The Beginner’s Guide to Becoming an SEO

If you’re reading this post, you may be wondering how to get started in SEO? More specifically, how do you land your first job in SEO?

How are the inexperienced supposed to get their first job at an internet technology company? The following is how I did it.

The Beginner’s Guide to Getting Your Foot in the Door

Please Note: I use my job hunting materials as an example throughout this post. I do this merely as a example for people to work with. I do not have any need to distribute my resume, cover letter or applicable e-mails for the traditional reasons, as I am currently employed at a company I love. Please don’t take this as an attempt to unfairly sell me. I am honestly just doing this for educational purposes.

Research Yourself

The first step to getting your foot in the door at an exciting tech company is to take control of your online identity. It should come as no surprise that potential employers are going to Google, Myspace, Facebook, and Linkedin. (Holy misuse of the English language, Batman!) Make sure you control what they are going to see.

Put yourself in their shoes – Pretend you have an ultra-conservative grandmother. If you would feel embarrassed if she saw a specific image or read a specific fact about you online, politely asks the poster to remove it. Keep this mindset while checking the following websites:

• Facebook – Do NOT just untag photos. I did this a year ago while job hunting and now I don’t know where all the worst images of me are posted. Furthermore, do not assume that your friends’ privacy settings will protect you. They won’t.
• Linkedin – If you don’t have one, get one. If you do have one, update it.
• Myspace – ummm delete it? Kidding, but try to clean it up as much as possible.
• Flickr – It’s going to be rough, but you need to look pessimistically at each photo and each comment and decide how they reflect on you.
• All other websites you participate in – Are you applying to IBM but have dugg a bunch of anti-Microsoft posts?  Remember, companies have many loyalties. (I have a friend who was applying for an internship at IBM and the interviewer jokingly mentioned how much Microsoft sucks. It was a trick to see my friend’s reaction because many IBM departments currently work closely with Microsoft.) Don’t be so easily fooled.

Own your Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

• Create a personal website with your name as the domain – When someone searches for you, the search engines will give a matching domain name more weight than an average page that simply mentions you.

My Google SERP includes DannyDover.com (#3) and the social profiles I listed on its contact page (#4 & #6)

• Include links to all of your online profiles with your name as the anchor text – Include your typical usage of the site so the page has original content and is not just a list of links. This shows people you are plugged in and pushes your social profiles up on your SERP.

• Highlight your best work – Create a collection of your work, with the best ones highlighted (block via robots.txt to avoid duplicate content if the work was originally posted elsewhere).

Find Your Dream Company

• Talk to people you know – Most people get their first jobs by utilizing their connections. Track down and talk to your friends about possible job openings. They are your greatest resource.

• Search Craigslist – Many companies (especially startups) ignore the traditional recruitment websites and post job openings online for free on Craigslist.

• Search Monster and Jobster – Other more traditional companies use these standard professional websites. Don’t ignore them.

• Search the SEO marketplace – There are currently over 500 companies offering more than 200 jobs looking for people like you. It should come as no surprise that many people have already gotten jobs from using this marketplace.

Research the Company

• First and foremost, figure out the culture of the company – Is this a company that you will really want to work at? Does it sound to good to be true? Is your potential boss an idiot? Try to figure these things out before you apply.
• Read and comment on the company’s blog – This helps to understand the culture of the company. Don’t comment if you don’t have anything valuable to say (advertisements for yourself are not valuable in blog comments).
• Search their site for anything related to hiring – If you are lucky, you might find a gold mine of information. 
• Stalk important employees online – I am only half kidding here because it is likely potential employers will do this (at least to a small extent) to you. If the company is small, you should know at least the basic facts about the key employees (titles, roles, and big achievements). This will further help you understand the culture and operations of the company. All of this will be very useful at the interview. (Truth be told, I actually recognized everyone at SEOmoz before I actually shook their hands for the first time. I also think that knowing Rand attended the University of Washington without graduating helped me write an e-mail that was able to get his and Gillian’s attention.)

Resume

Many people put a huge emphasis on the intricacies of creating a resume. I have heard of people who obsess over things like a paperweight, finding the correct shade of white and whether or not to add perfume to the paper (The answer is no). In my experience, it is always the words on the resume that have gotten me a job, not fancy tricks or paper.

The important resume factors are:

• Write a specialized resume – I always write a resume tailored specifically for the job in which I am applying. Of course, I do have a general resume. I use it as a template and rearrange it based on my research into a particular company.
• Write a creative cover letter – Make something that stands out without confusing people. For example, see the cover letter that got me this job and Rand’s favorite applicant of all time. Note: both of these worked because the creators researched the company culture before making them.
• Use a legitimate resume layout – Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). List your most important traits first and keep everything organized. Never, I repeat NEVER, use the default Microsoft Word resume template. On the same note, never make your resume two pages (see below to download the template I use).
• Content – This is paramount. Choose your words carefully and always present yourself in the best light. Don’t lie, but do feel free to show off your skills.
• Spelling and Grammar – Have as many people as you can read over your resume. If you are a student, show it to appropriate teachers/professors. If you are not, show it to your smart friends. Failure to have perfect spelling and excellent grammar on a resume is a great way to get eliminated.

Feel free to use my resume as an example

Feel free to use my resume as an example on how to sell yourself and as an aid for good word choice. Here is the PDF with my example information.

This template was exclusive (until now) to my family and was originally given to my brother, Josh, when he went to graduate school. Feel free to download the template file below:

Portfolio

For any job in the SEO industry, a resume is not enough.

• Do a case study – This should be specific to your skills and demonstrate quantitative results. Include the status of the case before, what you did to improve it, and what the results were afterward. Although the case study write up that I did is in a different format, it is still a good example.
• Help people – Not sure what to do for your case study? Contact a local charity and ask if you can help them in some way. If you want to be a web developer, offer to work on their website. If you want to be an SEO, see if you can make them rank for some tough keywords. Be sure to bring up this experience at interviews. (Thanks TigerAdvertising)
• Always speak their language – Nobody likes talking to someone they can’t understand. However, people do like to be impressed by people who are more knowledgeable. Use the knowledge you gained from researching the company to determine how to express yourself.
• Numbers – Make a one page summary of the results of your case study. Include graphs and tables where necessary.   

Interview

This is your big chance. Act like a Boy Scout and be prepared.

• Bring your resume – Bring several hard copies and keep them in a manila envelope to keep them safe. Additionally, bring your resume in PDF format on a thumb drive in case someone wants more copies. Lastly, keep a copy of your updated resume on your website. You never know what the interviewer might expect.
• Dress up – I am an adamant believer that it always helps to dress up at a professional interview. Men, wear khakis, a dress shirt, a tie, dress shoes, and black socks. Women, your clothing is beyond my expertise. However, as a rule of thumb, always dress conservatively and avoid looking fake. If you dress seriously, people will take you seriously.
• Believe in yourself – You should know as much as you can by this point. Don’t stress, and if you don’t know the answer to an interviewer’s question, be honest. Interviewers spend all day listening to BS. It is refreshing to talk to an actual human being.
• Follow Up – Send a short and simple thank you after your interview. It is easy to do and makes a great impression.

Convince Them That They Need You

(The extent of this will differ depending on how much the job is needed and whether or not it is an internship, apprenticeship, part time, or full time job. My situation was extreme because my formal education was not getting me where I wanted to go.)

• Make them an offer they can’t refuse – When I applied here, I offered my (limited) services at no charge and promised to provide all of my own resources (computer, software, etc). As an intern I realized that money was not the immediate goal. I had found a company that promised to provide me with valuable experience and I was ready to take a short term loss (in money and energy) in return for big rewards later. Employers will generally keep an intern as long as the intern is bringing more value to the company than they are taking away from it. As an intern, expect to take on a lot of tedious tasks (I read and categorized every blog post ever written on this website), but be sure you are at a place you love.

A Little Bit of Something Else

• Be yourself! – They will either like you or not, and there is nothing permanently you can do to change that.
• Luck – Sometimes there is nothing you can do. At some point while job hunting you will fail. I have failed several times and I fully expect to fail many more times in the future. I have been able to learn from my mistakes and have constantly improved myself. Through this constant process of improvement I have guaranteed that I will be successful at something. The catch is it most likely won’t be what I expect.

Stop Reading and Start Doing!

• Start Now – I have read a million blog posts containing excellent advice. The reality is these didn’t help me at all until I started putting what I had learned into practice. Right now, you should print this out and start doing everything on it. Go get yourself a job!

I look forward to hearing from the more experienced SEOs in the comments. Please let me know how I can improve this guide. If any of you (experienced or inexperienced) decide it would be preferable to contact me privately, please feel free to e-mail or private message me. If that’s not your style, feel free to contact me on Twitter (DannyDover) and/or Linkedin (Danny Dover). Thanks!