The 6 Most Marketable SEO Skills

Offering internet marketing and search engine optimisation services is a competitive marketplace with an ever changing set of challenges to be overcome. Thanks to constant algorithm fluctuations and new innovations the SEO industry is one of the fastest moving in the world.

To succeed as a service provider you need to be the ultimate 21st century jack of all trades.

Analysis

The first question a client normally asks is “why does that site rank highly”. Unless you can figure out the reasons within a few minutes you might start to look a bit foolish. Sometimes a client wants to know whether they have the potential to rank within a set time frame and if you can come up with an accurate plan by analysing their past performance you are likely to win the contract.

Programming

Nothing is more frustrating than recommending changes to a clients website and then having to wait months for them to be implemented. Making the changes yourself and billing the client is by far the best option for all parties.

Bonus points are given to SEO’s who can create cool tools to add to client’s sites.

Web design

Being able to turn an old and outdated site design into something modern and linkable is a great way to kick start the SEO process. Having the skills to do that yourself rather than relying on a third party designer is even better.

Bonus points are given to SEO’s who can write blog posts related to web design, these are normally excellent linkbait and perform well on Digg and StumbleUpon.

Social media

Explaining social media to a client that doesn’t understand it is hard enough but trying to bluff your way though a pitch without a thorough knowledge of social sites yourself is suicide. Take the time to understand sites like Digg and StumbleUpon because your clients will expect it.

Blogging

Another good question clients ask is “What about blogging?” or “What is a blog?”. You need to be able to explain why they need a blog, which blogs they need to read, which blogs are covering their niche and teach them the art of writing an interesting blog post. Knowing how to leverage the blogosphere is hugely valuable to any clients requiring linkbait or viral marketing.

Sales

No matter how good at SEO you are unless you can convince a large client that you are credible you will not be able to land lucrative contracts. Learn how to interact with businesses or hire somebody for the job.