A mobile and web professional since 1996, Jawdat Shammas is the SEO Manager of Souq.com. Before joining Souq.com, Jawdat worked as an Online Marketing Manager for OpenSooq.com. In 2007, Jawdat turned to the digital marketing field. He is a certified webmaster, and certified professional and instructor in SEO and Google Analytics. Jawdat has been providing professional training for the past 15 years and is today a public speaker and mentor for many startups and young professionals in Jordan. At Souq.com, he is responsible for all organic search marketing activities with the help of the content, technical and marketing teams in the company.
I usually set the alarm half an hour ahead of the actual waking time because I know I will be snoozing the alarm several times before I wake up. I make sure to get my daily portion of fresh fruits and start planning my day while in the shower. I take the kids to school and play some rock music on my way to the office in order to get myself ready to rock ‘n’ roll at work.
The first three hours of the day are the most important to me; this is when I work on the things that require the most energy and concentration, and in my field concentration is extremely important. Indeed, SEO can be overwhelming and one can easily end up working on things that do not matter. I always have my top priorities in front of me. In fact, I use a Google Chrome extension called “Dayboard” that helps me prioritize my tasks for the day. My performance is at its peak in the morning, so I try to avoid meetings and social media sites as much as I can in order to stay focused and make the best of the morning hours.
Lunch time! I am the healthy type, so I always make sure to have a healthy meal as I care about my body and like to treat both my body and mind well. My lunch has to be healthy and light – I do not want to end up yawning for the rest of the day! After lunch, I go for a 15-minute walk to recharge and clear my mind.
This time of the day is when I read the latest updates on SEO. It is also the time when I organize meetings with the team and try to make these meetings as short and straight-to-the-point as possible. I use this time to reply to any pending emails and work on the things that require less energy and creativity.
I spend half an hour on my way back home. I have made it a habit to listen to audio books. I find this very soothing and enriching; I get to learn new things, and it helps be a more patient driver. I particularly enjoy books on behavioral economics, famous biographies and marketing.
This is my family time. I make sure it is as fun as possible for both my spouse and I, and our children. The top advice I would give people who would like to enter this field is to learn and never stop learning. The SEO field is changing on a daily basis and requires you to always learn about changes in the industry, including changes in search algorithms. Another advice would be to focus. Concentration is extremely important in SEO because there is always a lot to do and experiment, so invest your time on what matters the most to the growth of your company. In matter of fact, the most rewarding part of my job if the feeling I get when I realize that I am contributing to the growth of the company and making a difference in the e-commerce scene in the Arab region.
