What I've Learned from 22 Years as an SEO ConsultantSearch Engine Optimization - SEOUpdated on Dec 18, 2019 View more like this | Visit PHOENIX, AZ | Contact MoolaHut |
Many young people reading this were merely a twinkle in their parents eyes when I began promoting websites a long time ago.
Around 10 years ago I was writing articles for Promotion World such as:
Overall Spending in Search Engine Marketing Is Seeing An Upturn
Man, I had no idea the type of industry this was turning into even 10 years ago, much less 20.
I created my first website at 11 years old on GeoCities, a long lost website portal when I was first learning to code in HTML and later in PHP.
Well, enough random facts, I want to get down to business and tell you what I have learned, seen change and briefly where I see things going.
I learned that playing the long game the right way can pay off big, but it does take lots of persistence and patience.
I have learned one thing the hard way, there are no shortcuts. When I first started out, I thought it was fine to go ahead and get 10,000 links from 10,000 websites. The crazy thing is that it did work at one point, and very well! I was making $2,000 a month on adsense when I was 16 years old in high school.
Later, I was doing very well offering Law Firm Search Engine Optimization services to clients. However, some of the website’s that I took shortcuts on at the beginning of the year 2000 got really damaged during Panda and Penguin updates, costing me over $15,000 per month in revenue (ouch).
When you are starting out it is very smart to pick one good idea and stick with it, because there is another person (probably in junior high) with the same idea and you want to outsmart and out work them.
Make sure you are extremely diligent, don’t ever think your website is properly optimized and there isn’t room for improvement with your website itself, content quality or in your link building.
I have found ways to build extremely powerhouse links using really easy methods that save tons of time and money!
For example, you may wonder how some of your competitors get powerful links from reporters on the internet. Many use a service called Help a Reporter Out! I have obtained some links that you wouldn’t believe using that resource!
There are tons of things you learn over the years when you are constantly learning from the best people in the industry.
When writing, create content for the consumer
You need to develop high quality content for the consumer. Google now looks at a lot more than most readers on this website realize! Even if you are good enough to get a top ranking for a key term, your ranking may drop because your bounce rate is too high, your “time on site” is lower than your competition or else your website simply loads too slow. Amongst other factors.
Develop everything on your website for the consumer, and then go in and fine tune your SEO to make sure it’s designed to rank.
I always knew these were valuable over the years but I didn’t understand how valuable they are. Page titles and descriptions also play a huge part in your rankings, and it’s not only because you have the right keywords stuffed in.
Google wants to know 2 things from meta titles and descriptions:
What the heck is your website relevant for (so include keywords)
How should they rank you based on the click thru rate you receive
I can’t express this point enough, pay attention to page titles and descriptions!
There are tons of great tools out there to make your job easier promoting a website. Use them!
There are even free tools such as Neil Patels website analyzer and link building tools. Also check out Brian Deans SEO Tools list. You should also focus aggressively on getting to know and understand analytics and Google Search Console.
Lastly, Always focus a ton on your conversion rates!
You need to have a laser like focus on your conversion rates and improving them!
I see tons of people obtain great traffic and rankings and totally neglect them once the visitor lands on the website! This is crazy, it’s basically like owning a store with hundreds (or thousands) of visitors and not having any of your products in the store. Or ever more realistic, not even saying hi to your customer or offering your services.
When designing your website, use quality calls to actions and great photos (there are tons of free photography websites out there).
I have learned a ton over the years about SEO. It’s a fun, stressful and an interesting field to work in. There are lots of elements to SEO now including, Digital Marketing, SEO, Website Marketing, Branding and more.
You need to always be improving and always learning from power players in the industry. You should be reading websites like Promotionworld and others all the time.
If I were to break down the importance of certain things I have learned about SEO, and what to focus on the future - they would be as follows:
Be patient, and ethical in your Search Engine Optimization.
Focus on website content for the website visitor just as much as the search engines.
Use the right tools to save you time.
Make sure to constantly look at page titles and meta descriptions to increase click thru rates.
Conversion rate improvement and analysis should be a constant focus.
There are lots of tools to increase visibility of your call to action, or pop ups even.
Play the long game, be diligent and work hard, don’t bounce from one thing to another.
Don’t quit!
In the future, I simply see Google being able to interpret quality vs. BS more in the future. So focus on quality vs quantity in terms of link building and content.
Thank you so much for reading.
I also just published a couple of blog posts:
9 Growth Hacks to Rocket Content Marketing in 2020
Phoenix SEO for attorneys & law firms
Law Firm Internet Marketing
Tips to increase traffic for Law Firms
Google Local SEO tips for Lawyers & Law Firms
9 Crazy Easy Content Marketing Hacks
Website Redesign Checklist for SEO
Here's to top rankings and tons of traffic in the new year, and feel free to reach out and ask any questions if you would like. You can learn more about me at Dataflurry Internet Marketing
We are a team of experienced expert SEO consultants from Phoenix AZ.
Around 10 years ago I was writing articles for Promotion World such as:
Overall Spending in Search Engine Marketing Is Seeing An Upturn
Man, I had no idea the type of industry this was turning into even 10 years ago, much less 20.
I created my first website at 11 years old on GeoCities, a long lost website portal when I was first learning to code in HTML and later in PHP.
Well, enough random facts, I want to get down to business and tell you what I have learned, seen change and briefly where I see things going.
What I have learned from search over the last 22 years
I learned that playing the long game the right way can pay off big, but it does take lots of persistence and patience.
Always stick to ethical SEO - There are no shortcuts
I have learned one thing the hard way, there are no shortcuts. When I first started out, I thought it was fine to go ahead and get 10,000 links from 10,000 websites. The crazy thing is that it did work at one point, and very well! I was making $2,000 a month on adsense when I was 16 years old in high school.
Later, I was doing very well offering Law Firm Search Engine Optimization services to clients. However, some of the website’s that I took shortcuts on at the beginning of the year 2000 got really damaged during Panda and Penguin updates, costing me over $15,000 per month in revenue (ouch).
Do one thing and do it very well
When you are starting out it is very smart to pick one good idea and stick with it, because there is another person (probably in junior high) with the same idea and you want to outsmart and out work them.
Make sure you are extremely diligent, don’t ever think your website is properly optimized and there isn’t room for improvement with your website itself, content quality or in your link building.
Work smarter and not harder
I have found ways to build extremely powerhouse links using really easy methods that save tons of time and money!
For example, you may wonder how some of your competitors get powerful links from reporters on the internet. Many use a service called Help a Reporter Out! I have obtained some links that you wouldn’t believe using that resource!
There are tons of things you learn over the years when you are constantly learning from the best people in the industry.
When writing, create content for the consumer
Stick to high quality content marketing!
You need to develop high quality content for the consumer. Google now looks at a lot more than most readers on this website realize! Even if you are good enough to get a top ranking for a key term, your ranking may drop because your bounce rate is too high, your “time on site” is lower than your competition or else your website simply loads too slow. Amongst other factors.
Develop everything on your website for the consumer, and then go in and fine tune your SEO to make sure it’s designed to rank.
Pay attention to meta titles and meta descriptions
I always knew these were valuable over the years but I didn’t understand how valuable they are. Page titles and descriptions also play a huge part in your rankings, and it’s not only because you have the right keywords stuffed in.
Google wants to know 2 things from meta titles and descriptions:
What the heck is your website relevant for (so include keywords)
How should they rank you based on the click thru rate you receive
I can’t express this point enough, pay attention to page titles and descriptions!
Use tools to simplify the effort that goes into SEO
There are tons of great tools out there to make your job easier promoting a website. Use them!
There are even free tools such as Neil Patels website analyzer and link building tools. Also check out Brian Deans SEO Tools list. You should also focus aggressively on getting to know and understand analytics and Google Search Console.
Lastly, Always focus a ton on your conversion rates!
You need to have a laser like focus on your conversion rates and improving them!
I see tons of people obtain great traffic and rankings and totally neglect them once the visitor lands on the website! This is crazy, it’s basically like owning a store with hundreds (or thousands) of visitors and not having any of your products in the store. Or ever more realistic, not even saying hi to your customer or offering your services.
When designing your website, use quality calls to actions and great photos (there are tons of free photography websites out there).
In Conclusion
I have learned a ton over the years about SEO. It’s a fun, stressful and an interesting field to work in. There are lots of elements to SEO now including, Digital Marketing, SEO, Website Marketing, Branding and more.
You need to always be improving and always learning from power players in the industry. You should be reading websites like Promotionworld and others all the time.
If I were to break down the importance of certain things I have learned about SEO, and what to focus on the future - they would be as follows:
Be patient, and ethical in your Search Engine Optimization.
Focus on website content for the website visitor just as much as the search engines.
Use the right tools to save you time.
Make sure to constantly look at page titles and meta descriptions to increase click thru rates.
Conversion rate improvement and analysis should be a constant focus.
There are lots of tools to increase visibility of your call to action, or pop ups even.
Play the long game, be diligent and work hard, don’t bounce from one thing to another.
Don’t quit!
In the future, I simply see Google being able to interpret quality vs. BS more in the future. So focus on quality vs quantity in terms of link building and content.
Thank you so much for reading.
I also just published a couple of blog posts:
9 Growth Hacks to Rocket Content Marketing in 2020
Phoenix SEO for attorneys & law firms
Law Firm Internet Marketing
Tips to increase traffic for Law Firms
Google Local SEO tips for Lawyers & Law Firms
9 Crazy Easy Content Marketing Hacks
Website Redesign Checklist for SEO
Here's to top rankings and tons of traffic in the new year, and feel free to reach out and ask any questions if you would like. You can learn more about me at Dataflurry Internet Marketing
We are a team of experienced expert SEO consultants from Phoenix AZ.
