Right! First of all, if you're actually reading this then Yes! I made it!! My first post on YOUmoz (hopefully, first of many...). Now that's out of the way, let’s get down to business. First of all, let me introduce myself.

Hi, my name is Juliana Omotola Bisola Alaba Famakinwa (I know right), but you can call me Tola for short. I work for a Web Development Company called Dimasoft as an SEO Executive (I was initially give the title Junior SEO Developer, but I like Executive better). I've been in the SEO Industry now for about 6 months so I figured it was time for me to take the bull by the horn and make my first YOUmoz post. That's right, I said 6 months, so I'm no expert hence I love advice and feedback from the kind people of the SEOmoz community, so please be kind. 

When I joined my company as an SEO Executive, SEO was totally new to me, I didn't know jack about it. I felt I had been thrown into the deep end of the sea just like that! (I have a Masters degree in Computing Science and I majored in Web development and Java Programming, this was the role I applied for but was offered this job instead and I took it, recession). I read lots of blog posts, quite a number from SEOmoz, to get a better feel of the industry I was in, got feedback from my boss and did what I could step by step. I’ve learnt and I am still learning but sometimes I honestly wish I could be like Neo in the Matrix and say 'I Know SEO'.

I've never really been a believer of blogging personally, even prior to my SEO awareness. I felt there wasn't anything I liked that much to blog about, strange as it might sound. I believe you shouldn't start what you can't finish, I try to adhere to that rule. I didn't want to start blogging about some random topic, get bored with it months down the line and abandon it. So I just read other people's blogs and I was happy with that.

Eventually I felt I had gathered as much experience as I could to be comfortable with SEO. I realized I actually enjoyed a lot of the stuff I read. Finally, I believed I had found something I could blog about! SEO. Yes, I know a lot of you are thinking "Is she nuts?" There are a million and one 'SEO blogs' out there, the legits and the cracks! But I figured I'll do my research first and realized my home country, Nigeria, knew next to zilch about SEO and the competition was almost none existent. Volia, I had found my target market and keyword all in one. Fine, I'm not exactly in Nigeria right now, but that's my home and I want to help it out, after all, it’s bad enough we're quite 'popular' (really, we're not that bad). So I got my title tag and keyword down okay, Beginners’ SEO Blog Nigeria, had a nice ring to it too, although I hope it doesn't come back to haunt me.

I dropped comments and submitted my blog to some free blog directories (yes, they still exist, do they work? I'm not so sure) as part of my link building 'strategy'. Now, all I needed was some level of publicity and awareness in Nigeria. Facebook Friends, especially those still back home would do the trick. So I wrote up a number of posts related to SEO, simple information I felt the average Internet person would understand and posted it on facebook for my friends to see. Believe it or not, I got real link love from a friend of mine who is into personal and technology blogging, OOtheNigerian. Everything hit the roof after that and the rest is history.

Yes, I am guilty of the following SEO tactics (in no particular order) on my blog. All I can say is it really does work:

• Market Targeting and Competition (or rather the lack of it) Analysis,
• Keyword research,
• Title tags and Internal linking building,
• Link building and free directory submissions,
• Social Media and Bookmarking and,
• Niched content writing and posting.

Yes, I took the easy route by targeting a market and keyword that was relatively easy but it was still a shock for me when I found myself No 1 on Google for "SEO Blog Nigeria" after only blogging for about a month and on my first blog too, that was a milestone! My traffic is nothing compared to lots of other sites but I don't despise the day of small beginnings!

I owe a lot to the Internet, SEOmoz team for the posts (loved the e-card you guys sent me as well, in fact it pushed me into finally getting a YOUmoz post in!) and everyone here for their support, especially those who’ve taken the time to actually respond to my sometimes dumb comments and questions (I would call names but I don’t want to miss out anyone, so you all know yourselves) and my 'secret admirers' who have thumbed up my comments. Here's to you all. 

P.S. I know everything I’ve said has been covered on SEOmoz before but I would love to get feedback and suggestions going forward from the kind SEOmoz community because I want to be called an SEO Expert! After all, that's the final goal, or isn't it?