Stick with me here, because this post relates to SEO...I promise...
I went snowboarding for the first time last year. Despite growing up in Michigan, where I could have driven up to the UP (that's Upper Peninsula to you folks who don't point out your hometown on your hand) to hit the slopes, I had never snowboarded or skied before.
The first time I tried snowboarding, I went whizzing down the bunny hill (called the Daisy Hill to not-so-subtly hint at how girly and not EX-TREME it is) because I didn't know how to stop. And, naturally, I fell. A lot. My boyfriend recommended I stay on the bunny hill because I sucked. After a few runs down, however, I steadily improved to the point where my bf (who, as a more experienced boarder, was growing increasingly impatient at having to wait for his balance-deficient girlfriend to wobble down a short hill) convinced me to go on an intermediate run. Being the foolish, trusting person that I am, I went down the steeper hill. And I fell down most of it. By the end of the run, I was sore, cold, and pissed off because I wasn't ready to go down the hill, even though someone made me think that I was. (Thanks, Jason.)
Now, let's switch over to SEO. I've been working for SEOmoz for a year now, and when I first started it was like strapping into a snowboard for the first time. I had no idea what SEO was and no clue about how to do it. Rand was like the experienced snowboarder--I'd listen to him on the phone executing verbal 180s and ollies, and think, "I'll never be as good as Rand. I'll never be as knowledgeable as him."
Thankfully, Rand is a more patient instructor than my boyfriend. Instead of shoving me down the hill, Rand started me off with basic SEO tasks. I would find potential sites for a linkbuilding campaign for one of our clients, and then I'd email those sites to our more experienced SEOmoz staffer, who'd do the actual linkbuilding. After I got the hang of that, I started doing building links on my own. After that, it was keyword research, then it was generating linkbait ideas, then it was learning site reviews, and the rest snowballed from there.
He also eased me into writing for the blog and attending conferences. Although both were a bit overwhelming at first, Rand had confidence in me and never pushed me past my comfort zone or level of ability. Now, when I get an idea for a blog post, instead of thinking, "Everyone will think it's stupid," I think, "I should write that!" I'm not worried about not having anyone to talk to at conferences any more, either :)
Let's go back to snowboarding for a bit. Last weekend I went for the second time, and while I stayed on the bunny hill again (this one was called "Little Thunder," which really does wonders for my self-esteem), I greatly improved from the year before. I was in better shape and more confident, and I left the mountain having uttered a lot less expletives than the year before.
Which brings me back to SEOmoz. As most of you know, Rand's dad has been having health problems lately, which means that Rand hasn't been as available around the office. Without Rand here to act as our safety net, we had to function without him...and, you know what? We did all right! All of us were able to work on our tasks, communicate with our clients, and address SEO inquires, even though were were a (very important) man down. It wasn't even scary, either--we all just came together and stepped up to the plate.
After I got back from snowboarding last weekend, I thought about how I've been on the SEO-equivalent of a bunny hill, and how, even though I barely realized it half the time, Rand has been prepping me to graduate to the higher, steeper hill. The past year at SEOmoz I've looked up to Rand as an expert whose vast knowledge of SEO I could never obtain or achieve, but now that I reflect back on all that I've accomplished in the past year, I realize that I've learned a lot more than I thought.
I think that SEO and snowboarding do have a lot in common. Some people think they're better than they are, and when they go tumbling down a big hill, the experts just roll their eyes at them because there's more to it than you'd think. If, however, you start slow and steady and are determined to get the hang of it, you'll find that you can catch on pretty quickly. And that's exactly what I did, both with snowboarding and with SEO.
So folks, even though I have so much more to learn, I'm looking forward to graduating to the "intermediate" hill. While it will still be a long while before (and if) I'm at the peak of the mountain, standing beside Rand and looking down at the world, I'm pretty happy about everything I've learned and achieved so far. And who knows--maybe when I go to Whistler next weekend, I'll be able to master whatever demeaning name they give their bunny hill and can step up and ride with the intermediate gang.
By: Rebecca Kelley
It's Time to Graduate From the Bunny Hill
Moz News
The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
...and by the way, Matt, my snowboard is not ugly. Your face is, though :P
OH SNAP
I'm sooooo looking forward to you two bickering in the backseat the entire way up to Whistler next weekend.
Rebecca: "He's touching me!" Matt: "Shut up! Am not!" Rebecca: "Are too!"
Me: "Do you two want me to turn this car around? I will! Don't make me come back there!"
Why do you think Lauren and I are driving ourselves?
Your snowboard is horrific and my face is as pretty as a newborn ungulate on a dew-covered spring morning.
A team trip to Whistler?! Okay, NOW I'm envious. In Vegas we have Mt. Charleston which gives it's one-lift worth of skiing/boarding to locals for two, maybe three, months out of the year. And it's almost always ice. Not great for catching an edge. Definitely not great taking a spill.
I enjoyed the analogy of learning SEO vs. learning to snowboard. There are times when I took tumbles in my early SEO days and I just wanted to scream "What am I doing wrong?!" But, like snowboarding, once you get a grasp on it and get a little experience under your belt, you can start to do some pretty cool things.
And yes, watch out for the little turds. I busted up my knee when I was going off a well known jump and a little one (9, maybe 10 years old) cut me off and crossed my path. I knew my momentum and size would crush and/or kill the tyke so I took a dive before I went off the jump. I still ended up going off it sideways and tumbled down the face below the jump. The kid probably never saw me and knew the chain of events he caused, but thank god I saw him. A knee was a small price to pay, and ever since I've always made sure to check my peripherals before doing anything funky.
EDIT: Hrm...I don't know how I got here but I just saw the timestamp on this post. I guess I thought it was a recent post because I missed it the first time around. So, I apologize for trying to make the past relevant. I hope your trip to Whistler was a good one!
Back in a former life, when I was a Smalltalk developer, we used to discuss the progress of the team members going the other way - up the hill. We'd have people that would have people that would plateau, and stay at the same skill level for a while, then suddenly they'd get a burst of knowledge and start climbing up the hill to the next plateau.
well done Rebecca, both on the snowboarding and your SEO skills! You are FAB!
Congratulations to all of you for working without a net.
Do yourself a favour and go straight to the top of Whistler peak and take the peak to creek run right down to the creekside base. Stop and enjoy the view a few times, boardslide the steep bits, let the quick guys past and you'll love it. To extend your metaphor, I found that with Snowboarding, if you went out everyday determined to learn, do, risk something you'd not been able to do the day before, then the rate of progression you experience is amazing. Same can be said for SEO.
So jealous, here in South Africa it's 100 degrees and all I want is snow.
Michigan good! Upper Peninsula better!
Rochester is the place of my birth, 1957.
Snow is wonderful!
Now to SEO:
I have an article directory. Figuring that it was an easy way to build additonal web pages in addition to just having an article directory for Adsense income, I approved everything under the sun except the spam.
I found that my website's primary key phrase got diluted so much that my home based business opportunity page dropped off the Google map. I found this out by looking at the Google webmaster tools and in the "in your content" section, only one of the keywords, "business", showed up.
Everything else got pushed out of this list by the likes of "acne".
Got to keep it focused! Repairs have been made and I am waiting.
I am sure that no one else ever made this mistake?
Regards,
Leonard Bartholomew
Home Based Business Opportunity
When I first started to learn how to ski, I found myself lying down in painful positions in the snow a lot (yes, you can get "rug-burn" from snow). Eventually, I graduated to the black diamond stuff (though I'll admit I'm a very careful, probably wussy, black diamond goer - who falls down a lot).
But I remember distinctly one day spending a lot of time lying down in the snow, often looking for my skis, when these little rugrats that could not have been more than 10 years old kept whipping by me without a care in the world, and with obviously a great deal more skill. To rub salt in the wound, they usually were not even using ski poles!
I really, really wanted to clothesline them as they went by, but instead decided it would be more productive to get back up and stop embarrassing myself.
Ian
Yeah, that's the absolute worst. Seeing little runts zip down the hill while I'm wobbling around is maddening!
Just remember two things....
1. youth is fearless... even when a little fear would do them good
2. they're a lot closer to the ground ;)
Congratulations on your progress and always remember that the embarrassment of falling in front of everyone is still nothing compared to the feeling of accomplishment even when no one is looking.
...and yes, this probably applies to more than just skiing and snowboarding.
I went snowboarding for the first time last Friday. I thought my experience riding concrete skateparks and Pacific storm swells would make it easy, and falling on the snow would be like diving into fluffy flower petals. NOT! I got my a#$ kicked, hard. The next day, I was so sore I could hardly walk. My brain was so rattled I could hardly blog. But by Sunday night, I was back together and ready to try it again.
I've been doing the marketing and web development thing for just about one year - just like you, Rebecca. The peak I am reaching for is so, so, so high... but I have made a good start and I've learned way more than I expected to. My world has changed, my life and my mind is in the process of being upgraded, and it keeps getting more exciting by the minute.
Cheers!
Eesh, it's like you're my doppelganger!
And does your intermediate SEO-hill include speaking at conferences this year???
...maybe...
I didn't realize you were a fellow Michigander! When I was fourteen, and traveled to Washington DC with friends, I met some boys from Maryland. I showed them my hometown by pointing on my hand. They thought I was crazy, I thought they were strange.
Your story about learning slowly, taking it one step at a time, is exactly how I'm learning SEO.
well done grasshopper
I spent 2 weeks in Canada learning to ski back in my school days, still didn't learn how to turn properly or move on from the snow-plough position. I lost count at how many people I took out on the slopes as I whizzed down the slope at 60mph because I forgot to zig-zag. Not being a small fella, I even snapped someone's steel ski pole in half as I kamikaze'd into them.
I guess some people are just born sport-fearing geeks :)