This Week In Search Marketing Staffing – 10/7/08

While the market continues to tumble, dragging consumer confidence with it, new opportunities are actually opening for Search Marketing in a Recession.  Laura Callow, of Search Engine Marketing Insight, points out that although fewer people are going out and looking for places to spend their last paycheck, people are still going to spend money on goods and services during a recession.  Many people are saving money by staying out of the car and shopping online.  This has left open a big opportunity for the savvy search marketer.  While luxury items are still some time out from matching their sales number of a year ago, more people are jumping online to find deals and have them delivered directly to their homes.  This trend is driving many more ecommerce companies to update their websites to capture as many additional sales as possible.  As the economy stands on shaky ground, search marketers just need to be reactive to the constant changes and they will end up at the front of the pack by the time everyone else gets on the upswing.

Social media is currently one of the fastest growing aspects of search marketing recently.  With the growth of facebook, twitter, and linkedin, social media has become a very influential part in the marketing mix.  Although getting started in social media is easy, building the right plan can be an overwhelming process.  Since social media is fairly new, most social media consultants won’t have long-term experience, so it is important to look for the right experience when bringing in outside help.  SEO Speedwagon has developed a great list of 5 Things to Consider When Hiring a Social Media Consultant and/or Company.  Their list will help you make an educated decision on who to bring on to move your social media campaign to the next level.

1. Company/Consultant Credibility
2. Past Projects
3. Strategy Best Practices
4. Guidance
5. Like-ability

To understand more about how these criteria will help you make your decision, check out SEO Speedwagon’s full article.

When submitting your resume to a company you are giving the reader on the other end the chance to advance your career.  To give yourself the best shot at landing the job you are looking for, you want to make your resume stands out, and not because it is in the reject pile.  In his article, So You Need a Job? Man, Do Resumes Suck, Scobleizer, has developed two lists of Do’s and Don’t’s for drafting and submitting your resume.  While a resume alone won’t get you they job you are looking for, you need to be sure your resume can stand out when hiring managers are looking through hundreds at a time.  Often times a simple mistake can lead to an instant rejection, so by using Scobleizer’s article you can help increase your chances of being invited in for an interview.

If this economy has gotten you down, it might be time to move to Hawaii.  In a time when stories of massive layoffs and downsizing are part of every day’s newspaper, Hawaii has Gained 4,158 tech jobs in 5 years.  While not part of the main tech scene, Hawaii has shown tremendous growth over the past 5 years.  With an average tech salary over $63,000 and more than $3 billion going into the state economy, Hawaii is developing into a very strong tech paradise.

That’s it for this week, check back next week for another update.