Let me tell you the situtation i am in; I'm an 18 year old webmaster, i have 4 GCSE's, unemployed but working as fulltime webmaster at home. I can do what i want when i want as i have no time restrictions.. I run about 10-20 websites.. i have an excellent understanding of SEO for my age. I have sent my CV off for various vaccancies for SEO jobs, but i've never had any luck, whether it be because i do not fit the job role, or if they don't think i am good enough and don't even give me an interview. I'm moving house to another county(state) any day now.. and basically i need a job, but don't want to go back to working part-time at a supermarket ! My dream is to be my own boss and enjoy life - So i want to get some SEO clients!! I need some help with this bit.. i've spoken to some friends and i said what would you expect to pay for SEO etc etc, and they were saying £300/$600 per month, which isn't exactly what i thought would be an ideal package.. but what do your clients expect to see? I mean obviously the better the budget the better the placement etc, but what's your thoughts? and how do you deal with customers that expect to see #1 placement for 20 keywords on a $600 budget and how do you go about getting your first client? who to target? Any comments appreciated! (wow this was a long post!)
Come to china and join me, so many people looking for webmasters/web marketing that even though I'm not looking for clients actively, they find me. Besides that you can easily live on 1k USD a month while your starting up which we both know is easy to make. I'm not sure how it goes in other countries but the quickest way that i can find a client is to go to some bars and hand out my business card to the managers and business men inside. We shoot the breeze and end up talking about business. Almost always a bunch of them think that they want a website, or wish they could get more clients on their website. Do you have an SEO Site? Clients will want to see a site ranking before they hire you, and also they'll likely want to see your company site. Your dream is the same as my own, and i'm slowly working my way towards it. I gotta say its a lot easier here in China.
Haha my tarrot card's said i wouldn't live in the UK for long As for a company website, no i don't.. just a blank page, but i have plenty of sites to show rankings for..
Well if your interested in coming to china talk to me on msn. Happy to talk about it and its always good to know more SEOs in general, especially in the same age group.
Terry, the best way to find your first couple of clients is just to ask around. You might be surprised at how many connections you can make by talking to your friends and extended family. Even if these people don't directly need your services, chances are that they know someone who does.
Yup, very well said getting the word around is the key i am sure by just socializing around and getting known will place you in a very good position. Thats what i do mostly from family friends and socializing somebody would end up needing your service.
If your looking to work for a seo company its always good to know what the nofollow link means http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=214912 good look hope all works out for you, the china job looks interesting.