Jobs In Seo, What else can i do? Options

[christelle]

Hey all, I have a question:

I am learning SEO on my own. I want to work with an SEO company that KNOWs what it's doing. However, in my neck of the woods, not too many people know about this industry as yet (I would be bold to say that only 5% of businesses probably even heard of SEO - that's because here, people have not caught on to marketing on the internet as yet). My question is, what other jobs can I do that are related to SEO?

We have telecommunications companies and internet service providers, banks, insurance companies etc. and things like that. Most of the website design companies do not offer SEO as a service. So can anyone suggest:

1) a position I can apply for in one of these businesses (or another), where I will be doing something that WILL be beneficial to my SEO career later on?
2) What can I do to really make use of the business available here, where although I won't be doing keyword research etc., I can still be doing/learning a skill that can give me an advantage with a true SEO company later on?

Please be very specific in responding. I'm just a bit lost because I really can't figure out how I can utilize my SEO skills when there's no SEO company in my neck of the woods.

Thanks!

[william146]

Not sure if this helps or not, but I worked my way up in my current company and eventually landed a job in the internet marketing department. After a year of learning some of the ropes with email marketing, site structure, affiliates, etc, someone in management created an SEO position which they placed me in (even though at the time I hadn't even heard of it and knew nothing). I taught myself the basics and continued to learn and experiment and have since been able to apply that knowledge to others in the company.

My point is,while there aren't any jobs that are specific to SEO where you are, maybe you can find a spot in a company's marketing department and eventually bring up the fact that the company should be focused on SEO and you should be the one to head those efforts up because you know a lot about it.

As an aside, I'm completely jealous of your location. Honeymooned in St. Maarten and fell in love with the place.

Hope I helped somewhat.

[christelle]

As an aside, I'm completely jealous of your location. Honeymooned in St. Maarten and fell in love with the place.

Awh, so you've been here? That's nice.

Oh and you did help somewhat. Perhaps getting a foot in the door of a marketing department might help me out a bit. I just might ask around about that.

Thanks!

[Jill]

Since you're in a touristy location, there should be tons of need for SEO work to be done on hotels and other tourist attraction places. You may want to knock on some doors to see if any of them would like some help optimizing their sites.

Or I'll bet if you start talking to the web design companies who are not offering SEO, they're probably getting lots of requests for it. Perhaps you could talk some into opening up an SEO division. It's crazy to be doing web design without SEO these days.

[christelle]

Or I'll bet if you start talking to the web design companies who are not offering SEO, they're probably getting lots of requests for it. Perhaps you could talk some into opening up an SEO division. It's crazy to be doing web design without SEO these days.

I will definitely consider this, as you really just gave me a brilliant idea. My main concern is that since I am still a beginner and there aren't people in these businesses here who will be able to help 'train' me, how do I get them to give me a chance? I don't want them thinking "what does this amateur think she's doing"? I can't go "let me test my new SEO skills on your hotel's website, please?"

Now please allow me to ask you another question that kinda relates to your response. I want to develop a career in SEO and Internet Marketing in general.
A question popped into my head because again, where I am, really not many companies even know about SEO or the importance of marketing on the internet.

So, let's say I worked in the marketing department of a bank or insurance company, where they don't do/know about SEO. What skills might I learn that might be beneficial in an SEO career and increase my knowledge of the field? The point is that I don't want to be in the marketing department 'just to be there', especially if they don't employ online/internet marketing strategies in that department. I don't want to be taken too far away from my focus, which is SEO.

Keep in mind that I am still a learner in SEO/internet marketing and seeing that many companies here DON'T do SEO or internet marketing, I feel stuck. Take a job in the bank's marketing dept. and stray away from my beloved SEO....or not.....or maybe a little....or......I don't know. What do you think? Would you recommend a job in the bank's marketing/IT department in this case? Could it help my SEO goals?

[Jill]

I don't think that working in a bank's marketing dept. would help your SEO skills.

[Randy]

Just to throw it out there...

This may be one of those cases where it depends upon how much risk you are willing to take. I agree with Jill's hunch that there is probably more demand local for SEO/SEM services than is first evident, but that you're not seeing it simply because nobody offers such services. If you're up for the very real risks (and very real rewards) of running your own business you may want to contact some of the local web design businesses to see if they'd be willing to partner with you. So they get to then offer SEO services to their clients even though they don't have someone on staff who does it by partnering with you on projects. You could of course do the same thing with hotel properties and whatnot by going directly to the customer.

Done right, you could end up with a heck of a business and become THE recognized local authority on SEO/SEM. Sure all of those places can obtain SEO/SEM services by using offshore providers, but more often than not people will choose a local provider over someone thousands of miles away, all other things being roughly equal.

There's more risk for sure. Especially early on since you won't have anything resembling a guaranteed income. But the payoff on the back end can be quite hefty if you're up to the risk and good at what you do.

[christelle]

Thanks, Randy.


You've given me some really good ideas. Thanks everyone!

[worlddom]

You need some results under your belt to promote your services and I realise that this is chicken and egg so you need to think cleverly.

Maybe offer some pro bono SEO work to a local charity or non-profit organisation, monitor the results carefully and get local press coverage using a well written press release....and other such wicked ideas (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Obviously the main ingredient is to study fastidiously and visit all the right forums.... it's a constant learning curve.

[christelle]

Maybe offer some pro bono SEO work to a local charity or non-profit organisation, monitor the results carefully and get local press coverage using a well written press release....and other such wicked ideas (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Wicked, worlddom. Wicked!
thanks