17 replies
I was wondering how many Warriors actually work in IM full time for another company, not for themselves. You would be doing stuff like content management, seo, social media management, etc.

How many people want to work in IM as a full-time occupation? Not working for yourself, but for a company.

The reason I'm interested is I have been doing IM for a few years now, and I was recently hired to do this for a start-up company. I'm wondering how many people there are doing this, and how they went about getting their jobs.

A thread on this topic, where we talk about how to actually get a job doing this stuff, might be really helpful to the community! So, I decided to start one.

Any comments, questions, answers, etc, would be appreciated.

Lee
#full #full-time #internet marketing advice #job #seo #time
  • I just got hired as a full time IMer for a company. It is pretty weird how it happened, but eventually the company found me and they hired me. I did not apply for the position.
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    • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
      Hi Charles!

      Thanks for replying. I don't know, but I suspect there are a number of Warriors lurking about who would love to have a similar gig. Would you mind filling in a few details about what you're actually doing for the company? Also, how you landed the job?

      Lee
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      • Profile picture of the author Cataclysm1987
        I agree, I'm interested in doing some SEO work for a local company in my area but I don't even know how or where to begin. It is difficult to convince these companies you are an expert.

        Hell, I'm not even an expert, I just know a decent amount about the internet and can get an entry level job working for more than any other job would pay a 23 year old college dropout!
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        • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
          Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987 View Post

          I agree, I'm interested in doing some SEO work for a local company in my area but I don't even know how or where to begin. It is difficult to convince these companies you are an expert.

          Hell, I'm not even an expert, I just know a decent amount about the internet and can get an entry level job working for more than any other job would pay a 23 year old college dropout!
          Hi Eric!

          Thanks for the reply.

          I wouldn't worry about being a college dropout. They don't teach this stuff in college, or anywhere else for that matter. You learn all of this from the SOHK (school of hard knocks). I wouldn't worry about not being an expert, either. I don't think anyone really is an expert. SEO is really not that hard, it's just a lot of work.

          How about creating a blog to showcase what you do know, then approaching companies in your area? Just a thought.

          Lee
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        • Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987 View Post

          I agree, I'm interested in doing some SEO work for a local company in my area but I don't even know how or where to begin. It is difficult to convince these companies you are an expert.

          Hell, I'm not even an expert, I just know a decent amount about the internet and can get an entry level job working for more than any other job would pay a 23 year old college dropout!
          Take screenshots of your stats. That's what I did. I wrote up a little SEO analysis. I showed them where they were missing out, what they were doing wrong and what they could do to fix it.

          I also sent them proof of my abilities. I took screenshots of my sites on page 1 of google, my EZA stats showing my CTR's on my articles, my aweber stats showing the % of opened emails, and some other stats. I let my stats speak for me.

          They were impressed with the analysis and used it for my interview.
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      • Originally Posted by absolutelee View Post

        Hi Charles!

        Thanks for replying. I don't know, but I suspect there are a number of Warriors lurking about who would love to have a similar gig. Would you mind filling in a few details about what you're actually doing for the company? Also, how you landed the job?

        Lee
        Landing the job was one of those "god appointments" or fate things. I was working on my computer one day and got a call from a staffing agency. They came across a company that had a huge internet presence that needed an internet marketer (surprisingly, something they didnt have).

        The staffing agency didnt know what an internet marketer was. They found my blog, got in contact with me, and asked me if I would take a look at their employment ad to make sure it made sense.

        I ended up interviewing with them, then with the company and then getting hired.

        The job came out of nowhere...literally.
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        • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
          Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery View Post

          Landing the job was one of those "god appointments" or fate things. I was working on my computer one day and got a call from a staffing agency. They came across a company that had a huge internet presence that needed an internet marketer (surprisingly, something they didnt have).

          The staffing agency didnt know what an internet marketer was. They found my blog, got in contact with me, and asked me if I would take a look at their employment ad to make sure it made sense.

          I ended up interviewing with them, then with the company and then getting hired.

          The job came out of nowhere...literally.
          Hi Charles,

          That's about what happened to me. The fate thing, that is. I had been looking for a new job doing IM stuff for about a week or so. My wife got on Craigslist (which I told her never works and is full of spammers) and found an ad she wanted me to reply to. I replied just to satisfy her. Long story short, I got hired for a new start up company doing exactly what I wanted to do with a nice budget to boot. I'm making about 50% more than I was at my old job. All in the midst of a recession...go figure!
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          • Originally Posted by absolutelee View Post

            Hi Charles,

            That's about what happened to me. The fate thing, that is. I had been looking for a new job doing IM stuff for about a week or so. My wife got on Craigslist (which I told her never works and is full of spammers) and found an ad she wanted me to reply to. I replied just to satisfy her. Long story short, I got hired for a new start up company doing exactly what I wanted to do with a nice budget to boot. I'm making about 50% more than I was at my old job. All in the midst of a recession...go figure!
            You know, a lot of people think we are nuts for taking full time jobs in IM. Why not work for yourself at home, or why not go out and solicit businesses t osell offline services? Really, a hard question to answer. I guess everybody is different.
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            • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
              Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery View Post

              You know, a lot of people think we are nuts for taking full time jobs in IM. Why not work for yourself at home, or why not go out and solicit businesses t osell offline services? Really, a hard question to answer. I guess everybody is different.
              I was offered some equity in the company that hired me. So, in a way, I'm working for myself. Also, I get a huge (to me at least) budget, which I've never had. I'll be able to do things on a scale I've only been able to day dream about.

              If this business is successful (or even if it's not), I'm pretty much set as an SEO consultant from here on out. There's a big difference to corporate people between having built a website selling information products to a small audience (even though it might be really profitable) and having put a real, sticks and bricks business on the Internet map! So, I also figure I'll be able to leverage that into my next gig.

              Lee
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            • Profile picture of the author ELVISTHEPELVIS
              Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery View Post

              You know, a lot of people think we are nuts for taking full time jobs in IM. Why not work for yourself at home, or why not go out and solicit businesses t osell offline services? Really, a hard question to answer. I guess everybody is different.
              I guess some people can work for someone else to learn the ropes. After they have developed enough knowledge they can start their own businesses.
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              • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
                Originally Posted by ELVISTHEPELVIS View Post

                I guess some people can work for someone else to learn the ropes. After they have developed enough knowledge they can start their own businesses.
                You're certainly right about learning this at first yourself. There's no where to learn this, except just diving in and experimenting. Also, you'll eventually have website and stats you can point to.

                Personally, I build blogs, make them profitable, then either keep them or sell them. Now that I've got a full time position doing this sort of stuff, I'll continue to run my blogging "empire", for lack of a better word. I'll probably have to outsource more and have a lower profit margin. But that's okay, too!
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  • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
    Hi Charles!

    One more thing I thought about. I liked your comment above about telling your story with your stats. I did the same thing. Took a screen shot of my EZA stats, also of a few blogs I had build and sold. I have another blog that gets a lot of traffic. So I took a shot of my Google Analytics page from that. If you can just get a few of these things to talk about, and if you even slightly know what you're talking about, you'll sound like a real pro to the rest of the world.

    Lee
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  • Profile picture of the author Jacqueline Smith
    A question for those of you doing IM for another company.....are you on salary or is it a contract position? Do you still work from home or go to their office?

    How does this differ from offline marketing?

    Just curious.

    Thanks.
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    • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
      Originally Posted by Jacqueline Smith View Post

      A question for those of you doing IM for another company.....are you on salary or is it a contract position? Do you still work from home or go to their office?

      How does this differ from offline marketing?

      Just curious.

      Thanks.
      Hi Jacqueline!

      I got a salary, about 50% above what I was making at another job. (The previous salary wasn't that bad, either.) I'm an employee. I've also contracted recently with companies for short periods of contract work. So, both I think are a possibility. I just started my new job, but I'll be doing a mixture of working from home, the coffee shop, and the office as needed. I've got two kids at home, so getting out of the house away from distractions is very good sometimes.

      If by offline marketing you mean traditional marketing for a company (copywriting, advertising, etc) then SEO work is basically about getting visitors to come to a firm's website.

      If by offline marketing you mean what people on the WF normally refer to as offline marketing (that is selling online marketing services to traditional businesses), then it's about the same thing. You're just selling a service, much the same way a freelance copywriter would be selling a service as opposed to an in house copywriter. What we're talking about is essentially being the in house internet marketing person as opposed to the freelance internet marketing person.

      Hope that helps clear things up!

      Lee
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    I did IM for a company and let me tell you it sucks, they pay garbage compared to what you would make if you just did it on your own.

    Plus you have to deal with corporate greed everyday.
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    • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
      Originally Posted by nicholasb View Post

      I did IM for a company and let me tell you it sucks, they pay garbage compared to what you would make if you just did it on your own.

      Plus you have to deal with corporate greed everyday.
      Hi Nicholas!

      I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience. I can relate from work in other career fields, specifically face-to-face sales, which I did for about a decade. Some companies are good to work for, others really do suck.

      As for the corporate greed thing, I'm not sure I totally understand that. I'm a capitalist, so to me greed and profit are the same thing. No profit, no business.
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      • Originally Posted by Jacqueline Smith View Post

        A question for those of you doing IM for another company.....are you on salary or is it a contract position? Do you still work from home or go to their office?

        How does this differ from offline marketing?

        Just curious.

        Thanks.
        Unfortunately, I have to work at the office.

        Originally Posted by nicholasb View Post

        I did IM for a company and let me tell you it sucks, they pay garbage compared to what you would make if you just did it on your own.

        Plus you have to deal with corporate greed everyday.
        I am being compensated pretty well
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