Search Engines are the main source of targeted web traffic, no doubt. That is why each and every business needs a search engine optimizer. As a result, the number of total search engine optimizers is increasing. In USA, the number of search engine optimizers is 363,857, and the worldwide number might be 1.7x larger (According to Moz).
Among the list of SEO professionals, a large number of them work as freelancers on various freelancing market places. They either act as consultants, link builders, or other specific parts of SEO.
Below are figures of the approximate number of SEO professionals in the top two online market places. (Based on their profile tags, the actual number could be less or higher)
Odesk = 117,988
Elance = 14,421
I am very happy to say I am one of them. But I did not stay long as a full time freelancer, even though I believe freelancing can be a great source of income or funding, but one should have bigger dreams than freelancing. A couple of weeks ago I uploaded a presentation on slideshare, you can view it to get an idea how I moved towards business from freelancing.
View : Entrepreneur is the Next Designation of a Freelancer.
Any one can expect the following Expertise from an SEO professional:
- · Keyword Research
- · Basic Idea about the Site Structure
- · How to rank a website
There are lots of advance factors which might not be so clear for every SEO professional but they should have an idea about their strength and they should know how to rank a website within the capable competition. If so, then the freelancer is ready to start his own business.
1-Create an SEO Firm:
I was a fulltime freelancer and doing well. I had lots of clients and a good earning, but then I realized that alone I can’t handle too many clients and can’t work on too many projects. because I can’t take on more load than my capability. This is true for everyone. Then I thought about expansion. I thought I need to create a business and I realize an SEO firm could be the best choice to start. This is because it would be easiest and cost saving and also closely related to what I was doing at that time.
So you can think the same way I had thought at that time.
What you need?
You need a few more professionals to support you. Or you can create few more professional by yourself that is what I did at the beginning of my business journey. Now we serve a complete Online Marketing Solution with web developments services and by the end of the year we are going to add more services to ensure our clients’ satisfaction. You can learn more about my firm on our website.
2-Create a Tool:
Each and every business depends on various tools, either for business operation or for business security. So almost every sector you have an opportunity to create a tool. Even you can focus on an SEO tool as well. I know this is not an easy task to create a tool because you need a developer, which is costly. It needs a good amount of investment which can create confusion on your mind about the return. But if you can really create a high demand, unique, and quality tool then it will be a huge source of earning. As an SEO professional you have chance to save or reduce SEO cost.
Another big advantage of a tool is it converts the way you work. For example, if you are a banner designer what do you need to do? You need to create banners manually for all of your clients, and you can’t create banner for two clients at a time. But if you can create a banner maker tool which is capable of producing 1000’s of banner each minute you can operate with a big smile since you don’t need to involve yourself manually in each job. So this is another reason to focus on a tool to start your new journey. Here is a banner making tool you can check and try.
3-Affiliate Marketing
You may not have any tool to promote or have an SEO firm to provide services, but you can still earn a lot through these two sources, yes it is true. There are lots of tools, products, services already present in the market and they are doing a great job. Their quality is already ensured. You just need to express it to your audiences and can earn the affiliate commission if purchases happen through your promotion.
This is the one of the biggest sources of earning. Most bloggers and online entrepreneurs earn through affiliate marketing, and I am one of them.
Here are top three affiliate network you can check out.
4-Training Institute
You have done a great job and learned a lot of things, now it could be your turn to teach others. This could be a great source of income. You can create a fulltime training institute or even create seasonal campaigns to transfer your acquired knowledge and teach your own expertise. There are a few training institutes available in Bangladesh as well such as Xponent Academy, DevsTeam Institute, and Masqara just to mention a few. So after a certain period acquiring the desired skills and experience you can think about starting a training institute which can be your next source of income.
5-Earning from AdSense or Similar Sources
This is another big source of income; most bloggers either depend directly on AdSense earnings or count AdSense as a great source of income beside other monetizing options. I suggest you start with one or two micro niche websites, because at the beginning it is always better to take on less load, which will help you to keep your confidence and help to be organized and stable.
6-Write an Ebook and Sell
I am one of those people who feel creating a training institute beside the service providing firm is very difficult. It needs lots of time, money, and patience. That reduced my interest in running a training institute, though it is a great source of income for a growing industry. So if you feel like me then you have another option to sell your expertise and this is by writing a book. You can write an ebook about your experiences and include highly valuable tips to make the path smoother for the new comer. And by selling the book you can create a great income stream.
You don’t need to make any decisions right away. Take some time, think again, and read how a freelancer can start his own business to get more ideas before you decide what to do and how to do it.
If you feel I forgot to mention any important parts then please share it through the comment section. Your views will really help my readers and please share it to your social network if you really like my post.
