More About Shelley Cates, Dallas SEO Consultant & TheTruthNetwork.com
This domain was formerly TheTruthNetwork.com, which is obviously a name that has nothing to do with local SEO and website marketing. For this reason, people often used to ask me why I chose it. The answer is, it was always meant to be a place where people could connect and network with others of like mind and/or discover even greater truths about who they are and why they are here on this planet, and not what it became.
What was only meant to be a temporary use of this domain turned into something rather permanent. It became dedicated to an entirely different purpose, an internet marketing website that dominated the rankings for every major SEO related search term in Dallas for 15 years and still does.
In fact, I have been told many times that I am a local legend in the industry. This is because for at least 10 years I held the number one position on Google for “Dallas SEO” and “SEO Dallas” and no one could knock me down, no matter how hard they tried. And I dare say no one took the title from me either, I just let it go from lack of time, attention, and ambition. I stopped caring about it.
I have allowed myself to become over-extended in many ways, and have put others needs before my own for far too long now. This is because I have a hard time saying no, even when I know I should, out of a genuine desire to help and guide others. This is how TheTruthNetwork.com morphed into something it was never intended to be, and so did I.
I never planned on becoming a top dog in Dallas SEO. I was the first custom SEO service provider in Dallas, period, there were no other consultants in town when I started. I remember when I got my very first local competitor, Mark Jackson with Vizion Interactive in 2005. He gave me a call to introduce himself, and I even contemplated selling my website to him at that time, and for the same reason, to be set free to pursue my passion.
When I started out, I was only doing Dallas SEO consulting as a way to work from home and be independent, so that I could do what I’m FINALLY going to do now with my life. But then it grew and took on a life of its own. So here I am back at the beginning of the journey, just much wiser and better equipped for navigating the next phase, and with a few more tricks in my pocket.
It’s funny how life works, how it always comes back full circle again and again. You have dreams, things you are passionate about that gratify your soul, and then it happens. You get side-tracked by the world and all it demands your survival, your responsibilities grow, and you become trapped by them.
And once you give yourself over to the belief that your survival is of the utmost importance and top priority, it gains a very tight grip and becomes your master and reality. It tricks you into believing that you are not free to choose who you will be and what you will do and goats your ego into maintaining a false facade for reasons like money, status, and recognition, just to name a few.
This person who identifies herself as a “Dallas SEO Consultant,” is, in fact, a construct of my own making, one that I became enamored with and I lost myself in the role, or became stuck in a repetitive success syndrome. At heart, I am an inspirational writer with a mission to help change the world, one heart at a time.
In fact, my first website, which I started in 1999, the one I used to learn web design and search engine optimization, was a poetry and life advice website. I was a Dear Abby of sorts. On average, 25,000 new visitors per month from around the world would read it.
I received thousands of emails from people thanking me for my inspirational and motivational words, telling me how much they were helped by them; and how gifted I was at writing about complex emotional issues. But I gave up my passion and life’s work for the financial stability afforded by SEO consulting.
The demands of managing internet marketing for a couple hundred websites has consumed almost every waking moment of my life, at least 15 hours per day, 7 days a week for the past 12 years. I’ve taken no more than three vacations during this time if you can call them that.
I have to start managing my stress. I’ve gained over 50 pounds and will be 50 years old before I know it. My youngest daughter went from being born to seven in a blink. I’m in menopause and hormonal, my poor husband, need I say more? TMI? Too bad, LOL! This is my website and I can say whatever I want! Bottom line, I’m at a tipping point and need a break before I break.
I honestly hope you who know me are happy for me and wish me well. Even though I have loved working with you as your Dallas SEO consultant, I have to do this for myself. Otherwise, I’m going to find myself at the end of my life way too soon, and wondering why I never lived it the way I wanted to.
I’m not saying I will never return to offering private SEO consulting again, but for now, I am only working for my current employer and a very small group of clients who have been with me since the beginning who (for now) refuse to let me go.
It has been a pleasure serving you all through the years, and I hope you wish for me what I wish for you, every bit of happiness and success, whatever that means to you. May you “go forth and prosper” now with Best Dallas SEO as your guide!
