As each new calendar month begins, I start over on my alphabetical list (of course) of websites to optimize. Each website needs different optimization each month. I cannot just say, “OK, this month I am going to submit a press release for all of my clients.” Each site has individual needs and there is no blanket statement to make for them all. As I setup my monthly website optimization schedule, I need to review past optimization as well as look through the website to see what is needed.

Occasionally, while deleting Spam emails, I run across search engine optimization tips. I read through and realize that I already know all of the tips they are so graciously spamming to everyone.

Each client that comes into our SureThing Optimization Program, wants to be listed #1 on Google. DDA stays on top of Google’s changing algorithms, and can make this possible. Our own website, www.zeroonezero.com, currently has 1,698 terms with first place rankings in Google. We are constantly updating and optimizing our website and keeping up with Google’s algorithms, and we strive to do the same for our clients so over time, they will see the same results.

Being a Search Engine Optimization Specialist, I have many sites to optimize each month. As the final days of each month roll in, I can get a little panicked. Having so many websites to optimize in one month’s time can be overwhelming. Even with optimization schedules, calendars set up, and basically doing as much as I can as fast as I can, the last few days usually hold those sites that I have been putting off for the entire month. But somehow, I manage to get everything done by the stroke of midnight on the final day of the month.

Living in a world of meta tags, website analysis, ranking reports and of course Dreamweaver, website optimization is an important part of a website’s design and functionality. Years ago, when people would ask what I do, they had no idea what website optimization was.

Now, everyone seems to know the meaning and importance of the work that I do on a daily basis.

Remembering lunches, sleeping bags, school projects, permission forms and all other necessities for my children for their school week…. ahhh, it must be Monday!

As I wake up and get ready for another work week I try to keep a positive attitude. As a search engine optimization specialist, I know that I will be optimizing a plethora of websites, each design different from the next. No matter how many times I get stuck at every red light on the way in, or notice that there is something that has rubbed off of my son’s hands onto my pants that will bother me until I can get home and shout it out, once I get to work I try to take a deep breath and put my morning (before walking into DDA) aside. It’s a good thing I don’t drink coffee or I am sure that it would have spilled on my lap by now.

I have set up a calendar for myself, just like the calendar that we use to schedule conference calls about website designs and search engine marketing or client meetings to discuss a logo or business card design. In it I have hour by hour designated which site I will be working on throughout my work week. I am hoping this will help be more organized since we optimize many websites, some of which we have designed as well.

I hope to stay on track with my projects for the day, but I am sure that shortly someone will be asking me for software from our large inventory, or ask for a website analysis of a potential client’s website.

Before my workday begins:

Q: Mom, where’s my favorite sweatshirt?
Re: At the bottom of the basket at the top of the steps.
Q: Mom, I can’t find my school project!
Re: It’s on your desk under the stack of coloring books.
Q: Mom, have you seen my other shoe?
Re: It’s under your bed behind the box of Legos.

Once I get my daughter on the bus and take my sons to school, I take a deep breath and then walk through the doors at DDA:

Jess, have you seen the latest version of Director?
Jess, is that website optimization review ready?
Jess, could you please register this URL?

I have always been organized and able to multi-task with ease. Being an employee at DDA, a search engine marketing company, has put these skills to use on a daily basis. I have to make sure that URLs are renewed, optimization reviews are organized, software is available for the designers and programmers and much more. Somehow with this juggling act that I perform daily, I continue to optimize websites so that they can achieve higher rankings in the major search engines. Using the skills that I have learned over the years each and every day on several different websites keeps me on my toes. I’m optimizing well-designed websites by my coworkers with one hand, all the while checking on traffic reports and website rankings with the other.

I would continue my blog but I need to check on a secure certificate and then answer the phone…

I have been referred to as one of the first search engine optimization specialists in Pennsylvania. Starting twelve years ago, with a handful of websites to optimize, I have learned the ins and outs of search engine marketing and sometimes feel as though I could do it in my sleep. Back then, I had a hand in just about every field of work that DDA covered. From marketing mailings and proofreading, to shipping/receiving and inventory management, to website updates and database management, I seemed to be the go-to person for many things.

Since my early days, I now focus my entire day on enhancing our customers websites. Each day holds something new for me in the optimization world. One day I will be working on a medical website and the next on a site for wedding cake software. Most of the website optimization that I do is on websites that DDA has designed. I then get to see the skill of our graphic designers when looking at an amazing website design.

Working for a professional search engine marketing company has definitely changed the way that I look at websites. I can no longer look at a website without checking for alt text, focused head titles and keyword-rich content. Working in meta tags has become second nature to me. It is interesting to see a website achieve higher rankings in search engines due to the work that I have done. It is a nice sense of accomplishment seeing a website’s rankings and page rank increase.