Seo Job Market

So because of some wrong projects, where even after managing to secure huge chunks of traffic, i could not make much money, which has lead me to a point where i look up for an seo job. I have around 6 years of experience in the field and proven track record of several sites fetching more than 100k unique visitors a day at one point. However, it seems like no one wants to hire me!

People who replied to my follow up emails told me i lack agency based experience and employers are mostly considering people with agency level experience.

I would like to know if there is any thing i could do to reach potential employers and convince them to hire me? its first time in 7 years that i needed to apply for a job so i am sort of lacking in interview and job hunting skills i guess. So wondering if there any one who is either hiring or can guide/suggest me something?

Also one thing i noted, Seo salaries are pretty bad here in Uk compared to what seo guys are earning in AU or USA!

 

SEO salaries are quite poor at many agencies outside london as they all want to take on graduates to train rather than look at people at a higher level. Within London you can get salaries over £50k but often your own sites might be able to beat this (some of the time ) - but of course with the wage comes a level of security.

Worth considering too that after Penguin many agencies might have had more CVs and more choice of competent people than recently - if you can wait a while you might find you have better chances.

'Agency experience' generally means being able to talk to clients - not neccessarily sales, but some level of personal skills, confidence etc as you may often be asked to give presentations on the work you have done or run training programs. Particularly important is being able to present technical concepts in an approachable manner.

I worked for an agency for a while in 2008 but have been at home/abroad since, and focused solely on my own sites - no client work. Penguin was a bit of a wakeup call that in many ways I am invisible should I ever need to return to work, so I had a bit of a run through of ways I've seen others raise their profiles:

- Doing some client work not just your own sites. Often this is found through word of mouth so you may need to start small.
- Prolific blogging and tweeting
- Speaking at (or organising!) events and conferences - this is pretty major, I think, if you want to enter agency/inhouse work on a higher level salary. Again, can start at smaller + friendlier (eg ThinkVis, BrightonSeo) or non SEO business orientated conferences to build a profile
- Releasing free tools and resources for the SEO community - think about some of the guides/tools for using Excel to speed up link analysis etc.
- Creating sites that have value where you are comfortable to be the public face - ie less generic affiliate sites.

The issue of location - ie in most cases needing to be in London - is still a bit of a drag though. I presume inhouse work could command a higher rate outside the city if you have a large brand HQed nearby but it narrows your choice of industry and supposes that they want to take things in house rather than work with an external agency. And of course the change of lifestyle would be quite dramatic, but that's a different subject

 

You are spot on about speaking at events, that is a big plus, i was once invited to speak abroad, but could not make it.

About salaries, all the jobs i have seen on different job portals revolve around 30 to 40k ball park figures for london and 18k to 25k outside london. Jobs above 40 to 50k are director level and rare. It also makes me wonder how can one survive with family in that sort of salary?

Since you said they are more interested in hiring fresh graduates, with relatively less experience for the tasks, do you think my 6 years experience on CV is causing more bad than good?

I can speak and give presentations to board members, run training courses, i feel pretty confident about my skill set. Other things you suggested, i still have a website with 50k page views a day, but i am unable to monetize it, it has some CMS and usability level flaws, for which i hired a developer and paid 2k dollars and he ditched me in the midway due to family urgency. The other propositions you made also sound great, but my savings are running out and i am in immediate need of work.

 

There's always http://www.odesk.com/ or http://www.elance.com/ if you need some quick cash. They're "lowest common denominator" in that you certainly won't be earning what you would by working for an agency in the UK, but at least you can start to gain a track record of working for others that you can point to later.

 

Its depressing to see how people underestimate and undervalue the importance of SEO. https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/browse/skill/seo/

You are right about gaining a track record and some feedback score, which can later be used to secure bigger projects.

 

Not really, that's true globalisation for you. There's always somebody willing to work for peanuts somewhere where the local wage is half a peanut per day. Doesn't necessarily mean they're clueless, just opportunistic.

 

You might be better off going in-house. I've never worked in an agency but I still got hired. Agency experience has a more negative spin now than anything because it's so associated with grey/blackhat.

Alternatively, go down the consulting route which will get a lot more money or start your own business. You might not want to do it right now if you're stuck for cash, but you can get a job that pays the bills whilst you're growing your own brand.

 

This thread and specially few Private messages from fellow old members have kick started some ideas. I am good friends with 2 to 3 big offshore software houses who develop a lot of websites, just reached one of them and pitched my idea of starting seo agency and he said he can supply a lot of clients as almost every web development client asks them for seo services.

Isn't agency based work fast paced, with more learning curve as you work for multiple clients and have other senior experts around you to learn from and you get chance to attend conferences with greater chances of speaking etc etc

I haven't worked inhouse or in any agency, so my experience is limited in that department. I have been self employed for past 7 years doing my own websites and friends. I have read few of your posts around seo on this board and you sound logical with your input.

Starting a consultancy firm is a great idea and this thread has given great ideas, i am in discussion with softwarehouses and i think i can secure some quick clients.

 

Irony: Talking of Seo Jobs, this thread is ranking 3 for Seo Job Market!

 

I don't know. You'd have to ask the people here. I assume there are as many advantages as disadvantages (being tied into contracts so you can't set up your own business, fighting for opportunities etc.). I'm lucky in that I get to attend conferences if I can justify the value.

In terms of speaking I would think that you're better off getting yourself known on the circuit with people like SEOmoz and the big people in SEO to have a better chance.

Thanks, glad I could help. I'll reply to your PM when I have a bit more time to write a proper answer