A few years ago (4 to be exact) I read a post warning would-be-SEOs to find a different career. In the author’s defense, it was a really weird and shaky time for SEO. But, I thought he was still a little off base and wrote a post with the title you read here.
We went back and forth for a while, and those old posts have since been deleted (along with so many of those old posts).
Using my tactic to use 404 errors to build links, I’m writing this post again, but from today’s perspective.
The Money, not bad
I know we only have until December 21, but this year started pretty nicely for me. I’ve been freelance for almost 2 years now, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m not rich mind you, but the famines are getting fewer and farer between the feasts.
Take a look at my SEO Audit services. Not exactly cheap, right? And these are very conservative fees. SEOs all over the place are justifiably charging way more than that. And they can do that because we can genuinely provide a substantial return on that investment.
So many options
I’m a freelance SEO, but you don’t have to do it all your own. You can work for an agency that offers SEO services as a product to their clients. Or you could land yourself an in-house gig. Those are generally the greatest jobs in the world. You get to work on one site, all day, every day. Sounds boring when I say it like that, but you get to do so many cool things to market that site when you can dedicate yourself. Again, those jobs usually command a good income.
Revenue generation
Once you’ve learned enough about SEO and get a little experience, you can use your craft for your personal projects. If you have a passion for something else, you can apply what you’ve learned during your SEO career to gain success online.
A lot of us write books/ebooks/blogs, but think about any business venture you are interested in, and consider how much online traffic would contribute to that venture’s success.
In Demand
Ok, so I’ve put in a lot of work to get here, but I actually turn work away on a regular basis. Sometimes because the client isn’t a good fit for me, sometimes because I’m simply too busy. I get job offers all the time, a constant flow of questions via email (most of which could be turned into clients were I to implement a sales pitch to my reply).
Future Proof
I’ve been hearing that “SEO is dead” or dying since I’ve been involved…in 2004-05. That’s 8 years, and I’m still here. The definition of SEO has changed quite a bit, and the strictest definition is dead, but the idea has and will always be the same; and it will always be needed by businesses…at least until the apocalypse. Then I’m gonna have to learn to light a fire with sticks or something.
Anyway, the idea is to generate revenue for businesses. I do this with SEO. The methods I used 8 years ago are no good, but the goals are the same, and the skills I have are needed to achieve those goals.
No matter what, businesses will always need people that can help them increase their revenue. I’m one of those people.
You learn a lot
Sure, you’ll learn how to make sites rank, and all that good stuff. But you also get to learn a lot about business and people.
I’ve had the pleasure of working for some of the largest brands in America, as well as some of the smallest ‘mom-and-pop’ stores in little towns; and I learn something new with every client. Some of this experience is applied to my freelance business internally, some is applied to future clients and some of this is applied to my life (I once provided services to a fitness instructor, so I learned a lot about my health).
What are you looking at?
And the single best reason to get into SEO is….you can look at whatever you want online under the guise of “research.”
A few years ago I have a team member who was scouring World of Warcraft forums when the Vice Pres. of the company walked over to ask him what he was doing (what with the obvious waste of company resources and all). Said team member replied that he was researching the manner in which these forums were promoting their sites so he could match the tactics on a similar client. He went into great detail as to the URL structure the forum on his screen used, and how many links they’ve gained from which type of efforts.
This was all BS of course, but after a few minutes of explaining tactics that were far above the bosses understanding, he walked away pleased at the SEO team’s detailed attention to online marketing trends.