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SEO, or search engine optimization, is likely something that you’ve heard about, even if you don’t already know a lot about the technical side of the Internet and how businesses work to promote their product or service on the Internet. SEO is something that pretty much all businesses use – at least the ones savvy enough to know that promoting their service or product on the Internet can help boost their business very quickly and for very little money.
While SEO is primarily for businesses, somebody has to actually do the work involved. For many people with a bit of marketing savvy and an interest in the Internet, a career in SEO may make sense. It can be a very lucrative business for some, but you’ll have to know how to go about it right if you want to maximize your profits.
What is SEO?
If you’re like most people you have a vague understanding of what SEO is but aren’t exactly sure how it works. SEO is actually quite simple – at least in theory. In the process of SEO, content is generated for a free website. Oftentimes this content is placed on a SEO on their site or on blogs that they maintain.
Within the text, which is often education and designed to answer questions about popular topics, there will be links related to the business. Usually, these links are disguised in a way that makes the content feel like it isn’t promoting that business – only suggesting that they may be helpful to somebody of interest in the contact. For example, a blog about foot pain may link to a local podiatrist. The same article could also be used as a link to a company that makes orthotic devices for tennis shoes.
While SEO is primarily for businesses, somebody has to actually do the work involved. For many people with a bit of marketing savvy and an interest in the Internet, a career in SEO may make sense.Click To TweetHow it Works
SEO works to obtain businesses a higher volume of traffic by helping them achieve a higher ranking in Google. That means that their page comes up closer to the top of Google Search so that more people see it. The idea is that if more people see a page when doing a search for a particular topic, that page will receive a greater amount of viewers which theoretically translates to more customers.
How Is That a Career?
If you’re wondering how doing something like that could possibly be a career, you’re not alone. Most people don’t truly understand how to monetize something like SEO. Basically, it works because companies will pay you to help them achieve a higher ranking on Google, which will get them more business. Every business wants to be near the top of the Google search results since it’s a cost-effective way to generate business.
Reaching a spot in the top ten takes a lot of work, research, and networking. The better you become at creating viable links for customers the more you will be able to charge for your services – well into the thousands for various services.
Setting Up Your Business
When you first set up your business, you’re going to need to reach out to blogs and websites that offer free content to their readers, asking if you can contribute to their page as a guest blogger.
You’ll need to provide content that is relevant to their blog as well as to the client.
Using the foot pain analogy again, you could find a blog that targets runners and write a short piece about how the right shoes can help them achieve faster times when running a marathon or half-marathon. Within that piece, you could provide links for a business that makes custom orthotic devices for people with foot problems or foot pain.
You’ll need to reach out to more than one blog to get your message across and truly affect Google rankings. When you first start out, it’s important to build a good rapport with each blog or website that you contribute to so that you’ll be able to post regularly and frequently.
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Building Your Portfolio
Building your portfolio when you first start doing SEO work is important. You can choose to focus on one type of subject or you can pick multiple topics that are popular on search engines. The important thing is to build a body of work that is live on the Internet that you can quickly show to prospective clients.
Having your own webpage and/or blog that clients can access can help you get more work and show off your portfolio. (See what I did there? A natural link in the body of the content is the best way to direct traffic to a client’s business.)
Come Up with a Strategy
Like any business, you’re going to need some sort of marketing strategy to sell yourself and to compete with other people that do SEO work. Finding a niche that you like working in – like health writing, for example – could set you apart from others. Choose a topic or multiple topics that you know about so that you can complete your work quickly and efficiently.
Getting Started
Type in “SEO is the right career for you.
