In the SEO world we are always learning old and new ways to promote our websites and make them more visible on the web.  This is what search engine optimization is.  We want to get more traffic to our site and we want our site to rank higher on organic searches.  There are many ways that we can accomplish our goal and there are many ways still to be found on how to do SEO.

However, in many cases our site may not be the best site for the specific category that it falls under.  Even the product that we are offering may not be the best product in the industry, but none of this matters.  The only thing that matters is if more people see our product or site before the competition.  To get more people to see our product is our entire goal in SEO.  And the thing we focus most on in SEO is not improving the product, but finding better ways to promote it.

This is how it is in our own lives.  We want to promote ourselves so that we get more “looks” from our employers, co-workers, or bosses.  We always want to work on “optimizing” ourselves so that we can have better relationships in the career world.  By improving our relationships in the workplace we will be improving our chances to move up the career ladder.  The term that is commonly used to describe this type of optimization is “office politics.”  Office politics can be described as the strategies used by smart people in the workplace to gain a competitive edge in their careers.  Just like in SEO, we need to use strategies in the workplace to get a head start on our competitors. 

This might sound harsh to use strategies in the workplace to make yourself look better than your co-workers, but it really isn’t.  In fact, it is something that is completely normal and something is being done whether or not you are participating.  So don’t be left out of the game of office politics by not participating.  Instead, learn how you can promote yourself and learn the tricks needed to play the game of office politics. 

One of the ways to achieve long-term job success is to learn the strategies and tactics that are used in office politics.  It is impossible to list all of the strategies and all of the things that can be done to optimize yourself in the career world.  But I have written a brief report on some of the most important things that anybody with a job should remember and do.  Keep in mind that this information is not just useful for new employees, but it applies to everyone with a career.  It should be used by bosses when they are dealing with their employees.  It should be used by salesman when they are dealing with clients, and it should definitely be used by lower-level employees, no matter how long they have been with a company.

I have briefly described just a few of the most important things to remember in office politics, and at the end of the post I have attached the complete report as a PDF file.

Some of the most important things to remember are:

1.                  Keep your integrity at all costs.

2.                  Develop and utilize your soft skills.

3.                  Avoid playing unfairly.

Sometimes in the workplace you will find that people can be very deceitful.  This is a practice that should never be followed or practiced in the workplace.  It may work in the short run, but in the long run people will catch on and your career will suffer as a result.  You also may find that your morals or integrity will be questioned from time to time, but never sacrifice your integrity for anything.  Thomas Paine put it this way, “Character is much easier kept than recovered.”  By sacrificing your integrity, you lose your credibility with people and when you lose that, what use are you anymore?

Soft skills are some of the most important strategies that should be used and developed in the workplace.  Soft skills are the people skills that everyone needs to have for long-term job success.  These skills include communication, social, personal, and self-management. 

So as you are improving your SEO skills and abilities don’t forget to work on your own SPO.  Just like with SEO, you are only trying to promote yourself.  There are things that you can do to improve and develop your own SPO skills, but by learning to promote it will benefit you even more.

I wasn’t able to attach the PDF file, but maybe I can put up the link.  If not, you can just email to my gmail account and I will send the PDF file.  The file is the complete report on SPO that I wrote.