What Was Your Defining SEO Career Moment?

by Lisa Barone
in SEO

Someone asked me yesterday about my “defining SEO moment”.  Essentially, they wanted to know how I got *here* and what decision or moment stands out in mind as being “key” to everything that has happened since. I thought about it for awhile and, in doing so, realized that there have truthfully been a lot of defining moments in this little SEO career of mine. Some moments that immediately jumped out at me?

  • Hounding & stalking Bruce Clay, Inc. for two weeks in January 2006 before they finally agreed to hire me.
  • Getting painfully threadwatch’d a few months later.
  • Getting figuratively hit by a bus after this.
  • Moving from LA to Troy, NY.
  • The moment Rhea and I decided to stop living by others’ standards and started Outspoken Media.
  • Getting weird at TEDxAlbany.
  • And so many more along the way.

Thinking about the question for myself made me want to hear from others. I asked my Twitter followers about their defining moment. What was the moment that got them here? I have to admit, I was pretty taken back by the insightfulness of many of the answers. So much so that I decided to include the responses I received here. I think you’ll agree they’re pretty kickass.

If your story isn’t here, I’d love it if you’d share it in the comments below.

What is your defining SEO career moment?

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Your Comments

  • Nate Armstrong

    The day my very first guest blog post went live.

  • Dana DiTomaso

    I thought of another one reading over this post – I won a ticket from Jill Whalen to attend SES Toronto in 2004. That was my first SEO conference and the whole field was still very new to me. I started adding SEO into my website business at that time – a bunch of ups and downs since then but now my business has tilted almost entirely towards SEO. Thanks Jill!

  • Jenny Halasz

    In order:

    Getting my first SEO job in 2006 from @andybeal.

    Sitting in a pitch for my old agency and realizing I didn’t know the answer to a technical SEO question. Ugh, I’d become a “suit”.

    Meeting @vanessafox at SMX West and having her offer me a job!

    The day my first post on SEL went live. :)

  • netmeg

    The day someone sub-titled a post on WebmasterWorld “What Would Netmeg Do?”

  • Jonathan Fashbaugh

    During my first week as a sales consultant at an SEO company that I had worked for for years, I sold a huge account. In the words of my boss at the time, “I bagged the elephant!” Unfortunately, we weren’t able to deliver the results according to the client’s expectations. I learned a valuable lesson that setting client expectations was hugely critical, and that even a hugely profitable client from a financial standpoint may not always be a good fit for the company.

  • John Doherty

    Oh, I thought of another! Making the decision to take 2 days out of a vacation in Europe to go to Distilled’s Linklove conference in London, where I met Tom and Will and others and found out about the NYC office opening. I also met Wil Reynolds and Rand, and all of this set me on the course to where I am now. If I had never made that choice, I wouldn’t be where I am.

  • Roger Ellman

    Keywords and crossed fingers (an old English habit) when we launched our first travel website in 2001. Then eating fresh fish on the beach, grilled to perfection – well deserved after an all night, all-out final push to get that first barebones site on the road.
    Best wishes,
    Roger

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