Yes, another mentor thread.

by Banned 24 replies
28
Hi guys...

Swallowing my pride and asking for help. I've been in the business for 6 years now. I never before felt the need for a mentor. I've studied hard and I'm a workaholic. I have a good, growing, happy client base. But I want to go to another level. I want to go up

Me: I started as an in-house marketing manager for a small company and did well, so I left to freelance. I've only ever worked with brick and mortar small businesses. I want to play with the big boys and I'm at the point that my self-education has hit a wall. I need to get the technical part nailed down. My ideal mentor would be someone that is competing on a higher level and could use some free labor.

What I can bring to the table: I do get busy with my clients but I am 100% dedicated to putting my apprenticeship first. I see it as an investment. Rest assured, I will be available and willing to do the work on your terms. No selfish agenda here, I'm aware that the benefit I would get from a good mentor can't be one way. You need content? Grunt work? There is no shame in my game, let's play ball
#search engine optimization #mentor #thread
  • I need a Mentor too, willing to learn.. Any cares to help?
  • It's doubtful you'll find anyone on that level here, there's more noobs than seasoned vets.
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    • Banned
      @nest28 worth a shot though right? I know there are some successful people on here, mostly to market their services. Maybe I get lucky. Again, no shame in my game...

      @uzo awwww now they are going to mentor you not me. way to tj my mentor thread
      • [2] replies
  • Banned
    Oh lord, it's Mr. Intimidating himself

    I'm not sure. Maybe nothing. Maybe what has worked for me with my clients could work with an online business. Could it actually be that easy? I don't know why I think it would be more difficult. I mean I rank clients for very competitive local search terms... carpet cleaning etc (don't you laugh Mr. Friedman) Maybe I need to just play with it and stop looking for someone to hold my hand. Your honest opinion: is there a difference between marketing brick and mortar and marketing an online only?
    • [1] reply
    • Local SEO certainly has differences from other SEO projects. Citations are not going to do crap for you on a national level. Competition generally gets stiffer, but it's not always the case. I've worked on some local SEO projects that were far more difficult and challenging than some national projects. On the other hand, I've worked on national projects that without a $5000/month budget at minimum, you are not going to sniff page one.

      There are differences, but outside of the impact of citations in local search, a lot of the principles are really the same.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    I can be your mentor, I only charge $500/hour, sounds expensive but if you imagine what I all have to miss here in amazing Thailand cause I'm mentoring you then you would understand.
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    • Banned
      Thanks nik0, that's very sweet of you but for that kind of money I could have SAPE links to all my sites and well that would cut out the funny middleman wouldn't it? lmaooooo kidding kidding. But yes thanks for making a joke out of my insecurity and need for approval. hilarious. :p
      • [1] reply
  • Banned
    @Mike
    What about the difference between...
    Marketing a service as opposed to retail sales?
    Marketing the intangible as opposed to the tangible?

    Example: I have very little experience with adsense. whatsoever. God I said it. The focus of my local clients is direct sales of their very tangible service. Very straightforward. They don't want to otherwise monetize their sites. They want targeted traffic and lots of leads. This is easy for me, and I make a good living off it. I just keep thinking there has to be something bigger and better just around the bend. Like I'm missing out on money I could be making
    • [1] reply
    • I see what you are getting at. I thought you were still talking about companies that sell "real" products or services but just not in a local market.

      You are talking more about affiliate sites and people generating income off of AdSense only.

      Yeah, I pretty much avoid them. There are a few exceptions, but for most of them I cannot come up with a pricing structure where it is worth my time and they are still potentially going to make money on it.

      There are some making good money for lead generation, and those can work.

      If they have a MFA site, they are not someone I am going to work with... usually.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Or you can consider WF as a mentor as well.
  • I won't mentor you but one thing is, don't fake it till you make it . Just do it damnit.
  • Well, you're in a catch 22 if you ask me.

    I define sucess (in this world) by money. Call me superficial, but its the simplest measure of success that I can think of.

    And people who are highly successful (rich), tend to be 2 things:

    1) In demand
    2) Unavailable

    So the first thing you should do is be more specific. Chances are you don't need a millionairre to mentor you, just someone who makes more money than you.

    How you do define "big boys"?
    Low six figures? Mid six figures? High? (you really should aim for the lowest that would still benefit you)

    Give us a #. You don't have to tell us how much you make, but we can use reverse logic to roughly figure it out.

    If you're aiming for a 7 figure/yr earner, you'll probably be waiting the rest of your life.

    Do you have a "target mentor market"? :confused:
    Without that, you'll wind up with a thread full of speculation & useless banter.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Rather than looking for a mentor in SEO you may be better off concentrating on diversifying your skill set.

    You mention PPC which is a valuable skill. Media buying and paid traffic in general is where you'll find some of the 'big boys,' imho of course.

    The beauty of learning media buys, as an example, is the skills are transferable to every part of online business. You get a whole lot out of focusing on click throughs and conversion rates and a real understanding of how to monetize a web page from both sides of the fence. It all relates back to SEO as well.

    The game isn't SEO or media or PPC, it's traffic generation. You also don't need to be an expert in all of it but you should have a firm enough grasp of how everything ties together.

    As a business owner your job is the big picture. You can offer clients search rankings or you can offer them traffic and sales.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    Thank you all very much for the excellent advice. I was fortunate enough to find a couple of very good contacts, one was exactly the one I wanted to make

    This is an example of wf at it's best, I help when I can and when I asked for help you all were here I'm getting the warm fuzzies I am always looking to talk shop, anyone that's up for skype is more than welcome. Again, thank you guys!!
  • slave labor is always good...
    i think i probably messed up at least 30 domains before i said,

    i know seo

    it seems like you want to really get into seo, seems like you found a guy that's cool. in my opinion ppc is so much more of a science than seo, god i miss ppc.

    i hear you about wanting to learn, i try to learn everyday, god i even force myself to watch horrible matt cutts videos... you know how cringing it is to see that dolt try to make a joke, and then laugh himself silly? ugh (but sadly you do find a tiny nugget here and there).
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    Is your service free of charge
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    Yes, another mentor thread.

    Hi guys... Swallowing my pride and asking for help. I've been in the business for 6 years now. I never before felt the need for a mentor. I've studied hard and I'm a workaholic. I have a good, growing, happy client base. But I want to go to another level. I want to go up