Donna is one of my favorite SEOs to get advice from. She is very knowledgable and yet humble at the same time. Between her frequent postings at various message boards and her SEO dedicated site, SEO Scoop, she has helped thousands of people get their sites on the right track!

Name: Donna D. Fontenot
Aliases: DazzlinDonna
Single or Married: Married
Kids: 1 daughter, 1 granddaughter
Home Site: SEO Scoop
Memberships: cre8asiteforums, SEO Refugee, SE Roundtable
Contact info: scoop@seo-scoop.com

How did you get into SEO?

Probably the same way as many others. I had a site that needed presence in the search engines. I began researching how to make a site rank well, and became addicted.

What other areas do you specialize in? How do they compliment your SEO efforts?

ColdFusion Web Development - I was a ColdFusion developer when I began my SEO career. Although I rarely do hard-core programming anymore, ColdFusion enables me to quickly write scripts that allow me to accomplish some SEO tasks. For example, one of my sites uses a script I wrote that rotates anchor text for a network of sites. The links are static per page, but each page gets its own distinct anchor text. I could have done this manually, of course, but the script took about 5 minutes to write, and it saved me a few hours of manual labor.

Any favorite projects you’d like to share?

www.vistababble.com - Vista Babble is a Windows Vista forum, with the goal of users helping each other with Vista tips, tricks, and troubleshooting. Although still in its infancy, since relatively few people have access to Vista, it is encouraging to see the level of commitment some of our members have already. We’ve got some great members who go out of their way to help each other. I love watching it grow.

Of course, SEO Scoop is my baby, and it’s one of the many ways I keep in contact with the SEO world.

What part of SEO drives you nuts?

Link building, definitely! Actually, I almost never do the kinds of link building that we all did in the "old days" anymore. I can’t remember the last time I emailed a link request or responded to one. Wait, there was one recently. I noticed that a buddy of mine on SEOrefugee had a site in the same niche as one of mine, so I did PM him to suggest a link exchange. Because the niche was one that is relatively small, I figured I’d better take the time to go after that one.

These days, I usually get a few links from directories, place a link or two on a related site that I already own (if I have one), and then concentrate on creating content that will attract links on its own. Occasionally, I will submit an article or press release, but frankly, I’m too lazy to spend too much time on that. Maybe I’ve just been
lucky, but I usually manage to have a fair amount of link building success without having to put too much effort into it. And that’s a good thing, since the process bores me to tears!

What’s your favorite part of SEO?

The chase, the fun, the excitement of seeing those rankings rise. With a well chosen strategy of keyword selection, I can see top 10 results within a week of creating a new site. That’s a blast! Once that goal is accomplished, the next step is to reach for more and more top ranking phrases, and the chase begins!

Where do you see SEO going over the next 5 years?

I really don’t see it changing all that much. Methods may change a bit, the targets may change (Google, Yahoo! and MSN may be distant memories by then), but there will always be a need to attract targeted traffic to a site. Successful SEOs are very adaptable and forward-thinking. As long as we pay attention to the nuances of changes on the web, we’ll be in the game. No matter how much time goes by, marketing never goes away. And, when it comes right down to it, that’s all we are - marketers. We just specialize in a specific type of marketing.

Any favorite tips or advice?

Never forget the little things. When you’ve optimized a hundred sites or more, you may fall into the trap of forgetting the minor details. But those details can make or break a site. For example, when was the last time you checked all the outbound links on your site? Do they lead to 404s now? Do they lead to spam-filled sites that once were clean,
informative sites?

Or what about your meta descriptions? Did you accidentally copy and paste a template when you made a new page, and forget to change the description? Don’t be misled by the statement that search engines ignore meta tags. Duplicate descriptions can cause a duplicate filter to kick in.

Sometimes, it’s those kinds of minor details that can cause a problem. Look for those before you leap to conspiracy theories.

Oh, and one other tip - The Long Tail. If you aren’t paying attention to that, you should.

How has SEO benefited you the most?

Ah, this is an easy one. SEO has given me my freedom. Freedom to work from home. Freedom to be my own boss. Freedom to enjoy my family. Those things are priceless.

What industries do you work in?

Hmmm….I rarely give away all my secret industries. I know how SEOs are. :) In general, I tend to create sites in many different industries, all reflecting my own personal interests. For that reason, about a third of them are tech-related in some way, since I am fairly geeky. A few are science-related, and a quite a few are in the holiday
sector (holiday in the American sense of the word). Then, there’s a couple that are in the highly competitive, but spammier areas of the web. ;)

Do you take jobs or just work privately?

Privately, 90% of the time. I will occasionally take on a client, and a little more frequently, I will do some short-term consulting work.

What is your SEO Philosophy?

KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Make it simple for the search engines to index content, make it simple for visitors to find the content, and make it simple for users to do whatever it is you want them to do once they get to the site.

Donna, many people new to SEO struggle while they figure it out and I think you picked it up after you had a family. Any advice for parents out there on how to make it work?

Wow, that’s a tough one. Parents have so many responsibilities that starting a new career can be a challenge. I know I personally tested my family’s patience, while I struggled to get my business off the ground. Heavy sacrifices were made, while I bumbled along trying to make ends meet. If at all possible, have at least a year’s worth of savings set aside to pay the essential bills. Of course, I didn’t have a dime put away, and boy, do I regret that. But, unless you are lucky, it can take at least a year to gain the knowledge and experience needed to make a living off of SEO. I know I made a lot of silly mistakes in the beginning, and only time, experience, and stubbornness allowed me to keep at it until it all fell into place.

You don’t offer SEO services but you are among the best known, and well-liked SEOs out there. SEO-Scoop does state you have a few private clients. How do you select projects?

Really, it’s an emotional thing with me. Something about the client has to tug at my heart. If I feel inside that it is important that I help a particular client, I will find the time to squeeze him or her in. And time really is the reason I don’t take clients very often. One particular client comes to mind. A few years ago, I had an online buddy
that I chatted with often on one of the SEO forums. One day, I received an email from my friend’s son-in-law, letting me know that she had died of a heart attack. Actually, the story ended up taking many twisted turns, one being that the woman I’d known and liked was really a man, and had been using an online persona of a woman. That threw me for a
loop, but it didn’t change how sad I was at the loss. Her/his son-in-law begged me to help him and his family continue on with the business that my friend had started. The family was clueless about how to keep it going. There was no way I could let my friend’s family down,
so I took over all of the sites, and made sure they could continue on without a blip. I managed their sites for a couple of years, and taught them as much as possible so they could eventually handle it on their own.

I actually prefer to give free help to most people. I try to give advice as often as possible, either via the SEO forums, my blog, or through private communication. I would probably be a lot richer if I charged for my advice a little more often, but that’s just not the way I do things. Lots of people over the years have devoted themselves to
sharing information with me, and it is extremely important to me that I give back to the community. "Richness" can be defined in various ways, and giving is one of the ways we can enrich our lives.

Anything else?

Always remember to have fun, in life and in work. If you begin to stress about bad rankings for a site, take a break. Have some fun. Or create a new site…one that is upbeat, goofy, silly, or fun. While you struggle to regain rankings on the old site, spend some time increasing the rankings on the new goofy site. Fun can work wonders.