Pittbug is a professional SEO that is active accross several forums. He seems to always know exactly what is going on in the industry.

Aliases: Pittbug
Single or Married: Married
Kids: 1 and 1 on the way
Memberships: Google AdWords Professional, WebmasterWorld, Seorefugee, Seochat plus a few others
Contact info: pittbug@gmail.com

How did you get into SEO?

I co-founded a travel company in the dotcom craze and quickly realized that I needed to obtain some natural traffic. I noticed some interesting traffic in the logfiles from the search engines and started to investigate how to get more of it. I hired an SEO company to help, then after about 4 or 5 years I ended up becoming a partner of the SEO company.

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

I also help with management of online advertising campaigns; link building; website usability/design, lead conversion analysis and project management for various website related projects. Improving lead conversions works hand in hand with SEO because a 10% increase in lead conversions is sometimes more significant than 10% extra traffic.

What part of SEO drives you nuts?

Dealing with clients with a "what have you done for me lately" attitude. Clients with unrealistic expectations.

What’s your favorite part of SEO?

The satisfaction of turning a client’s notion of their website from being a cost burden into a valuable sales channel.

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

As search engines build more and more sophisticated pattern matching, user tracking and language analysis tools into their algorithms, SEO will start to slide away from the typical heavily optimized sites towards ones which are geared more towards the user. Spammers and search engines will continue their cat and mouse game, while legitimate companies will get caught in the crossfire – I don’t see that changing.

Any favorite tips or advice?

Pick your keywords very carefully. Identify which keywords are suitable for SEO, PPC or both.

Don’t constantly chase rankings, you’ll only end up chasing your tail.

Take advice from forums with a pinch of salt, there’s a lot of misinformation and information which can be taken out of context, since most posts never divulge the URL in question. Sometimes even the people posting misinterpret the results they’re seeing and jump to the wrong conclusions.

How has SEO benefited you the most?

I helped my wife start a business so she can work from home and spend more time with the family. Now with a child on the way, she can still contribute financially, but have the freedom and comfort of working from home. Did that just sound like an infomercial?

Clearly SEO has played a big role in your home life. What was it like working with and teaching your wife?

My wife was already a database specialist having worked within the banking industry for over 10 years. She’s very smart so teaching her html, some seo and web related issues came easily to her. It’s nice to be able to work as a team and discuss website issues at any time of the day, whenever an idea pops into our heads.

What industries do you work in?

My company has clients in many categories including: travel, mortgage, finance, real estate, consumer/retail, industrial goods and services, manufacturing, law/legal and management consulting.

Do you take jobs or just work privately?

Jobs through our network resellers and referrals.

You say you take jobs through resellers and referrals. How does this work? Why not work direct?

Here’s a typical example: A webdesign company doesn’t do seo, we don’t do web design. When someone wants a website, they go to a webdesign firm first. Most people either think the webdesign company will do the seo or they think it can be done afterwards. The design firm handles the billing and sales/marketing effort, while we stick to what we’re good at, negating the need for any sales/marketing effort ourselves. Being an online marketing company doesn’t do any online marketing for ourselves is quite ironic.

What is your SEO Philosophy?

Successful SEO needs to be designed into a website from the start and not bolted on once the site has been developed. It needs to be embraced as part of a company’s culture and marketing philosophy. SEO is only part of the overall marketing puzzle so brick and mortar companies relying on natural listings for their profitability are walking a dangerous line. Diversify your traffic sources like you would a stock portfolio.

How is working for an SEO firm different than being independent? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

One of the biggest advantages is resources. With a mix of technical and marketing staff, we’re able to service clients at a much higher level and bring a wealth of experience to the table. One disadvantage is that you sometimes don’t get to pick the projects you work on.

What tips can you offer for businesses picking an SEO service?

Avoid SEOs offering ranking guarantees like the plague.

Request case studies and talk to them about what they did and what improvements they made. They won’t give you details, but should give you enough so you can see the types of techniques they use.

Ask if the techniques they perform are approved by the search engines, or whether they use techniques to try to trick the search engines - avoid those like the plague.

As well as asking them what functions they perform, don’t forget to ask them what is not included in their regular service. For instance, Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing goes hand in hand with SEO. If you are looking for PPC help, choose a firm that can do both functions.

If possible, try to select an SEO that’s in your geographic area so you can meet face to face. You will be able to build up a better relationship and have more comfort in their service and abilities.

Be wary of SEO companies that insist they host your website or perform the changes to the website. A good seo will be able to work with any webhost or design company.

A good SEO company will not only look at rankings, but take into consideration the quality of the traffic and your conversions.

A good SEO company will also help you with starting a new website or redesigning an existing one. The time spent on this will most likely be outside of your regular service agreement, but the extra time spent at the beginning of the redesign is extremely valuable.

Be aware that it may take several months for the changes to take effect and for you to see a marked improvement in rankings, traffic and sales, especially for a brand new website.

Try to give them a full year for evaluation, so you can see traffic/sales trends through all of your high/low seasons.

Anything else?

If you, or someone you know is about to redesign a website or start a new one, contact a reputable SEO company and have them help with the structure and layout before the design company gets their hands on it. Most webdesign companies know virtually nothing about SEO, despite what they tell you, it’s often like the blind leading the blind! It’s much easier to start off on the right foot, than hobble along and fix it later.