For First-timers .. What to Expect

I thought that I would write this post being that I am a newbie myself - (2 1/2 months to be exact) I made so many stupid mistakes and learned so many things from this Warrior forum that I thought that maybe people dabbling into SEO for the first time could read and learn from my mistakes to avoid them yourselves. I am in no way an expert, so this should not be taken as expert advice. It is merely a list of my trials and errors making my first niche site that could maybe help you beginners. In fact some of the things I point out here could be wrong. Feel free to correct me or add to this list, Warriors.
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I made a webpage for the first time after reading about Pat Flynn's Niche Challenge with Tyrone Shum. It inspired me to make my first niche site and made my first dabble into SEO. I learned so many things in the past 2 months, especially with the help of you Warriors.



To give you a sense of how clueless I was in the beginning, I created my website based on this criteria. I went into google.ca and did a search for how to become a pilot in Canada. I found that the top ranking site was 1 page html and not "seo'd" at all. I thought to myself...gee this could be easier than I thought. I checked google broad search for "how to become a pilot in canada" and saw 40,000 searches! Amazing!



After creating my site, I found warrior forum and learned about keyword research. I found out that "how to become a pilot in canada" only had about 200 EXACT searches
LESSON: Make sure you check "exact" searches on google keyword tool rather than broad searches.



I then found out...that the top ranking 1-page site was a PR 5 and 10 years old. Although that ranked page about becoming a pilot was only 1 page, the site had about 200 other pages.
LESSON: Do proper competition analysis. Don't do what I did and check google for keyword, realize that my competitor's sites did not have on-page SEO, and become excited.



I changed keywords 5 times. This is ok for newbies. You have nothing to lose for 2 reasons if you are like me...
First, my site was ranking in top 20 for "how to become a pilot in Canada." Because this only gets 200 exact searches a month, it was not worth it for me to seo and backlink to improve this ranking. I can't really expect much even if it gets to #1 spot.



I decided to try and rank for something a little more difficult: "pilot license"
After changing it is where I made one of the biggest mistakes a first-timer always makes. Being that it was a much more competitive niche, I did not see my site anywhere in the SERPS for 2 weeks.
Not seeing any real results really discouraged me and I just felt like giving up. Luckily for me, I voiced these concerns to the Warrior Forum and everybody encouraged me not to give up. I kept making backlinks and doing everything I could do improve my SEO. 2 weeks later it was found on page 33, then 16, then now 5 as of today.
LESSON: I think as newbies, we expect and desire instant results. We might write 3 1000 word articles, completely improve our on-site SEO, and make 100 backlinks manually from high-pr relevant sites... and then get extremely discouraged that our site is not moving an inch in the serps even after 5 whole days! It took a while to realize that SEO and SERPS move by weeks and months, not hours and days. This is probably the most important lesson I learned.



I think that as first-timers it is a good idea to only focus on one website. I am still learning and trying to pick up the basics. There is no need to start 5 websites and I would probably make the same mistakes across all 5 websites. We hear about experts talking about having 50 websites and it makes us want to make more and more, especially when we are not seeing results with our first site. I am not going to start a new niche site until I have completely proven to myself that I could be successful at this, or at least know what I'm doing. I think that is important for all newbies.



The google dance: I remember after changing keywords and ranking, my site would move rapidly across the SERPS day to day. At first I was so frustrated. I would see that my site had been removed and panic. Unless your site is doing this after 6 months of steady consistent behavior, do not panic.
This is so common for new sites as google tries to establish your position. I remember waking up everyday and the first thing I would do is check google to see where I am that day.
LESSON: I would always read threads about these "dances" and every Warrior would answer: just keep making quality backlinks and do not worry about it. This is so true. I think seeing our site do a "google dance" for the first time can be confusing will make us panic. Just remember that if your site is new, you will have to dance with google before being established in the SERPS. This seemed to be especially true for more competitive niches.

ALSO:
If you dont know something: Try a google search for....how to " ". It is how I learned everything about making a website in terms of using wordpress. For example..."how to add adsense in wordpress" or "how to edit header font in wordpress" or "how to wrap adsense in text" ....etc.