Note: I wrote this article as a feature in the September 2008 SEMPO Institute monthly e-newsletter. In it I discuss several common questions the Onward Search team receives from candidates who are interested in entering search marketing as a new career.
Job seekers who are looking to enter the search marketing industry often ask the question: “How do I get started?” Here are five tips that I recommend to all new entrants to the industry:
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Read, Read, Read!: Search marketers are some of the most prolific bloggers on the internet. Fire up your favorite RSS Reader and start reading about what is going on in the industry, the debates around SEO tactics, and other hot topics. It is one of the best ways to learn -- and learn quickly. There are dozens of great sites, but a couple places to get started include:
SEOmoz,
Search Engine Land,
Search Engine Journal,
Sphinn, and
Search Engine Watch.
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Complete a Training or Certification Course: If you have never worked in search marketing, training programs such as
SEMPO’s Insider’s Guide to SEM, provide an excellent program to get you started. Having completed a training program makes you more marketable to your future employer as it both demonstrates that you are serious about search marketing as a career and differentiates you from other “new” candidates because you come in with a base level of SEO knowledge.
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Develop a Site to Demonstrate Your SEO Skills: As a new search marketer, employers are not going to expect you to have a resume that demonstrates dramatic success with a Fortune 500 company website. However, if you can show a simple project where you implemented search marketing techniques it demonstrates your initiative, ability to be a self-starter, and passion for the field. This “example site” could be anything from a personal website, to helping a family member with their business, to doing pro-bono work for a non-profit or other local business.
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Manage Your Personal Brand: Corporate recruiters will Google you to see what they can find about you online. If the page one results show a personal website that is indexed and/or your LinkedIn, Sphinn, or SEOmoz profiles, it demonstrates that you have successfully applied search marketing techniques to your own personal brand. This is a nice win for you. Conversely, if a social networking page shows up with less than flattering content, it is a negative. Make sure you do a review of your personal brand before you start interviewing.
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Identify the Right Job: Your goal for your first search marketing job should be to get into an environment where you can learn and gain as much experience in as short of a time as you can. Your goal should not be to hit your career compensation goal. That will come later. Find a company or agency with a good reputation that will maximize training opportunities (whether internal or external), expose you to a wide variety of search marketing projects, and arm you with knowledge that will drive your career.
Search marketing is one of the hottest industries in the economy today and is a great place to be. Hopefully these tips will assist you in your job search and help you get started on what will be a terrific long-term career.
