Would you leave SEO for more money? For more interesting work? Does the startup life appeal to you? Why wouldn't you leave SEO? The awesome community? The constant change that keeps it fresh? The loads of booth babes at SMX shows? (Kidding.)
6 Comments
6 Comments
Comments
The reason I do SEO for a living is because I have a genuine passion for it. I truly enjoy going to work and plugging away at Google's algorithm. SEO is never a game that you can master so its a new challenge every day. I also find SEO to be a very rewarding job. Not only for my own personal websites but for clients as well.
So to answer the question I would quit SEO when the passion dries up. When I no longer get excited to check out analytics, conversions and even rankings. For right now I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
I've pretty much quit SEO in favor of PPC. I enjoy paid search more and I feel I'm much better at it. Plus, both disciplines are complex enough that the time where one can master both has long since past.
But, I'm never going to quit Search Marketing :.)
If I didn't run my own agency I am not sure how I'd respond...I'd be more tempted to do something different if I worked for someone else I imagine, but as it stands now I can honestly say that I've never been happier than I am right now. i have amazing staff and nothing thrills me more than seeing them grow in the industry and ask me questions that keep me on my toes. My link builders make something that's usually tedious become something fascinating and addictive, and I adore them all for it. Seeing really creative people in action is always good and this industry attracts some amazing minds, so right now, no, I can't see myself leaving. I love it too much.
Hitting Powerball!
I love the challenge of trying to keep up with the changes in Google's algorithm. SEO isn't being taught in colleges as far I can see (probably because it changes daily). Every graduate looking for work that I have checked out knows nothing about SEO according to the samples they send me. So why quit now when the market is wide open? I will quit when Google makes it totally ineffective -- which is getting closer and closer.
I think I will be done with SEO for the most part after I take the bar exam (feb 2012). I will keep clients that I enjoy working with, but it wont be many of them (2-3). Had I not gone to law school I would make this my career, as I have very good results doing it.