How To Become A Freelance SEO Manager - Secrets From Semalt
In locations like America, there is a consistent growth in freelance workers. There is a lot of appeal in becoming a freelance worker: you get to be your own boss, set your hours and have much higher potential earnings. However, many freelancers fail to get up off the ground because they lack something to help them stick out.
In this article, we will be going through a few pieces of advice you can use to make yourself stick out. One of these is Semalt's New Dashboard, a powerful tool that allows you to use data elements to prove your techniques are working. In this article, we will be going over the following topics:
- Finding a narrow niche
- Remember your branding
- Use a variety of tools
- Stay organized
- Respond to your client's needs
Find Your Niche
The first step of starting your freelance business is to find your focus. If you come out of the gate trying to compete with the largest freelancers, other freelancers will beat you every time. You don't have the pull to get enough clients to be the best SEO manager.
Instead, you are going to be the best SEO manager for something narrow. By focusing on a specific industry, location, or group, you have a higher chance of success. By focusing on a single area, people who are looking for a specialist will seek you out.
For example, let's say that a local restaurant is looking for a specialist that works with restaurants. That restaurant company is tempted to go with the most extensive SEO agency but knows that they will have to shell out tons of money to get this done. When looking for other options, they find you who specializes in restaurant-based SEO.
That focus on restaurants allows you to outperform larger agencies who do not specialize. Eventually, you will find yourself being able to remove that specialization. The data that you gather from the Semalt Dashboard will prove yourself an effective SEO manager. Check out the table below to see potential niches:
Remember Your Branding
When running your own freelance business, you may be tempted not to produce any branding. However, this is lost potential, as your first and last name are not as memorable as a catchy brand.
Even if your brand is just you, you can still establish yourself as a sole proprietor. Check out your countries local requirements for establishing a business for further information. In some cases, you can file for local trademarks.
A great example of this working is from BST Studio, a freelance designer with a memorable name. Whatever your name may be, it isn't going to be as unique as a catchy brand. Think of a brand name you'd like to have associated with you. You don't have to apply it right away, but your eventual plan should use this brand to find a domain and logo.
Check out these brands below, all of them associated with the Semalt Dasbharod and reseller program:
Use A Variety Of Tools
Being a freelance SEO manager involves using a variety of tools. If you are starting, you likely don't have the funds to pay for everything. Because of this, you need to be picky about what tools you use.
We will provide you with a few tools that you can use to start your own freelance SEO business. Many of these tools are free.
Semalt's New Dashboard
As you might expect, our first suggestion is Semalt's new dashboard. The dashboard has a robust number of tools that are great for tracking the effectiveness of SEO campaigns. These come packaged with Semalt's SEO campaigns, allowing you to include Semalt's AutoSEO and FullSEO options with your offering.
By combining the two results in a more robust offering, making you stick out amongst ordinary freelancers. It provides you with a competitive advantage, as it combines your current skillset with easy-to-use tracking features.
Semalt's Browser Extension
Semalt's dashboard is great for determining what keywords you rank for currently, but did you know that they offer an extension that allows you to conduct a competitive analysis? It will enable you to see the top-ten keywords that your competitor uses to rank. If they are outperforming you, it tells you to want keywords you should compete for and a possibility for keywords they may have missed.
Google Trends and Analytics
Google provides a litany of useful research for those new to SEO. Many of these come through the most recent trends, which will want to keep an eye out when competing. You can also download Feedly to follow the best SEO blogs.
Despite having another dashboard for your information, Google Analytics also has its dashboard. Given that it is incredibly popular and comes straight from Google, it still provides a great deal of important information. Stick with Semalt's Dashboard for most data, as it gives you the most significant opportunity for reselling and is incredibly straightforward.
Google Incognito Search
Google's system caters to whoever is using it. Google uses a combination of internet history and cookies, making it less useful for finding competitive data.
To address this, Google released incognito search mode. Not only is it a great form of keeping your privacy, but it is one way you can get SERP data not dependent upon you.
Answer The Public
Answer The Public is a tool that gathers all of the most common searches one will have with a term. If you are struggling with what questions to answer through your copy, Answer The Public gives you an excellent start.
When you use it with data-based information like Semalt's Dashboard, you will find yourself ranking for more searches. Also, this service teaches you to ask questions like your customers.
Stay Organized
Another important area you need to focus on is the need to stay organized. Proper organizational techniques and tools will help you respond to inquires with greater expediency. Below are some methods and tools you can use to keep organized.
Sort Your Workspace
If your workspace is cluttered, you won't be able to focus with any great effectiveness. Instead, your mind will often follow suit, being just as cluttered with distractions.
By taking a moment to organize and clean your physical environment, you will work better in your digital environment. It is also a good excuse for you to sort digital projects by folders, dates, or industries. The key is that your organization needs to make sense to you so you can find it wherever you may have left it.
Schedule Your Time
If you haven't already, you need to have a loose schedule of what you do during the day. Your plan should allow you to focus on your business's overall goals, so you aren't continually scrambling to fill 30 different obligations.
While it may seem counter-intuitive, that even means scheduling downtime. You don't want to become too rigid, as that might stress you out, but you want to have a general frame of time you spend with family, friends, and business. A balance will improve your organizational skills. Valuing your time means that clients will also appreciate your time.
Use Free Online Tools
There are a variety of tools that already come with your Windows, Android, or Apple systems. Examples include built-in calendars, which you can use to schedule an entire day with little effort. In combination with voice-activated features, like Alexa, you can control your schedule without scrolling through too many menus.
You can also use other tools, such as those listed below:
- Trello is an excellent service for moving your project through stages of completion
- Evernote is an excellent note-taking tool that works with multiple formats (images, text, etc.)
- HubSpot CRM is a Customer Relationship Management Tool great for tracking customers as they move along the buyer's journey
- Dropbox is a great cloud sharing tool to share files with your clients while also ensuring you have a backup
Respond To Your Client's Needs
You can have all of the organization tools and good habits, but none of those tools will matter if you don't set out to perform. Always start every process with a full understanding of your client's needs.
Don't be afraid to ask clarifying questions, as you want to be sure of every potential happening. It is better than assuming or letting some expectations slide down the line. Whatever your focus is as an SEO manager, be sure that you know your limitations and your client's expectations.
If your client questions your abilities, this is where data comes in handy. By utilizing Semalt's dashboard, your client will have an easy way to track the success of their campaign right. For many resales, it will take a couple of weeks before the client can see results.
Conclusion
Being a freelance SEO manager is rough work. People are always skeptical about the effectiveness of your work. Despite all of the studies you can use to show how your techniques have worked in the past, people aren't going to be responsive unless you have a way to prove it to them now.
To address these concerns, supplement your offerings with Semalt's Dedicated SEO Dashboard. Suppose you want to be a company that competes like Ahrefs or Ubersuggest. In that case, this white label system will provide you with that edge you need.