MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Me being the outspoken, intelligent, suave and all around awesome person that I am, it’s inevitable for some people, (everyone) to be interested in what I do for a living. Doesn’t matter where I am or who the lucky person that asked the question: “Dylan, I’m extremely interested to know what you do for a living” is, I answer all the same. “Well, gorgeous lady that is interested in what I do, I am an SEO Solutions Architect…trainee” The last part is said under my breath and covered by a little grunt. They then reply either one of two things: “Oh…ok, that sounds…cool” or just “…?” and then I explain.

My explanation differs from person to person depending on a number of factors, factor number 1: is this person really that interested in what I do or were they just trying to pick me up? If they want to pick me up I just give a very broad, but impressive sounding answer so we can move on in the conversation. I tell them that I optimise a (massive) company’s site while keeping its brand in mind so it can be seen on the internet by potential customers, just like advertising, but online. This, more often than not, brings an enlightened response that goes something like, “Ahhh! I understand now.”

The next factor would have to be: do I want to impress this person? If the answer is “yes”, then I tell them that I analyse websites for major companies. I optimise their sites so that they receive an optimal amount of qualified visits, and I try to make most of those visits convert into sales. I come up with ideas on the ways to bring in new traffic through social media and any other forms of online advertising. I then monitor the site’s analytics to view where and how the site can be improved to raise the conversion rate and keep the users returning. If they aren’t impressed by this answer, I lose interest in them and ask them to leave politely, but it seldom gets to that stage because more often than not they are impressed.

The third and last factor: is this person a fellow nerd? Unfortunately this factor doesn’t come into play as much as I would like, but once in a blue moon I get to ramble on about what I look for when I’m analysing the site, what tools I use when doing an in depth keyword dig to find the best key phrases to use in the content, meta tags, H1, H2 and H3s. How I structure a site to filter users to the conversion pages and pass PageRank evenly throughout the site. What I look for when using Google Analytics and how I make full use of webmaster tools. I get to brag about my link building tactics and how I only use white hat conventions. The most fun is often discussing which social media platforms we use and how we use them to produce the best traffic (opinions seem to vary quit widely on the last topic so it’s fun to debate).

I’m sure other people that work in the SEM industry have the same problem when trying to explain what they do, obviously not everyone can be as awesome as me, but you come across similar situations. What I do is uncommon and pretty niche, but that’s the way I like it.