a company here is hiring an internship SEO specialist

Status
Not open for further replies.
U

ubaidabcd

Banned
Dec 12, 2006
1,030
7
0
I saw a job listing from a local web design company looking to hire somebody with basic SEO skills. I e-mailed them explained to them how I've gotten into internet marketing, and I understand the basics of SEO. Although I haven't been able to apply these skills yet, since I'm still working on content and designs for my websites and I need extra income to invest into them. I told them about how much this business is interesting to me, and how I want to continue to learn this, etc.. etc.. So they're bringing me in for an interview.

I really want this job, since it will really help me develop my seo skills and I'll be around internet marketing all the time. The time that I spend learning this is really important, that's the only way I'll improve. I haven't gotten a job since I started this since I'm always learning something new everyday and with a fulltime, what I'm learning would drastically decrease. I've actually walked out of 2 jobs recently since there was too much work and I wouldn't be able to have spare time on the net which would be spent learning IM.

Then I couldn't believe I saw this offer an internship SEO specialist?!?!?!! I told them this would be a dream job to me. To me, how I well I do at their company would be a reflection of my future in internet marketing.

I want to learn as much about SEO as possible by next week, can anybody send me to "must-have" links, articles, etc... So that I can get this job? I've recently been reading up on this myself due to those websites I'm planning, but anything additional would be helpful. I've been reading SEOMike's Wickedfire's guide to SEO and all that information seems basic to me and easy to understand. So, I think I have the basics down. That's all they want is basic SEO skills they're paying $15 /hr, professional SEO skills cost so much more than that.

The only part about SEO that I don't understand is, that apparently links are the best way to get ranked especially inbound links (pageranks taken into account). So if you're providing SEO services do you have to find different links for each site? How can you provide the same SEO service to everybody? Not everybody can rank in 1st. Somebody's website you design has to be better than anothers correct? The main problem here is that this company designs websites only for one niche (dental), so all their customers are competing with each other correct? How am I supposed to SEO everybody's site in the same niche? The point of SEO is to rank the highest in search engines. So, which site is going to rank the highest how will this be determined? All the sites are basically the same, they all provide the same services.

I'm guessing they won't be going that deep into SEO with getting links due to the salary they're paying since they seem to have many websites coming in, spending that much time on getting links would slow down their turn-over.


Any additional advise would be appreciated


Thanks
 


Or if you think since I haven't had experience with applying SEO to a site, and I'll probably end up making a fool of myself acting like I know what I'm doing at the interview, let me know. I didn't lie to them and not planning on lying about anything.

Understanding the definitions and what are the basics of SEO and being able to effectively apply those skills to a website successfully is a big difference
 
- Are you going to get your own cubicle or are you working from home?
- How old are you?
- Where is this company based relative to you?

- Keep up the passionate spirit. Intern + Passion is what a company wants in its intern. - The desire to LEARN. You'll be expected to learn on the job, and while you're sitting in your cubicle, they won't care if you spend some time reading up on SEO and SEO blogs and the like. Passion and the desire to learn are your biggest selling points and will be the reasons you get snatched up. If you GRASP SEO - just the fundamentals - but show the willingness to EXTEND that grasp, you are the ideal intern.

- As a basic SEO service, you'll be looking at basic shit like Title, Desc, Content keywords, Anchor tags. If your employer (supervisor) doesn't know THAT much about SEO, keep everything ABSTRACT. Exaggerate the utility of your SEO-related page edits. Add a defined WIDTH and HEIGHT for the page's images and explain how that increases Google's ability to index your image. Does that really matter? Not really. But it definitely makes you appear more knowledgeable of SEO than someone who didn't know that.

- Keep a journal/log of your fixes. I worked as a web developer for a local VOIP firm (30 employees). I worked in my own cubicle. My sole responsibility at the beginnign was to get the website cross-browser compatible. It was like solving a puzzle. I panicked at the beginning because I'd try this and try that ALL DAY and nothing word work. And then I would finally fix it a few days later. I worried that someone would see my lack of initial results and think taht I'm goofing around the whole time. I started a Journal and each day I dated a new page and wrote down the problems I'd find and every strategy I tried to fix it. This helped me track my own progress and best of all, I had proof of my work. I suggest logging your personal accomplishments per project.

- They're looking for an INTERN. REMEMBER THAT. You won't be acting like a fool at all. You can almost EXPECT to be the most PASSIONATE interviewer they will have if you keep up the spirit I see in this post.

- Don't lie to them. That's a good promise to keep. Executing websites and STICKING to them IS a difficult easier-said-than-done deal. Doesn't matter that you don't have an extensive SEO portfolio, but it does matter that you're currently working on your own projects and that you're excited about them.

- As for providing the same SEO for all clients, produce a basic LIST of SEO to do on ANY PAGE. Produce this yourself from waht you read abiut SEO and continually add to it as you become more knowledgable. Having a list is a MUCH better strategy than arbitrarily injecting random SEO "fixes" to a page. Get a checklist. I'll give you #1 on that list: Analyze the page's Title. Now start looking at their content keyword density, their URL, etc. Change relative anchors (href=contact.php) to absolute anchors (href=http://domain.com/contact.php).. etc etc. Acquiring a structural method of completing duties is probably one of the most salutary pieces of advice I can give you.

- Don't worry about "cramming" SEO knowledge. Learn on the job. They're cool with that. Remember you're a fucking intern. If it takes you FIVE HOURS to do something it would take ONE HOUR for someone paid $150/hour to do... you're still TEN FUCKING TIMES CHEAPER and you've got to look at it in that perspective. If you're a teenager and you're passionate and you're honest and you have a work ethic... The. Company. Is. Getting. A. Fucking. STEAL. $15 an hour? I wipe my ASS with Benjamins.
 
Dont worry about the interview too much. If you have good questions here you might as well ask them there too. The competition in dental is a good one. Maybe they add regional twist to keywords.

Dentist in New York
Los Angeles Dentist

Maybe they add specialities
Orthodontist
Surgeon
Childrens

Just be honest and eager, thats what most companies want and is so difficult to train. And dont get too nervous, make sure to ask them questions too. Some of these SEO interviews are just people picking your brain or at least that is my experience. But you dont have tons of expereince maybe they are realing looking.
 
Wasn't there some other guy here who JUST quit some company that only made dental websites who said it was absolutely horrible?
 
An absolutely horrible job to someone who could be making 10x the cash doing there own thing vs. working for someone else could be a dream job for someone who is passionate about learning the business.

I'd love to take a job like that at this point in my life. SEO, SEM, even being an affiliate manager would be awesome for me at this point. I sell pianos. I don't enjoy selling pianos, I sell pianos to eat. And in my free time I learn and work on my own projects. I'd jump at the chance to get a full time gig where I get to learn and apply and see results on the job.
 
Congrats! Sounds like you are really excited. If you are young, I think this is a great start. If you do go for it, spend time observing the way the whole business works - it will help you tremendously when YOU are the one running the show.

ubaidabcd said:
The point of SEO is to rank the highest in search engines. So, which site is going to rank the highest how will this be determined? All the sites are basically the same, they all provide the same services.
Click to expand...

Okay, this is easy.

There would be no reason for each of these sites to rank for "dentist" or "teeth" or something. That would be totally useless.

You can actually have a little fun if you are SEOing for local dentist offices. You just have to think a little bit differently than how most sites do things. Here's an example:

Dr. Bob works in Austin. He wants his site to be the first site that comes up when anyone in Austin looks for a dentist online. Think about what they would use to search. They would use location names, 'dentist', teeth cleaning, veneers, etc. Whatever services he offers. Obviously, with how they build out the site, you can have a page + content for each service. and be very specific with your on-page SEO. You can do things like add slang or neighborhood names - even places not local, but in the same town. For example, here, you could have Austin, North Austin, South Austin, SoCo, Downtown Austin, Central Austin, etc. These are all ways that people describe neighborhoods, and it's fairly likely that his dental competition isn't listing them all on their site. And of course, the contact info is way more obvious than a non-local site - ie. every page.

Once you have done that, you can focus on off-site stuff. There are a TON of local level directories for various things. Sites like CitySearch.com all the way to actual doctor directories. Some of these sites allow you to customize your listing page and get reviews from patients. Make sure you are listed in EVERY site that has any sort of natural rankings. Usually it's as simple as adding the information to the site, but sometimes there is a fee. Do a lot of local searches and see what comes up. That's where you want to be.

There are a ton of other things that you can do, but this is a good start. :)

Here's what I would do if you want the job:

Take some time and prepare an entire marketing plan that you would execute for each site. It doesn't matter that you aren't sure what exactly they want from you (ie. link building or just on-page SEO).

WAY OVERDO IT.

If nothing else, it will be good research for you. Come up with an executable plan for each new client. Write down, step by step, exactly what you would do on-page and exactly what sites you would make sure the client was listed on. Show how you would track progress, like on an example spreadsheet. Show how you would submit reports to your boss or the client. Make it all look pretty.

Prepare a marketing packet that they can distribute to potential clients that outlines your SEO services. Fill it with lots of special-sounding jargon, but don't lay everything out completely. Create an example sheet of made up results for past clients. Take some screenshots or something. Really make it look good and make sure they know that it can be sent via email or placed on the site to download. Show them that you are already invested in their company.

The point here is that if you do all this, you will at least have some clue by the time that you get in there. You will also set yourself apart from every other applicant. Then send a follow-up note. :)

Search Google for +local +seo and read what comes up. That should help you come up with a great presentation for them.

Good luck, report back. :)
 
Laura speaks the truth. I've hired people in web dev, SEO, design, and other skills, and honestly the one that shows up with the best interview presentation is the winner. If you walk in there with a 5+ page report on your opinion of their site and their current strategy and a list of things you would do to improve their bottom line, I can almost guarantee you'll get it.

The trick to selling them your SEO skills is to be as honest as possible, and also remember to not just tell them what you think they want to hear. You should tell them honestly that you have some experience, but you have a great deal left to learn but you're eager to learn it. You should remind them that organic search engine optimization is more art than science, and that nobody can guarantee any level of success beyond simply doing the best for the company's interests.

Go in to the interview prepared and optimistic, and you should be good to go.

Good luck!
 
Why would you want to work for someone else? Make someone else rich? Fuck that. If you want to learn SEO, cool. Do it yourself and be an independent contractor and hire yourself out to these companies as a consultant. Sure, it's more work at first, but the overall payout will be much higher.

Don't mean to be an asshole here, just shedding some light. If you really want that SEO job, I wish you the best of luck. :) SEO isn't hard to learn. It just takes a lot of time to go through the trial and error.
 
Thanks for everybody's advise! Laura, that's a really good post with important information that can help me tremendously. I'll definately work on a presentation, they have samples of websites they've created on their site, I'll pick one and make a presentation.

MyOwnDemon - I have bills to pay, and have to get a job no matter what. I'm still new to internet marketing and it's not paying the bills. So, instead of getting another full time job where I work 8 hrs., doing something I don't like as much. I'd rather get paid for something I like to do and improve my SEO skills at the same time. I would be able to put these skills to my own projects, the more time I spend with IM then the further I'll progress.
 
ubaidabcd said:
MyOwnDemon - I have bills to pay, and have to get a job no matter what. I'm still new to internet marketing and it's not paying the bills. So, instead of getting another full time job where I work 8 hrs., doing something I don't like as much. I'd rather get paid for something I like to do and improve my SEO skills at the same time. I would be able to put these skills to my own projects, the more time I spend with IM then the further I'll progress.
Click to expand...

Glad I could help. :) And don't feel like you have to justify getting a 'job.' Just figure out what you want in life and go for it. If you want to be totally self-employed at some point, you will get there.
 
There is so much to learn about PROPER SEO and Internet marketing that someone coming into the game now will have a harder time learning.

I have spent the last 6 years as a Internet Marketing Director, and I spent the 6 years before that doing lower level SEO, email marketing, link building, etc.. along with html, css, javascript, php, consultanting, etc.

Here is what I would do to get caught up fast... learn how to research. This means keyword research ( LSI, related keywords, keywords people use to find sites, long tail ), SERP research ( whats changing in the result pages besides where listings are at ), industry research ( reading industry blogs, going to seminars, conducting your own research thru trial and error ).

Also don't trust everything everyone says, you will get busy being confused and not doing work. Then you will box yourself into one mentality and it will hurt you in your efforts. Experiment and test your own theories, but do it smart.

You really need a solid background on what has happened in SEO in the past, so you are not doomed to make the mistakes others made. Knowing what worked/didnt work in the past with SEO as an industry gives you a more solid insight into how SEO is changing in the future.

Take some time and go thru all of the services Google offers, Yahoo offers, and MSN offers and ask yourself how these services help make Google/Yahoo/MSN better to the user.. and lots of times you can how these services can actually get you good rankings in their SERP's too. Each and every service they offer is designed to help their users and can be used to help you rank better actually. As an example, I said a long time ago that Google would be including results from their Maps/Local service, Froogle, and other services into their general results, and guess what.. it happened. Being early to the game thru your own research will help you a lot.

Also learn how to not worry about what traffic Myspace, Blogger, Facebook and bring you directly.. but how those links from those sites can increase and help your organic rankings in SERP's, think of everything as 'just a link' to help you out at first.

Randomness and Relevance are your biggest 2 friends when it comes to SEO.

Internet marketing is a great industry, I am making 6 figures a year and I am under 30 working for companies from home and setting my own hours. I spend time with my family, travel, and do things none of my friends can because of it. I also am doing a lot more work for myself to build up my own sites and company I own.

Real SEO's don't have clients as they can make much more on their own then working for others.
 
Well just to report back,

I didn't get the job, I think it's either since I didn't "overdo it", or they found somebody else that had experience in SEO. I left out reporting, I've been working 12+ hrs., last 14 days doing some odd jobs to make bills. I had to take a day off just to do the report I did. I did get several compliments on the report, and thought I had the job. I asked the interviewer at the end what they thought of the report, and what they would add change, etc.., they said everything I had in there is what they do, except for reporting which I left out. He even said I would definately hear from them by Monday. He asked me, "how much of this have you actually done", which I told him none, since I wanted to be honest and not have them expect me to do anything I didn't know. In the report, I described everything I would do for a dental site, from researching competitors, keywords I would create, backlinks, directories I would submit to, etc.. how to get high up in SERPs, what to avoid to not get a negative penalty. Everything except for reporting, I just indicated "google analytics", and Web CEO (which I haven't gotten into yet).

I am disapointed that I didn't get the job, I think it would have really helped me. I really needed that discipline, drive and motivation that would have helped me out with this job. Always working on projects related to SEO and affiliate marketing. Working on my own, I'm always constantly finding myself doing things I shouldn't be, reading forums and what-not, or just wasting time. I've been planning these websites that I want to SEO and work on since early this month and I just keep putting things off.

Anyway, I'm going to try to continue to do things myself, thanks to this site and others with all the information I've been learning since I really got into affiliate marketing 2 months ago, this month I made close to $3K more than I've made at any job I've had. So, I'm going to continue doing things myself and hope it works out.

Thanks for everybodys advise. Laura, that was a really good post, I really should have overdone it.
 
Aww, don't be so hard on yourself. If you feel like you did the best you could have given what you have going on in your life, you should feel good about it.

I bet doing the report was good practice and hopefully you learned a few things. :)

The only difference between the people who make it in this business and the people who fail is that the former didn't quit. That's all there is to it. If you can just stick with it and not let stuff like this take you down, you are already doing far better than most people.

Congrats on putting yourself out there to try and get the job. Trying and failing is much, much better than if you never went there to interview at all. You knew you weren't qualified but you did it anyway - to me that a huge deal.

Laura :)
 
yeah man don't sweat it. one recommendation if you find yourself procrastinating a lot - buy this motherfucking book!

EAT THAT FROG!
(non aff link obv)
 
Laura said:
The only difference between the people who make it in this business and the people who fail is that the former didn't quit. That's all there is to it. If you can just stick with it and not let stuff like this take you down, you are already doing far better than most people.
Click to expand...

So so so so so true. Listen man, you might not make it out of the gate sometimes. I have many, many similar stories. Even today after 13 years of web dev. and over 10 years of Internet marketing experience, I get turned down for jobs, even low paying ones sometimes. Even after I show them proof of my first page rankings, recommendations from past clients/employers, and other work.

It's not about experience a lot of times, but about who you know and what they think of you. I have seen people get hired for senior level IM jobs in my town with NO EXPERIENCE at all ( not even a month ) and I get passed for the same job. How do I know.. because I call back and ask questions after the I get passed over. I even got turned down for low paying IM jobs because someone out of high school would take $5 an hour and I wanted more of course. People think a damn monkey can do this.. and for average results, a monkey can be trained to do it almost. But real IM is not just about SEO.

Don't beat yourself up about it man. It could be a blessing for you. After doing stuff like this for over a decade now, I find it is more profitable to work for yourself than for anyone else.

You will find that chasing something will never work, you have to let it come to you.

Build yourself a few sites, optimize them, record your results, and keep trying. I'm making more money today right now for myself, then I did at any job where someone was watching over my back all day and it did take time to get there, but it was well worth it. I even have enough time to hang out at places like Wicked Fire all day and still get paid for it.
 
Yeah don't give up and keep trying to get a job with another company. I'm not sure where you are located but I would say that there are probably other companies hiring for that kind of work.

You could also try and drum up your own business by contacting local businesses and offering your services. I would be prepared to answer their questions and have your pricing worked out in some sort of package offers with different levels for them to choose from.

Some WF users have ragged on jobs, and though I work for myself, they have their place. Especially if you are just getting started they can help you gain experience and earn money while you are setting up your own biz.

Don't give up though. Just keep working hard and you'll get there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom