The employee period and having to wake up at 6 am every day and endure the bad manners of the boss and co-workers can be said to be over. Today, not all choices are limited to being an employee and having a freelance job. If a person has skills and expertise and wants to, he may work with several companies at the same time, earn a good income, and not leave his home at all.
Digitalization of businesses has not only created new jobs. It has created jobs that the office does not want to do. Only two things are needed: a laptop and internet. The internet and the facilities it has made available to businesses have actually changed the way they work.
Today, it is possible to have a store website that operates in Dubai and sells clothes. But its website designer lives in India, its ui/ux designer lives in China, and graphic work is also done by a graphic artist in Oman.
All these people communicate and meet with each other every day. The head of the collection also supervises everyone’s work. His business has a number of permanent and resident employees and a number of freelancers who work on a freelance basis.
Freelancers are those who work for themselves and do not have a direct boss. They are not in official and legal employment of companies or businesses. But for a company or business, they do a specific job with known and agreed conditions and get a specific salary.
It can be argued that most of the work of digital businesses can be done as a freelancer. In addition to website and graphic design, interface design and user experience, SEO experts can also work as freelancers.
So, if you learned SEO and want to enter the job market or you want to learn SEO or you have no decision to learn SEO at all, read this article to know the tips that are necessary for SEO freelancers and freelance SEO experts. (Maybe you were interested and decided to learn SEO and become a remote SEO expert!)
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SEO freelance tips
Before going into the tips, I would like to answer the question why you should think about freelancing SEO? Why freelance SEO at all? Overall, being a freelancer has its advantages:
- It allows you to carry out several projects at the same time.
- You are your own boss and planning your work and life is in your hands.
- It is a very good option to start and enter the market.
- It allows you to work abroad (especially now that it is possible to use cryptocurrencies instead of dollars for payment).
- It allows you to be known and make a name for yourself.
- Your time is freer and you have more opportunities to learn (of course, usually but not always. You may have heavy projects).
- Freelancing can also save money. The freelancer does not have the minimum cost of commuting to the workplace.
All these benefits are also available for SEO freelancers. In SEO, everything is clear from the beginning. The result is clear and measurable. SEO site costs are with the employer (site owner). Before each project, the SEO expert has the opportunity to check the keywords, site and competitors, and based on the difficulty of the work, he gives the employer the price, time and conditions of the work. If the keywords for which the site should be optimized are not very competitive, the SEO expert has the opportunity to have another site’s SEO project at the same time.
The first tip: be a fluent and knowledgeable freelancer
Freelancing does not mean that you get the job without difficulty. You have to show the employer that you are fully aware of what you are going to do. As I said, everything is clear in SEO. It means that the employer has a site in a certain field that must be found on the first page in a certain number of keywords.
SEO expert is also a business consultant. SEO of store sites and SEO of content sites are different, although they have common principles. If the site is a store, the relationship between SEO and digital marketing and its impact is more important. If the site is not well and properly designed or does not have a good interface design and user experience, it will not be SEO easily.
The freelancer should carefully check the site and landing pages and give the necessary suggestions and tips to the employer. The answer that the SEO freelancer gives to the employer in accepting or rejecting the project; It shows how much he knows about SEO and related factors.
You must have skills to SEO any kind of site.
Second tip: Find and follow freelance sites and other freelancers
First of all, you need to find sites and platforms where employers post their projects and look for suitable freelancers. Fortunately, there are many such platforms on the English web: Freelancer.com and Simplyhired.com are two global examples.
I recommend that you read and compare these sites and the working conditions and the types of projects and the prices offered. On these sites, you can also meet other freelancers. Another advantage of joining these job sites is that some of them have separated SEO sub-branches and smaller projects can be taken.
You should find famous and influential freelancers in the SEO market and follow them on social networks. Read about them and see where they started and what kind of projects they took on and are taking on. See how they came. After freelancing for a while, are they now employed or do they still prefer to be freelancing? Why?
The third tip: Build a strong website and social networks for yourself
You have to introduce yourself to the market. The way is to have your own website or blog. Of course, a website or blog alone is not enough. You should not neglect LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Because you can find employers and projects in these social networks, show other freelancers and yourself to potential employers.
Publish updated and practical educational content on your website or blog as well as social networks. Talk about the training you have seen and the skills you have. Share your projects and challenges. If you are new and have no project, do not despair. No matter. Spend time on educational and new content. You have to be very creative about this.
Just introducing yourself as a freelance SEO expert and also stating which platforms you work on is a great start. It is important that the job market knows that you are there and ready to get a job! Don’t forget that you have to show that knowledge and mastery here as well.
Fourth tip: Do not do black hat SEO
Be a committed SEO expert and do your job right. SEO is not about copying content and buying backlinks. Maybe with black hat SEO you will reach the goal for a while and get a site to the first page in the target words. But be sure that Google will understand very soon and punish the site. This means you have caused a loss to the employer.
You must be a professional specialist and think about the long-term interests of the employer. Maybe sometimes, if you have to, use gray hat SEO techniques. But you should put the principle on the basic work and white hat SEO and announce this to the employer. You have to tell the employer why only white hat techniques should be used and that is why SEO will be time consuming.
Take the work seriously and be sure to stick to the date you announce for project delivery. Try to take into account all the unexpected events and updates of Google. Be regular and document and report based on data and statistics (analytics and search console) and defend your work.
The fifth point: look long-term and business
Contrary to what it seems, freelancing is not temporary and short-term. For many, it is their business, a very profitable business. You should know that it is not possible to be a successful freelancer in the short term. Because the market and employers need time to get to know you. You have to invest and show the value of yourself and your work to the market so that big and profitable projects are given to you.
You must learn to promote yourself. You must have a business perspective in building your website and social networks. You definitely have strong competitors. You need to use marketing techniques. Know that you are actually building a business for yourself. This makes you strong and gives you the confidence to negotiate and collaborate with different employers, just like a businessman.