The Job Market in the SEO Industry

Are you a writer or programmer looking for jobs in the SEO industry? It you have already typed in a query into Google or Yahoo, you’ll notice that there are all kinds of different SEO jobs. SEOs have branched into SEO consultants who will give a specialized expertise in the very wide field of online marketing. SEO jobs are very popular and the skill sets of a SEO professional are in demand. Here are the kinds of SEO field that may work best for your particular skills.1. The Technician. Is a regular programmer who does URL rewrites, server redirects, lots of code and site constructions. Essentially a tech-y, these guys will reconstruct or construct websites to make them easy for search engine spiders to crawl through. If you have taken a course in programming, have work experience as a server manager, or if you are naturally technically minded and self taught, then this branch of SEO expertise is for you. The drop description would have you managing content in the system and databases, fixing structural problems of the website and plugging in 301 redirects for deleted pages.2. The even more Tech-y Technician. This is level two of the SEO tech-y, the geekier SEO. These guys to the more complicated technical jobs in the SEO field, they do research into the algorithms used by search engines. They try to figure out how the spider moves in order to predict its directions and decisions. And they test the SEO readiness of websites. These jobs need a high level of academic and technical understanding of search engines and the workings of online marketing.3. The Search Engine Marketing Specialist. An aggressive website marketing plan would include both search engine marketing and search engine optimization jobs. Search engine marketing or SEM is different from SEO in that SEM advertises through a paid service such as a Pay per Click service, ads and banners. A large website would need to use both SEO and SEM and find somebody who can do both jobs. This is a select group of people who have learned both paths.4. The PR manager. SEO is like Press Representation, except it is on the internet and not in print media. If you are good in PR or have some real world experience, your skills will readily translate to skills needed for special SEO jobs. A SEO PR will keep up communications with newsfeeds and interest hubs to create a buzz for their client’s website. A PR doing SEO finds ways to build links to their website from news and article pieces. A press release that drives in traffic to the website by publishing in influential, authority websites.5. Marketing. All SEO jobs are geared towards some kind of marketing. But marketing online is also a specialization that requires creating marketing campaign strategies and finding ways to execute them on the internet. These jobs mean doing research on the best keywords, finding online demand that are of interest to your client, and then using this knowledge to get an edge over other websites in the same industry. It is part target consumer research and trend watcher. All this information will translate into finding the best SEO strategy for a client.6. The Marketing Manager or Director. If you have a marketing executive then you have a marketing manager. This is a big job that mostly involves organizing other SEO experts. The manager and his team come up with a strategy. The manager puts the strategy into action by coordinating a team to work towards their SEO goals. These jobs need managerial skills and personal skills both in real life and online. They need to have a talent for communication, especially since online etiquette is very different and miscommunication is easy to come across.Finding actual SEO jobs for you will mean determining your own skill sets, what you think you have to offer, then matching it with the demand in the internet jobs market. SEO is presenting a website to be favoured by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. The search engines pick the best websites to present to the internet user according to a certain criteria. This criteria changes regularly so the SEO professional needs to keep up. What SEO experts do, and this are SEO jobs in all levels, is that they make the website compliant with the search engine websites to make the website more visible to algorithms used by search engines. This is what promotes the website, increases visitor hits and increases sales.Getting a large website SEO ready takes a tremendous amount of labour. But even after the website is structured and edited for SEO, it still needs to be maintained and built over time to keep up with search engine trends. In short, the jobs are continuous. Content needs to be fresh all the time, so those who specialize in SEO writing are continuously typing and earning.If your skill sets are low, you can get work in the bottom in route data entry jobs. If your writing is better, you get SEO writing jobs. If you can program, get a tech-y slash SEO writer job. Although must just specialize in one or the other. And so on. As you build experience and skills, move up the ladder to become editors, marketing managers, and tech experts.There are permanent jobs available in web design firms. They always need SEO experts. You can also do freelance work, getting jobs by contract and working week to week according to job orders. It really depends on the working style you prefer. Either full time or part time positions are accommodated by the SEO industry. You can even just work online with out leaving your home. The internet conducive to be home based. You can take a quick peek into SEO job boards where employers post job orders or positions they need to be filled. You bid on the job and get paid according to the difficulty of your expertise and the quality of your work. These jobs are usually have trial periods. And some lead to permanent positions.

Clustering Articles For Greater Link Popularity

Clustering is a methodology used in many aspects in today’s societies. Typically, it is used to tie similar, but different systems, functions, or ideas together into a single structure while each piece of the structure stands on its own merits.Strength in NumbersThe old axiom, “Strength in Numbers”, best defines the basis of clustering. People have been using clustering since the dawn of man by gathering in groups to establish a community and utilize the strength of the community to overcome their adversaries. Likewise, they have used that strength to produce food, tools, clothing, and other material items for the use and survival of the community. Countries have even joined together for a common goal and defense. During disasters we often see countries and organizations joining together to help the people to overcome the destruction that has been caused. All of these groups and organizations working together have formed clusters for “Strength in Numbers”.Today we can see many examples of clustering in the business world where companies join together to form larger and stronger companies. However, today we often term such actions as mergers and acquisitions. Never the less, such actions are still a methodology of clustering.Cluster MarketingWhen the techniques of clustering are applied to marketing methods the effects can produce some pleasing results. For years, internet marketeers have been applying the methodology of cluster marketing in their everyday marketing practices. When they launch a product they join forces with several key marketeers to advertise the launch.  Now, if you were to be a member of each marketeer’s opt-in e-mail list, you would receive an e-mail about the same event from several marketeers instead of just the originator of the launch.  This act of joining together is the very basis of cluster marketing.When marketeers launch a product they don’t just use e-mail as their only medium of advertisement. In addition to e-mail they will use press releases, direct mail ads, webinars, tele-seminars, etc. All of these different types of advertising are pointing to the one web site that the marketeer wants you to visit. The one limitation to cluster marketing is that it is a one way methodology. Cluster marketing in itself can be very powerful if the advertiser wants to throw enough money into the advertising campaign to sustain it long enough for the general public to catch on to the message it’s trying to deliver.With cluster marketing techniques you get one way links to your site as that is the direction the methodology is designed to support. The cluster methodology of marketing with the one way design has been very useful and powerful over the years as it emulates the human desire of pointing people in the right direction. Search engines have also found the one way links to be popular in ranking the popularity of a web site.  Within the last few years we’ve even seen the introduction of three-way links and have found how popular they can be with search engines.  However, setting up three-way links between various sites can be extremely time consuming unless you already own many sites where you can add all of the links required for three way linking.For years, marketeers have been experimenting with ways to build more links, with more “link juice” from authority sites. For the most part the results have been the same, the more advertising and the more articles that are produced the greater the link popularity. It has all boiled down to “Strength In Numbers”.Clustering ArticlesA few years ago I started to experiment with the broader technique of clustering articles. Soon, this method started to take hold within the internet marketing community as its ease of use became evident. This technique involves using a group of topic related articles to create back links to the target web site. These back links would not only relate to the target web site, but to other related locations. This inter-relational organization technique showed that over time, the link popularity increased while using fewer resources than the conventional one way link or three way linking methods.One of the more popular aspects of clustering articles is that it can be accomplished using free internet resources instead of extensive paid advertising. Also, back links can be established in a shorter amount of time using variations of the original related topic articles. While it is possible to use un-related topic article groups, the link popularity isn’t as good as using related themes throughout these groups.It’s important to note that these groups should be created from original content instead of copying someone else’s work.  The article directories and search engines are smart enough to know when you’re faking it with copied content.  Original content and variations of the original content in clusters have been found, in all cases, to produce the greater desired results.Social Networking and Video SharingWith the introduction of Social Networking the ease with which this technique can be implemented has increased over time. Additionally, the introduction of video sharing sites, do-it-yourself video production software, and camera systems with enhanced video production techniques has also enhanced link popularity when coupled with clustering articles. In future articles, I will expand on the “Techniques of Cluster Marketing” and ”Proper Creation of Variations for Clustering Articles”.

Technology Learning Conquered Traditional Learning in Schools

Computers are in the schools. Whether they are in labs, in the library, in mobile pods, or in individual classrooms, the computers are there. But what will it take to ensure that these computers are used as high quality learning tools?Today’s high-tech innovations will have little effect on education if schools adopt them without building “human infrastructure” that includes adequate training for teachers, proclaims the Benton Foundation in their recent report, The Learning Connection. Schools in the Information Age. So just what is “adequate training” for teachers?According to more than 10 years of Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow research, to effectively integrate technology in education, teachers need to learn not only how to use computers, but specifically how to use computers for teaching and learning. At the same time the learning experiences being created by these educators must be re-examined, as technology changes both what is possible in the classroom, as well as what will be required of students when they graduate and join the workforce.In 1991 the US Department of Labor issued What Work Requires of Schools, a SCANS Report for America 2000, The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, defining the skills and attributes essential for workforce success. To the traditional basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, the report added listening and speaking, as well as decision making and problem solving. Beyond these basic skills, the report sited as vital the ability to identify, organize, plan, and allocate resources; to acquire, evaluate, and organize information; to work well with others; to understand complex inter-relationships; and to work with a variety of technologies.Not only do educators need to learn to use computers, but they need to learn to integrate them into the learning experience in a way that fosters the development of this higher order skill set. In many cases, this requires fundamental changes in classroom practice. Seating students in rows and having them complete drill and practice exercises, whether on the computer or on a ditto page, is unlikely to accomplish the ambitious goals implied by the SCANS Report.The vast majority of technology staff development programs have as their focus learning how to use individual software applications. Educators who have experienced this type of application training report that it does not have a significant impact on how they use technology in their teaching. That is, learning about the application itself does not translate into changing classroom practices, and thus has little or no impact on student learning.When learning about technology is firmly rooted in the context of teaching, however, the results are quite promising. Using a technology staff development model created as a result of more than 10 years of research through the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT), many school districts are seeing what happens when teachers are able to transfer their learning from the staff development experience into classroom practice.In order to have a significant impact on classroom practice and ensure effective technology integration, schools and districts must make a significant investment in a coordinated approach to staff development like the model based on the ACOT research. Real change requires providing educators with a sequenced program of quality staff development experiences, along with followup and ongoing administrative support.In Fulton County, Georgia, where they are in the second year of their technology staff development program based on the ACOT model, vanguard teams of teachers are serving as mentors within their schools, providing a model of effective technology integration for other teachers to follow. During the first year of the program these vanguard teachers participated in either four or six days of technology integration training offered through Apple Staff Development.During the two-day training sessions the vanguard team members experienced firsthand what it is like to engage in an integrated lesson with technology, while the course facilitator modeled an effective style of teaching in a technology-enriched, engaged learning environment. Technology skills were acquired in context. The learners (in this case the teachers in the staff development course, but it could as easily have been a group of students) were highly motivated to learn the technology skills to complete their projects, and the relevance of the technology learning was immediately evident.Building on the experience of participating in an effective lesson, the vanguard team members reflected on what they had learned and how they could apply their insights to designing integrated lessons of their own. On the second day, they were given the opportunity to redesign a favorite unit of instruction, integrating technology. Upon returning to their classrooms, these redesigned units provided an initial opportunity to experience integrating technology in their teaching. As they experienced the effectiveness of this new way of teaching, the redesign of other units followed.Over the course of the first year of the program, these vanguard team members became increasingly comfortable with integrating technology within their own classrooms and prepared themselves to serve as role models to other teachers. Now in the second year of the program, Fulton County is both expanding its vanguard team by providing the integration training to additional teachers, while at the same time empowering the trained vanguard teachers to share what they have learned with their colleagues.This seeding approach, having at least two teachers in every school who can serve as mentors to their peers on site, has proven effective in motivating teachers to take the risk and make the personal investment required to effectively integrate technology into the classroom.The CEO Forum on Education and Technology’s Star Chart establishes a “target technology” level for all schools to strive for that would give students regular and consistent access to technology to use as needed to support their learning endeavors, and have educators using technology to access information, communicate with students and parents, and for administrative tasks. They challenge all schools to achieve this target level by the year 2005.We won’t get there simply by putting computers in schools, nor by training teachers on how to use software applications. True technology integration requires supporting and training educators in instructional models that effectively integrate technology. It requires that teachers have professional development programs in which they can experience effective use of technology in service of teaching and learning, and that they receive the support required to modify their own teaching practices to replicate these models. Once the majority of teachers have their students using technology to gather, analyze and publish information, as well as collaborate on projects, we will know that technology is truly a tool for teaching and learning. At this point we will be taking advantage of the opportunity technology presents to prepare our students to become successful knowledge workers of the future.