You must login or register!
Inbound.org uses Twitter to register and create accounts. Your Twitter handle will also be your username here on Inbound and registration/login will enable you to submit content, post comments and create/edit your Inbound profile. Use the button below to verify your Twitter account.
Login or Register
Learning to code to fix your landing pages may be a waste of time. Learning to code to build custom data mashups between google analytics, kissmetrics, and facebook insights may be a waste of time. Learning to code to organize data from 200 spreadsheets of analytics data and put it into a database may be a waste of time. But its only a waste of time if you have some other competitive advantage over those in your space. Every tool, every web page, and every piece of data an SEO uses on the job was built by someone who learned how to code. The majority of the vendors you write checks to every month have employees that code. You know how you can get your hands on the next great marketing tool before anyone else? Learn how to code and build it yourself. Then sell its use to your competition and retire on the dime of those that didn't learn to code.
I think you're right, Patrick. I'd say it completely depends on needs and assets of your role. I do think it's appropriate to not be fervently pursuing an education in coding for plenty of digital marketers. I think you should have a solid need and a clear goal in mind first. Without that, will the education ever pay off?
Well there's a chicken-egg problem gaining skill: you don't always know that a skill can solve a problem you have if you don't have that skill. You may come across some advice from a mentor or on a blog that will advise you why you need to learn some new skill, but true creativity comes from having the skill first, and being able to apply it to the problems you're facing at any given moment. Coding, copywriting, graphic design, and video editing, among many others, are all skills that SEOs don't necessarily need, but all of them can use - and it's the creative SEO that ends up winning the tough keywords and spaces.
Good point. I still favor specialization and focus, but you're right. I think you can have close relationships with specialists that keep you from being too narrow-minded when it comes to problem solving. Even when I don't know if there is a way, I ask if there is a way. But that's in an organization with resources. Sometimes it pays to possess all of those skills yourself.
Let's keep in mind that there are different levels of coders. I 100% believe that marketers should know html and css, and if you're a student right now, these are skills that look amazing on your resume. For elementary tasks that may get handed down (ex: make the font larger, make this bold, etc), the person can just do it themself as opposed to passing the work ticket along to their agency or IT department. Now, learning hardcore PHP or Rails is another story!