Who AM I

Who am I? The honest answer to this question is: I'm still figuring it out. But here's what I know for sure– I'm the type of person who spent two years grinding on copywriting, got nowhere, and then completely switched careers.

Two years of daily effort. Zero results. So, 12 months ago, I made a decision: I'm switching to SEO. No safety net, no prior experience in the industry. This is what I've learned so far— and why I'm sharing it with you.

The Content Writing False Start

When I was in undergrad, I needed money. I was desperate for any income source, so I started searching for remote jobs. I landed content writing gigs. That sounds good, right? Except I had no idea what content writing actually was.

Writing 300 words felt impossible at first. My managers and supervisors tried to help me improve, but nothing stuck. I used to read the content every single day to understand how they were writing, but still I was waiting for success. After a while, they saw no real progress, so they let me go.

That job taught me something important: I wasn't cut out for basic content writing. So I moved on. I tried language classes next, thinking maybe that was the path. It wasn't.

The Copywriting Obsession

Then came the turning point. My college announced a digital marketing training program and in one of those classes, a teacher introduced me to copywriting.

From day one, I was all in. This felt different than content writing and I wanted to learn more. I asked my teacher for courses and resources, and he hooked me up with masterclasses from top copywriters. For three months, I studied theory intensely. I was convinced this was my final career.

Then I landed a copywriting internship at an advertising agency. For three months, I wrote social media captions and brand copy and it seemed promising, but I wasn't getting real exposure to the deeper advertising work I wanted to learn.

Within two months, I realized something was missing. Maybe it was industry knowledge, or an actual copywriting skill. Whatever it was, the internship wasn't teaching me what I needed.

So I quit and decided to teach myself. I created a schedule: read copywriting books, study proven copy to understand why it worked, then write my own versions. I did this every single day for two years straight.

But here's the thing nobody tells you: practice alone doesn't build confidence. You need real-world exposure.

The Ecommerce Experiment

While practicing copywriting, my favourite niche was pets and I used to write for pet trainers. Then one of my partners came up with an idea of starting an ecommerce site together. His role was delivery and operations. Mine was content and blog writing.

I wrote constantly. I published blogs every day. I was working around the clock. But nothing happened. The site went nowhere.

The real problem? SEO. My partner had promised to teach me, but it never happened. I wrote over 70 blogs– 70– and none of them were even indexed by search engines. They were completely invisible.

That's when it hit me: I wasn't failing at writing. I was failing at SEO.

For the first time, I got genuinely curious about SEO instead of just curious about copywriting. It was a different kind of hunger. So I took over learning it myself, while my partner focused on his side. But eventually, the whole project fell apart due to lack of real support on either end.

I handed the project back to him and made a decision: go back to copywriting and start creating a new schedule and start grinding again.

Then something unexpected happened. I got referred to a content writing job with decent income. Finally, some money to survive on.

The Switch

But now I faced a real dilemma. Should I abandon two years of copywriting work and start completely fresh with SEO? Or should I stick with copywriting since I finally had a paying gig?

I chose SEO.

Sometimes I regret that decision. Two years of daily copywriting work paid me nothing. It stings. I wonder what would have happened if I'd taken that opportunity to learn SEO years ago when a friend first suggested it.

But I can't change the past. All I can do is move forward.

My First 12 Months in SEO

When I joined an SEO agency, the first week was brutal. I was handed two client accounts, and because I hadn't written content in three years, I was writing from day one.

I was rusty. Really rusty. When seniors gave feedback on my content, it felt like personal attacks. Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it hurt. Comments like "This doesn't make sense" or complete sentence rewrites made me feel like I'd forgotten how to write.

Slowly, I got used to working at my own pace. My manager started pushing me to write faster. Clients kept sending back revisions. Do you know how many times I edited one blog before publishing? Seven. Seven revisions before it was finally good enough.

Then something shifted.

I started understanding what good SEO and SEO content actually looked like. I became curious about the technical side– keywords, optimization, and importantly, how search engines actually work. The responsibility stopped feeling like pressure and started feeling like learning.

I began seeing small improvements. In my skills. In my clients' results.

Now, 12 months in, I'm genuinely loving this. Every single day is learning something new, experimenting with new tactics, and most importantly– actually seeing growth in my career. There's still so much more to learn, especially as the industry keeps evolving with AEO (answer engine optimization), GEO (generative engine optimization), and AI advancements.

But that doesn't scare me anymore. It excites me. Every day, I'm pushing myself to learn more and stay updated on trends. And that's why I'm here.

Why This Blog Exists

From today onwards, I'm sharing my experience, my learning and my real journey in the SEO industry.

You won't find polished, generic advice here. I'm not qualified to be a guru, and I don't pretend to be. What you will find is real experiments, actual results (wins and failures), and what I'm learning as I go.

If you're starting your SEO journey or thinking about a career switch, maybe my mistakes can save you some time. If you're already ahead of me, maybe you'll catch some of the mistakes I'm still making before they cost you.

This is Rojan Basnet, and this is my story so far. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm moving in the right direction. I'd love to have you along for the ride.

Thank you for reading!