Anyone fresher is bound to make mistakes but you can avoid most of them by identifying what could go wrong. SEO is an ever changing field that sees new trends constantly. If you have chosen to provide SEO services as a career, make sure you avoid the potential mistakes. And you always have to be flexible with your strategies whether you are a newbie or a seasoned SEO consultant.
Here are the 6 common mistakes rookies make:
1. Trying Same Strategies
If you keep repeating your strategies, you will fail. With time you need to come up with new strategies and better plans. SEO takes time and you have to accept that. It does not depend on flukes. You must analyze different strategies by using tools. The digital world is continuously evolving, so what may have worked once may not work again.
2. Rigidity about Services
If a client asks you for services that were not agreed upon in the beginning, do not turn it down immediately. Additional services should be catered to if they help improve the SEO. Also, as a beginner you should not be too stubborn with the services as you are working to make the clients permanent.
3. Not Being Honest with your Client
Being honest to your client can mean two different things here. You need to own up your mistakes, should you make some. Also, you need to give your client your honest and impartial opinion. Remember, you are the SEO person who knows what goes around, not the client. If you think, something that the client is suggesting will not turn out well, say it!
4. Not Keeping Up
You have to keep up with the changing trends in the SEO game. Search engines are getting smarter day by day and that only adds more work at your end. Keep yourself updated about the latest antics of the search engines. Keep eyes and ears open about what is new in the SEO circle, for example, you can attend workshops and seminars.
5. Overdoing
Yes you are a newbie and you want to show the world just how good you are but too much of anything is not good. Do not take shortcuts like keyword stuffing or buying back links. It will only backfire as too much of optimization can lead to penalties. Search engines can detect cheap back links and that means trouble. Instead of stuffing keywords, try finding derivatives of these keywords.
6. Not Valuing the Current Client
At the end of the day, as an SEO services provider, you yourself are a business as well and you need to retain clients. Like any other business, you must ensure that your clientele is strong and loyal. SEO is a big market and the competition is too much. If you want to succeed and keep making money, you need to focus on your client as well. Ostensibly, the clients will only stay if you provide them what they want. And for that you have to think out of the box at times.