How To Get SEO Job?

jriddick said:
Judging from the responses here, it sounds like it's fairly difficult to find this kind of job.
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Back in the day, I tried to take people under my wing, spend 10 or 50 hours with them. Then I hired some people to do work with me, so they could have some direction and could learn how to approach various tasks for themselves, build confidence etc.

I don't do that anymore because what I do now doesn't lend itself to that. I also don't think many guys here do that because it's not a business with a lot of continuity. Very few guys stay in PPC for 6 or 7 years, or SEO for a decade.

I'd try to endure that shitty job and look for internship opportunities. Don't mess around with low end guys, see if Cardine, Grindstone, Dchuk or Bofu have work that you can do for free for them. Anything. Those are all smart cats, and in some cases, you may get a chance to do some work for a real brand. Maybe they have some work for you, maybe you don't. But it's worth a shot.

If you can prove you're keen and capable, someone will want to work with you. There is a real shortage of guys like that in this business.

hth
 


OP: I feel your pain, brotha. I'm stuck in a shitty 9-5 grind that doesn't lend me much time or resources to go crazy on my projects, but I'm hyper focused and I will make it work somehow..

Good luck on your quest. If anything, why not start a service here or on other forums for some extra cash? I have a few ideas that I think people might really like... If I ever need a partner/assistant, I'll hit you up. You seem like a motivated dude.
 
jriddick said:
I've studied it a lot, but I've never had the money to keep going. I'll invest a little, but inevitable fail. I feel like I know a lot about the fundamentals and could really solidify my knowledge with a little real-world experience.
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All things aside, this is not the right outlook to have in this industry. 90% of SEO agencies and the like will actually try to dumb you down to their level and won't contribute any positive take-away for after you're not working there anymore. Knowing the right people who know the right people could land you a spot in an agency where you might learn something. I wouldn't just take any random SEO job available just to "learn the ropes" though, that's for sure.

I realize personal experience is anecdotal, but I worked in an agency for 6 months after having a year and a half of experience being self employed and reliant on SEO and it was a complete step backwards.
 
Perhaps the OP meant country. As is the country, not the cities further South in TX.
There are over 250 counties in TX, you have to be a "tard" to misconstrue what the OP stated. Full disclosure - I spent 3 or 4 days in TX several years ago.
 
I think you are overestimating the difficulty of SEO client work. If you've made it this far and think you have enough experience to do SEO work for a bigger agency you probably also have enough experience to pull together an SEO plan for several clients that are each paying you a nice $500-2000/mo retainer. Create a professional looking agency, go through your local contacts and start selling.

You've already said you understand SEO, but if you get a client and don't know what to do, just buy a Layered Links package for them, make a cool looking PDF showing how much their rankings went up and pocket the rest.
 
Another option is to start offering a service on forums. Just choose something that is in demand and is doable for you. Become an expert in that narrow field, it can be anything: content or a certain type of links. It is fairly easy to make $500 per week from that, if you really determined.

Doing a service is much better than getting an SEO job, but customer service can be quite tedious. So this is why it is important not to get relaxed once cashflow starts coming in, but reinvest in your own projects, w/e they may be.

Getting out of a rat race is sort of similar to overcoming the gravitational pull of the planet, it requires tremendous effort, but once you are out of it, it gets easier and easier to maintain your financial independence.
 
jriddick said:
Because I wouldn't feel right taking their money, without knowing 100% that I could do it. And I wouldn't know what kind of guarantee to give them. There's a guy who recently contacted me, from a site that I built for someone in the past, but I have no idea what to quote him or what kind of guarantee to make him. I would feel terrible if I quoted him too low or didn't follow through on the guarantee. Leads/phonecalls are all they care about. This guy runs a landscape website and wants to get to the top of the Gurgs.

Are you guys saying there's no way to get a SEO/PPC job, even at the ground level? How does anyone get experience, if they're not rich?
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Do you realize you are asking for a job which you do not know to do?.

Why dont you first learn about it, start positioning local terms for yourself, and generic terms as well. If you are successful, then try to get a job from SEO companies first, then direct clients.
 
You apply for a position at a company (entry level, since you have no experience), create a awesome resume and cover letter to get their attention, you should get a phone interview. Then once you get the phone interview, near the end offer to create a full SEO audit on one of their clients. Create a awesome report, spend 20+ hours on it, blow them away, use everything you can find over at seomoz, technical reports, content audit, etc. Then send it to them. They will respond, hopefully thanking you for your effort, and this will put you in a awesome position for the second interview and will get to at least the top 1-3 candidates. If you don't get the job, move on to the next company, use the report you created to demonstrate your experience and ability. Also get the previous employer who you did the report for (and should be thankful for doing it) to be your reference.

PROVIDE VALUE and you shall receive.
 
jriddick said:
I work at a job I hate while I'm trying to build up enough $ to fund my own projects. But what I'd really like to be doing is SEO or PPC, while preferably getting paid simultaneously. I've studied it a lot, but I've never had the money to keep going. I'll invest a little, but inevitable fail. I feel like I know a lot about the fundamentals and could really solidify my knowledge with a little real-world experience.

How do I get a job with a SEO/PPC company with no experience? Preferably one where I could tele-commute? I realize it's a lot to ask, but I'm curious if you guys have any advice. I would really like to work in the SEO industry and learn more, maybe make just $400-500 a week while I try to get my own projects off the ground. I need to build up a $2,000 fund for a site/project that I'm pretty excited about. It's just very soul-crushing knowing that I'm months away at my current pace.

Any sincere replies would be greatly appreciated.
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LinkedIn recruiters!!
 
p0ck3taces said:
Craigslist job search - Texas - Telecommute only - SEO in post title
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This.

The amount of SEO gigs I got off craigslist back in the day when I started was ridiculous. I had no website and no experience either. I just responded to XX amount of ads per day, all over North America, and the laws of probability are that at least a couple will respond every week.

I would run a query like this on Google every morning to search in all cities: SEO remote site:craigslist.org (think of switching "remote" for "virtual", "telecommute" or "home" too, and select last 24 hours to get the latest ones... do it everyday.)
 
Build a website, rank it for best seo in Houston or Dallas or NYC or Boston. When its on page 35 show it to people, when its #1 have letterhead made with your name on it.
 
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