A fantastic thread at Cre8asite focuses on the new role played by SEO/SEMs in website development and management. Although we have a very tight-knit and well organized online community (between all the popular SEO forums, blogs, etc.), SEO is becoming less and less of an individualized specialty and more a field that demands attention to all of the attributes of web development and management.

One of the best quotes came from sanity:

Personally I saw the writing on the wall for pure organic optimisers a long time ago. When clients stopped worrying about where they ranked but how they were converting SEM's needed to bring something more to the table. All the top SEM's I know at least understand about design, usability, marketing and sales. You can't do SEM in a vacuum.

Adrian, who started the thread notes:

Does it show a maturing of the industry as a whole (continual ethics arguments aside) in that the focus is shifting (I say shifting rather than shifted, because I think there's a lot that still don't really get it) from a pure "must drive traffic" to a more progressive, rounded approach designed to make successful business.(sic)

I'm happy to finally move away from an argument about tactics and towards one that focuses on the goals of a professional SEO/SEM. Look  for this to be a continuing trend in the industry - no SEO is an island.