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General Discussion

Posted by Hashim Warren
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Hashim Warren
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 1,207 Points

Am I learning the correct technology for my goals?

I am a Content Marketer and SEO Strategist.

I have three goals:

A. My search engine optimizations (meta tags, H1s, title tags, schema markup, etc) for a new site often get shaved off once it goes through the hands of a front-end developer. I want to be more involved in projects.

So, I'm learning HTML

B. The content I write often gets trumped by web designer's opinions. I want to help create rich content experiences, especially for long form writing on the web.

So, I'm learning CSS and JavaScript and Wordpress

C. The most sophisticated form of SEO is the attraction of links through launching a useful resource or tool. I want to know what's possible, and prototype my ideas.

So, I'm learning PHP

What do you all think? Am I learning the right things? What should I focus on with a deep? What should I learn lightly?

2 Answers

jschlansky
jschlansky
7,229 Points
jschlansky
jschlansky
7,229 Points

If by "Content Marketer and SEO Strategist" you mean 'someone who creates things and sells them online' then what you're learning is definitely fine, and possibly a bit overkill. If you are actually creating entire websites/web apps and selling SaaS services, then you may need to know all of these things to build your products.

If you're looking to get a job with these titles, then you're most likely learning more than enough.

It's hard to say without knowing more about what your specific goals are.

EDIT: If you are already working as an SEO and Content Strategist, then these technologies are perfect for you to learn. I apologize if my first paragraph seems too harsh - I was trying to see if you were self employed.

Hashim Warren
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Hashim Warren
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 1,207 Points

I listed my goals and I currently work as an SEO and Content Strategist, Taylor Beck

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

What should I focus on with a deep?

  • HTML, semantic markup, microdata
  • CSS
  • Wordpress

You'll also want to read everything you can find about SEO for web developers. In terms of content strategy you'll want to read up on Information Architecture in particular readability & findability.

What should I learn lightly

  • PHP
  • JavaScript

The Wordpress world is highly dependent on plugins so learning about creating them will be good. To that end learn PHP so you know what's involved in creating plugins.

The key here is to learn enough about web design & Wordpress plugin development to know how hard it is to do something. So you will know the things you can do, the things you need to contract out. When you contract things out you will have a much better idea of how hard it is to do.