News Source: http://www.thinkbasis.com
Published: Jan 12, 2009 - 08:59 pm
Story Found By: nicknick 1125 Days ago
Category: SEM
22 Comments
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News Source: http://www.thinkbasis.com
Published: Jan 12, 2009 - 08:59 pm
Story Found By: nicknick 1125 Days ago
Category: SEM
22 Comments
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Comments
I can’t speak for everyone in the industry, but I both do and teach. I wouldn’t feel comfortable teaching others SEO if I didn’t keep my hand in things. As to why I’m willing to teach, why not? It’s another revenue stream and I love showing people who to SEO the right way! The more that learn how to do proper SEO, the better the Internet and search engines, in general will be.
I can do, but I can’t teach...at least not with sufficient patience. If I was a good teacher, I’d probably teach, too. Jill’s reason’s are good.
I’m suspicious too nicknick; good point. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who both do and teach, but surely 100% are not!<div></div><div>I find that frustrating in my own niche. My blog is about startup marketing, business, and life, but I’ve done three successful startups, made a bunch of money and mistakes, and I have a lot of personal stories to tell. Many others in my niche have never run a business other than a one-person consulting shop. I’m not putting them down! But it’s not the same.</div><div></div><div>Thanks for bringing this up!</div>
No, that old chesnut rings hollow in a web connected world.20th Century: Those who can’t, teach.21st Century: Those who can’t, blog.
I am still learning, but try to teach my clients as much as I can. They seem to appreciate that.As for the general public, true to what @crimsongirl said, I am planning on writing some how-to blog posts to (a) practice my writing, (b) share my knowledge, and (c) shameless self promotion. I always find that the more I teach other people how to do things, the more I learn myself. Sometimes people ask questions that bring to light a gap in information I might unknowingly have.
@smartbearI couldn’t agree with you more. There is no better teacher than making a mistake. An no substitute for success either.
There is always more that needs to be done than those that just "do" can handle on their own. By teaching and doing, not only does someone like Jill provide valuable services to her SEO clients, but she improves the industry as a whole by helping others learn from her experiences "doing". I don’t believe that someone who teaches SEO should be suspected of not being able to actually do it. After all, SEO consultation services consist of nothing more than teaching others how to properly optimize their own sites. I question the traditional adage in every sense, as the most efficient and effective teachers of any subject have always been able to both "do" and "teach".
Good discussion topic, Nick.One of the biggest reasons we still take on lots of client projects here at SEOmoz is to help prevent this criticism. I have certainly found it to be true that when I take a few months off from active SEO consulting, I find less compelling things to write about and teach then when I’m in the trenches.I do agree with a few folks above, though. I can’t, at least off the top of my head, name any companies or individuals in the industry who teach but don’t "do." Even something like MarketMotive, where the executive/operations team aren’t directly involved in lots of campaigns, have active teachers like Avinash, Todd Malicoat, etc. who are big "do-ers".
Well this sucks. This discussion topic was actually supposed to be based on this article but the link didn’t take for some reason.
@randfish. I think that SEOmoz can easily say that they have one of the best values in the SEO "teaching" fields. Some others still do, but they do for themselves and not for clients which can put them slightly out of step with the rest of us. It’s a lot easier to "do" when there are few limits and nobody to answer to. I respect SEOmoz for being able to take on client projects while at the same time sharing some very valuable (and more importantly specific) information.
I’ve fixed it so the link is now live.
Hello all friends! I am new comer in SEO line; in my point of view if we share our knowledge to each other it increases on the other hand we share our sorrow to each other it decreases. Why we think so in sharing our views to other? We should share frankly. We should play both the role as a teacher and student (to learn and teach).
It all comes back to motivation. When I was starting a new company a few months ago, I sat back and thought about what my favorite things to do are. One of my favorite things is to ’see others succeed’. Hopefully, I can be part of that process; but if I can’t - doesn’t matter, I just want to see people succeed (when they’re willing to work). Granted, I still ’do’; and can’t imagine anyone in the constantly changing world of online marketing teaching without doing.If your motivation is to teach because you can’t do - then you shouldn’t be teaching in this world.
(for some reason the link isn’t live for me)I can’t teach (don’t have the patience), so I have to do. But I think we all know that there are plenty of people in this industry who try to "teach" because they can’t "do. It’s pretty obvious in their posts.
@netmeg, I changed the submission URL to what I believe it was supposed to be. Apparently it was submitted with a 1 in front of it so Sphinn redirected it to Sphinn.com rather than to the story.And @nicknick, no need to edit your description -- you can simply email the mods and we’ll take care of it. :) There’s a contact form link on the footer of the site.
Heh...well I thought this was a great question, even before the article was actually attached.Now that I’ve read the article, it’s even better! I think the writer did a good job of covering most of the issues. Glad to see the thread went hot!
Going to have to agree with @eWhisper - I teach for the joy of seeing other succeed. Teaching the next round does bring in more competition, but also opens up the industry to new ideas. Some of the most thought provoking questions I have ever encountered have been from "newbies" at shows. It’s the joy of sharing what I love with others that makes it worth while for me. There are speakers that do no "Do" (and I know some), but in my opinion that makes you a bad speaker. Having concerete examples and good take aways are what make sessions great and drive points home.Great topic and article. Loving it.
@dannysullivan thank you for fixing the link.
@nicknick, you’re welcome, but I can only aspire to be like Danny. I’m not him, and as per my earlier message, I’m the one who fixed the link. :)
@tamar. Thank you to you too. I only read Danny’s post under mine and he said he fixed the link. Didn’t notice your post till later so a belated thank you :)
Oh weird. It definitely wasn’t working properly when I changed it. :P
I’ve been teaching since 1996, while also working. For me, the leading incentive was to pay back the many favors I had been given from those who mentored me online and never asked for anything. It didn’t take long for me to make friends who loved trying new things and sharing what we learned about it. Had we not done so, many of the tools that exist today would not have taken off. Jill and I have always helped people. We each run forums that teach and support people. Those forums are free to everybody.For my clients, I teach them because I want them to become self sufficient and confident. I think for some of us, helping people learn is rewarding. In places like forums, we’ve noticed that those in the community who are the most helpful, are also the most sought after for paying work. Referrals are easy when you can plainly see for yourself who knows what they’re doing.