Monthly Archives: December 2008

Follow Search Engine College on Facebook and Twitter

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SEC logoFor any blog subscribers who are Search Engine College tutors, students or graduates, we have launched a couple of new communication channels:

The Search Engine College Facebook page is our official page for announcements, events and news about SEC. Become a fan to receive updates from us in your Facebook account.

Search Engine College Alumni is a Facebook group for existing students, graduates and tutors to network and socialize with each other.

@secollege is a Twitter profile for Search Engine College that will be used for official College announcements such as lesson updates, press releases, new courses, events and milestones. If you have a Twitter account, please follow us.

With four years of graduates and students in 42 countries, it’s difficult to keep up with everyone, so please help spread the word. See you on Facebook and Twitter!

10 Different Types of SEO Clients

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home officeThe always witty Rebecca Kelley has hit the nail on the head with her latest blog post 10 Different Types of Clients.

Without naming names, Rebecca describes some of the typical SEO client types she comes across in her job and why they frustrate her. I can totally relate, as I’ve had just about every one of them!

Here’s an extract:

“2. The Lumbergh Client

You’ve all seen Office Space, so I’m sure you’re familiar with the boss, Bill Lumbergh. A Lumbergh Client is someone who is unfazed by your efforts and instead needs you to “go ahead” and make a bunch of ridiculous changes to their site, even if you’re only providing consulting work.

Client: “Yeeeeah, I’m gonna need you to go ahead and manage our paid search account.”
You: “I don’t do paid search.”
Client: “Greeeeat. I’m also gonna need you to redo our landing pages and increase clickthrough rates by 110%.”
You: “I’m only providing consulting. Don’t you have a team or a staff to handle these-”
Client: “Greeeeeat. We’ll touch base at the end of the week.” [hangs up]”

Heh heh. Thankfully, Holy Grail clients DO exist and I’m lucky enough to have two of them. You know who you are  ?

How Social Media is Killing CNN

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While logged into Twitter and inundated with up-to-the-second news of the Mumbai terrorist attack, I was reminded how powerful social media can be.

It made me wonder if social media is impacting traditional news journalism circulated by agencies like CNN and BBC and prompted me to write an article for SiteProNews about the subject. Here’s an extract:

“More and more people are ditching their newspaper subscription, switching off the TV and turning to the Internet for their daily news fix. And why wouldn’t they? It’s faster, cheaper and interactive. They can subscribe to the feeds of digital journalists and bloggers they like, they can search news by region, category or timeline and thanks to social networking, can be informed the very instant news happens in the world. So could the advent of social media signal the end of traditional news journalism? Yes, I think it could.”

I was thrilled to see SiteProNews run my piece as their lead story today. If you’re not a subscriber to SPN, here’s the link: How Social Media is Killing CNN.

So what’s your take on the impact of social media. Do you agree with me? Discuss via comments

Q and A: What is the estimated hourly rate for SEO/SEM services?

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QuestionHi Kalena…

I’m a student of yours. What would be an estimated hourly rate for SEO/SEM services?

I have read an article that reckons anything from $50 – $800 (American) per hour. According to your knowledge, what would you recommend the lowest to the highest rate is currently?

Thanks
Armand

Dear Armand

Thanks for your question and I hope you’re enjoying your course at Search Engine College.

The hourly rates of Search Engine Optimizers and Search Engine Marketers range considerably, depending on whether they are self-employed, freelance or work for an agency, what city/country they are located in, what client they are billing and what type of project they are working on.

My own rates range between USD 150 and 350 per hour, depending on the complexity of the project and whether my client has purchased a block of hours from me, whether they are on monthly retainer or are paying on an ad-hoc basis.

There really is no set hourly rate and the range from highest to lowest seems to change as often as Jeremy Schoemaker changes his t-shirt.

In terms of SEO/SEM salaries, the following posts should give you an idea of range: