How To Make Money Blogging Search Engine Optimization
I used to hate my job – I could feel my life slipping abroad sitting behind that desk-bound.
So, I started looking for alternative ways to earn income. I stumbled across doing "SEO" for clients – my life was never the same.
I became obsessed. I read blogs, watched videos, congenital sites, worked for free – anything I could to acquire SEO.
During that learning process, I tried every way imaginable to brand money. This article will explore my learnings on how to make coin with SEO.
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1. Go job at an bureau
I know, I know – this isn't what y'all came hither for, but hear me out!
Afterward a few years of edifice and monetizing SEO websites on my own, I wanted to build an bureau. However, I realized I didn't accept the technical SEO acumen to compete in the market.
The but way to learn refined technical skills is to work on big, complex, enterprise websites. I swallowed my pride and took a contractor job at SapientNitro where I was exposed to clients like Target, All-time Buy and more.
Working in this environment helped me gain INCREDIBLY VALUABLE skills similar analytics, technical SEO and how to build presentations for clients (to proper name a few).
If y'all want to be the all-time, sometimes you lot need to check your ego and get acquire (ahem, also, WE'RE HIRING).
How much tin yous make?
According to Indeed, an SEO specialist tin make anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 annually. In my feel:
- 1 – 3 years of experience = $40k – $55k annually
- 3 – 6 years of experience = $55k – $95k annually
- vi -1o years of experience = $100k – $140 annually
- If you lot're a rockstar / executive, you tin can hands make $250k+ depending on the agency
Pros of working at an agency
- Ability to exam and learn using other people's resources
- A steady, solid paycheck
Cons of working at an bureau
- Generally long hours in a chaotic surroundings
- If you lot're an entrepreneur at hear, it sucks working for other people (I Experience Y'all ON THIS)
2. Sell products on your website (eCommerce)
Co-ordinate to a contempo global survey by BrightEdge, organic search was responsible for 40 pct of revenue for due east-commerce sites. If you know SEO, y'all can essentially build an eCommerce business organization off the back of it.
In 2015 I launched Laces Out, a niche eCommerce store that ran completely on organic traffic.
The store ran on WooCommerce and generated nearly $3,000/month in passive income. I sold it in early 2018 for virtually $70,000.
The central to success is finding the right product to sell – I use this unproblematic chart when analyzing the viability of launching an eCommerce shop. I phone call it the LOW / Loftier analysis:
| Low | Loftier |
Discover a product that is low toll
| Find a product with high demand
|
Find a production that is depression tech
| Find a production with high passion
|
Find a product that is low competition
| Discover a product with loftier potential
|
Having an eCommerce business was slap-up, but likewise a lot of work.
Pros of eCommerce
- eCommerce purchases are growing more and more each year
- Information technology'south not just a manner to make money, it'south a legitimate business model with a high ceiling
- Full control over your brand, it'southward yours to build
Cons of eCommerce
- Dealing with vendors is time consuming and headache inducing
- Information technology's not a passive income stream – you will need to work (Hard) in order to make money
3. Dropship other people'due south products on your website
If running an ecommerce site sounds like also much work, then dropshipping might be for you lot.
With dropshipping, you don't concur any physical inventory. Instead, when an order is placed on your website, the retailer (or manufacturer) ships purchases directly to the customer.
My biggest effect with dropshipping (and why I never explore it) is the low margins. You're mostly only making 10% net off your sales, which means y'all need a TON of traffic in order to make a lot of money.
However, if y'all're someone who is willing to sacrifice margins for less effort, dropshipping is a more passive income arroyo that a traditional ecommerce store.
The central to a successful dropshipping business is finding the right nice and a reputable manufacturer you can rely on to evangelize high quality goods, on time. Annihilation less tin can erode your website's reputation, fast.
- Notice a reputable dropshippers
Pros of dropshipping
- More passive than eCommerce – in that location's no inventory direction, dealing with vendors, etc
- Low barriers to entry, it'southward a low cost way to build an income generating nugget
Cons of dropshipping
- The margins on production sales are low (15-20%), before paying your costs of the business
- Lack of control over the make, you might be at the mercy of the supplier
4. Collect hourly consulting fees from clients
Consulting is mostly the get-go step SEOs take before edifice an bureau. It's a simple relationship with a client to provide your SEO knowledge and skills in exchange for a pre determined hourly rate.
That hourly charge per unit is determined by a number of factors:
- Your reputation and rails record
- Years of experience and results
- Customer needs and scope of the project
The primal to a successful SEO consulting business is focusing on a niche. This way, you can institute yourself as a true expert. For example:
- Aleyda Solis focuses on international and mobile SEO
- Marie Haynes focuses on Google penalization recovery
- Jon Cooper focuses on link outreach
I generate boosted income for myself doing consulting for agencies and in house teams. My leads come through this website, my YouTube Channel and Clarity.
Pros of consulting
- Greenbacks upwards front from client retainers
- Command your own hourly charge per unit (once earned…)
- Flexible hours
- Low overhead, no need to worry about offices, employees, etc
Cons of consulting
- You go to a certain point where you realize information technology'southward not scalable to trade your fourth dimension for money
- Since you lot can but piece of work on 1 (perhaps ii) projects at a time, customer acquisition can be challenging
5. Collect agency retainers from clients
I need to preface this past saying – agency life is not for everyone. Nonetheless, if you've built a successful consulting practise, scaling into an agency is a logical next stride.
On summit of that, agency business concern is BOOMING – by 2020, local SMBs would be spending $80 billion in SEO services. That'southward only small businesses, non including enterprise level accounts.
I started my agency (WEBRIS) in 2017 and sold / merged with another in 2018.
A look into our agency, From The Time to come
Pros of building an SEO bureau
- Cash upwards front from customer retainers
- High ceiling for revenue growth
- High potential to sell or be acquired
- A growing manufacture with a lot of lead opportunities
Cons of edifice an SEO agency
- Long hours in a high stress work surround
- Dealing with clients is….challenging
- Margins are not equally neat as you'd remember
- It's a people based business, you'll demand a full staff
6. Sell white label SEO services to other agencies
A "white label" relationship is when you deliver services under another bureau'southward make.
For example, a web development bureau may want to start offering SEO services to their clients, but lacks expertise to do so. Instead, they could outsource the service commitment to you, while still maintaining the relationship with the customer.
In society for a white characterization partnership to be successful, yous demand to take articulate lines drawn alee of time. For example:
- Who is responsible for project management?
- Who is responsible for client communications?
- Who is responsible for reporting?
You get the moving-picture show – these relationships unremarkably fall apart because of the things that autumn through the cracks.
Pros of white labeling your SEO
- Almost white label relationships will Not require you to talk to clients, which is awesome
- ane bureau can provide you with dozens (hundreds) of client accounts to work on. Generating business organization is much easier
Cons of white labeling your SEO
- Lower toll retainers, as the other party has margins to maintain
- You're building income, simply not a brand – y'all go NO credit for client results
7. Host seminars and accuse per seat
SEO is driven by information – if you can establish yourself as expert, people are more than willing to pay for information technology.
I recently had a seminar out of our Miami office – it was a tremendous success. Nonetheless, recruiting people to come up to Miami was a claiming. I tapped into a network of people who take been post-obit my content for years.
If you're just getting started, it won't be as easy for you – I'd suggest getting together a group of local experts and hosting a paid Meetup.
Over time every bit you build credibility, you lot tin can branch out on your ain and host them regularly.
A photograph of some attendees of our Miami SEO seminar.
Pros of hosting a seminar
- Great margins – the only main costs is location and acquisition of attendees
- In one case yous have the curriculum congenital, y'all tin reuse information technology over and over
Cons of hosting a seminar
- Information technology'due south very hard to get people to pay a loftier ticket amount
- They're a lot of piece of work getting together the curriculum (at first)
8. Build and sell SEO software
WARNING – advanced SEOs only.
A lot of SEO bureau owners stop up in the software business organisation – the ceiling is higher and you lot don't have to bargain with clients.
Some of the summit SEO software in the market place was hacked together by bureau owners looking to improve their service to clients.
We've dabbled in some SEO tools ourselves
Pitchbox was built as in house tool to help with link outreach. It was later developed into a customer facing platform that's get the become to tool for link building and outreach.
Glen Allsop recently covered potential gaps in the SEO software market, where he quoted Nitewatch:
"When developing a new business, it's extremely of import to scratch your own itch."
SEO professionals make for the best tool builders because we're intimately aware of what the market needs. If you want to develop SEO software, start by looking to solve the issues yous're having internally.
Pros of building SEO software
- The highest revenue potential of whatever option on this listing. You lot can build a $100m+ visitor inside a few years
Cons of creating SEO software
- It's incredibly expensive, costs run out of control quickly
- If you don't know how to code, you'll need a partner who does. Even if y'all outsource the build of the tool, you'll nee someone who tin can manage the developers
- It requires constant refinement and updates
9. Monetize a high traffic weblog
If you're a talented SEO, yous can build a blog that generates a lot of traffic. Well-nigh all forms of blog monetization require some form of ad – advertising models merely work for high traffic websites.
In that location'southward a number of ways yous can monetize a blog:
- Google Display Network banners on your site
- Custom banner ads
- Sponsored content
- Advertising packages (email smash, social post, etc)
In order to brand this work, you lot need to observe a niche with a high traffic potential and low competition. This is a unicorn on today'southward internet, but yet possible.
You can usually find these types of niches in emerging spaces, or verticals where websites aren't investing in SEO assistance. For example, I've had success in:
- Cannabis
- Sneaker / streetwear civilisation
- Vintage clothing
- Drones and similar tech
This is a grossly over simplified, but I've got a full keynote where I break this down in more detail.
Also, read this post about Web log SEO.
Pros of monetizing a blog
- You tin run a blog from anywhere in the earth, every bit long equally yous have an net connection
Cons of monetizing a blog
- It'due south a lot of work, for non a lot of money
10. Get paid affiliate commissions
I've dabbled in affiliate marketing and to be frank, I struggled to brand the money I wanted. Nonetheless, I practice know hundreds of SEOs who built an empire of affiliate sites and make a killing.
Image credit
If you choose to go this road, I propose becoming an Amazon affiliate. Why?
- Amazon has the largest inventory of products in the world
- People are going to buy from Amazon no thing what – if you can get them to your website (and cookie them), y'all'll [potentially] get credit for other purchases they make
One of my favorite chapter sites is Top10Supps. All the site does is review diverse types of supplements using in depth, long course blog posts that ranks really well in organic search.
They then use Buy NOW buttons to drive people to Amazon to purchase the supplements.
This model works well because of the intent behind the content they create. When a consumer is looking for "protein reviews", they're deep in the purchase funnel and want to compare a number of products. If y'all tin get them to your site, there's a good chance they'll click on your link and buy the production.
You become paid to promote products that y'all believe in, and content you wrote months ago and haven't touched since tin continue to bring in new income.
Also check out this awesome guide from Matt Diggity about affiliate SEO.
Pros of affiliate marketing
- The truest form of SEO passive income. No inventory, no vendors, you can focus on driving organic traffic to your site
Cons of affiliate marketing
- Your site needs to run on organic traffic, there's just no margin for other tactics
- When you rely so heavily on organic traffic, an algorithm update could destroy you
- Payouts are mostly low (3% or so) on a sale – you need A LOT of traffic to make a lot of money
11. Sell online courses about SEO
Like to the seminars, y'all need a certain level of clout in the industry to get people to buy your course.
I've spent YEARS building a weblog, YouTube Channel, networking and speaking at conferences to become the reach needed to sell courses online.
Now, my trainings have generated over $1,000,000 in sales (read my guide on how I soldover $182K of my link building course).
PayPal screenshot from one of my training courses
If you don't take the time to build a total class, you can still monetize your knowledge with a paid newsletter, Facebook Group or Slack Channel. My business partner (Nick Eubanks) owns a private Slack channel chosen Traffic Recollect Tank – it gives you direct access to some of the globe'southward top marketing minds for a monthly fee.
Pros of selling training courses
- Ridiculously loftier margins – my courses turn a profit margins are around 90%
- One time the form is built, it's a true passive income stream
Cons of selling preparation courses
- Information technology's a long road to get people to want to buy from you
- It's a TON of piece of work building a class
12. Sell SEO writing services
Notice SEO writing jobs through SEO and content marketing agencies or by approaching larger businesses direct (or a mix of the two). But the tricky part almost advertising yourself as an SEO writer is that, by default, you lot're non advertising yourself as anything else ( i.e. a subject thing expert).
With Google algorithms constantly improving, SEO writing that comes beyond as SEO writing doesn't do well. Because of this, we see more and more than cynicism toward content that's designed just to game the system.
The key is to either annunciate as a niche writer with advanced feel in SEO or equally an SEO writer who writes "for people first and search engines second."
Pros of selling training courses
- Huge demand for writing services right now
- Work from anywhere in the world
Cons of selling training courses
- Non great money
- Writing is A LOT of piece of work, even if you're a natural
13. Sell Micro Services
I define a micro service every bit a subset of SEO. For case:
- Keyword research
- Link edifice
- Technical SEO
Agencies are constantly understaffed and over worked. Considering of this, we're e'er looking for reliable contractors to assist with the brunt.
If yous can build a process to deliver a micro SEO service at scale, y'all've got yourself a nice little business.
There's a number of ways you lot tin monetize this:
- Cold email outreach to agencies
- Fiverr
- Upwork (or other freelancer platforms)
Fiverr is an underrated platform to make coin
Whatsoever yous cull, the cardinal is becoming a verifiable practiced in the space. I generally recommend putting together a detailed web log postal service or video about your process and promotion the hell out of it.
Pros of selling micro services
- You can build a name for yourself quickly if you lot exercise good work
- Delivering a micro services is far easier than end to end SEO
- There'due south endless agencies / lead sources who need your services
Cons of selling micro services
- The acquirement potential isn't equally high as selling services to customer facing accounts
Where to Start
With and then many options, where do y'all start? My suggestion is to keep networking and stay warning for new opportunities. The beauty of many of these strategies is that you tin can combine your SEO knowledge with other interests: public speaking, hobbies, or product niches. Your content or production will fare better when you lot have a 18-carat interest in what y'all're doing.
Source: https://www.ryanwashere.com/make-money-seo/
Posted by: fortnerstoult.blogspot.com
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