SEO Careers – From Copywriting to Coding From Home: What You Really Have to Know

I was recently asked how one gets into an SEO career. My first reaction is, “don’t go there, it’s not as easy as many think”. The competition is fierce, and unfortunately, a lot of people out there shouldn’t be writing to begin with. It reminds me of the dot.com era. Everyone that had a computer became a web designer. Bottom line is, you’re dealing with maybe 35% of the SEO population that knows what the heck they’re talking about.

However, if you’re a copywriter or journalist and have been laid off, then thinking about writing from home for a living may be right for you. It seems many people out there calling themselves SEO service providers don’t know the first thing about SEO copywriting, but for the sake of this article and for my Sunday rant I wanted to share this information with you. There are many SEO careers on the rise; however, there are also many different ways those writers can find their own niche when dealing with any type of SEO.

This is becoming a very popular job prospect. SEO copywriters however, are copywriters first. They must have a basic knowledge of how SEO works in order to write copy properly. I’ll share a few simple tasks with you.

SEO by definition is search engine optimization. How this is done is by using keywords that will or are highly ranked in Goggle’s organic search. There are certain techniques that become natural once a writer gets into the “SEO state of mind”. They include writing the necessary tags, using your Bio box properly and, of course, writing the content.

Let me explain. Most SEO service providers will start with finding the keywords by using a specific tool, such as Adwords or other keyword analysis tools. You find the most popular terms currently in use and write your article with those terms in mind. Well that was a mouthful, but that's just the beginning.

Note I said “most” SEO service providers. If you want to get the most for your hard work, however, there has to be more to your SEO efforts than copy that’s keyword driven. It has to engage your readers in order to get your readership numbers up. It has to inform your readers regardless of whether you promote one technique or product.

You see, people want to learn and feel that what you’re writing is honest and well researched. Therefore, do yourself or your client a favor. Brand your words along with the services you offer. Stand out, be unique and cause a revolution if you must. There I go again; I’m digressing and getting off the topic.

The simplest method is to make sure your keyword is in the title, then in the first sentence, the middle of your copy and in the last paragraph of your copy (preferably the last sentence). That’s not to say that as long as you have your keywords your page will rise in ranks. That may work on one copy - if it’s an obscure word and not a competitive one.

The key here is to have the content read naturally, not forced. If you can’t use your keyword in the copy as I have described above, then choose another keyword or just leave it alone. Not every copy has to be drowned with keywords. Sometimes people just want to enjoy your story, your experience, your blog.

So, okay, now you know how to write SEO content. The next thing you have to do is article submission, directory submissions, blog postings, and socially networking your content in order to drive traffic to your site.

Here is where article and directory submission come into play. Article submissions help in your SEO efforts by seeding the Internet with your content and keywords. SEO articles to article databases and directories help your site and allow you to promote various services and products. It’s simple: the better the articles submission site the more traffic you will generate. Ultimately, this is the most organic way to drive business to your site; many SEO professionals know all the tools and can advise you wisely in your future projects and goals.

Now, if you’re looking at SEO careers in coding, most SEO service providers have a working knowledge of the current version of HTML. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. The current version available is Version # 5. Using hypertext is a way of creating links both to the page in question and links, such as track backs, for articles that someone else comments on or tracks.

A basic way of creating a hyperlink is by typing the address of another page directly into the document and content. If you’re using a word-processing program, then you can create the link by choosing “create hyperlink”. Most word-processing programs allow you to chose the text you want displayed for the hyperlink; the user sees the word in blue, clicks on it and is taken to the page in question. The other aspect of coding is to make sure you use your tags properly. Description tags, image tags, keyword tags and anchor texts are all examples of coding you’ll need to learn.

If you’re looking for a trade and are a creative writer able to think outside the box, consider diving into these SEO careers.