How To Get SEO Job?

jriddick

Stealth Assassin
Mar 8, 2010
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I work at a job I hate while I'm trying to build up enough $ to fund my own projects. But what I'd really like to be doing is SEO or PPC, while preferably getting paid simultaneously. I've studied it a lot, but I've never had the money to keep going. I'll invest a little, but inevitable fail. I feel like I know a lot about the fundamentals and could really solidify my knowledge with a little real-world experience.

How do I get a job with a SEO/PPC company with no experience? Preferably one where I could tele-commute? I realize it's a lot to ask, but I'm curious if you guys have any advice. I would really like to work in the SEO industry and learn more, maybe make just $400-500 a week while I try to get my own projects off the ground. I need to build up a $2,000 fund for a site/project that I'm pretty excited about. It's just very soul-crushing knowing that I'm months away at my current pace.

Any sincere replies would be greatly appreciated.
 


So... you don't know what you're doing, you admit you "inevitably fail" whenever you spend your own money, and you want someone to pay you $1600-$2000 a month to handle paid client work?

Sounds reasonable.
 
I live in the country in North TX. That's why I asked about the tele-commuting part, because I think it would be difficult to find places close to me.

you admit you "inevitably fail" whenever you spend your own money...

The failures are mostly due to running out of money because I have usually not had a large budget. I've had a couple Adsense sites I got to top 10/top 5, but the revenue was not enough for me to push them over the edge. Also, I think there would be a difference between overseeing a project vs. being the head man on one.

I suppose what I'm looking for is a way to get more indepth hands-on SEO experience, while still being able to survive. I realize it's not a layup question.
 
1) Buy a website
2) Rank it for a competitive keyword within short time span
3) Show it to them
4) ???
5) Profit
 
Why not get some local SEO clients and work for yourself? Use that income to fund your other projects.

Because I wouldn't feel right taking their money, without knowing 100% that I could do it. And I wouldn't know what kind of guarantee to give them. There's a guy who recently contacted me, from a site that I built for someone in the past, but I have no idea what to quote him or what kind of guarantee to make him. I would feel terrible if I quoted him too low or didn't follow through on the guarantee. Leads/phonecalls are all they care about. This guy runs a landscape website and wants to get to the top of the Gurgs.

Are you guys saying there's no way to get a SEO/PPC job, even at the ground level? How does anyone get experience, if they're not rich?
 
What you are describing is an apprenticeship, there's nothing wrong with that, as long as whoever takes you on gets ROI, which would likely take the form of you staying as an employee for a reasonable length of time.

You've said you don't want to do that, so something needs to change for it to work out.
 
What you are describing is an apprenticeship, there's nothing wrong with that, as long as whoever takes you on gets ROI, which would likely take the form of you staying as an employee for a reasonable length of time.

I have no problem with that whatsoever. Didn't mean to give the impression that I'm not willing to be an apprentice.
 
So... you don't know what you're doing, you admit you "inevitably fail" whenever you spend your own money, and you want someone to pay you $1600-$2000 a month to handle paid client work?

Sounds reasonable.

all the guy is saying is "i'm willing to be a cheap cog in someone's wheel to learn how part of the machine runs". nothing wrong with that. its $10 per hour to farm out your monotony and somebody gets an education as a side benefit.

i'm sure smaxor could do all the tasks under his umbrella, but he hires people, teaches them what to do to meet his standards, and turns them loose so they can free up his time. win win.
 
I would think that PPC route is easier than the SEO route. Let me explain why.

For SEO, you'll need to show that you're able to rank for a competitive keyword for a long period of time (not just hit and run kind of thing). The budget you need to rank this way is most likely high. Looking at your situation, I don't think you'd want to spend much.

OTOH, you can get Adwords certifications (Fundamental, Advanced, Analytics) and apply for PPC job. The certification cost is cheap, it is around 50 bucks. So you'd need to spend like 150 bucks to get all of them provided that you're smart enough to pass them on the first try.

I'd think it is easier to get onto PPC companies once you get those certs.
 
all the guy is saying is "i'm willing to be a cheap cog in someone's wheel to learn how part of the machine runs". nothing wrong with that. its $10 per hour to farm out your monotony and somebody gets an education as a side benefit.
Yup. There's a ton of value in hiring a motivated newbie who actually wants to work and learn the ropes. Instead, most people hire a cheap Fillipino to save $5/hr.
 
Judging from the responses here, it sounds like it's fairly difficult to find this kind of job.
 
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