Online Marketing Jobs: What You Can Earn, What You Can Learn

Folio, a B-to-B review about the magazine industry, held its annual conference in New York City last week. Among the workshops offered at the well-attended conference was, “Search-Engine Optimization as a Marketing Tool”, and the description read, “If your job in marketing is to tell your company’s story effectively, you need to be involved in SEO.” Terms like e-commerce, paid search, SEO, and link strategies did not exist two decades ago in the marketing world. Most businesses now have an online presence and there are new companies that focus solely on online marketing. In order to maintain a competitive edge, employees seeking work in the expanding online marketing world need to be eclectic, creative, and informed about current and emerging tools.

Upside: Search is Sizzling and General Online Marketing Jobs Are On the Rise

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), a non-profit SEO watchdog, reports that industry spending is on the rise, with advertising companies budgeting 30 to 40 percent more over the next year on search marketing programs such as “organic SEO, paid placement, paid inclusion, and SEM technology.” In addition, working for a search engine management company is becoming increasingly lucrative as these companies are trending up. It’s no wonder that SEMPO indicates that “SEM agencies optimistically projected budget overall gross revenue increases for 2005 of 79% on average.”

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, reports that employable people, “with web site experience will have the best opportunities”, in the coming years of the digital era. Even if someone has marketing experience that does not include knowledge of current online marketing trends, it is important to understand how industry-specific online marketing techniques will be a requirement for most jobs in the coming decade. In fact, the National Association of Colleges and Employers survey says that, “starting salaries for marketing majors graduating in 2005 averaged $33,873”, and employment is expected to increase faster than average between now and 2014 due to increased competition among companies in the market.

Web designer and print marketing job descriptions are expanding to include knowledge of online marketing techniques. Titles such as “Strategic Planner” and “Interactive Media Designer” beg experience with not just design and marketing techniques, but an acute knowledge of how to implement them with high success rates in a competitive online market. In fact, web marketing knowledge can be used as added value to your resume regardless of what field you are looking for work in. Most media organizations now look for employees who are online-savvy, in addition to having strong communications skills.

With a specific focus on online marketing and e-commerce, e-consultancy.com is a good site for job boards and a lively discussion forum where online marketers such as yourself can bounce ideas off one another and share information. Remember that part of being a valuable online marketer means knowing exactly what trends are on the rise and which techniques yield the best results. Maintaining eyes on industry sites that offer cutting edge ideas about higher efficiency and lower cost, can increase your employee capital and help keep you up to speed. In fact, employment-related companies are incorporating this new trend into their business model by adding web-based marketing positions onto their payroll.

Downside: Graphic and Web Design Jobs Becoming Increasingly Competitive

AIGA/Aquent, a company that publishes surveys about trends in the design industry, reports that design-related salaries are actually down in 2006 because, "margins are tighter and clients are contracting for work against smaller budgets." If you’re a graphic or Web designer, don’t fret just yet. One way for you to bypass the competition and tight budgets plaguing the industry is to consider expanding your knowledge base and bringing with you the years of design experience that you have or aspire to acquire into the increasingly demanding but opportunistic field of online marketing. Design, in fact, is one of the most important marketing tools you can employ. An acute knowledge of the best marketing techniques combined with a sense of what design employs the best response, will give those seeking work in the online marketing world a strategic position.

We have only just scratched the surface with the potential for SEO strategies and so the future of online marketing has yet to see maturation. There’s no better time than now to join this expanding arena.