Rants

I want to talk about the Search Engine Marketing job Market in Canada because I feel I need to clarify a few things. I have seen too many companies lately who are looking to hire a Junior Search Marketing Specialist with 2 years of experience (or so) or freshly out of school and expect to pay them $25-35k a year. If you are one of those, I have some news for you: that person does not exist. Why? Because there are simply no school that teaches Search Marketing. Demand for serious Search Marketing Specialists at all levels keeps increasing and there is a scarcity of talent in this field, which does not yet regenerate itself. In desperation, and after they have been searching for months to fill positions, business owners are calling me and ask if I know anyone. They are telling me that their job posting on Craigslist is not generating anything. Strange isn’t it? The gap between offer and demand keeps growing and the situation is alarming.

Therefore, I think there are misconceptions that would need to be broken here. Unfortunately, and I have met a lot of people that were *somewhat* interested in Search Marketing, I don’t know anyone remotely as passionate about search as I do. Hands on SEO with the motivation that leads to results can only come from 2 places (as far as I know): the owner of a company, a professional self-taught Canadian SEO such as Chris Breikss, Darcy Foster, Chris Genge, Ross Dunn, Jim Hedger, Ken Jurina, Andrew Goodman, Andrea Hadley and a bunch of others in their respective teams. That being said, what puzzles me here is that business owners are looking for SEO talent in the wrong places with unreasonable expectations with respect of the current job market. Proof? In all honesty, it does not seem normal to me to post an SEO job on craigslist and not receive anything back, especially when the job has been posted for months. If you are looking for a junior SEO, which seems to be the brand of choice these days, you are not the only one in that boat. A lot of business owners are going fishing for SEO pros that will work full time for us but those who have the knowledge already have their plate full with their own business.

The main issue here is that there is no Search Marketing education program nearby to fill the accrued needs. Since this is a new market, it is currently filled with disconnects and the sooner business owners will acknowledge the state of search marketing in Canada, the sooner we will be able to elaborate solutions.

Recommended Solution:
If you represent a University, a College, a School or everything in between, I seriously recommend that you start developing search marketing programs so that people in your community can learn about it. SEMPO Institute will help you. I will help you. The only program in Canada that has been brought to my attention lately was one from Fanshawe College in London (Ontario) with only one search marketing course and only as part of a full-on marketing degree. Universities want to position themselves as online & web savvy but most don’t have a search marketing program in place, which is the basis of any online promotion. They pretend but they don’t walk the talk. Maybe their Ad Agency can help. I doubt.

Other Solutions:
Take Action: Join SEMPO Canada sempo.ca and start beating the drum locally. We need help to fill the growing demand of search marketing specialists of the canadian business community.

If you don’t do any of this, you have no right to complain that you can’t find the people you need.

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After Gord Hotchkiss article (rant) last week following SES Toronto, today Andrew Goodman from traffick.com is putting his 0.02 cents on the future of search Marketing in Canada and why advertisers are acting the way they do. Among other things, he talks about the search subculture and how it will eventually reach C-Level business people in major organizations and how search marketing budget will soon be proportionate to the hockey-stick growth of online usage in Canada. Future looks bright but we need to be patient. Read the full article here.

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Please do yourself a favor and stop working for a second. Here is a common scenario I hear all the time regarding entry-level SEO (Search Engine Optimization) project. The way the project is presented clearly points out how unreasonable business owners can be when they lay out the web strategy for potential online success. Yes, I am talking to you and potentially a lot of people you know. I seriously don’t want you to lose your business and I really want to help you but please listen to me carefully. This information is free and can save you thousands.

Business owners come up to me and say: here is my site (in a very competitive market).
I am a small entrepreneur with no (or very small) budget. What can you do? How much would it cost so that I can rank higher up in search results? (at the top if possible) I am guessing they expect me to say, for $2,000 I can bring you to the top. I know that for $2,000, it will only scratch the surface and it won’t meet their expectations. Since $2,000 seems too much for them sometimes, what are the options?

What strikes me at first is that people start an online business without knowing the kind of forces they are up against. They count on me to explain the force and magnitude of the obstacles on their path and the likelihood they can succeed online. Some people call it market research. And please don’t shoot the messenger. They don’t seem to have a good understanding of their online competition and how much their competitors might have been investing to deserve the position they currently uphold at the top of search results. There are so many sites on the Internet, what makes you think that YOU deserve the right to be #1? If you think I am crazy, wait until you read about my vision for developing an online presence. In a nutshell, there are so many sites out there that it needs more and more resources to accomplish what used to be easier, years ago. Or if you prefer, what used to require $1,000 to get a decent position in search results, now needs more like $10,000. The intensity of the players is increasing. And, there are only 5 spots that matter in SERPs (Search Engine Results page) according to the latest study on the Golden Triangle. Do the math: thousands of competitors, 5 spots. Be serious.

Therefore, if you don’t have the funds to invest to earn your way to the top in your very competitive category, here are your options as far as I see them:

* Refocus your business on a very niche market (and niche search terms) within the global market
* Team up with your competitors (coopetition)
* Go for the top: invest heavily in your web strategy, site content, design and search marketing (organic, paid, link building) or
* Abandon your site! (and do something else)

I am saying all this because there is request that came to me today in the Ringtones business. I once promoted ringtonesusa.com from a previous job so I know first hand how difficult it is to promote a site in this category. You compete with giant carriers with behemoth budgets. There are thousands of players worldwide. There are thousands of entrepreneurs with more money to invest than you which would also be more knowledgeable on how to build an online business. Can you match that?

The bottom line is, since we do market research before you start a brick-and-mortar business, you also need to do market research before you commit your hard-earned money in an online business. Traffic is the crack-cocaine for an entrepreneur in the web world and it needs (way) more than $2,000 to get to the top. If you can’t match (or exceed!) the level of investment of your online competitors, team up with them or do something else.

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One of the things I have always hated about advertising (online and offline) is the amount of speculation it produces in order to replace/justify any common sense data. I received an article today about online advertising which clearly points out how messed up the industry is and how the lack of clear measurement is fueling misunderstanding, that ignorant advertisers are still being tricked into.

My friend James Sherrett from Work Industries has always said, “Marketing is an exercise of faith, not reason” and I completely agree. People justify anything as long at it represents their beliefs and values, with or without data to back it up, online or offline. It does not matter. This becomes especially interesting when a decision is made which lacks arguments that actually support a point of view. Sometimes, you can see how bluntly some people can contradict themselves in front of your eyes. I tend to believe that since job security is such a very strong driver for a lot of people’s actions, their decisions are often biased the minute their job security is at stake. We all have examples. 

I personally have been avoiding any form of speculation when it comes to advertising decision making and I am only interested in simple sentences such as: this campaign cost $10,000 and lead to $100,000 in sales. Therefore, the cost of sales is 10%. Period. Who says advertising has to be complicated. Keep it Simple Stupid. That’s what I sell. The right intent, with the right user, at the right time, at the right place, at the right price and yes, that IS relevancy 101. Search is where you can do this. Anything else is less relevant from the simple fact that the users are not looking for it in the first place. Check your stats, it will prove it. Speculation RIP. No wonder I became a strong search marketing advocate, measuring every I do, down the smallest detail. Damn, it is so simple, what is it that you don’t get?

Now, James sent me this article today which basically dissects online advertising into numerous pieces and make an attempt at defining its path for the future. It is contemplating ways to measure its effectiveness and modify significantly the current online advertising system. It is brilliant! That is why I want to share it around. It must be read by everyone in online advertising and especially those who believe in online branding, something online users are ignoring more and more and are being annoyed from more and more, FYI. Things are changing. You have been warned. Read the full article here. 

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A few weeks ago, I came across a short clip about the truth in ad sales from Leo Burnett’s Blog called the fruits of your imagination. It is a great blog. It is also refreshing to see an advertising agency who is embracing new media with honesty and philosophy. The clip is hilarious and is a satire of the sales cycle in a traditional ad agency. If you know other major ad agency with blogs, please let me know as I would like to show a few examples here on how it is possible to incorporate new visions to traditional ad agencies, which still have their focus and attention on interruption marketing. Maybe this will help them reconsider their business model.

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