How I Got Started In SEO
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008Everyone has a story on how they got started in this industry, so I’d like to share mine; here goes.
In the spring of 1998 I was wallowing in a go-nowhere job (think Homer Simpson, but more boring) that paid much more than it probably should have. This is an important point, because it was enough money (based on the low cost of living at the time) to make up for the crappy position. I worked 12-hour shifts on a regular basis, where I might be on my feet for just over an hour or two (like I said, classic Homer).
Great pay but no intellectual outlet, so I started reading on a grand scale. I’d go to the public library and check out every book they had on topics like personal finance, stocks, marketing, business top 100, etc. I probably checked out a thousand books over a 5 year period. When it came to magazines, I was allowed to check out 10 at a time, and I did. I checked out every back issue of Golf Digest they had, going back to the 70’s.
I also became a huge fan of an online golf game called “Links LS” by Access Software (later acquired by Microsoft). At the time, this was THE online golf game, hands down. I’d play in online ladder games for hours on end.
I became such a big fan that I started writing articles about game play, theories on match play strategy based on golf course, spreadsheets on alternate shot strategies based on individual players’ strengths and weaknesses, etc. That’s right; total geek, and I absolutely loved it. I needed a web site to post my findings, so I could graduate to the next level of geekdom.
In May of 1998, I reserved my name (danperry.com) at Network Solutions (the only Registrar at the time). Sadly, I didn’t foresee the economic value of the internet, and didn’t reserve another domain for a matter of months (most old-schoolers know what I mean). Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
I taught myself basic HTML, and skipped over all versions of Microsoft FrontPage, jumping straight into Homesite and eventually Dreamweaver. Most of the development nerds that played my golf game shunned those that used FrontPage, therefore making it a non-option. I struggled through it, and generated my first website.
It went through multiple iterations. As I felt more comfortable with basic HTML, I started branching off into JavaScript, DHTML, etc., trying all the new, fun stuff as it became available. I was a member of the Links LS webring (like I said, old-school), did interviews of the better players, and continued to generate content related to the game. Eventually, my site was so popular in my little niche that Microsoft sent me goody bags on a regular basis (logo balls, tees, etc.)
My content-generating skills were pretty high, but my pure design skills were very minimal. At the time (we may be creeping into 1999 now) there weren’t any “online marketers” or “SEO’s”. The terms didn’t exist, but I was interested enough and confident enough that I decided to try to do what I loved; combine the internet and the game of golf, so I started an online design business for the golf industry. The domain was purchased in November of 1998, and I was officially open for business in early 1999. I had the world by the short ones, was going to kick butt, take names, never look back, ad nauseum. Then reality set in.
At the time, most of the decision makers in the golf industry were in their 60’s and 70’s (at least the ones I spoke to), and they all believed this “internet thing” was a fad. Trying to sell web design businesses to these guys was like selling long-term care insurance to a senior in high school. It just didn’t happen.
Frustrated, but by no means throwing in the towel, I spoke with my Director of Golf at my local golf club (much younger than most), and convinced him he should get a site. The deal was that I’d design a website, get it live and update it, and swap the work for the cost of my golf membership for the season. Although not money in my pocket, it was money saved, and it was a start; my first client (kind of)!
The site was live (with JavaScript rollovers, thank you very much) just in time for the 2000 golf season. The client was happy, I had a year of free golf, and I now had a reference. Now it would be easy to generate additional work, right? Ouch. Even with a good reference (whom I stay in touch with to this day), it was still a very tough sell. I was at the end of my rope, and then it happened.
I searched for a term like “Michigan golf” (or something like that) in the browser of choice at the time (Netscape), and low and behold the site I built was ranking in the top 10! Never had I been so proud. It was at this point that the light bulb went off. Ranking in the search engines may actually be valuable to someone someday.
I didn’t waste any time. I started reading everything I could on internet marketing. Danny Sullivan’s early stuff and Dr. Ralph Wilson were basically the only games in town, and I absorbed them like a sponge.
From Danny Sullivan’s Flickr page
Instead of checking books out at the library, I spent money on printer ink (B&W, of course), and printed out enough to satiate my reading needs at work. Anything and everything; every old copy of Danny’s and Ralph’s newsletters, every forum thread that looked interesting, etc. Hundreds and hundreds of single-space, small Arial font pages of content at a time. I was on a mission. To where, I wasn’t sure, but I was definitely on a mission.
Then it hit me; instead of trying to sell web design services to all these golf courses and golf companies, how about if I build a portal for golf, catering to the club professional? That way, when they search for golf-related items, they may find my site, click through, be impressed (OK pipe dream, but still), and become a client. So I did it. I built a site for the golf industry that I’d use for lead generation.
By this time, I was basically done playing online games; this was business. I started building the site with no aspirations for it generating revenue; just to provide leads. I did generate some spotty business from time to time, but it definitely wasn’t enough to support my family. It was clearly a side gig.
I pressed on, generating content, starting a monthly newsletter, reprinting press releases, etc. Google started paying attention, and started loving it. I started ranking for some very generic golf terms (in the top 5 for “golf jobs”, “golf industry”, “golf range”, “golf clubs”, etc.) Lots of traffic, but little business. Interesting, but not in a money kind of way.
Then I had another idea. As of this point, I listed all golf companies in their respective category alphabetically, for free. Why not give them the option to “rise to the top” of the listings for a fee? And so it went, and it did OK, but nothing impressive. Then I added some Amazon links, and did OK with that too (a few hundred/month, definitely less than $1000/month). I was now at about $600-$700/month from the site, free and clear. Nice little hobby, but that was about it. Then I turned AdSense on and it all changed.
Not wanting to go into too much detail, I can comfortably say that at its peak, I was making several thousand dollars/month from Adsense. Then I did what a lot of people did; I got greedy. I started piling on affiliate programs, building out pages for products, over-exposing Amazon affiliate links, etc. It worked for about 6-9 months, and then, overnight, my monthly earnings went from a few thousand to a few hundred. The value in this lesson cannot be overstated. You don’t know where the edge of the cliff is until you fall off, and I fell hard, never to recover.
By now I had built enough personal experience in the game, and built enough of a personal brand (although nobody was talking about this online) that I was contacted by a head-hunter. I was offered a position as an in-house marketer in the Chicago suburbs. Personally and professionally, it couldn’t have been better timing. I packed my stuff, and moved, and have been in the Chicago suburbs ever since.
The knowledge I gained by taking the initiative proved invaluable in my future (and current) work. Knowing some of the tricks affiliates use; knowing how to hand-code HTML; understanding the value of solid site architecture; riding the algorithm shifts up and down. All of this builds a certain level of confidence in the craft (not arrogance; two completely different things). I think I carried that confidence into my interview, and into every conversation that I’ve had about online marketing since then. Nothing breeds confidence like experience, and it was the one thing I had in spades.
And that’s how I got started in SEO. Now it’s your turn. How did you get started?
Consider creating a blog post about how you got started in the industry. Then, leave a comment below with a link to it. Of course, I won’t be disappointed if you decide to link to this article as an example. Forever a marketer, right? 
I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. What a long, strange trip indeed.
