Sincerely a Freelancer

Well, I get a lot of questions these days about what I am doing post-graduation. I don't have anything established right now but I am doing two major projects for now until I find something more permanent. To sum it up, I am doing an internship for a local publishing company (more on that in a later post) and I do freelance writing. As a freelancer, I write from home and I get paid per article that is accepted and published by the companies I work for. I do these articles for online marketing companies that specialize in search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is kinda difficult for me to explain, but since I am often asked what that is, I'll do my best to tell you what it is: This is the process of boosting search engine results for clients who want higher rankings on search engines like Google. So say you're a plumbing company in Salt Lake City and you want to enhance your web presence to gain more customers. You hire an SEO company so that when a customer types in "SLC plumbing" into a search engine, your company will be on the first page of results. The SEO company arranges this by setting up blogs that contain links on them that are part of a back-linking campaign. The writing part is where I come in. I write many of these blogs and I have to include keywords that customers would possibly type in so they can find the client the SEO company is helping. For example, I would write a blog that features the key phrase "SLC plumbing" twice in a 500-word article. I send in the article to the SEO company through their online database and they put it on the web and arrange all the linking and whatnot. Later, I get a check in the mail for every article I've written for them over a certain pay period. Ta-da! And that's how it works.

I got into SEO about a year ago b/c my BIL's friend was working for an SEO company called Boostability (in American Fork) and they needed contract writers. My BIL told me about the opportunity and I applied and registered and I got accepted. I did a few articles here and there and saved a few samples. So when I got an email from BYU's English or editing department saying that this SEO company named Orange Soda (also in AF) was hiring contract writers, I followed a whim and sent those samples in. Within a day or so I was hired! And now it's paid off b/c it's allowed me to stay home and make money, something I really appreciate since I don't have a car.

It's pretty cool doing SEO. Basically, I assign myself to various topics such as roofing or tree services or shaving products and I research them and then do an article on it. It's amazing what you can learn from the Internet. I've learned how to make nail polish from scratch, and doing SEO even helped me figure out how to fix my fridge door after I did a blog on appliance maintenance. The main drawback to this job is it requires so much self-discipline! I have to meet a minimum of articles as well as my personal quota, so sometimes I have to bribe myself to write. It's also easy to goof off on the Internet or sleep in, so I have to be really disciplined! Fortunately, it's going pretty well for the most part so life is good.

I've decided that no blog is complete without a picture or icon of some sort, so I had this insane idea once to drink orange soda as I wrote a blog or two for Orange Soda. (It seemed fitting, what can I say?) Of course, I documented it, so here ya go:

Well, that wraps up this post. I hope you are now more enlightened on Internet marketing and what consumes my time these days : ).

Sincerely,

Sabra