The Fun Side Of The Island - Let me in!

[simonberenyi]

I need to ask you a huge favor.

Like many of you here, SEO and related digital/business topics are a passion. This Easter weekend, I made a huge decision, to make this industry my life and not my hobby. I am already a successful expert in my current field, but its time to join an industry with an exciting future - Its time to join you.

For those of you who love, live and breathe this industry I would be grateful for any seeds of wisdom you might have to share about your first steps as an independent professional.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

A great move Simon - welcome to the madness

One tip I would give, is to make a name for yourself. If you are planning on becoming a consultant, then your name is everything and the strongest marketing tool you will have at your disposal. Yes, stronger even than your MOZ subscription

Be active everywhere. Go networking, be active on Twitter with other professionals, offer free advice if someone is stuck, connect with other professionals on G+ - and have a great website that will inspire people to take you seriously.

If you do have any particular questions, happy to answer them

-Andy

[Bonx]

Hi there Simon,

Welcome and hope you are ready for an adventure.

MOZ Learn is a great way to start and its free. So read up on all 10 chapters on The Beginners Guide To SEO and from there on you will know what to do and what to ask to become a SEO CHAMP.

Hope this helps,

Rickus

[MattAntonino]

Try to read Inbound.org daily and get a sense of the "current" state of the industry. Follow the blogs you see pop up on there over & over again.

Learn Excel. No matter how good you are in Excel, go learn more.

Test everything. Trust is fine but test, test and then ... test more.

You won't really understand it until you do it so go do it.

Find a couple good Twitter SEO lists and follow them.

Write as much as you can, even if you don't publish it. Get better at writing so you can express what you are learning to others.

Learn to use tools that make you faster.  Bookmarklets, Chrome Extensions, Firefox Add Ons, Excel SEO Tools add on, Moz, Woorank, Ahrefs or Majestic, and social tools (Hootsuite, Tweepi, etc.)

[DonnaDuncan]

Don't start out trying to be all things SEO to all people. Find your niche. What subset of SEO are you passionate about? What are you particularly good at? Where is there a need?

If you have a reputable and respected SEO firm in your neighborhood, look to get hired. Ask for a mentor. Learn from him or her and thru osmosis.

[HillyCE]

That's amazing! What a leap of faith! My recommendation/advice is to read, read, read. Get your hands on books on UX. Read up on how to perform a content audit. Read through as much about SEO as possible. SEO has been my passion for nearly a decade and I'm still learning.

Also remember not to take yourself too seriously. You WILL have clients that think they know everything. You WILL have clients that make you want to rip your hair out. It's normal. Pick your clients carefully. You're the expert, not them. And never call yourself a 'guru'.

[SEO5Team]

Choose your clients carefully Simon especially the ones that don't pay you a lot of money. They are the ones that expect the most amount of work to be done for them and will be on you everyday demanding proof of work. Manage the client's expectations with results from day one. Good, clean SEO takes time and delivers long lasting results. It's all about the education and transparency with the clients.

All the best.