Image by jlori via Flickr
As the economic crisis continues, more layoffs are being announced everyday in the tech industry. Zillow (real estate) just laid off 35 people, hi5 (a social network) let go 10-15, Adbrite (advertising online) dropped 40, and even eBay downsized 1500 peeps.
Yet i still see many notices for in-house SEO jobs. Why? Most companies do not need someone on staff to handle SEO or SEM. Most of the work is in the first two months and after that it tends to be monitoring the rankings, meta tags and ad campaigns.
Look at all the advantages of hiring a 1099 contractor. The company does not need to pay any benefits; the person works from home so they are saving gas and not polluting; the rate can be by the hour or a fixed number of hours rather then by year; the list goes on and on.
Someone needs to clue in these folks that in-house is no longer the way to go for search engine optimization.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a0bcc27c-da0c-4d3d-b696-ad68b5c82962)
I couldn’t agree more. However, it seems that “old thinking” prevails. A few months ago I wouldn’t have made that statement. My freelance spot was doing quite well. But today…
I guess its just something in the air. Companies all over the place are feeling a crunch (even when they aren’t) and that feeling is tricking into every facet of their day-to-day’s. When that feeling overwhelms them, they want stability. So, what says stability; freelance Internet guy, or in-house employee?
Again, you are correct. The in-house employee is likely to suck up more resources and money (I certainly do when I’m on location), but the perception is what companies look at, and ultimately what holds them back.
I think I’m ranting because this topic is at the front of my lobe right now. I actually just edited my resume for the pursuit of an in-house position. Something I never thought I would do again.
The most effective way (IMHO) is still SEO. It allows you to get your website known for the proper keywords, which is what people are looking for in the search engines. There are many other ways, including advertising on social networks, participating in forums, and networking face to face.