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On Cats & Search Marketers
By Julie | June 30, 2007
A study has found that cats sort of domesticated themselves because human granaries became a source of food, followed by the humans themselves encouraging the cats to stick around (because the cats ate the rats in the granaries).
The same is true of in-house SEOs, in my opinion. The magic of a lot of in-house positions, or ‘near’ in-house positions, is that it guarantees the search marketer a number of advantages: the paycheck always clears, the medical benefits resemble something at least ok, and it can be more stable than even a position at a large agency. While a large agency generally has the paycheck and the benefits, they also have a long tradition of dumping a lot of creative staff on the streets during lean periods or large account turnovers. Corporations are a little less prone to that, even if the marketing budget seems to be among the first against the wall when a revolution comes.
Beyond that, many SEOs just aren’t suited for freelance work. This is as true in search marketing as in other disciplines with freelance potential, like copywriting. Managing one’s own business development, client relations, and billing can be a drag, and sometimes just not in someone’s skill set. Sure, much of that can be developed, but not everyone wants to go to the bother.
Still, learn from the domestication of the cat: Your SEO team in-house is only so domesticated as you keep them fed and give them a warm place to nap.
Topics: SEO, cats, day job, meta-post |
