Marco Ferrai works as an SEO & content Marketing Executive at BoohooMAN.com! Read on to hear more about his job:
How did you get into marketing (or your particular role)?
I’ve always been fascinated by creative advertising since my teenage years, so after high school I decided to apply for a BA degree in Marketing and Communication.
After my first experience as a marketing and communication intern for a bank and the explosion of social media, I got very curious about the digital world and decided to further my education with a MSC in Marketing Management with a module in Digital Marketing.
Working with a Lancaster-based start-up for my dissertation project helped me land my first job in digital marketing (more specifically, SEO) and after 2 and a half years of experience I moved to global online fashion retailer boohooMAN.com as an SEO & Content Marketing Executive.
What does a typical day in your role look like?
SEO is quite a broad discipline, which incorporates different areas. In general, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to all the work involved to make a website rank well on Google (as well as other search engines) result pages.
My typical day as an SEO Executive always starts with a review of the previous day/week/month performance. In order to do that, I track several metrics such as rankings, traffic to the website, click-through-rate, and revenue. Based on the data I collect, I’m able to identify potential issues or opportunities, and adjust my SEO strategy accordingly.
Another daily focus area for me is keyword research, which basically means looking for new ranking opportunities for the website on Google and other search engines. There are several SEO tools I use to identify new search trends in the fashion industry, but competitor analysis is equally crucial here.
Other activities I engage in daily include on-page optimization (optimization of all the SEO element of a page to improve its ranking performance for specific keywords) and link building (reaching out to bloggers or online publications in the same industry to get them mention the brand or link back to our website to increase our authority).
Fixing technical issues and content creation for the blog are also part of my responsibilities, as well as SEO support for new product launches and marketing campaigns.
What do you love about your role?
What I love the most about my role is that I never get bored!
In SEO, and in digital marketing in general, things move at such a fast pace that we are constantly pushed to keep up with the latest trends and try new things to succeed. In fact, with Google algorithms changing more and more frequently, me and my team must keep on testing new strategies and use out-of-the-box thinking to uncover new ranking methods.
What sort of qualities does a person need for this role?
Working in SEO requires a specific set of skills. SEO is very technical in nature, however it also entails a bit of psychology and creative thinking. A solid technical foundation for SEO is a must, and it’s crucial to understand how websites and search engines work in general.
From a psychology point of view, it’s beneficial to know the basis of consumer behaviour, in order to understand how people use search engines, as well as what attracts and converts them. In this way, you can choose appropriate keywords and write copy in a way that engages the users of your website.
Working in SEO also means you’ll need to work closely with people in other departments to get things done, so you’ll also need presentation skills to make internal stakeholders understand the need to invest in key SEO projects.
Part of the job is also training and educating internal staff, that’s why it’s important to be able to effectively communicate the benefits of SEO and any opportunities you see.
What advice would you give to someone looking to move towards a role like yours?
First of all, TRAINING is crucial. As mentioned earlier, there’s a strong technical component at the very basis of SEO Marketing, so my advice is to read about SEO as much as you can before starting applying for any SEO-related job. There are lots of free resources online you can easily get access to, as well as blogs, forums and conferences across the UK. If you own the basis, landing your first job in SEO will be much easier.
We all know how hard is to get the first job with no or little previous experience. An easy way to start building up your SEO resume is to create your own blog. In this way, you can put in to practice all the SEO learnings you’ve previously acquired and build up your confidence, and it’ll give you something to talk about during your first interview. If you don’t want to create your own website, you may want to look for non-profits who need help managing the SEO strategy for their website and reach out to them to offer your support.
Finally, I think having a solid LinkedIn profile is essential for anyone looking to start a career in digital marketing. So, make sure yours is complete and up to date…good luck!
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