Thanks to the Internet and fast broadband connections, we have better, faster access to more content – photos, information, music, and videos – than ever before. Just as importantly, for those of us that have an interest in doing so, creating and sharing that content is easier than ever. As you have likely heard, there has been a “democratization of content creation.”
Because of the proliferation of content, it’s often difficult to differentiate one business from another without some form of digital marketing, such as search engine optimization or pay-per-click advertising campaigns. Seemingly in this Information Age, the term ‘digital marketing’ continues to refer to an elusive group of tasks that a business owner must have a degree in or pay significant amounts of money for in order to make a business a success – nothing could be further from the truth. We’re fans of what’s described as the ‘democratization of marketing.’
Anyone with a smart phone is adept at using search engines and likely has a general understanding of the important role they play in sending traffic to online and offline businesses. Whether you’re trying to locate a service provider, business address, or reviews, you’re probably relying on a search engine to find and render reliable information.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization refers to a series of activities an individual completes in order to improve their website’s ranking in search engine results. All websites contain the same basic components, so SEO tactics can be applied to any website.
How Do You Know if a Website’s SEO Needs to be Improved?
With an SEO audit! Much like a pass/fail car inspection or annual physical at your doctor’s office, the SEO audit looks at the same basic components of a website (the same components of every website) and compares these components to best practices in the industry. The SEO audit process creates the roadmap for the website owner (or SEO consultant) to follow in order to optimize the website. Once optimized, search engines are better able to crawl and render the website in search engine results.
Have you used a product like TurboTax to file your taxes? Completing an SEO audit is quite similar in nature. The SEO audit is essentially a checklist you complete to see if the website meets these best practices. If you’re someone who likes to work within the confines of an established process, you’ll enjoy search engine optimization and the SEO audit.
How Can SEO Fit Into Your Retirement Planning?
Regular readers of this blog know that I regularly advocate for developing multiple streams of income during the working and retirement years. More is absolutely better, and increasingly, necessary. SEO is a viable work-at-home side hustle you can use to generate additional income. The best part is you determine the clients you want to work with, your hourly rate, and the number of hours you want to work. Search Engine Optimization provides opportunity and flexibility.
How Can You Use SEO to Generate Additional Income?
After you learn the fundamentals of search engine optimization, the tried and true tactics that optimize websites, you can use this knowledge to complete the SEO audit process for any website. The SEO audit process provides the roadmap for website optimization, which opens the doors to a couple of different opportunities. You can use completed SEO audits in order to attract clients, letting them know you’ve already audited their websites and you want to help them optimize. You could also begin advertising your services to those you know who have websites and focus solely on being an SEO auditor.
Where Do I Begin Learning SEO?
If you complete the Side Hustle self-paced online course, you will learn SEO fundamentals while simultaneously learning the SEO audit process. Side hustlers looking to establish a new income stream can learn SEO to help everyone from online content creators to local small businesses.
Disclosure: As an affiliate, I may receive compensation when individuals enroll in the Side Hustle, LLC self-paced online courses.
Do I Have to Know How to Code Websites in Order to Help Businesses Optimize?
No. There is no coding required. Completing the SEO audit generates a report for the client. If you arrange to work with the client on an ongoing basis, you can help the client optimize the content of their website and elements of the website, like page titles, without having to code anything.
