What approach would you use if you were me?

So, you are basically saying that you are not very good at what you do.

al

I don't get it either. Your full time job is SEO but then you say you doubt you can rank pages... and you want to make a blog telling other people how to do SEO?

Mental block alert here A.

You enjoy teaching and learning and actually help clients rank but you do not feel you deserve to rank. Because fear creeps in. Masked as worthiness issues maybe, or a general unwillingness to receive what you deserve to receive. If you do this for clients you can do this for you.

Start the blog today. Or pick a domain today and buy your domain and hosting. You know how to rank on Google. The practical tips are the same, if not really similar. Just follow the advice you offer clients. Rank. Rock out your blog

I know your pain though. I have coached really really really top earning IMers on all things blogging even while I made peanuts myself. Those days stung a bit. I could help others succeed but not me. Had to embrace deep-rooted fears of running out of virtually everything, however unpleasant, to begin earning steady coin myself through my blogging efforts.

It's solely a mental block issue.

The competition does not exist. We live in abundance. Everybody has access to unlimited creative ideas, and unlimited money. Work with other SEO bloggers. Not against them. Don't fear them. Be for them. Be with them. Co-create to lift each other up. Easiest way I built my blogging career was by working specifically with guys and gals from my niche. We help each other. We act abundantly. We co-create. We do not compete.

Even if you feel that ranking for blogs is too different than trying to rank a business website, certain plug ins all but handle every detail of SEO for you. Easy peasy really. Not the ranking per se but the nitty gritty of SEO from H2 tags to meta descriptions. Yoast handles it just fine.

As for the work aspect of blogging, when you dissolve that mental block - by buying your domain and hosting - you will definitely get down to the basics of helping folks through your blog, writing thorough, detailed, keyword-rich blog posts. You will guest post and comment on authority blogs from your niche.

You will help folks on Warrior Forum and Quora.

You will gain a blogging rep, land interviews and succeed. Search traffic will flow in too as will social media traffic and traffic from your email list. All because you dove in, felt your fears around applying skills you already have, for your direct benefit, and made things happen.

You can do it. You have the tools and skills. You have done it already for other folks. Dive in. Blog.

Teach people SEO. Help them. Monetize through consulting, products and eBooks and you will grow a successful blog.

Ryan

As Ryan said you need to readjust your mindset. Of course you won't succeed with that attitude. But if you have success on a national level there is absolutely no reason why you can't do it and have success yourself. Even if the KYs may be in a different context than what you are used to.

It will work you just need to move forward and test things and get to work

- Robert Andrew

Just keep your motivation to the highest level, and just do your own, do not think about competing..

I can...with PPC.