Marketing Pilgrim

By Nicole St. Martin.

The search marketing industry is still in it’s infancy, now more the ever companies are realizing that they need to incorporate aspects of search marketing in order to compete in today’s saturated online marketplace.

Search marketers are in demand; there are more available search marketing positions then qualified search marketers to fill them. This is great news for those wannabe’s wishing to join the fascinating and ever evolving world of search engine marketing.

I found search marketing purely by accident. One day I was asked by my then marketing manager to “figure out how to get our websites listed in Google” from that day forward I immersed myself in anything and everything industry related. I would imagine that’s how many of today’s search marketers learned SEO.

Search marketing requires knowledge in many different areas but if you profile any of today’s successful search marketers, their savvy soft skills are what makes them leaders in the search marketing industry.

5 Must Have Qualities for a Search Marketer

1. Passion & Eagerness to Learn

Having a marketing background is helpful but certainly not necessary so please don’t go creating student loans when you don’t have to – The beauty of the search marketing industry is that it is full of chatter boxes that love to talk shop.

2. Thinking Outside the Box

It’s unfortunate that people today tend to over simplify what search marketing is. Regardless of what you’ve probably read online, search marketing is not about Meta tags, keyword stuffing, hidden text, or search engine submissions. True search marketing is about “making your website the best it can be for your website visitors and the search engines”. Quote: Jill Whalen of High Rankings

Search marketing is very strategic in nature and immensely difficult. Search marketers are constantly analyzing information in order to improve search campaigns. Search techniques are never black and white so you must be able to think outside the box.

3. Dedication

Search marketing requires you to have a massive amount of knowledge and of course dedication to keeping up to one of the fasting moving industries around. You absolutely must be up for the challenge of continual growth.

Get involved with search marketing associations such as SEMPO. Attend popular search marketing conferences and seminars; Search engine strategies is currently the premier search marketing event. Last but not least, never under estimate the power of networking, what else are you going to use your business cards for?

4. Listening Skills

Be humble, listen and take advice from your peers; they might just have the solution to a problem you’ve been trying to solve for a month. Unlike other snobbish industries, search marketing professionals are happy to share their findings and ideas.

5. Patience

Educating others on the “known’s and unknowns” (thanks Donald Rumsfeld) of search marketing requires a great deal of patience, as well as dealing with the constant natural up’s and down’s of any search marketing campaign.

Last but not least, never be afraid to surround yourself with people who know more then you do. With a little hard work, determination and know-how, you too can become a search marketer.

[This has been an entry for Marketing Pilgrim's SEM Scholarship contest. Keep up to date with all entries and other marketing news by subscribing to our rss feed.]

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