“Permanent employment? This is not my cup of tea!” Joanna Vaiou obviously has found her destiny in life: Being a full-time SEO freelancer. Working from her cozy home office in the beautiful city of Athens, Joanna Vaiou enjoys the benefits of being her own boss: freedom and self-determination. But being a freelancer also means being CEO, the employee, the assistant, the salesman, the worker, the PR person, the problem solver in only one person! Let’s have a conversation with this strong and confident female freelancer – an interview with Joanna Vaiou…(1) First off, can you tell us bit about yourself!
My name is Joanna Vaiou. I am from Greece and I live in the beautiful city of Athens. I am a SEO Freelancer, running my SEO Client projects from my (home) office. I started my own SEO freelancing business during March 2013.
(2) If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the three keywords you would type in the search bar?
SEO Expert, Premium SEO Services, SEO Freelancer.
(3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer?
I always felt that I was destined to become a freelancer. It was just always my best of available options as it provides me the freedom to choose my working environment, my working hours, my payment for the service I provide, my partners in business and my projects. I love offering myself freedom of choices. Any other situation I was involved in the past, was just not “my cup of tea”. I am a full-time freelancer and administrating my SEO projects from my home office. Sometimes I discuss about potential co-operations with SEO companies who want to outsource their SEO projects to a SEO Freelancer. Before March 2013 (the time I started my own business) I worked one year as a SEO director at an agency in Greece. My relationship with SEO though goes way back in March 2009, when I started investing in all kinds of online education from USA regarding SEO and how to rank websites online. I was hooked on SEO and since then, I have never stopped investing in educating myself plus; in increasing my understanding about how Google works and becoming an as competent SEO as I humanly CAN. Before that, it’s like I never found any meaning in anything I did, so I prefer to only talk about the “After SEO” era of my life and not the “Before SEO” one. It has literally changed my life. I managed to start my own business after 4 years of non-stop investments in premium SEO education and lots of sacrifices in terms of personal time and “LIFE”.
(4) What kind of services have your clients asked you to provide?
Client requests vary. Only few of them know clearly from the start what they want (best scenario ? for example ranking in top page of Google SEO results for their service keyword etc). Most of the times, clients don’t know what they can have or want until I show it to them. SEO is still very “BLUR” as a service so inevitably I always conduct some kind of private seminars for them to understand what they are buying and why.
(5) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess?
When it comes to hardcore SEO, I don’t use other freelancers. The only exception to that is when I need new content written for niches that I don’t have the time or the knowledge to cover by myself. When I need a freelancer, I usually search on Linkedin.
(6) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services?
Yes I do have a website at Joanna Vaiou. Though, my most common ways to find clients is through Social Media like Google+, Facebook and Linkedin. Sometimes I send cold emails or perform paid campaigns on Facebook or Linkedin. And some other times, people that have worked with me in the past send me referrals.
(7) What about freelancermap.com? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with our IT-network?
Well, I am still very new to freelancermap network. Despite my “freshness” though I must say that it feels like a valid and serious network (I sense positive vibes) that could add to my portfolio of successful SEO projects and allow me to help new clients to:
- Be seen
- Be heard and
- Be seriously taken into account while their tomorrow’s clients and customers are looking for their services and products through the search engines.
(8) How do you set yourself apart from your competitors? What makes you special?
I offer specialized SEO using premium strategies that a small business owner cannot probably afford. This is why I don’t take on low budget projects and I don’t accept niches that have low revenue per individual conversion. In SEO, be aware that “Clients Get What They Pay For”. If a client looks for “Cheap SEO” then they will probably end up with a Google penalty and “kiss top Google rankings goodbye”. Either than that, chemistry and common understanding when it comes to SEO, working together and the procedures required is absolutely very important to me. Chemistry must be GREAT or else there won’t be a deal. Life is too short to not having fun while working.
(9) What are the top three books, blogs or magazines you read to stay up to date in the IT-market?
- Techcrunch
- Search Engine Journal
- Mashable
(10) Freestyle! Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?
To the mates who are inspired to become SEO freelancers:
Make sure you can handle it: Being responsible for your income and lifestyle is AWESOME! But for most is challenging… For good or bad, you need to be very strong, confident and improve yourself personally and professionally every single day. You’ll be the CEO, the employee, the assistant, the salesman, the worker, the PR person, the problems solver, ALL THESE Personalities in ONE!
You Will Be the Product – You Will Be the Service that your clients buy in the end. So be awesome, responsible and unique!
Best,
Joanna Vaiou
jo@joannavaiou.com
SEO Premium Service Provider
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Where to find Joanna Vaiou?
- Freelancer profile: http://www.freelancermap.com/freelancers-directory/freelancer-profiles/marketing/93006-profil-joanna-vaiou-premium-seo-service-provider-aus-athens.html
- Website: http://JoannaVaiou.com
- Skype: joanna.vaiou
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joannavaiou
The interview was conducted by Doreen Schollmeier – freelancermap.com team.
Pic: © Joanna Vaiou
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