My first major project to teach me the ways of search engine optimization and content creation. I used a hobby of mine, with a very specific niche and created content that enabled me to experiment with a wide range of SEO strategies.
Over the course of one year, the site grew from under 300 monthly views to more than 50,000 monthly page views and approximately 35,000 unique visitors. While it may seem like an unconventional experience, starting the site definitely helped me learn the basics of digital marketing, and got me into SEO in the first place!
Digital marketing is difficult to learn in schools nowadays, since most universities don’t offer courses in things like SEM, SEO, or content marketing. That’s why I took the initiative to learn on my own, and gain hands on experience with this project. Not only was it a productive way to pass the time, but it even helped me hone my writing abilities!
Specific duties and achievements for this project include:
Search Engine Optimization
- On-page optimization for long-tail keywords which resulted in higher search visibility
- Backlinking Strategy – created links on other sites within the niche to have a relevant and diverse link profile
- Utilized various digital marketing tools including ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, Google Keyword Planner, Webmaster Tools, Analytics, ScreamingFrog, and WordPress to audit performance
- Grew organic search traffic, averaging between 3000 to 6000 search queries a week
From January 1, 2014 – January 31, 2015. The site grew to over 50,000 page views, and nearly 40,000 sessions per month
Content Creation
- Published over 200 articles over the course of a year
- Created a wide variety of content, ranging from reviews to viral articles
- Optimize images to reduce page load speed and bandwidth usage
