Now I am thinking about multi-colored spandex and a black-tiled room full of overweight men working out… ah the 1980s… All Olivia Newton-John song references aside (although I am sure you are singing it in your head), Google Analytics is a free website analysis tool that generates detailed traffic reports for websites. These traffic reports “talk” to us in a sense, by listing important website statistics that are useful in many ways.

DDA, a search engine marketing company, uses Google Analytics on websites that we are not hosting, but are enrolled in the SureThing Optimization Program. By adding a piece of tracking code to each page, we are then able to track our progress of website optimization by viewing the improved traffic to the site.

We find that being able to view traffic reports is an important part of website optimization. We can see which keywords potential customers are using to search for a website’s services and can then point out which terms need focused optimization to improve rankings. This software can show how visitors find a website and how they interact with the website’s content.

Being a search engine optimization specialist, I find it important to be able to view a website’s visits and pageviews, new and returning visitors, and also which search engine the visitor is coming from.

I was reading an article the other day about what to look for in a Search Engine Optimization Specialist. I found the paragraph below interesting :

“Most so-called Search Engine Optimization Specialists are people who slap keywords and keyword phrases inside of HTML tags without considering an overall online marketing strategy. On the other hand, there are people who can write for the search engines, analyze site statistics, have a thorough knowledge of spider-friendly HTML, have considerable experience with SEO in multiple industries, and stay up-to-date on search engine happenings. These are the true search engine experts.”

At first I took offense to the initial sentence thinking. “Hey, that is not true about me!” Then I continued to read and calmed down and thought “OK, that’s much better.”

So I guess working at DDA, a search engine marketing company, has turned me into a search engine expert. Working with websites in varying industries, from medical to plastic injection molding, means that each websites needs its own focused optimization. I do not just slap keywords into the meta tags, thank you very much, but rather integrate them into all meta tags, content development, and focus each page on each word specifically. And you could say that 12 years could be looked at as “considerable experience.”

At DDA, we stay ahead of the game on search engine happenings and are truly search engine optimization and marketing experts.

Over the weekend my fiancee was filling out an online form and needed to fill out my personal information as well. When it came to my employer’s information, question after question was asked — What’s the address? Phone number? How long have you been there? What’s your title?

When it came to tell him my title of SEO specialist (and the repeating it…S E O Specialist) he looked clueless.

Sure he knows that I work on websites all day but he is an electrician and not very computer savvy. Watching him hunt and peck my information into the computer was funny, especially since typing on a keyboard without looking is second nature to me.

Although we each have our own titles here at DDA, the name sometimes isn’t long enough. If you would try to list everything that each one of us does as our titles, the list would be endless.

Being a Search Engine Optimization specialist at DDA, a search engine marketing company in Southampton, PA, means that I am constantly fighting the uphill battle of improving website rankings in major search engines. Working in a world of meta tags and Dreamweaver can be a battle in itself, but I push onward and upward. The results are seen when my client’s rankings on Google climb closer and closer to the coveted #1 position.

You can see DDA’s success in Google with our numerous website rankings.

Lately it has amazed me how quickly the days are flying by. My daughter just turned 9 and celebrated her First Holy Communion. It seems like just yesterday I was counting down the days until my due date.

The same can be said for the days that I have worked at DDA, a graphic design company. This year marks 12 years that I have been working with this company. I still remember getting a phone call from my older sister who was then a Graphic Designer with DDA. I was home from school and was asked if I could come in and help put together a product catalog that was designed by DDA. Before working here, I never really used computers. Then I became proficient on a Mac. Over the years, I was in charge of mailing lists, software, data entry, proofreading, and many other tasks that could look like a laundry list if every aspect was included.

Today, my title is simply a Search Engine Optimization Specialist. This is not something that happened overnight and it wasn’t quite simple either.

Back when I started to learn about the techniques used for website optimization, things were much simpler. But back then, the switch from using a Mac to switching to a PC was my hardest challenge! As each year passed, I became more and more independent in my website optimization. And now, I handle all of these websites each month without a second thought.

So here I am today, three children later, still managing to keep up with the latest search engine marketing and optimization tips and trends. Time flies when you’re having fun! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

As a Search Engine Optimization Specialist at DDA, a search engine marketing company, Dreamweaver is always open on my computer. Dreamweaver is a combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support… everything I need for my website optimization on a daily basis. From editing meta tags to adding alternate text, this all encompassing program can handle it all. When I first started using Dreamweaver many, many years ago, I only knew how to do the basics. Over the years I have learned how to use several of the tools and even how to make changes in the code, of all things!!

Sure from time to time it will throw me a curveball and make me redefine all of my websites. Or give me the occasional “fatal error” and “this program is not responding” message. This usually happens when I have been working on a page for a while and right before I get to save my work. So with a few words mumbled under my breath and a click of the mouse, I continue on. This program has become my right-hand man when handling optimization of websites.

Forget diamonds (although they will never be turned down)… Dreamweaver is a search engine optimization specialist’s best friend!

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.

People always look at me funny when I say that I come to work to relax. My weekends are hardly relaxing.

This crazy weekend consisted of completely redecorating my sister’s bedroom for her 13th birthday, celebrating a communion, doing the normal chores, and then on top of it all having to create a 3D model of a piranha for my daughter’s rainforest project… I was actually looking forward to coming into work to have a few hours without having to run around like a chicken with my head cut off. And it is always nice to be able to eat lunch without having to cut up and serve three other lunches first!

This morning at DDA, as soon as I came in I was given the task of researching URLS and listing all contact information, etc. This was not listed in my calendar of events for a Monday, but I held off on all other projects to do so. This isn’t a rare occurrence, being a Search Engine Optimization Specialist at a graphic design company. Aside from my normal tasks of optimizing websites, I will be asked to take on several other tasks on a daily basis.

I may not have been able to relax just yet, but it is a Monday so that’s normal. I honestly don’t think that I am capable of being 100% relaxed. Pretty much the only time I sit at home is to fold laundry or eat dinner. And even then I am usually up and doing something on the in-between.

But it is nice coming to DDA, taking a deep breath and being Jess for a while instead of Mom.

Time rules my life. I seem to do everything at the same time everyday. I am always on time if not early… and on time to me means at least 5 minutes early for any event. So when someone tells me that they will be at my house at 8:15 a.m. to pick up my daughter for “take your daughter to work day,” they get a phone call at 8:14 a.m. seeing if it will take more than one minute to show up.

Ten minutes later, I am mentally stressing and seeing how much time left I have to take my sons to school and race to work. Somehow, time was on my side and I didn’t get a single red light on my way to work.

After arriving at DDA, a graphic design company, I sit at my desk, check the clock (of course) and begin my role as Search Engine Optimization Specialist. I check my calendar to see which websites I will be optimizing on each hour of my glorious Thursday.

With our SureThing optimization program, we take several steps each month, and over time this increases website rankings. It is very interesting to see how the work that I do on a monthly basis helps a website climb higher in the major search engines.

I would continue… but I only have 2 minutes until I need to begin optimizing my first website of the day.

On my way into work this morning, I was next to a truck with a logo displayed on the side and thought, DDA could design a better logo than that one! As a search engine optimization specialist at a graphic design company, I look at things with a critical eye. Whether its ending up proofing a menu when trying to decide what to order for dinner or looking at all of the billboards on my way to the shore, I find myself critiquing other company’s design work. It makes me realize just how talented our designers are at DDA.

Now I am by no means a designer myself, but I can definitely see a big difference in skill, experience, and ability when comparing DDA designs to other company’s logo designs, website designs, billboard designs and catalog designs.

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.