New and Intrigued

Evening everyone!

A week or so ago I was browsing the articles at A List Apart when I came across this article talking about how accessibility fits nicely into SEO. As a web designer of 4 years, I'd never even heard of SEO before. After finishing the article and doing a bit of research, I found that SEO was something that I could definitely see myself doing. I'm a huge proponent of accessibility and usability in web design, often forgoing flashy sites with glitz and glammor for the more subtle and clean ones.

A bit about me. I'll be graduating university this June and would love to pursue SEO at a professional level. I have a high degree of knowledge in more static page design, including XHTML, CSS, and a bit of XML/XSLT thrown in on the side. I've also been becoming more interested in creating simple dynamic pages using JavaScript and a smattering of PHP. I also do lots of graphic work with Photoshop and am rather familiar with Dreamweaver and Fireworks for sites that need a more graphic feel to them. My other interests are technical writing, instructional design, and content development.

I'm wondering what with my current skills and degree, how viable would I be starting out in the SEO business? I'll have a rent-free house to live in after graduation, already have the physical equipment and such (i.e. computer, fax, software), so startup costs would be minimal. I'd consider myself largely charismatic and eager to work.

I'm glad to be a part of the community and I look forward to learning all I can about what seems to be a great industry!

Interesting enough you have a volume of insight already - just need to mold it into the right context.

Ignore "most" things written about SEO as a volume of it is truly under-productive... this isn't to say that it "doesn't work" - it does... but SEO is about ordered ranks in organic results in the shortest period of time [NOT ordered ranks in organic results].

Focus only on TLC & A

The most important part is Architecture - by itself it is also the most difficult part to address without an enormous amount of analysis & planning plus TLC are all part of it.

Titles, Links, Content

Focus your learning curve only on these and read about "what Google likes"... your existing skills will be quite beneficial.