The Hamlet Batista Interview

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Over the years, Hamlet Batista has established himself at the forefront of the SEO world, through his insightful blog, Hamlet Batista dot Com, and of course, through the development of his cutting edge SEO software program. Hamlet is also a published search engine marketing author and the CEO & founder of Nemedia S.A, his software development company.

Hamlet was kind enough to answer some questions for us, and we really appreciate the insight. We hope you do too!

Interview with Hamlet Batista, CEO & Founder of RankSense SEO Software

1. When did you first get involved in SEO?

[Hamlet] I started back in 2002 working on my own sites.

2. Biggest SEO achievement?

[Hamlet] Having continuously ranking my web sites on the front page of Google, above the fold for very competitive and profitable search terms like Viagra, Payday loans, etc.

3. Best source of SEO information on the web?

[Hamlet] A couple of the best free SEO information sites for someone both new and experienced in SEO that I would recommend are Dan Thies’s “SEOFastStart Guide” and SEOmoz’s “Beginner’s Guide to SEO”. For ongoing news and search related news, I would recommend Danny Sullivan’s “SearchEngineLand”, along with such sites as “Search Engine Watch”, “Webmaster Central” and “Sphinn” which are also an excellent way to keep up with the latest in the search marketing industry news.

4. Some sites we would find in your bookmarks?

[Hamlet] Those I mentioned above especially Sphinn homepage which give an excellent overview of what is recommended as some of the better articles in the search and social marketing industries. Also subscribing to Search Engines “Search Cap: A Day in Search” provides excellent coverage of what is happening in the industry.

5. Best advice to anyone starting a new SEO project / career?

[Hamlet] Don’t give up your day job! Actually I am kidding. SEO is a rapidly growing, excellent choice for a new career or your own project however it now requires a great deal of effort and hard work.

That said, I would recommend:

– Using some of the above mentioned recommended sites, get to know the basic essentials of SEO and PPC. Read everything you can about the subject, subscribe to our communities and most of all, never stop learning

– Start with building and promoting a site of your own. Pick something you are interested in and then find related affiliate offers which will fit with your site’s audience.

– While you are waiting for your SEO efforts to begin to take, start by promoting your site using PPC on Google, Yahoo and MSN (note different search engines are more effective depending on the type of products you are promoting). This will help you to quickly learn to seek out and determine what keywords, ads and landing pages combinations provide the best results (especially since you are paying for it).

– At the same time, optimize the website for the best performing keywords, starting with those hidden, less competitive keywords that you can rank highly for.

– Critical to a new site’s success is the ability to develop compelling content which will help attract links to the site.

– Once you have successfully implemented what you have learned and having derived certain success with your own efforts, will give you the necessary experience, results and confidence to demonstrate your SEO abilities to your potential clients.

6. Most read blog, (not including your own).

[Hamlet] Sphinn.com

7. If you weren’t working in SEO what would you be doing?

[Hamlet] I would be developing new software products. I have loved building our SEO Software and look forward to developing new software products which will compliment and deepen our product line. Bottom line, I absolutely love software development.

8. Suggestions for anyone who has dropped in their Google PR?

[Hamlet] People put too much stock in page rank. If their traffic levels are the same, they should not worry too much about it. Otherwise if traffic levels drop, in the short term implement paid for (PPC) advertising to compensate. Meanwhile check to see what you did on the site that may have broken any of the Google quality guidelines and fix it.

9. SEO results can take a lot of time…what is the “light at the end of the tunnel” for you?

[Hamlet] When you start to get quality, high converting traffic to your site by focusing on the hidden, “low hanging fruit” keywords. There are plenty of profitable keywords in the long tail, which your competition has likely overlooked. Taking the road less traveled, not focusing on the most searched keywords (which is what most do) and working on those harder to find, hidden keywords and keyword phrases which will result in targeted, profitable visitors coming to the site.

10. How can SEOs gain “an edge” in the SEO market?

[Hamlet] Learn from the experts. Read everything you can on SEO and constantly be testing and measuring new ideas. Most of all, do things right, do not take risky shortcuts and focus on results.

Thanks for your time, Hamlet.

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Source by Cody James Miller