How I Learned Too Much About SEO

This may seem like an odd title.

Can you really learn too much about SEO? Is it possible to read too many pieces of information?

In my case, yes, it really was.

When I first started out on my journey to create an SEO agency, I craved knowledge. To me knowledge was power. I learned a huge amount. I read a ton of blogs, articles and courses to take in as much as I possibly could.

I took in such a vast amount of information that I had an initial overload. I was just starting out on my journey into internet marketing and I simply froze from information paralysis. I had a new found knowledge and was simply not putting any of it into action.

How did I overcome this?

It was only once I began to actually put this information into action that I finally found a release if you like. I had to step out of my comfort zone and actually make things happen. This was the point that all of the information I had gathered actually made sense. It became a practical asset rather than just a knowledge base.

Simply put, I had to force myself to take this action. I had to motivate and almost convince myself to take actionable steps forward. This was possibly due to the fact that being in front of my screen learning how to build an agency, was a lot more comfortable than reaching out with emails and phone calls. I really believe it was the fear of rejection that allowed me to continually gather information and not act upon it.

What impact this had

Once I forcibly took action, I received a lot of phones being put down; and even more ignored emails. However I quickly learned that it did not matter.

Those that did respond and became clients were getting great results. The feedback I received was amazing and was without doubt acted as my catalyst to grow to bigger and better things. My clients were seeing ranking improvements and a more streamlined marketing campaign. They had a clear plan of action and knew where they wanted to get to.

I was able to help due to the hundreds of hours of research and studying that I had put in. Thanks to the industries leaders sharing their successes and failures; I was able to help others. Although this only became possible when I stepped out of my comfort zone, took action and made things happen.

What advice would I give anyone starting out?

All of the theory in the world is great, but it can be too much if you do not put your learnings into practice. I personally learn much better when doing. Only when actually putting the theory in motion did everything really sink in for me. Everything just became incredibly clear and made so much sense. What steps needed to be taken to move a website from the third page of a Google search result to a first page was a lot clearer.

My advice would be not to worry about making mistakes and ‘failing’.

These can truly be some of your greatest lessons. If I hadn’t made my first ranking efforts, if I did not build my first PBN, or if I had never designed my first WordPress website, then I would be in exactly the same place that I was before I started. I never would have reached out to those initial clients, I would not have helped them get more website traffic, and I would not have the successful SEO business that I have today.

Step out of your comfort zone and allow yourself to make mistakes. Empower yourself to make errors. These are lessons that will stick with you and allow you to learn. I made a lot of mistakes when starting out, in fact I still do. However I only ever make those mistakes once.

I still spend a huge amount of my week reading about SEO and studying the latest blog comments. However because I take actions and make things happen; this information is now a help rather than a hindrance.

If you have to take one thing from my journey, it is this:

Take in and learn as much as you can, and allow yourself to make mistakes; but you must take action to make things happen.

Author: Alan Allsopp is an internet marketer, and the founder of expropria.com, providing SEO for estate agents.