6 Reasons To Be A Professional SEO Consultant
A professional SEO consultant who knows her stuff - especially technical SEO - can find work pretty much anytime she wants. Let's go over X reasons why you may want to pursue a career as a search engine optimization consultant.
Choose your clients - if you're good at SEO and can communicate well with others, you can pretty much pick and choose who you want to work with. Notice I said "with," not "for." That's because optimizing a site is all about teamwork with the website owner, the web development team, content writers and the marketing division. When you're first starting out, you may not have the luxury of turning down work, but as you gain confidence and get results, you'll be able to bow out of offers that your gut says would be bad. Choose the clients who mirror your values, philosophy and goals. Respecting each other helps the working relationship when things get tough.
Work your own hours - within limits. Clients do expect you to be pretty much available during the week from about 9AM to 5PM local, but if you're organized, methodical and you stay on top of tasks, there's no reason why you can't do things you enjoy during the week, during the day. If it's a beautiful Wednesday afternoon with sailing conditions that are just right, you can bet I'll be out on the water for a couple hours to de-stress!
Set your preferred hourly/project rate - it's no secret that you want to make the most you can without working a 60 hour week. As you become more proficient and get results, you can increase your rates so that you aren't killing yourself working long hours. It's not to say that occasionally you won't put in extra time to meet a deadline or troubleshoot an urgent problem, but in the end, everything balances out.
3 More Reasons To Be A Professional SEO Consultant
Be happy doing work you enjoy - this goes back to working with clients who align with your values. You'll have less stress, find it easier to communicate with the client if issues pop up, and she'll be happy to recommend you or refer prospects to you first. It's a big thing, being happy with what you offer. You won't procrastinate finishing tasks, your personal relationships will be better and you'll love your life even more.
Discretionary authority and decision making - all workplaces have politics. If you're sick and tired of them, being a professional SEO consultant allows you to call the shots the way you think SEO projects/programs should be run. You can develop your own playbook and implement it when you're ready. The downside to this is if your decision goes south in a bad way, you're responsible. But if you're out on your own, you know this anyways.
Picking your preferred business partners - as a freelance consultant, you can decide which vendors you want to work with, much like clients. Develop a team of trusted partners who provide branding, web design, content writing, PPC services and more. Work with others who share your values and customer service goals.
Of course, you have to be knowledgeable to start out as an SEO consultant, so if you need training, contact me to get the knowledge, skills and professional tools to start a career as a search engine optimizer!
Until we meet again, stay safely between the ditches!
All the best to you,
Nancy McDonald
Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
