There are a lot of buzz words and titles being thrown around on the Internet these days.

The adoption of social media by companies and the changes in Google's algorithm has caused people to redefine what they do for customers.

While I'm at it, I'll include some titles that aren't exactly marketers, but who may also offer additional services and that are certainly people you may need to hire at some point.

Let's look at some of them

(You can replace Professional with Specialist, Expert and other terms or vice versa)

(Consultants fall under many of these categories as well. Those that advise you on the best strategies versus actually doing the work involved)

(There are likely some titles I have missed on the list, but this should give you a good guide to understanding most of them)

Internet Marketing Professional - A person who cross-trains in several specialties. They should understand SEO, SEM, SMO, SMM, Content Marketing, Social Media, Blogging and more. They should have the ability to create your entire online marketing plan, including all aspects of marketing your products and services online.

SEO Professional - Many SEO Pros are Internet Marketing Professionals as well. Many equate SEO with Internet Marketing, but for the purposes of this article, I'm going to use a more narrow definition. A person might consider themselves an SEO Expert because they understand how to optimize your website for the search engines.

This term can narrowly be defined as Onsite Optimization. SEO Experts that know how to optimize the code and your content to give you the best chance of ranking well in the search engines.

An SEO Professional, as with an Internet Marketing Professional may cross-train in other areas and have other skills as well. As I said, some SEOs are just an Onsite Optimization Specialist and others may be able to do everything an Internet Marketing Professional can do.

Local Search Specialist - An SEO Professional who specializes in Geo-Targeting to get your website showing up in local results in the search engines. This includes creating your Google Places and Google+ Business Pages, Yahoo Listings and more. They also understand Onsite Optimization using the geographical locations as keywords. They should also know how to find the right directories to get listings on and place to buy advertising and know the difference between selecting those that are high-quality vs link farms.

SEM Professional - Another title that can be confusing to you. An SEM Expert specifically means they are skilled at SEO and PPC and anything else that helps you show up in the search engines when specific, researched search terms are typed in search by users. As with SEO Experts, they may be cross-trained and have expertise in more areas of Internet Marketing.

SMO Professional - Social Media Optimization in a literal sense should be someone who creates professional profiles and business pages on all social media platforms. But many who use this title also call it SMM, Social Media Marketing and continue to manage your social media for you as well.

SMM Professional - Social Media Marketing Experts are those that likely also perform the job of SMO above. They maintain and update your profiles, share content and may even engage your potential and current customers on social media websites as well.

Either your SMO or SMM Expert should also understand how to create a social media policy and strategy for your company.

Brand Journalist - For years, companies have sought free publicity by news outlets and publications, hoping their story gets told because it is news. issuing press releases and more to get their stories in front of these news outlets.

With companies adopting social media and having the ability to bypass news outlets and talk directly to their audience, the game has changed.

Being a Social Media Expert or a Content Marketer does not necessarily mean you are a Brand Journalist.

A Brand Journalist should be a Journalist. They should have experience in getting content and news published offline and online.

Branding Expert - I included this title because it is related to being a Brand Journalist, but not quite the same. A Branding Expert knows how to create a web presence and get your brand in front of as many people as possible, but is not necessarily a Content Marketer or Brand Journalist.

They might not create content at all. They may create your logo, help design your website, create your social media profiles and business pages and maybe even create your business cards and other print items.

Their job is to make sure that everywhere your business name is seen, it is also recognized and associated with all the other ways your business name has been seen by potential and current customers. Consistency of your brand identity across all platforms is their specialty.

Content Marketer - A Content Marketer should know how to create compelling content that will appeal to your target audience to improve the click-through rate from posts on social media and wherever else that content is published.

They should seek out high-traffic, high-quality websites other than just social media that will agree to publish content about your products and service and provide a link back to your website where those products and services can be found.

They should know how to analyze the response to each piece of content and continue to improve on that click-through rate based on user response to previous efforts.

The content they produce can be in the form of blog posts, web page content, landing pages, videos, graphics, press releases and more.

The Content marketer may also be a person who doesn't actually produce the content themselves. They may hire a content writer or creator or use content your company provides.

PR Professional - A Public Relations Expert online is different from the definition offline. By necessity, a PR Pro should understand how to use social media to get the word out about your company and what you sell. As in offline PR, they should also know how to create and distribute press releases and get news outlets to cover stories that help your brand get noticed.

Professional Blogger - A ghostwriter for your blog. Someone who can create compelling content for your blog on a schedule you decide. Strictly defined, they are hired to create content, but many possess other skills. They may be a WordPress Expert and understand what plugins to use and how to update when needed. They may even be able to help with the design of your blog, depending on their skillset.

Business Blog Manager - Has the skills of a Professional Blogger, but by necessity, has to be an expert in whatever blogging platform you are using and how to troubleshoot any problems that occur. They should be able to handle the selection and maintenance of all plugins, themes and more. They do everything in regards to your blog.

In addition to that, they not only know how to create the content, but also have the ability to utilize social media to share that content and analyze the response to that content in order to guide them to improve future content creation based on user-response. In other words, they are also your Content Marketer in regards to the content created for the blog.

Webmaster - Someone well-versed in the platform your website is built on and who has the ability to do your updates and troubleshoot any problems you have.

Again, they may be cross-trained and also have the ability to create content, do SEO, or may have other skills. Many companies have an in-house webmaster, while others might pay a monthly fee to have one on stand-by. others charge an hourly rate and respond when needed.

Website Designer - Narrowly defined, a Web Designer has the skills to create the look and feel of your website.

They may only have the skills to create the design or may also be able to do the programming and more to enhance the sites usability.

They may also understand branding, SEO or possess other skills.

Website Developer - They may also be the Web Designer or work with your Web Designer to handle the javascript, PHP, databases, or other programming needs to make the site work the way you want it to. A Web developer may also know how to create apps and other enhancements that a designer might not know how to do.

Programmer - There are several skills a Programmer might have depending on the different coding languages they know. Some consider just knowing how to write HTML makes you a programmer. But most who use this title know PHP, Ruby on rails, PERL, Databases, and much more.

Web Analytics Specialist - This title assumes that the person knows how to install many types of analytics, not just the free kind offered by Google. They should also completely understand how to analyze the data that is collected and suggest improvements to both the website and your marketing plan based on that data.

Conversion Optimization Specialist - Not all content creators and SEO Pros are also Conversion Optimization Experts. The skillset needed for this are sales first and SEO second. They should understand how to write content that gets users to do the preferred actions on your website.

Many times, a website can be optimized for the search engines, rank very well, have a good social media presence, etc., but still not be closing sales or generating leads the way it should or could. This is where a Conversion Optimization Specialist comes in.

They can improve your web pages, blogging strategy and social media strategy so it all works together to produce more leads and sales. They are the "Big Picture" person you call in to solve the mystery of why you're not doing as well as you should be as far as lead generation and sales.

Internet Project Manager - Also called SEO Project Manager or Campaign Manager, etc.

Creating an Online Marketing Plan, a Website Development Plan, a Social Media Strategy and more can be overwhelming for a business owner who doesn't spend all of their time learning about the web.

A Project Manager is a smart choice for most business owners.

They organize everything and plan it all out in a way that you can easily grasp.

They have the ability to create a step-by-step plan to get everything done in a timely manner and can even help choose the right people for each job that needs to be done.

They stay on top of it as your project progresses and update you with reports. You deal with one person, your Project Manager. They deal with the Designers, Programmers, Content Creators, SEOs and everyone else for you. They know enough about each of those areas to make sure everyone is on the same page and are doing a good job.

PPC Specialist - Does the Keyword Research. Creates your PPC Campaigns. May also create or improve your landing pages. Knows how to analyze the data and improve your results with Pay-Per-Click advertising.

Landing Page Designer - This person specializes in creating landing pages that have a high-conversion rate and who understand how to test those pages, analyze the traffic data and more to continually improve those pages. It shouldn't be someone who only creates the landing page and considers their job done. Until each landing page is converting at a good rate, the job is not done.

These titles are not the only ones you will encounter and others may define some of them differently. The bottom line is that when someone promotes themselves using any of these titles, you need to ask them to define what that means to them so you understand the skills they have and the actual services they provide.

My area of expertise is Agile Marketing, which includes many of the skills listed above. Using all of the tools available and the ability to change strategy quickly based on analytical data is the key to success.

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