Damon Burton - The Search Community Honors You

This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someoneover here.

Damon Burton is 36 years old and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife and kids. He has been married so far for 11 years and says "my wife and kids are everything to me." Damon is a true family man and you can tell based on how he acts.

He is also super involved in the SEO industry. He founded a local group for SEOs and developers around WordPress. He often speaks at both large industry events and also really small local events, including schools about SEO and his profession. He is also producing SEO related content on a routine basis for a long time, consistently.

He told me, honesty is one of the most important characteristics he finds and between his transparency, honesty and consistency, he makes for an awesome person to honor in our community.

He was nominated by two different anonymous folks, who wrote this about him:

I would like to say Thank You to Damon Burton who is working hard with dedication in the SEO world. Cheers to someone who's not giving up with the roller coaster changes in digital marketing and still managed to get client’s site rank for organic search results. I don’t know what secrets you have to manage that but nevertheless, thank you so much for everything, you mean so much to us. I look forward for your more interviews on the radios and online. I am also excited to get a copy of your upcoming book.

In addition, I admire his generosity. Just last year, he donated $2,000 to pay off outstanding lunch balances in Davis School District. Not everyone can do that. 

Damon Burton Bio:Damon Burton is an entrepreneur, consultant and President of SEO National. He founded SEO National in 2007 to offer personalized campaigns in search engine optimization and online reputation management for medium to large companies. In 2013, he started Utah Sites to provide Wordpress development to local small businesses.

Burton lives with his children and wife in the greater Salt Lake City area. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, camping, and blogging about his entrepreneurial journey on DamonBurton.com.

Favorite thing about the SEM community?The hustle of the SEO community is undeniable. Every day is a new day that SEO entrepreneurs are taking a leap of faith and trying new things to maximize results. Constant innovation is what holds my interest in this industry more than a decade later.

One piece of advice to the SEMs out there?Be realistic about your expectations and the expectations that you set for your clients. You know that SEO is a slow play. Be transparent about that. The more transparent and honest you are about your processes, the stronger relationships you build with your clients and the longer they will stay with you.

Favorite things in general?Beaches and sunshine. I love Utah for its perfect summers, outdoors and camping, but the cold winters can get you in a funk. To stay sane, my family and I head out to the beaches, usually San Diego, once a month throughout winter.

What you want to be known for in the SEM space?Honesty.

Honesty has built SEO National. I take transparency to heart. I turn down opportunities if I feel that my team and I can't deliver a return. And I clearly set expectations for new clients. This has led SEO National to have the privilege of retaining some our original clients from more than 11 years ago still to this day, and each of them regularly send referrals. That type of clear communication is what builds a reputation. And a reputation builds a long-lasting brand.

To learn more about Damon, check out his personal site or connect with him on LinkedIn .

This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someoneover here.