Howdy, howdy, happy holidays to all of you, my SEO comrades and warriors! As an SEO professional, I get to teach SEO and provide mentoring and consulting to clients and students. I’ve found my niche for the moment, at least, and I’m really grateful! How grateful?
Let me share some of my gratitude with you, umkay?
- I’m grateful for my health. Ya know, at age 53, things start to get cranky and wear out, but I’m able to do most everything I want to do, so hey, nothing to complain about here!
- I’m grateful for the love of my dog, three cats and significant human. We all need to be loved, and I’m lucky that the pets view me as the Pez dispenser of snackie noms. This means they follow me all over the kitchen and yowl like they’ve never been fed, the little con artists!
- I’m grateful that my motto for this industry is “Semper Gumby!” Maintaining an open mind and zen-like attitude about search engine marketing can be really tough when Google drops the hammer on your sites, and you don’t understand why, because you’ve tried and tried to do everything Webmaster Tools recommends. By being bendy, you can maintain your sanity.
- I’m grateful for having been so busy this year that I’ve had trouble breathing at times! If you’re an even halfway decent SEOer, you are never, never, ever going to be out of work. At least that’s the situation here in the Washington DC region. I’ve been teaching every week for the last several weeks, and while it’s been a hectic schedule, I practice gratitude that I have this work and that the need is high.
- I’m grateful for all the wonderful SEO colleagues who willingly, happily share their deep knowledge and best practices. I learn so much when I ask other SEOers how to handle a situation, or what I read in the credible search engine marketing blogs online. I’ve solved some vexing issues because so many SEO professionals are willing to open up and share their missteps and solutions.
- I’m grateful that I continue to find SEO so damn interesting after having been in it since 2004. It’s unbelievable how much it’s changed, and the changes are far from over. Far from it – we really are just at the beginning! For more years than I can count, I stayed with the U.S. Federal goverment because I handcuffed myself to the retirement system. I walked out early and I don’t regret it.
- I’m grateful for my partner and dear, wonderful friends who put up with my SEO geekiness. It can’t be easy for them, having to listen to me wax poetic about the latest link building tactic or content marketing strategy! I get plenty of eye rolls and shade thrown at me when I start talking about how cool schema.org is, or how Google Authorship can really improve a page’s click through rate!
- I’m grateful that I’m an independent, free lance consultant and can set my own hours and days to work. True, I end up doing some work almost every Saturday and Sunday, and I’ve been known to do work at night, but for the most part, I can work when I want to, where I want. If I get tired of working here at the house, I can go down to the marina and use their business center while looking out at the Chesapeake Bay!
And finally, I’m grateful for the wonderful students who come to Search Engine Academy to learn how to make their websites show up higher in search results. I learn something from every student I train, and I am humbled by their expertise and business experiences. Search Engine Academy students – YOU ARE THE BEST.
What are you grateful for? Would you share some of your thoughts in the comments below?
As always, keep it safely between the ditches, my SEO heroes, umkay?
All the best,