Reasons Why You Should Consider a Career in ‘Search Engine Marketing’

People depend on, the wonder that is, the Internet for 90 per cent of their daily activities. Whether it is shopping, socializing, entertainment, travel, education or dealing with finances, just type the keyword into your search engine and the internet is there to help you out. The Internet and search engines, which play a vital role in all our lives today, run on Search Engine Marketing , which is also known as SEM. This is a digital era and in order to gain new and more customers each day and to inform about their products and services to a global market, all firms today need a powerful website. This is where the concept comes in. These professionals help firms grow their businesses by placing their website at the topmost priority level in various search engines.

It is a marketing technique that integrates several domains such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Pay per Click (PPC) advertising to optimize web pages to appear at the top of the priority list in any search engine’s search options.

Search Engine Marketing as a career

Growth in this industry has undoubtedly created a need for talented, vibrant and young professionals across the globe. Due to the unquenchable thirst of vivid companies to place their websites in the top ranks on search engines to draw in various customers from all over the world, it is safe to say that the demand will only rise further higher in the coming years.

There are various job profiles that this industry offers such as:

Search Novice

Search Marketing Analyst

Search Marketing Manager

SEO Director/VP

SEO Manager

SEO Analyst

SEO Team Leader

SEO Executive

Content Writer/Editor

Account Manager

Campaign Manager

Campaign Executive

Copywriter/Ad writer

PR Writers

Marketers

Graphic Designers

Many companies hire a SEM professional for the above-mentioned job profiles. Also, there are agencies that outsource their work to a freelancer on a contract basis. Freelancing or working from home is a viable option that many aspirants enjoy as numerous job opportunities await them in this career because most of the work options are via online. Also, there is this trend where these freelancers start to hire other marketing specialists due to a high demand in work and end up starting their own companies. This high demand even gives the experts the complete power to choose their clients. And as long as they know what they are doing and can woo their clients; these Search Engine Marketers will be head-hunted for the rest of their lives.

Many courses offered under this program are available via online. Those who have succeeded in this career are mostly self-taught; sort of know it all’s when it comes to internet tools and websites who have eminent content writing skills. So if you wish to succeed in this career, do a lot of research and keep yourself constantly updated. Having a degree in marketing is one way of getting started also enrolling in a course of programming or even HTML knowledge can help you have an edge over the others.

SEM Skillset

To land a successful career as a SEM professional, one needs the following skills:

Strong quantitative and analytical skills

Excellent communication skills

Excellent writing skills

Quick learning skills

Strong marketing skills

Good Client Servicing skills

Creative and Innovative approach to marketing techniques

A better understanding of computers- internet, e-mail, HTML, etc.

Knowledge in the dos and don’ts of SEO

Knowledge in PPC- Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN Advertising etc.

Sound knowledge in tools- Word Tracker, Google Keyword Suggestion, Traffic Estimator, Google Analytics, Google Toolbar, HTML Editors, FTP Software etc.

Knowledge of programming and scripting languages- PHP, ASP, XML, CSS etc.

Although the skill set involves a lot of knowledge and time spent on computers, the career as such is not as geeky as sounds. All the above skills can be easily grasped given that one has the right attitude and quench for knowledge in the field. He/she needs to be a hard worker and must keep track and be well updated about the varying marketing trends in the market.

Yet another factor that makes this a highly lucrative career is the flexibility it offers. Unlike any other job, you can carry on this profession on any part of the world wherever you wish to go. You can even take vacations and still be on the track of your job, all you need with you is your laptop and internet connectivity and you’re good to go! Now combine this with small start-up costs, rewarding income and not to mention the big opportunity to be your own boss- and you have all the reasons why you should consider a career.

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