Finding a Good Link-Builder for SEO is No Easy Task
Link building for SEO is one of the most crucial aspects of building a successful internet presence for your company’s website. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and redundant. It requires patience, knowledge, and persistence. You can train anyone to do it…and most people who do it fail. This is one area where the personality type is very important.
I have to admit that I’m a big advocate of Myers-Briggs personality typing for determining whether people will flow with a position or have an uphill go of it. You might be familiar with this type of personality typing. It’s easily identified by the 4 letters that identify the types. For example ENTJ, ISTJ, ENFP, etc. Among people who are fascinated by it, you’ll hear this type of strange conversation about a co-worker or loved one: “Well it figures he’d dislike it, that’s so ISTJ” or “didn’t you know better than to think you could persuade an INFP with a chart?”
Disclaimer: Hold the hate mail (although I’d love to hear your respectful disagreement in the comments, below). I do believe any personality type can force themselves to do any job with enough willpower. However if you match certain people to the job of link-building they are sure to be miserable, and therefore are more likely to fail at it.
In my own very non-professional opinion, here are the personality types that I think would struggle most with the job of link-building for SEO:
1) The Hemingway
Hemingway could endure plane crashes, wounds from enemy soldiers, boxing matches, and serial marriages. Link-building however might have been too much for him.
This type is known in Myers-Briggs as ENTP, but I’ve also seen them referred to as the Explorer-Inventor, or the Originator. Good old Ernest Hemingway was a famous example of this type. Creative, driven, and enthusiastic. They spin ideas like spiders spin webs. They can bowl you over with their enthusiasm. If you’re digging a hole and they like it they’ll grab a shovel, roll up their sleeves, and jump in. But they also sometimes have a hard time following through. They tend to wither and die with a routine, repetitive job. Put a Hemingway into a link-building position and they’ll probably end up blowing their own head off with a shotgun.
2) The Iron Lady
The Iron Lady could muster a nation, but where’s a link partner when one needs one?
Yes, you guessed it. Maggie Thatcher is a famous example of this type of personality, also known as an ENTJ, Field Marshall, or more awkwardly “Strategist Mobilizer.” Natural born killers…no wait…I meant “leaders,” they are driven, hard-nosed, often abrasive, but they know how to organize people to accomplish an objective, whether it’s taking a beach head, breaking a militant union, or building Microsoft (yes, Gates is one as well). Putting an Iron Lady into a link-building position is like asking Richard the Lionheart to groom horses…it just doesn’t fit.
3) The Elvis
Link-building would have been a prison sentence for Elvis.
Like their namesake Rock n’ Roller, Elvis Presley, these types need attention like a kid needs Sponge Bob Square Pants. Whether they are known as ESFP’s, Motivator Presenters, or Entertainers, they will not be ignored. They will also not be content to sit at a computer monitor quietly and thanklessly searching for link-building partnerships and opportunities, or really doing anything for SEO/SEM. If you can get an Elvis to even apply for a job in link-building, hand them a guitar and send them on their way. But get their autograph first, just in case.
4) The Johnny
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It’s rumored that Carson would disguise himself to avoid link-building work.
When this personality type walks into a room, please don’t say “Heeeeere’s Johnny” even though you know that Johnny Carson was a famous one. This type can be referred to as the Artist, the Composer Producer, or less glamourously and more clinically, the ISFP. They love working with people, excitement, and spontaneity. Their favorite song is “Feelings.” If you think that link-building is too boring and impersonal for them, you’re right! Unless you can find a way to do link-building effectively at a cocktail party or peace rally, don’t bother hiring them. But give them a donation for their favorite charity and you’ll get a hug.
I admit that my analysis is a bit on the flippant and glib side, which is rather difficult for any humorous, boring, orderly ISTJ like me to accomplish. I guess that proves that when it comes to personality types, you never can tell. No matter what someone like me says.
