I get a lot of puzzled looks and confusion when I tell people that my job is search engine marketing. I usually feel compelled to follow that up with “I optimize my clients web sites so they are indexed by the search engines, with the ultimate goal of ranking toward the top of the results for specific keywords.” Even that gets some glassy stares. So I follow that up with “I try to get my clients’ web sites listed in the top 10 of Google, Yahoo or MSN.”
I didn’t realize there was anything special about what I do, but apparently some are baffled. That’s pretty much a good thing as long as people know enough to hire me to get the job done. And I do get the job done. I’m working on finding a way to display the results I get for my clients so others can see that with me they are going to be taken care of with accountability and professionalism.
But I didn’t get on today to talk about how great I am. We all already know that 
So what I did 4 years ago was learn how to optimize web site for better search engine placement. The industry was so new then. It was a lot easier for me to do the work alone. I think the number of web sites in 1995 was like 18,000. Now its like 100 million (in 12 years – if only that was a stock and I bought a bunch in 1995 – how’s that for ROI?). Now the only way to keep up is to get help. That’s what I’ve been doing – setting up protocols and training a new employees how to design, implement and maintain online marketing campaigns. Just writing the protocols took a long time! It really helped me see how much I do and how valuable it truly is. And then training on top of that has been another challenge. Getting others’ to reproduce the quality of work I insist upon is finally starting to pan out. That took some serious attention as well.
In case you were wondering why I haven’t posted to my blog in forever, this is the reason. Major business shifts. However, the blog is an important part of my strategy, and I will be recording my process and new information here on a more regular and frequent basis in the coming weeks. Setting up an entire department is a lot of work! And for those of you that wanted to know – that is what I’m doing. Cheers.
