Are you feeling unchallenged in your current career? Are you bored and getting itchy feet, wishing for something new and exciting to sink your teeth into? If so, then a career in SEO and digital marketing might just be the solution you’ve been looking for.
That said, taking the plunge is not for the faint of heart. So, what kind of skills and qualities do you need in order to succeed in the world of SEO and digital marketing? Read on, and let’s find out!
You gotta have a sense of humour
Not so much a skill, but almost certainly an essential quality, being able to laugh at yourself and your situation is always a big bonus in this industry. Make no mistake, SEO and digital marketing can be highly rewarding, and there’s plenty of money to be earned. However, as with any job, it’s not without stress.
Self-motivated and adaptable
If you are unable to push yourself and readily adapt to new situations, this isn’t the industry for you. The goal posts are forever on the move (which is one of the reasons why SEO can be so exciting), and there’s no limit to what you can achieve if you have the drive.
Excel/data processing skills
The world of SEO and digital marketing revolves around data. That said, simply collecting data is not enough; you need to be able to analyze and manipulate it in order to gain the valuable insights you will need to create awesome strategies bound for success.
Certainly, this is a skill that you can develop on the job, but it helps if you are fairly competent in this area before taking the proverbial plunge.
Great social skills
Whether your plan is to join an SEO firm as a salesman or you would like to build a career on the backend with a focus on technical SEO and campaign strategy, you’ll need to have excellent social skills. This is because even if you aren’t on the phone charming prospects and upselling clients, you still need to be able to communicate well with the other departments.
Some technical and programming skills/understanding
While there are certainly plenty of SEO experts out there who don’t have any programming skills, it helps to be technically minded and have a decent understanding of how it all works.
Again, you can pick up many of these skills on the job (and there are countless SEO/programming courses you can take to further your expertise). However, it’s going to be a huge advantage if you are starting your SEO career with some entry-level skills upon which you can build.
At the least, you should research the basics, such as HTML tags, page load speed, meta tags, server-side redirects, and so on.
Final thoughts
Of course, there are many other skills that can come in handy (e.g., critical thinking, speaking & writing, problem-solving, etc.). However, the qualities mentioned above will set you in good stead for a promising start to your career in SEO and digital marketing.