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From CareerJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal Executive Career Site
June 21, 2006
Where the Jobs Are: Searching For Search-Engine Marketing Pros
By Sarah E. Needleman
The search is on for search-engine marketers -- professionals skilled in increasing the exposure and value of Web-site listings on -- you guessed it -- search engines.
As more companies wake up to the marketing potential of search engines, they're seeking to boost the visibility of their Web sites in search-engine results pages. Enter search-engine marketers -- pros adept at selecting and arranging keywords on Web sites and sponsored-ad links, as well as measuring and analyzing the resulting traffic and revenue.
"For the next few years, search should remain white hot," says Jeremy Cornfeldt, vice president of Carat Fusion, an agency that helps companies create and manage search-marketing campaigns and other online initiatives. "People are starting to see search as integral part of online marketing mix," says Mr. Cornfeldt, who works in Boston for the San Francisco-based firm, which is part of media-services company Aegis Group LLC of London.
Hiring activity is strongest at advertising agencies and firms that specialize in search-engine marketing, according to recruiters. To a lesser extent, large and midsize companies in industries across the board are hiring in-house search-marketing talent.
Most sought after are midlevel managers, "because they can absorb responsibilities up and down," says Dan Goldsmith, a managing director at executive-recruiting firm AC Lion in New York. Many job changers are getting a 20% to 30% pay boost, he adds. Midlevel managers with two to four years of search-marketing experience may earn around $85,000 in annual base salary, plus a performance-based bonus, he says.
Managers with four to five years in the field generally are paid about $120,000 in annual salary, as well as performance bonus pay. Professionals with one to two years' experience may earn around $65,000, and may also receive a small bonus, he says.
Employers say they're struggling to attract talent. DigitalGrit Inc., an agency that provides search-marketing and other online-media services to clients, is seeking to hire nine to 12 search-engine marketers in the next six months. "We've had to probably double or triple our recruiting efforts," says Scott Delea, senior vice president and general manager of the small Boonton, N.J., firm. "There just aren't enough people doing search marketing."
The pace of hiring these professionals also has accelerated, says Mr. Goldsmith. "Where a good candidate was going on four interviews for one job a year ago, he's now getting an offer at the end of the second interview," says Mr. Goldsmith.
In May, Chris Boggs, 37, was hired as a search strategist at Avenue A/Razorfish, an interactive-marketing agency and a subsidiary of advertising agency aQuantive Inc. Previously he was director of online marketing at G3 Group, an interactive-advertising agency in Linthicum, Md. There he began receiving about two calls a week from recruiters who saw his blog and discussion-board postings online, he says.
At a February conference, Mr. Boggs met Evan Kaplan, regional recruiting manager for Avenue A/Razorfish. They began discussing job opportunities, and the agency created a post for him at its Philadelphia office, which he accepted.
Many professionals learn search marketing on the job or on their own, according to Sara Holoubek, 31, an independent corporate media strategist in New York. "Search marketing is not taught anywhere," says Ms. Holoubek, who is a board member of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, a 400-member group that launched in 2003.
Neo@Ogilvy, a media-services division of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, trains college recruits in search-engine marketing. "We'll take recent grads with no experience -- people with great energy, insight and drive who want to learn," says Eric Wheeler, chief executive officer. The firm, as well as Avenue A/Razorfish and DigitalGrit, provides continuous training for search marketers on staff, he says. Marketing and advertising professionals lacking backgrounds in the field may have difficulty breaking in. "You need to have some experience and understanding of the search marketplace," says Mr. Wheeler.
Linda Fisk was trained in search marketing while vice president of online marketing and analytics at Scripps Network Inc., a Knoxville Tenn.-based subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Co. "My primary focus was ensuring that our [six] sites were visible to search engines," she says. In April, an executive at IFILM
Corp., a provider of online video content in Hollywood, Calif., emailed
her about an opening for a vice president of marketing. After doing some
research, she applied and within weeks moved to Los Angeles for the job.
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