So you want to learn all of my secrets for how I’ve built MY successful lifestyle business? Well, my friend, you’ve come to the right place.

In October 2009 I quit my job as a portfolio analyst for an investment firm and had no clue what was next.  I wanted to travel, I wanted to have an adventure, and I wanted to find a way to not have to live on the streets to do it.

When I began doing search engine optimization, I knew nothing about it, and, aside from being pretty good with a computer, I really didn’t know that much about the internet (at least compared to where I’m at now). If I could build a successful business doing this, anyone can.

As a note, even if you choose not to make this your primary business, having some basic SEO knowledge will be very beneficial to whatever business you choose in the future.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

When I tell people what I do, I usually get a lot of blank stares. “You do search engine what?”

Chances are if you’ve made it this far, you have at least an idea of what SEO is. In case you don’t, in the simplest terms, the purpose of SEO is to get your (or your client’s) websites to rank higher in the search engines (primarily Google).

Seems simple, right?

Well, the ideas behind it are pretty simple, but everyone has a different idea of exactly what goes into SEO and only a few higher-ups at Google know the real algorithm.

Throughout this course, you’ll learn the widely accepted basics as well as a few secrets I’ve learned to make thousands of dollars from SEO.

Before we really jump into this, we need to cover a few bits of housekeeping with this particular blueprint.

For one, it’s a little bit longer than some of the others. Mostly because I have more experience with it than some of the other skills. Along with that, as I’ve mentioned it’s really good stuff to know regardless of your niche, so I don’t want to leave any stone unturned.

Much of the basic skill building is going to based on one of the most popular posts I’ve ever written: “How to Become an SEO Freelancer in 48 Hours.”

That said, in order to really make this worth your while, I’m going to throw in some of my special secrets.  Things such as how I and others have been able to rank for really competitive key terms and how you can kill it with local search and find a limitless supply of clients in the process.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way, you ready for this?!

Time to become an SEO freelancer…

Keyword research is arguably the most important part of a good SEO campaign.

The bottom line is that if you select keywords with too little traffic, you’ll have wasted a lot of time optimizing and see little in the way of results. On the other hand, if you choose keywords that are too competitive, you’ll spend way too much time trying to achieve high rankings, and you may or may not ever get there.

So how do you come high-quality quality keywords?

I mentioned this in the last section, but the very first thing I do when I’m analyzing a site is to check the Google Analytics for “seed keywords.”

Here’s an example from Breaking Eighty:

By looking at the keywords that people are already using to find the site, you’ll have a great idea of where to start. There are literally millions if not, billions of keywords out there.

The majority of keywords are going to be in that (not provided) box but you can still find some good keywords from the remaining numbers.

Here are some of the best tools for coming up with your initial keyword list:

Link building is without a doubt one of the most time consuming, miserable, yet important parts of SEO.

Part of the reason I have such a disdain for it is that the search landscape is constantly changing, and what was working yesterday not only may not work tomorrow but could actually hurt you.

When it comes to link building everyone has a different opinion on how it should be done and what works, what doesn’t, and what works but is unethical.

In this section, I’m going to share a brief history of link building so you understand how things have evolved, and then share the best “white hat” strategy out there for building links.

I should note right now that if you’re looking for scammy, spamming, black hat tactics – you won’t find them here.  These days I do things the way Google wants me to, and while it may not get me results as quickly as some of the spam tactics, it works over the long term and doesn’t leave me scrambling to game the system again after every algorithm change.

That said, I do think it’s important to have an understanding of what some of those tactics are and how/why they work.  It’s up to you to decide how far down that rabbit hole to go.

The absolute best resources for all things SEO out there are Detailed and Backlinko. Both Glenn and Brian put out incredible content. If you are seriously considering a career in SEO you should read both their blogs and consider their courses too. For getting the basics of SEO beyond what we have here, their sites are great places to start for more information.

I decided to add an entire section to this blueprint on local search because chances are this will be the most directly relevant to you.

What are the odds that, with little to no experience, you’re going to get some work right out of the gate doing SEO for a Fortune 500 company?

Probably slim to none. (Although, as a side note, one of my first clients was one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country. All about who you know.)

That said, this going to be a quick and dirty guide to how you can take a small business and get them to rank highly for their local searches (which have the potential to send them way more traffic than broader terms to, anyway).

For me, finding SEO work has been surprisingly easy.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m shocked by how many people (and business owners) still don’t really have any idea what SEO is.

They know why they need it and how important it is to rank in the search engines, but many don’t realize there’s actually an entire industry of professionals that do it.

What does this mean for you? Opportunity.