Initially, I had no background, no idea what SEO was, and there was no “right” starting point.
But suddenly that day, not knowing what was wrong, I made a decision that changed my life.
From that moment on, my life trajectory began to deviate from the original track and embarked on a path leading to SEO.
At the time, no one told me what to do, and I had no idea that this would be a turning point in my career.
Today I would like to share with you how I started from scratch, started writing movie reviews, stumbled into the field of SEO, and received the first case in my life.
I hope this article today can help anyone who wants to pursue their dreams.
I want to tell you, don’t be afraid to start, just take that step first. Even if it is a very small step, it may be the starting point to achieve your future dreams.
At first, I just wanted to share good movies with everyone
At first, I just wanted to share good movies with everyone.
As a senior in college at the time, I couldn't sleep at two or three in the middle of the night.
At this time, I was lying on the bed, and suddenly an idea came to my mind, and I sat up with my eyes lit up.
"Let me create an Instagram account and share my favorite movies with everyone!"
At that time, IG self-media was not very popular (10 years ago?)
So, when I decided to open an Instagram account, I was quite nervous!
However, I have a rather impulsive personality and would feel very uncomfortable if I don’t do what I want to do.
So, I built it for him anyway!
Unexpectedly, my life trajectory began to deviate from the original track and embarked on a path leading to SEO cases.
From that time on, I watched movies seriously and wrote about my experiences.
I have a really bad memory (I guess I have ADHD), so it’s really hard for me to watch a movie in the theater and then go back and write an article.
Every time I see a good line in the cinema, I keep thinking about it in my mind to memorize it hahahaha
When you leave the cinema, you should immediately open the notepad on your phone and write down all the plots, details, etc. in the movie.
At that time, I also met a few friends who were running movie accounts, and we went to watch a few movies together. It was quite a special experience!
When I first received the invitation
I still remember the first time I received an invitation from a film company
When I saw the message popping up, I screamed and jumped in surprise.
The friends on the side were simply frightened and wanted to know what happened.
Later, more film companies approached me to write film reviews, and even Universal Pictures Taiwan
Every time I receive an invitation, I feel flattered. I feel like I don’t have the material.
But being very competitive, I still bite the bullet: Just do it!
At the beginning, I didn’t even know what SEO was
The articles I wrote at the beginning can be said to be very casual.
Most of the articles without any concept of SEO are written with emotions.
(*SEO articles: Only if you write articles that Google can understand will they rank on the first page of Google)
Take a look at the attached picture. The titles of my previous movie reviews were terrible.
I always use titles that are too emotional, such as "Rivers of Blood Just for Pleasure", "Such Thunder", "Superficial but Fatal Attraction", etc.
I can’t bear to look back now, hahahaha
But in the later stages, I wrote more and more articles and learned from various random attempts.
- I discovered that every movie review listed on the first page of Google had a similar structure. This was the first time I learned that I could refer to the model student articles on the first page and learn from them.
- I found that no matter whether in the main title or the subtitle, everyone will always refer to the name of the movie - this is the first time I learned that keywords should always be included.
- I discovered that some people's movie reviews appeared when searching for images - this was the first time I learned that original images can also be optimized.
In my random attempts, I discovered that many things seemed to have a set of rules.
Therefore, I plan to give it a try in my next article. If I follow this rule, will I have a chance to be ranked on the first page?
If I follow these rules and write an article, will I have a chance to be ranked on the first page?
I started to pay attention to the big and small titles, and started to put the movie titles in the article several times.
I tried this several times, several times. I found that my articles started to be read by people slowly.
I was shocked when I saw it. It felt like discovering a new world for the first time. I started to check a lot of information and found out:
"Ah, this is the famous SEO."
This is how I met SEO.
How does a novice start talking to others about taking on cases?
In addition to film reviews, I also started writing about interviews and sharing experiences in the technology industry.
At this time, I also discovered that I was actually very interested in writing other things.
When will you start taking cases? Because I have a design background, I have joined some Facebook clubs for accepting projects.
I still remember the first time I saw the "Writer Recruitment" in the club.
"Or, should I come and vote?"
"I write movie reviews, can I do that?"
"This is about e-commerce, can I do it?"
"What the hell, it's free to submit your resume."
I started to sort out everything I had written in the past, including movie reviews, experience sharing, etc.
I will sort out anything and any text that I think is related to "SEO articles".
At that time, I shamelessly complained about the shortage of writers in some societies.
Unexpectedly, I received a reply
I voted for so many, so many shortfalls, that I even forgot what I voted for (don’t learn from me)
I was in graduate school at the time, and my studies were quite heavy, and I also had papers to catch up on, so I didn’t pay much attention to whether I received a reply.
But just when I almost forgot about it, one day, a new letter "xx Technology Cooperation Invitation" popped up...
"Hello! Do you have time to write an article recently?"
The letter mentioned that I would like my help in writing e-commerce product recommendations.
Their articles need to be about 1,500-2,000 words, and the fee for an article is 500 yuan.
Yeah, it doesn’t really look like much. But I picked it up anyway.
The CP value of my first case was not high, but I still took it.
Now many people may have used ChatGPT and know that it is very fast to use AI to write an article.
But in that era before AI, each article was typed word by word by myself.
Especially since I am a newbie, writing an article takes a lot of time. After evaluating the time, it is really not cost-effective.
Finally, I decided to take it because I have no experience and no works, and some colleagues may scold me for ruining the market.
However, as a person with no background or experience, the opportunity was in front of me, so of course I grabbed it!
Even if I do it again, I will do the same thing.
But when I actually started writing, I realized that I was extremely weak.
Instead of writing movie reviews or content that I am good at, I write about "e-commerce" product introductions that I have never written before.
Before I started writing, I spent several hours looking for information, and writing an article may take me a whole day.
However, as a result, only a few articles were ranked on the first page.
From that moment on, I made up my mind to work hard to become stronger.
At the very least, make your content worthy of your time.
I decided to throw myself into the real industry.
In the real industry, what does an SEO article represent? What do you want readers to see?
When I was in graduate school, despite the heavy coursework and thesis hell, I still tried hard to apply for internships, especially those related to marketing and SEO.
Only when you are in the industry can you best know what the article you write is trying to achieve.
In the past, I was still stuck in the way I wrote essays when I was a student. I thought that the dividends accumulated at that time could be used in SEO articles.
Wow, that was so wrong XD
When I was at the Public Welfare Communication Foundation, I learned how to write an interview-type article.
I just found out what regulations need to be followed in the original NPO-related articles.
When I was interning at GoSky, I learned how to write articles for companies.
Only then did I realize that it wasn’t just about writing articles. It was also the first time I encountered WordPress, and I realized that I still had to do so many settings in the background.
When I was interning at Shopee, I realized how many things and departments were involved in setting up a blog.
Only then did I realize that I can also use various current affairs articles to guide blog traffic, and it’s not just about writing content related to the product itself.
I also decided to find a platform to practice more and try more.
At that time, I saw Medium for the first time and fell in love immediately. As a person with a design background, I just couldn’t put it down.
However, Medium made me feel too good about myself, but it was actually very problematic.
So, I later made up my mind to set up a website directly.
(I will have the opportunity to share with you the process of setting up the website in the future)
After setting up the website, it will be my portfolio
Since I started writing articles online, many people have sent me letters to ask me questions or communicate.
At that time, whenever I received a letter, my heart would always tremble a little: "Ah, someone will read my article."
At the same time, some owners will also find me through Google, asking for advice or cooperation.
To be honest, I am very touched every time I receive it.
Because it means someone really read my article and it really helped him.
Moreover, this is also a recognition for me along the way.
Just an ordinary person, but I stick to the things I like
I have no experience or background, and it has been six years since I started working part-time and taking on cases full-time now.
I consider myself very lucky, and all you see is probably just survivorship bias.
But I still share with you what I have always thought:
Do something you truly love that doesn't interfere with your relaxation.
At first, I loved watching movies, so I created an IG account to write movie reviews.
But I found that as soon as I watched a movie, I felt like it was work. In addition, my memory is not good, so I need to remember it more carefully, and I can't relax properly.
Later, I often wrote articles about life and information sharing. For me, this was something I was interested in and would not affect my mood to relax, so I could do it for a long time.
Seize the opportunity whenever you get it. The biggest fear is not that you fail, but that you give up.
The research institute was extremely busy before. There was a case, $500, which required 1,500 words to be written.
Since I have no experience, I do.
Even if I had to do it again, I would still do it.
It sounds hypocritical to say it, but it is indeed these experiences that have made me who I am in the future.
I now use these experiences and cases to roll over, allowing me to get more cases.
Once, an article created by my pen was only worth 500 yuan, but today, my words can be worth 5,000 yuan.
So, along the way, the person I want to thank the most is the person from before
The self who is full of curiosity and constantly exploring "Thank you, you let me see a different world."
This is the story of how I finally entered the SEO market with no relevant background at that time.
So, concentrate on doing what you love! Maybe one day you will find that your interests can cope with your life.
in conclusion
After sharing today, I hope this article can help everyone.
If you also like to listen to stories, welcome to join meNewsletter, I will share my story with you from time to time!
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