If you have ever done any research on backlinks, chances are you are familiar with the name Brian Dean. He is the founder of Backlinko, a website that provides case studies and strategies on how to generate backlinks the right way. He is a recognized SEO expert and if you type in any keyword related to backlinks, you will see his website at the top of search results.
Dean has not always been a successful entrepreneur. Just like many other entrepreneurs, he failed many times before finding success. He took the time to share some of these successes and failures with me to help others who may be trying to find the “right way” to do SEO.
Dean's experience show us what can happen if you travel into the world of black-hat SEO. He is also the perfect example of what can happen if you implement ethical SEO techniques, such as those he teaches at Backlinko.
From Medical School to Entrepreneurship
When it comes to SEO, I have become somewhat of a Brian Dean stalker. Fortunately for him, he doesn't stay in one place long enough for me to find him in person. He travels the world visiting places that you and I will only dream of, all the while working remotely to keep up with his training business. But, it wasn't always that way.
Dean earned his undergraduate degree in nutrition from the University of Rhode Island, and then his master's degree in nutrition from Tufts. “At that point I really wanted to become a professor,” says Dean. “I'd worked on human clinical trials at Tufts and loved the science of it all.” He then entered a PhD program at Purdue.
“I ended up hating it,” recalls Dean. “I didn't like living in Indiana and my advisor turned out to be a jerk. So, I decided to quit my PhD program and get a job as a dietitian. Unfortunately, this was 2008 and the heart of the financial crisis. Getting a job was a tall task, especially for a new graduate with very little experience.”
It was The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss that got Dean started on his path to entrepreneurship.
The Dietitian Becomes a Freelancer
Soon after reading Ferriss's book, Dean began to create his first information product, an e-book about back pain. Unfortunately, he had also landed a full-time job as a dietitian which cut into his writing time.
“Due to the fact I had a full-time job, my e-book business struggled,” states Dean, who ended up hiring writers from Elance to help him create content. “I wasn't impressed with their writing and I thought to myself, I could totally do better than these guys! So I started writing for clients on Elance which wasn't the four-hour workweek lifestyle I was looking for, but it paid the bills to the point I could quit my job.”
Dean continued to work on his “lifestyle” niche business, including creating multiple niche websites. He also took on the role of a freelancer for Livestrong, writing 12 articles per day for the fitness website.
From Google Panda to Backlinko
Dean quit working with his Elance clients to focus solely on writing for Livestrong and creating content for his own websites. “I got into the whole 'niche website' craze of 2009/2010 and built over 150 websites at one point,” states Dean. “All of them were one page exact match domains, so I initially became interested in SEO as a way to make a passive income.”
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