Unemployed should give SEO a shot
Posted by Brett Pringle on 13 May 2009 | Tagged as: SEO Strategy
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the skills in demand at the moment, as it’s one of the only growth industries in these tough economic times. Google, the public’s search engine of choice, saw growth in the first quarter of 2009 with revenue up 6%, while other US companies only saw blood.
Study after study shows that companies in the UK and around the world are spending more of their budgets on online advertising. Now that marketing budgets are being slashed, SEO offers a longer term and more affordable option that PPC (Per Per Click) and has started to gain ground on PPC advertising. Currently, around 60% of UK online advertising budgets go to PPC, but this number is predicted to decrease as companies become more tech savvy and begin to understand the benefits of SEO.
SEO is also being used by the unemployed to find jobs. Those who know how to effectively navigate the online environment are finding jobs more easily than those using traditional methods. According to Peter McDougal, a writer for The Street, SEO is one of the top 10 skills for job seekers to learn and has become an important marketing skill.
For example, according to Computerworld.com, Brennan Carlson was able to find a new job within four weeks of losing his old one by using contacts on LinkedIn and through regular tweeting.
He started using the conventional route of sending out cover letters to advertised sites, but after about 70 attempts and with only a 5% response, he decided to use social media and SEO techniques to research companies and connect with people who could help him achieve his goal of employment. He used custom search engines, numerous java scripts running on top of Firefox and a concentrated use of Social Networking sites. As a result, his response rate went up to 40% and he was able to find a job that he enjoyed.
According to Carlson, “If you’re not online, get online … Be everywhere. Start using these services. . . If you’re not on Twitter, get there. Start Tweeting.”
So do it!
