Taking on a member of staff......

[mconridge]

We are planning on taking on a full time member of staff next year to do the following:

- SEO including PPC
- Web Development
- Various Internet Marketing like directory submission, price comparison etc

A couple of Qs - Has anyone done this, and if so was it successful? Can anyone recommend any good recruitment sites for this type of role?

We've budgeted between £20,000 - £30,000 for salary + Bonuses.

Any tips etc for this? We've never taken on a member of staff with the level of competience neccessary for this role.

Matthew :)

[david rushton]

I'm no expert on SEO but I would guess for someone good you may be looking toward the £30k side of your £20-30k budget, maybe a little more. I am a big fan of performance related pay, basic salary and then a percentage cut of their output.

I would also get them on a rather long probation period (6 months or so) so you really have time to check out if their work is any good.

[edmondscommerce]

I would suggest that you should think about splitting the role - directory submissions isn't really something you need a 30k p.a. employee to do.

Web development is though.

[tagnum]

SEO expert may not have experience in web development (e.g. programming). I agree with David about performance related pay. Good incentives should retain good employee :)

[KidsBeeHappy]

From the employment perspective - is this your first employee?
Employment basics like contracts etc are sooooo important partic in this area. Are you a member of the FSB?

[cvscreen]

Hi Matthew,

With regards to posting an advert for such a person, dependent on your location, I'd consider posting an advert on Gumtree as a first port of call which is a cheapish option, Reed may also be worth a go as it's not too expensive.

Having said all of this, an agency will cover all of the major sites, Total Jobs, Monster, Jobserve, CW Jobs, Jobsite etc and will be able to screen out all of the relevant candidates for you based on location and skillset.

I also agree with the point on performance related pay for Webmaster types.

Best of luck

Matt

[movietub]

We are planning on taking on a full time member of staff next year to do the following:

- SEO including PPC
- Web Development
- Various Internet Marketing like directory submission, price comparison etc

A couple of Qs - Has anyone done this, and if so was it successful? Can anyone recommend any good recruitment sites for this type of role?

We've budgeted between £20,000 - £30,000 for salary + Bonuses.

Any tips etc for this? We've never taken on a member of staff with the level of competience neccessary for this role.

Matthew :)

First off some really good news! You don't need to include bonuses in your budget. The bonus should be based upon proven new business stemming from the work they are doing - therfore if the bonus exists to be paid they have paid for it (plus additional income for the buisness of course).

We use a local solicitor to chack all our contracts for us. Typically they send us a sample document, we personalise it and send it back for them to review, advise and tidy up. This costs £100 a shot and is certainly worth it.

In particular pay attention to the non compete/solicitation clause. This person will develop understanding of your entire business and marketting strategy and also your competitors - if a dispute arises and the non compete etc clause in unenforcable they would be able to default and cause untold damage.

Finally consider employing someone who has previously worked as a copy editor. This is very low paid work and often a position people find themselves in when they had bigger plans. Copy editors have all the required skills to increase the quality of your content and if you giove them an opportunity to develop new skills they would probably workl very hard. I believe re-writing descriptions and keeping on top of all content is the best method of SEO out there. Content is king as they say.

Also a person with a decent copy editing background is likely to cost a lot less and develop inline with your business more than a person with prior SEO specific experience.

If your websites going somewhere (which I pressume it must be of you need help) then advertise locally, meet a number of people, and hire the person that is instantlly fascinated and has a few bright ideas. Don't be nervous, just be proffesional and you will know the right person when you meet them.