Meet your SEO: Shelli Walsh

Howdy alessiomadeyskizzers! today I have the honor to talk with Shelli Walsh ,  director of ShellShock, a linkbuilding agency. This is the third episode of the “Meet Your SEO” interview series , and at the end of the year I promise a DVD of all interviews with special features and behind the scenes will be out. 😀

OK, ready to rock and link?  

Shelli Walsh

When did you enter the SEO world, and why ?

I was drawn to SEO primarily as I see the internet as the future of all commerce and want to develop my own businesses online. Secondly because I am so passionate about the impact the internet has had on society. I see the internet as the second most important event in history (the first being the invention of the printing press by Guttenberg) and has radically changed the world with the mass distribution of information. I want to be involved in the digital revolution and see SEO being an essential part of shaping the internet. We are living in exciting times.

A great tip about onpage optimization?

Have a good internal linking structure on your site to not only flow juice through your site but also for user experience and to guide them where you want them to go. A page should never be a dead end.

The most stupid thing people believe about onpage optimization?

Keyword stuffing a page will make you rank. Or design doesn’t matter.

A great tip on how you build links?

Network, network, network. I follow the PR approach to link building, build relationships with people. Search for the influencers in your niche who have the power to broadcast your message and get to know them.

The most stupid thing you heard about linkbuilding?

Any advert for article marketing submission tools, automatic bookmark submission, and automatic comment tools. C’mon if link building was that easy everyone would be making a killing online, right? If I am bored I type ‘link building’ into google and have a good laugh at all the services offering link building for $5 an hour or buy 100 links for $5.

If you have to explain what you do at a 10 year-old kid , what are you gonna say?

I promote websites online so that other people can find them.
Ha! I get this all the time trying to tell my family what I do and they just look at me with blank faces. They think I work on a magic box.

What do you drink when seoing?

Nettle tea – rock and roll. (am I the only SEO’er who doesn’t do caffeine?)

What do you think about SEO community?

I love the spirit of the community, everybody helps each other out. I have come across a few cynical idiots who try to bring everyone down with their negativity – go get another job! Overall it is a fantastic sphere to be working in, I don’t want to do anything else.

Make yourself a question and give an answer: What would be my ideal algorithm update?

I am a design snob who cannot tolerate bad design and usability. If Google suddenly announced the ‘gorgeous’ update I would be a very happy person.

Who is your biggest SEO influence?

I have a lot of respect for Eric Ward, Eric Enge, Ross Hudgens, Kaiser the Sage, The Distilled team (they put together incredible resource posts), Kelvin Newman (who does an amazing job with Brighton SEO) and of course yourself Alessio (me? WOW. yeah, I know you were joking, but still, wow!).

If you weren’t an SEO, what would you like to do?

I have done a lot of other things (see my about me page) but I have a desire to build houses and develop energy efficient eco properties. As I mentioned above, I am a real design snob and cannot tolerate inefficiency and my passion is creating beautiful and functional spaces to live and work in.

==================================================================================

Just a quick note: remember to check out previous two episodes. I interviewed Gaz Copeland and Chris Dyson.

You wanna be interviewed by me? Drop me an email. I know you want , because the ‘Meet your SEO’ interview series is already history , and it’s going to win an Emmy Award as best SEO series (and we are going to win even because we are the only nominee). 😀