Because I work as an SEO, I make it a point to read some updates about the SEO industry so I can be, at the very least, aware of the latest buzz. I mean, I try to read as much blog posts about SEO as I can, but most of the time I get bored when the post I’m reading is just way too long and technical!! I’m subscribed to a bunch of SEO blogs out there, but truth is, I usually just take a quick scan in my feed reader, especially if that blog isn’t using full feed text. Hmm, I think I have a short attention span.. Which probably explains why I’m not learning as much as I should. Hah.
Among the SEO blogs I’m subscribed to, I am particularly fond of SEOmoz. The people who blog at the SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog usually come up with creative ways to explain their point and they have good sense of humor too. Their posts are simple and well-written, it’s perfect for those who are beginners in SEO (like me).
My favorite feature in SEOmoz is their Whiteboard Fridays. Every Friday they post a video wherein one of them is going to talk about anything related to Search with the use of a white board illustration. It is usually Rand who appears on the videos but whenever he’s unavailable the other “Mozzers” take his place.
Just by reading their blog posts and watching their videos, I can pretty much tell that the SEOmoz office is a great place to work. The Mozzers seem to really love what they’re doing. Hmm. I wonder how that feels like..
As an SEO amateur, I can very much relate to the recent post at SEOmoz entitled The SEO’s Guide to Beginners. It was written by mystery_guest who’s also working as an SEO. I especially like this part:
A lot of people are under the erroneous impression that I am not only part of the SEO industry, but that I have an extensive understanding of SEO, in general.
This is woefully untrue. I’m pretty much clueless..
That’s me right there! I’ve been working as an SEO for 2 years and I’ve successfully worked on a bunch of websites, but really, I’m just as clueless as the next girl. Because the Search industry is constantly evolving, it’s more often than not that I find myself lost along the way. Read the rest of The SEO’s Guide to Beginners and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Mystery_guest also wrote about keeping the SEO language clean. Would you believe I also refer to my job as “Internet Marketing” when I’m talking to people who (I assume) are unfamiliar with SEO? Most of the time, after I tell people I work as an SEO their next question would be, “What’s an SEO?” Someone even gave me this follow-up question: “Are you like a CEO?” Hah! I wish!! So to avoid further queries, I just use the term “Internet Marketing”. That sounds less complicated, doesn’t it?
To sum up this post, I recommend SEOmoz Daily Blog to SEO beginners out there. I’m sure you’re gonna love it.
Note: This is NOT a sponsored post. I just happen to like SEOmoz. 
If you have a host account and you’re looking into keeping and developing your blog for long term use, then WordPress is the way to go. Why? Off the top of my head, here are things I could think of:
- Since WordPress is Open-Source, it is FREE! Just go to their website, download the latest WordPress version, and install it in your own server. But if your hosting offers the Fantastico commercial script library, then you can just perform a WordPress one-click installation from your CPanel.
- There are tons of free themes to choose from! Web Tools Collection and the Theme Viewer have awesome WordPress themes selection.
- The many, many plugins (and continuously growing in number) are free for everyone to use. Plugins are my personal favorite. They make a blog more usable, accessible, highly customizable, and of course, fun! For a long list of working plugins, I recommend the Wordpress Plugin Database.
- WordPress adheres to W3C standards for XHTML and CSS. If your blog has valid XHTML and CSS, it will most likely appear all right when viewed using different standard-compliant browsers.
- With WordPress, you have the freedom to set the categories of your posts (add / delete / edit) and there’s no limit!
- Once you’ve successfully installed Wordpress, the standard RSS and Atom configurations for feed readers or Aggregators are automatically good to go.
- WordPress has a built-in trackback or pingback feature. Trackbacks or pingbacks lets another website know that your blog has an entry that references that particular website, and vice versa (It also notifies you when another website used your blog as reference).
- WordPress has the Codex! The WordPress Codex is a comprehensive tutorial website that helps you with everything you need to know to tweak your blog. I also find myself coming back to explore the Codex once in a while when I need something or when a client requests for a specific thing to appear in his or her blog.
- WordPress is not only for “blogging”. Since it’s a CMS, it’s also useful for corporate websites that need regular website updates. You can actually modify WordPress to not appear like a blog.
- Best of all, WordPress has a large user community. When you’re part of this community, you can be sure that interaction with other bloggers is easier and faster.
I’ve been using WordPress for more than a year now and I can say that I’m very pleased with it. WordPress allows me to have full control over my website. Whatever I need or want to do, there is almost always a solution.
And here’s something exciting: Ever since I set up my personal blog with WordPress, I’ve been able to (slowly but effectively) improve it in terms of backlinks, unique visits and page views, readership (well, not really. lol) and search-engine friendliness. I’m happy that my blog has reached that certain level of “worth” some advertisers are looking for. Thanks to my blog (which is powered by WordPress) I’ve been making some moolah on the side.
