If you have any skills in SEO, there are ways to leverage them towards earning a livelihood. If you’re not sure how you can do that, here’s a post for you. We look at some promising ways in which to make money from SEO.
How to Make Money with SEO
1) Sell Micro Services
Any subset of SEO – you can think of it as a microservice. The most popular examples are:
- Technical SEO
- Link building
- Keyword Research
- Guest posting on high authority websites.
SEO agencies are almost always short on staff. That’s why any contractor who can take on some of their workloads is always welcomed.
There are several platforms/ways in which to monetize and sell microservices:
2) Use SEO Writing as a Service
Instead of nicheing to a certain SEO microservice, you can decide to offer SEO writing services. There are all kinds of writing, such as technical, creative, white paper writing, etc. You can pick your favorite and work with different clients.
To reach them, you can do a lot of things such as:
- Contacting agencies
- Getting in touch with companies directly seeking a writer.
- Finding work through writing job boards
- Using freelance marketplaces such as Upwork, Fiverr, and Guru to sell your services.
- Connecting with prospects through LinkedIn marketing
3) Get Paid in Affiliate Commissions
If you do go down this road, it’s better if you become an Amazon affiliate. Here are a few reasons why it makes sense:
- Amazon maintains the biggest product inventory in the world, beating every other e-commerce website.
- People from across the globe buy stuff from Amazon. Therefore, if you can manage to get their products on your site, you might get credit for any other purchases that buyers make. However, no promises!
Here’s one example of approaching it – write an article on your website reviewing various amazon products from a category. Use a BUY NOW option for each product redirecting the user to Amazon.
This model works because anyone reading a review article about a product is already deep into the sales funnel. They are only a step away from buying the product. All they need is a little nudge.
You can always get commissions for the product reviews you write and personally like. Even months after writing, the content of this nature will continue to bring in big bucks.
There are other affiliate networks you can join besides Amazon Associates. To learn more about making money with this model, read this affiliate guide
4) Monetize a High-Traffic Blog
Once you know the ins and outs of SEO well, you can always create a blog to generate a ton of traffic. Money comes from the advertisements you place on the website.
Here are a few ways in which to monetize a blog:
- Custom banner ads
- Google Display Network ads
- Advertising package
- Sponsored content
For this kind of model to work, it’s important to write on high-traffic niches with low competitors. Most of the emerging verticals that are still not invested SEO-wise are the most promising niches, such as:
- Drones
- Vintage clothing
- SARMs
- Streetwear culture
5) Sell SEO Services to Agencies
Many web development companies that are beginning to offer SEO services to their clients lack that initial experience. Therefore, instead of handling the work, they would usually outsource the services to an outside expert.
While the freelancer does all the heavy lifting, the SaaS SEO agency is the one maintaining the relationship on the backend with clients.
But, for this kind of relationship to work, clear lines must be drawn in terms of commitments. Be sure to decide who will be responsible for:
- Client communication
- Project management
- Reporting
Most of these relationships fail because of unclear lines of communication and things falling through the cracks.
6) Get Paid in Consultation Fees from Clients
Before anyone can go on to form a Digital agency, they would generally start by consulting clients on a one-to-one basis. The arrangement is quite simple wherein the SEO expert provides his skills and knowledge to the client in exchange for a predetermined rate (usually hourly).
Several factors determine the hourly rate:
- The kind of experience you carry and your results.
- The needs of your clients and the scope of the project.
- Your track record and reputation
If you want to be a successful SEO consultant – it’s better to focus on a niche so that you can establish yourself as an expert over the years. Here are other consulting business ideas to consider.
7) Dropship Products on Your Website
Maintaining an e-commerce site can be too much work. That’s why dropshipping might be a better option.
Under dropshipping, you don’t have to maintain any inventory of the physical product. Rather, you use your site only for the placement of orders. It’s the retailer/manufacturer who, upon receiving the order, will ship the product directly to the client.
The only problem with dropshipping is that the margins happen to be too low. Sometimes, you’ll only be making 10% off each sale. That means, unless you get a TON of traffic, you might not make any money.
However, if you’re someone who doesn’t mind small margins and wants to put only a little effort, then you can always look at drop shipping as a source of passive income rather than setting up a full-fledged e-commerce store.
You must work with a reputable manufacturer who can promise to deliver quality products on time. People have high expectations from online stores. Anything less than perfect could quickly hurt your reputation.
8) Find and Work with SEO Clients
If you maintain a blog or are into guest posting on high-quality sites, you may have leads reaching you directly. But, other than that also, there are a couple of techniques you can use, such as:
- Reaching out to businesses via cold emails and LinkedIn.
- Reaching out to companies that are investing a lot in advertising and yet not ranking high.
- Working with web development and graphic design agencies
- Getting yourself listed on online marketing directories.
Bottom Line
In the end, your success as an SEO expert and how much money you end up making depends on your skills and the kind of results you can deliver.
