Did you know that search engine optimization or SEO is one of the most demanded skills in digital marketing?
But why is it so in demand? SEO is rapidly changing over the years, and therefore it is important to stay up-to-date with SEO practices. While it is cost-effective in the long run, initial costs for SEO services can be pretty high. That’s why many US and international companies are looking for specialists in the Philippines, where costs are lower and proficiency in the English language is a big plus.
For Filipinos, this means a lot of remote work income opportunities, especially in places where local unemployment levels are high.
In this blog, we will share 5 ideas on how to make money with SEO as a Filipino and where to start.
1. Create a Blog
You can practise SEO on a small blog using a hosted free plan or your own site. WordPress.org software is free, but self-hosting normally requires hosting and a domain. Choose an option that lets you edit page titles, links and content.
In your blog, you can write about things you are interested in, grow organic SEO traffic, and eventually start to monetize it.
A blog can earn through eligible display advertising, sponsored content or affiliate links. Clearly identify paid promotions and do not sell links as a way to manipulate search rankings.
There are plenty of ways to monetize your blog if you can generate free SEO traffic. But in my opinion, one of the best ways is affiliate marketing.
2. Start Affiliate Marketing
An affiliate site can answer product questions and refer interested readers to a merchant. Publishing first does not guarantee a Google ranking. Original comparisons, clear testing methods and useful explanations give readers a reason to visit. Commissions depend on qualifying purchases and the program's rules.
Affiliate marketing is also one of the best ways to improve your SEO skills, and with your first earnings, you will get even more motivation to learn more and do more.
3. Offer Freelance Services
Once you have some experience in SEO, either by doing an internship in a digital marketing agency or by running your own blog and affiliate marketing projects, you can offer your experience and services to companies internationally on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, or Freelancer.com.
Freelancers on Upwork can earn good money by working with international companies, especially if they provide SEO services to companies in countries like the United States or Canada.
4. Run an SEO Agency
An agency can take on larger projects by sharing work across specialists. Before hiring, calculate client revenue against salaries, tools, management time and the cost of finding new clients.
5. Start an Online Business
SEO can bring visitors without paying for each click, but research, writing, technical maintenance and tools still take time or money.
For an online shop or service business, search traffic is only one part of the work. You still need to handle enquiries, fulfil orders and maintain the site.
Skills Required in SEO
Start with a small, measurable problem such as improving page titles or answering a customer question. Explain your work clearly to clients instead of making the process sound mysterious.
Of course, it’s possible to divide SEO into multiple skills, and these services can be offered separately to clients.
- Content writing. Help readers complete a task or understand a subject. Useful content supports a good site, but no paragraph or keyword formula guarantees a search position.
- Keywords research. Of course, to create good content, you need to conduct some research and use the right wording to reach your audience.
- Outreach. Share useful research or resources with relevant people. Avoid buying ranking links or sending bulk spam.
- Technical SEO. This could be a bit more complicated if you don’t know the details about website development. However, there are some essential tasks that should be done to ensure that the webpage is compliant with Google’s requirements.
Gradually, you will learn all these skills, but in the beginning, start with some of them. Content is king, therefore SEO learning should start with good content creation, and then gradually learn other skills.
Where to Start?
There are plenty of resources, and starting with SEO in most cases means starting without investment. Some really good sources of knowledge include blogs by internationally recognized SEO experts. Another source, of course, is YouTube. On YouTube, you can find plenty of videos that teach SEO, content writing, and even affiliate marketing, mostly for free.
Here is our list of the best SEO resources:
- Google's SEO Starter Guide. An official introduction to helping search engines understand your pages.
- Ahrefs TV on YouTube. Ahrefs’ YouTube channel is one of the best up-to-date search engine optimization resources so far. They even offer a free affiliate marketing course. Highly recommended.
- The Beginner’s Guide to SEO by MOZ. Free online course by MOZ, one of the first international search engine optimization companies founded by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig in 2004.
- Search Engine Land. This is one of the best news website about search engine marketing. If you want to find the latest news related to Google, this is the site.
- Search Engine Journal. This is another good news site about search engine marketing.
- Semrush on YouTube. Another good YouTube channel with tutorials by Semrush.
The best way to start with SEO is to create your own blog, write about things you like and do, and create helpful content for others. You can practice everything you learn about SEO, and later on, when you get traffic, you can start to monetize your content.
A personal project can become a portfolio for client work. Show what you changed and what happened, including results that did not improve. That is more useful to a prospective client than promising a first-place ranking.
Set a rate from the work involved, your experience and the client's scope. Track billable hours separately from learning and pitching. There is no minimum monthly income guaranteed by learning SEO.
