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For the people here that do profesional SEO work, what made you decide to do professional SEO work versus just creating your own sites with affiliate links or advertising? And for people who have backgrounds in programming (which it seems like a lot of other people do here) what made you choose to do SEO work (either on your own or for a firm) over something like Java programming?
My transference to SEO was out of necessity. Having been involved with a company that without warning went bankrupt and not one dime given towards pay, benefits, or severence.
Having gone from $50,000 to nothing is a real culture shock, and you need to put things in perspective and quickly.
The Internet and World Wide Web was new, and a means to an ends... not to be placed in this position again. My year of learning and receiving employment insurance made sure of this.
The online world is very new (not even 10 years old for commercial use) and rapidly continuing to expand, however the support structure which is apparent in all industries and segments is severely limited here, even though the market exists and therefore the need.
With everything good though comes those that wish to only exploit and even with its short existence SEO has had more publicity to the bad than most industries could handle.
I find it personally gradifying to work for "ME" and in the process assist companies to develop a sound marketing strategy. SEO works exceptionally well when integrated with all whose things we call "traditional".
The key though in this segment is to never stop learning. Once you become complacent and think you know it all, is the time you are doomed to fail.
Rod
[edited by: fathom at 7:58 pm (utc) on July 25, 2002]
Effectively SEO became our USP over other web design companies.
Things change rapidly, and its great, to me its like surfing the big kahuna in Hawaii, sometimes you score the perfect wave, sometimes it's more like "The Perfect Storm." :(
Now, on my own, yeeha! :) I really don't think many companies would pay the salary I would require to work just for one company. Contracts and projects and retainers, oh my... Its the thrill of victory and the agony of the algorithm. Working for one company, at some point, I would get sick of maintaining, reading the same copy all the time. It is best for me top be a "hired gun" and "see the world."
Next, I will do some affiliate stuff for myself, if I can find the time - residuals and second tier commissions sound like a good idea, I may be able to retire after all!
My vote is clearly for working for yourself. It takes a bit of time to build a client base, and a reputation, but build it and guard it carefully, its a wild ride. In the long run, I think Affiliate programs can be great, but you have little control over the merchants. And the cash comes in a bit slowly at first. But there is no reason you can't do both, profitably.
Build some affiliate sites of your own to supplement your existing income right now. If it is successful for you, and seems like something you would like to do full-time, consider starting your own SEO Consulting firm.
That is exactly what I did, and I'm very happy I made the decision.
(Actually, I reached the point where another company offered me more money to work for them exclusively, so I shut down my own firm.)
In any case, you seem to get enjoyment from the rewards of your SEO work. Does your current job give you that same feeling?
If not, maybe SEO is for you.
This is still a relatively small industry - why not jump in?
Thank you all for taking the time to reply and share your experiences. I actually have started on a couple of affiliate sites of my own. It's turning out to be a nice little side income, but (for me at least) it does take a long time to find out what sells and what doesn't.
Maybe I will try working on both my own sites and geting another SEO contract and see what works out. I sort of fell into the first contract, so I'll have to think about how to network or advertise to get a second contract.
Thanks again for taking the time to help out a newbie!
Thanks.
P.S I don't know if posts like this one are appropriate. If not just ignore it or delete it.
1 Work on other peoples sites in your spare time, paid or unpaid to get a client base, if you do a good job they shoulrd refer you on to other jobs.
2 set up your own site and develop that and turn it to an ecom site or an affiliate revenue generator.
3 Move to an SEO company, there are a number about.
There are probably others, but I can't think of them at the moment.
If any of these options appeals put in some time to follow it up.
<<For the people here that do profesional SEO work, what made you decide to do professional SEO work versus just creating your own sites with affiliate links or advertising?>>
I have had a long career as a publisher. At one point, I decided to take my publishing expertise out to the web (magazines are dying). I hired an SEO guy who quickly got our business well ranked. That was back in early 1998.
Things change, the rankings went away. I dropped that SEO guy, hired and fired others. It learned that a lot of alleged experts lack real expertise. Being very unhappy with the state of our Internet marketing efforts at that time, I decided to learn how to do optimization.
It took a loooooong time to get the necessary expertise. I was helped early on by some clearly beneficial SEO-related information sites (the usual ones), and one excellent mentor in Canada. Many others also provided valuable advice and insight.
As a result, our many websites presently enjoy excellent positioning in highly competitive categories. We are still our own biggest client, but I opened the doors for commercial SEO work as a secondary revenue stream. I get a lot of satisfaction when a client succeeds.
I'm a pretty creative entrepreneur. I'm quite capable of generating a lot of original content. To succeed, all I need to do is spot a market niche of interest, and I'm there. Why not get into affiliate programs? It seems too much like work to me. A grind. Not creative at all. By combining marketing expertise with my creative side, I have a whole lot more fun with what I do.
After a while you realise it's not just about making pretty functional websites but keeping them going, and that doesn't just mean updating the content but attracting visitors and keeping them coming to the site. The process then builds upon itself if you do it right, although you've got to keep an eye on it (if not both sometimes!) ;)
I started out helping develop intranets and e-commerce for friends sites and small businesses on my doorstep.
The SEO is much more exciting and challenging than just programming! But the clients can be a pain..
I am thinking about proposing that I just deliver enquiries/leads/sales for a price or commission - develop and promote the sites myself.
Does anyone else work this way ?
Any advice pls.. :-)
tigger pointed out a great source of information:
[webmasterworld.com...]
