have successfully worked in the past years so you can turn to many of their experts that have decided to open up about the business - reading their blogs and thoughts about the ever-changing nature of SEO can be very beneficial for you.
Flexibility
If you are passionate about all things digital, you may find your niche in the expansive world of search engine optimization. But that's not always enough - another key component of being proficient in SEO is a rampant thirst for knowledge. In an industry as dynamic as search engine optimization, you must never stop learning to remain relevant. Don't get overwhelmed thinking you have to be an instant expert - just understand that you should know why something new matters.
Be Analytic
SEO's got a lot of data. It would be great if you could handle all of the data SEO provides. While words are a key component of SEO development, numbers are crucial as well. Typically, analytical-minded thinking is harder to teach, so if you feel this is strength for you, SEO may be your dream job.
Design
It's not about words and data alone, either. When auditing a client's website, you have to factor in the entire web presence of the client, which is not just technicalities. That also accounts for the look, feel of the page and the overall user experience. In SEO, content is what really matters. Having an optimized product page isn't enough. It also has to have appealing design elements and has to be user-friendly. For this reason particularly, web developers and designers are prime candidates for careers in SEO.
Final thoughts
SEO definitely isn't for everyone. Keeping up with the trends all the time and having to constantly think outside the box may be frustrating to some people. There is much more than meets the eye in the SEO industry and it's up to you to learn about all of the possibilities. Always look for ways to continually develop yourself no matter what level of knowledge and skills you have, and you'll be ready.
