SEO content marketing roundup, week ending May 29th
This week’s latest and greatest online marketing news is dominated by Google (again), this time with its Penguin 2.0 update.
Since Matt Cutts’ announcement of the Penguin 2.0 rollout on his own blog a week ago, SEO and search professionals have been buzzing about SEO content and linking strategies to deal with the Penguin update, sharing resources and Penguin recovery stories, and analyzing how deep the rollout went in affecting websites.
Content marketers share tools of the trade, and discuss content quality and optimization, blogging, branding, news and media, as well as B2B, mobile and email marketing. (And WordPress turns 10!)
Social media marketers chirp about Twitter lead generation cards, chats and tools, digital advertising, Facebook ads and its (new) newsfeed, Google Plus, LinkedIn’s design changes, and personal brand marketing on social media.
Enjoy this week’s picks!
Content Marketing
Lee Odden posts “In Search of Voodoo: Empathize to Optimize Your Customer’s Journey on the Search & Social Web” at TopRank.
Mitch Joel and Tom Asacker discuss “Believable Marketing” at Twist Image’s latest podcast, via Six Pixels of Separation.
Henneke Duistermaat discusses “7 Lessons Apple Can Teach Us About Persuasive Web Content” at KISSmetrics.
Stefanie D’aulizio discusses takeaways from the book Sounds Like Branding with a video post, “Can you hear me now? The importance of sound in content marketing” at Brafton.
Matt Jessell posts “The Keys To Quality Content Are Information Density & Utility” at Marketing Land.
Kevin Cain shares “4 Ideas for Crowdsourcing Content Creation and Promotion” at Content Marketing Institute.
James Tipton shares “3 Strategies to Succeed in Today’s Mobile Marketplace” at Search Engine Watch.
Kate Maddox posts “Mobile marketing is finally becoming a priority for B2B” at BtoB Magazine.
Bill Blaney is featured with “9 Myths about BtoB Marketing” at Fearless Competitor.
Nick Stamoulis advises “Make Sure B2B Content is Information Based” at Brick Marketing.
Kevin Cain posts his interview with Lee Odden via “Content Marketing or SEO? Lee Odden on What Drives Top Online Marketing Strategies” at OpenView Labs’ Labcast.
Christina Zila discusses “5 Content Lessons & SEO Opportunities From Bloomingdale’s” at Search Engine Watch.
Pratik Dholakiya shares “7 Things Content Marketers Can Learn From Fiction Writers” at Convince and Convert.
Roger C. Parker posts “Follow These 7 Guides for Successful Content Marketing” at Content Marketing Institute.
Michael Statford shares “4 Time Saving Content Curation Tools” at Jeffbullas’s Blog.
Sharon Hurley Hall shares PowerPoint alternatives with “19 Free Presentation Tools to Wow Your Audience” at The Daily Egg.
Brian Proffitt posts “WordPress Hits The Decade Mark: An Appreciation” at ReadWrite.
Referencing John O’Nolan’s open-source blogging platform Ghost, Christina Warren posts “Is This Kickstarter Project the Future of Blogging?” at Mashable.
Andy Betts posts “Guest Blogging vs. Guest Posting: Imagine A World Without Links” at Search Engine Watch.
Matthew Barby discusses “How to Build Links to Your Blog – A Case Study” at YouMoz.
Lexi Mills posts “How to Approach Blogger Outreach in a New Market” at BuzzStream.
Mack Collier discusses “How to Use Topic Buckets With a Business Blog” at his site.
Mark Shaefer shares “10 Maxims of Successful Blogging” at {grow}.
Ronell Smith posts “How To Use A Blog To Enhance Your Content Marketing Strategy” at his own blog.
Samuel Pustea shares no less than “50 Ways to Promote and Market your Blog Posts” at Jeffbullas’s Blog.
Ken Lyons posts “Boost Your Blog’s SEO Mojo with These 6 Simple, Actionable Steps” at Search Engine Watch.
Gini Dietrich discusses “Three Data Points to Measure Your Blog Efforts” at Spin Sucks.
Alison Howen discusses “The Brand Revamp Process” at Website Magazine.
Level 343 discusses “5 Mistakes You Can Make To Kill Your Brand.”
Sean Ellis discusses “4 A/B Testing Mistakes That Can Kill Your Business – And How to Avoid Them” at KISSmetrics.
Piyanka Jain posts “The 80/20 Rule of Analytics Every CMO Should Know” at Forbes.
Dena Levitz talks mobile news with “Best Free Newspaper Apps: Serving a Niche, Providing Utility” at PBS Mediashift.
Kurt Krejny posts “Engage a Wider Audience by Optimizing for Personalized News Readers” at YouMoz.
Dani Fankhauser interviews “Elizabeth Spiers on Launching Media Brands” at The Content Strategist.
Beth Hayden shares “3 Quick Ways to Perk Up Your Email Marketing Efforts” at Copyblogger.
George Passwater asks “Are You Making These 3 Email Marketing Mistakes?” at his blog.
Jakob Nielsen discusses usability for senior citizens with “Seniors as Web Users” at his Alertbox.
Danny Brown’s The Sunday Share features “7 Awesome Quotes from Steve Jobs” via Shyamanta Baruah’s SlideShare presentation.
Rachel Sprung shares “101 Awesome Marketing Quotes, Revisited” (SlideShare) at HubSpot.
Mitch Joel shares “25+ Mind Blowing Stats About Business Today” at Twist Image’s Six Pixels of Separation.
Seth Godin posts “A hierarchy of failure (from brave to shameful)” at his blog.
Events:
- Google’s DoubleClick (now “thinkdoubleclick”) is holding its annual online meeting on digital marketing June 4th, 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. PDT.
- The Neilsen Norman Group’s Usability Week 2013 conferences will be held in Toronto from June 3rd thru the 7th, and Washington, D.C. from July 15th thru the 19th.
- Confab Minneapolis 2013 is on for June 3rd thru the 5th.
- Ad Age CMO Strategy Summit 2013 will take place June 4th in San Francisco.
- GigaOM’s Structure conference on the future of cloud computing and internet infrastructure will be held June 19th & 20th in San Francisco.
- Content Marketing World 2013 returns to Cleveland, OH, September 9th thru the 12th. Early bird rates expire May 31st, and all coupon codes will expire August 23rd.
- MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum 2013 will be held October 9th thru the 11th in Boston.
SEO & Search
Jennifer Slegg reports “Google Penguin 2.0 Update is Live” at Search Engine Watch.
Chris Crum posts “Matt Cutts: The New Google Penguin Update Goes Much Deeper Into Your Site” at WebProNews.
A collection of video posts by Heather Lloyd-Martin on SEO content strategies for the Penguin update(s) is featured with “Of Penguins, linkbait, and the user experience: SEO best practices” at SEO Copywriting.
Art Enke shares a wealth of helpful, quality links with “Penguin 2.0 Resources, Tips & Insights” at Vertical Measures.
In a reality check on the Penguin update, Dr. Pete (Myers) asks “Penguin 2.0/4 – Were You Jarred and/or Jolted?” at SEOmoz.
Danny Goodwin reports “Google Penguin 2.0 Spam Form Now Available” at Search Engine Watch.
Christoph C. Cemper posts “Deep Dive into a Penguin 2.0 Victim – Penalty Analysis and lot’s of spammy links” at Link Research Tools.
Jayson DeMers posts “Penguin 2.0: Your Roadmap to Recovery” at Search Engine Journal.
Adam Stetzer discusses “Google Penguin 2013: How to Evolve Link Building into Real SEO” at Search Engine Watch.
Julie Joyce asks “Are You Taking Advantage Of Content Byproducts?” at Search Engine Land.
Ted Karczewski posts a brief blog and infographic, “How to avoid a fight with Google’s link-crushing Penguin,” at Brafton.
Danny Sullivan discusses Google I/O’s OK Google with “Google’s Impressive ‘Conversational Search’ Goes Live On Chrome” at Search Engine Land.
Carrie Hill posts “Make your SEO content shine in search with Schema” at SEO Copywriting.
Joost de Valk discusses the rationale behind Yoast’s adoption of the Schema.org code with “Schema.org & Genesis 2.0” at the Yoast blog.
Cyrus Shepard posts “Disavowed: Secrets of Google’s Most Mysterious Tool” at SEOmoz.
Barry Schwartz reports “Google: Use The Disavow Tool Like A Machete & Not Fine-Toothed Comb” at Search Engine Roundtable.
Eric Enge discusses “Removing URLs From The Index In Bulk” at Search Engine Land.
Jacob Klein discusses “Why Webmasters Make Great Consultants” at Distilled.
Chris Gilchrist discusses “The Anatomy of a Perfect Web Page” at Hit Reach.
Discussing the new Google Trends feature, Jessica Lee posts “Google’s Top Charts Offer Engaging Visuals for Popular Searches Over Time” at Search Engine Watch.
Bryson Meunier posts “New Tools Bring Major Changes To Mobile SEO” at Marketing Land.
Peter Da Vanzo reviews Jaron Lanier’s book, Who Owns The Future?, with “GoogleMart” at SEO Book.
Tom Pick discusses web presence optimization and Google updates with “Where Google Moved Your Digital Cheese” at Webbiquity.
Miranda Miller posts “7 Steps to SEO at Scale: How to Ramp Up Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy” at TopRank.
On the other end of the spectrum, Chris Warden posts “Local SEO – ‘Citations & Linking’” at Search Engine Guide.
Rand Fishkin discusses “Conducting Market Research Before Investing in Tactical Execution” (Whiteboard Friday) at SEOmoz.
Melissa Mackey posts “A Preview of Bing Ads’ Keyword Distribution Graph” at Search Engine Watch.
In the third on a six-part series, Timothy Johnson posts “Building Successful Low Budget PPC: Keywords” at Portent.
Amanda West-Bookwait posts “How To Analyze & Optimize Your Mobile Bid Modifiers In Enhanced Campaigns” at PPC Hero.
Ryan Hanely interviews Jessie Wojdylo on “Google Plus and the New SEO” in his Content Warfare Podcast.
Sean Carlos posts “Communicators, Take Note: The Deplorable State Of Social Search Is Changing” at Marketing Land.
Events:
- SMX Paris is scheduled for June 6th & 7th.
- SMX Advanced Seattle 2013, June 11th and 12th, is sold out and the wait list has been closed. Workshop and networking passes are still available. Save on each option by registering online by June 10th!
- SES Toronto 2013 is on for June 12th thru the 14th.
- MozCon 2013 (SEOmoz) will be in Seattle (of course) from July 8th thru the 10th.
- ReelSEO’s Video Marketing Summit 2013 will be held along with Liveclicker’s Video Commerce Summit 2013 for a two-in-one offering July 25th and 26th in San Francisco.
- Search Exchange 2013 will be held July 29th thru the 31st in Charlotte, NC.
Social Media Marketing
“Twitter Lead Generation Cards” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.
Citing Social Media Examiner data, eMarketer reports “Social Gives SMBs Maximum Exposure” (“Traffic was second biggest social benefit”).
Michael Learmonth posts “Twitter Deepens Ties to TV With Media Deals, Ad Targeting” at Ad Age | digital.
Amy Vernon posts “The Best Twitter Chats for Marketers” at MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog.
Rebekah Radice posts “Use These 8 Twitter Tools Now or Hate Yourself Later” at her blog.
Emily Price discusses “How the Facebook Developer Platform Has Changed How We Use the Web” at Mashable.
Kathryn Aragon interviews Appliances Online “social gurus” with “Facebook Marketing: From 2,500 to 1 Million Fans in Just Two Years” at The Daily Egg.
Eric Enge posts “The new Newsfeed with Facebook’s Jeff Kanter” at Stone Temple.
Merry Morud posts “Facebook Ads Updates: Bigger Images & News Feed Option Placements” at Search Engine Watch.
Eli Goodman posts “As Digital Ad Effectiveness Measurement Improves, Are Branding Ad Dollars Ready to Follow?” at comScore.
Reposting from Bloomberg News, AdAge | digital reports “Google Catches FTC’s Eye Over Dominance in Display Ads.”
Deseré Orrill discusses real-time bidding with “Digital advertising: it’s time to get real” at memeburn.
Martin Shervington posts “The Ultimate Guide to Google Plus Posts” at his blog.
Stephan Hovnanian posts “The Google Plus Hovercard: Your calling card across all of Google” at WebSIGHT Hangouts.
Matt McGee reports “Quora Says Its Metrics Are Up 300 Percent, Doesn’t Say From What” at Marketing Land.
Alyson Shontell reports “Another Blog Platform, Automattic, Joins Tumblr In The $1 Billion Valuation Club” at Business Insider.
Tammy Kahn Fennell discusses “3 Ways to Make Your Tumblr Blog More Social” at WindMill Networking.
Victoria Ipri discusses “More BIG LinkedIn Design Changes” at Social Media Today.
MarketingProfs’ Marketing Smarts Podcast features Mitch Joel on his new book, Control Alt Delete.
Heidi Cohen posts “2013: The Future of Social Media” (Research/Charts) at her site.
Patricia Redsicker discusses “15 Actionable Takeaways From Social Media Marketing World 2013” at Social Media Examiner.
Kevin Glacken discusses “Mapping the Customer Journey with Social Intelligence” at Social Media Today.
Ian Barker posts “Best social media analytics tools: 8 of the best to use” at TechRadar.
Lee Odden posts “Social Media and The U.S. Military – 3 Lessons for Business” at TopRank.
Danna Vetter posts “Be a Tool: Properly Resource Your Enterprise for Social Media” at Brian Solis’ blog.
Mathew Ingram discusses “Crowdsourcing the news: Do we need a public license for citizen journalism?” at paidContent.
Jeff Bullas discusses “How to Market your Personal Online Brand on 10 Social Media Networks” at his blog.
Debbie Hemley shares an A to Z post of “26 Ways to Create Social Media Engagement With Content Marketing” at Social Media Examiner.
Events:
- Zenith SocialCon 2013 reutrns to Duluth, Minnesota, on May 30th.
- EmMeCon Emerging Media Conference will be held June 3rd thru the 6th in Seattle. Tickets are selling out fast!
(For an all-in-one listing and description of social media, content & inbound marketing events, check out Neal Schaffer’s “The 12 Best Social Media Conferences to Attend in 2013” at Social Media Today.)
image thanks to marycat879
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Make your SEO content shine in search with Schema
May 28, 2013 • written by Carrie Hill
While skill and great training can set you apart from a good many, being able to offer marked up content that is search-engine friendly is going to set you apart from 99% of the others.
It is an advanced SEO skill set worth its weight in gold!
Adding Schema.org protocols to the content you write – and that of your clients – can improve ranking results and add some much needed click-through support to search engine listings.
Advising clients to mark up their existing content with address, product, and review or event markup can expand the reach of the SEO content you write and, in turn, increase your freelance copywriting rates accordingly!
A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation to Heather Lloyd-Martin’s SEO Copywriting Certification students and grads about how to use Schema mark-up and its value as a prized SEO copywriting skill set. Here are some of the highlights:
What are the best Schema protocols to learn as an SEO content writer?
First, I recommend you start small. Learn how to do one type of markup and do it well.
You can write the code for Schema.org and place the code in the Rich Snippets Testing Tool to see if it validates correctly.
Always check your validation before publishing and right after publishing. (See the tools I like in the “Tools” section below.)
1. Location & Mobile
If your client has a location-based brick-and-mortar business, marking their address up with Schema.org/LocalBusiness markup makes a lot of sense. It’s one of the easiest schemas to implement and it can affect not only search engine traffic, but I speculate this could help immensely with Mobile search in the future.
If you use Google Now, and are familiar with their “card’ system – you can see how data that is structured could be very useful to search engines and other local search websites.
Use this code by copying and pasting into a text editor like Notepad and replacing the generic text with your clients’ data:
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/LocalBusiness”>
<a itemprop=”url” href=”http://www.ClientWebsite.com”><div itemprop=”name”><strong>Client’s Company Name Here</strong></div>
</a>
<div itemprop=”description”>A short description here – maybe 1-2 sentences. You CAN leave this out, but it helps if you can use keywords and the city state in the description</div>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>1234 Oak Street, Suite 444</span><br>
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>Anytown, </span><span itemprop=”addressRegion”>CO </span><span itemprop=”postalCode”>55555 </span><span itemprop=”addressCountry”>USA</span><br>
<div itemprop=”telephone”>555-123-4567</div>
</div>
</div>
2. E-Commerce Product Descriptions
Many writers are contracted to write new products descriptions for their clients. Adding the markup to outline a product with Schema.org/Product or Schema.org/Offer code can help your client’s product stand out from the pack.
To go along with product and offer schema, review schema will add the rating stars to the search engine result listing, which can have a big impact on click through rates:
3. Events
Event markup is a fairly easy process, but is done rarely, and surprisingly – not very well.
There are a handful of event companies and directories that do it right (check out Eventful.com for a good example) and that lack of accuracy is an opportunity for you.
Are you writing content about an event your client is putting together? Creating a listing that has an enhanced look in the search engine results is a great side –benefit.
You can see from the example below how useful that would be to the viewer:
Essential Tools to Use
Closing Thoughts
This is an opportunity for you as an SEO copywriter to set yourself apart from your competition!
Some of the implementation of the Schema.org markup may take collaboration with the clients’ website teams, but the results could definitely be worth the effort.
You may consider offering the first bit of markup as a “freebie” to show the benefits with regards to ranking and click-through, proving to the client the value behind your expertise.
However you approach it, knowing more about how to make content rank well, and achieve a larger number of clicks, can only enhance your reputation as an SEO content writer.
About the Author ~ Carrie Hill
Carrie Hill is the Director of Online Marketing for KeyRelevance, LLC. She specializes in technical SEO and social media – and absolutely loves email marketing. She is also a regular author for SEMClubhouse.com. When not immersed in all things search, she’s a big fan of hanging with her kiddos, reading, cooking, gardening. Find Carrie on Twitter @CarrieHill or on Google+.
image thanks to crazyseo20 (Crazy Seo)
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Filed under Freelance SEO copywriting,Tips and techniques,Working with clients
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Of Penguins, linkbait, and the user experience: #SEO best practices
May 23, 2013 • written by Laura Crest
It’s the sound of Google finally dropping the other shoe.
Google distinguished engineer and head of web spam, Matt Cutts, announced yesterday that Google’s much-anticipated Penguin 2.0 has arrived. In his blog post, Cutts said “…the rollout is now complete…” and that “[a]bout 2.3% of English-US queries are affected…”
Cutts went on to say that the Penguin update has also finished rolling out for other languages worldwide.
For those SEOs, webmasters, and site owners that had taken heed and cleaned up their site content and backlink profiles beforehand, this “…next generation of the Penguin webspam algorithm…” shouldn’t cause any problems (although there is always a remote chance of collateral damage with any algo update).
More to the point, those who never engaged in any spammy linking or keyword-stuffing practices in the first place, and instead focused on providing a valuable user experience, shouldn’t be overly anxious about the Penguin 2.0 launch.
Would it surprise you to know that before Panda – much less Penguin – was even a twinkle in Google’s eye, Heather was talking about the need to create quality content focused on the persona-defined reader? And encouraging SEOs and site owners to move beyond linkbait?
Me neither.
So as a nod to Penguin 2.0’s arrival, and as a shout-out to Heather for her vision and passion, here’s a mashup of her written and video posts around Google’s Penguin updates and SEO copywriting best practices… Enjoy!
From this video post published just over a year ago when the first Penguin update hit, Heather’s counsel retains its relevancy. It is every bit as applicable to this second Penguin rollout as it was to the first!
Her message? Do the right thing and don’t fear the Penguin.
In this post written in the fall (October) of 2009, long before the arrival of those cute black-and-white animal updates, Heather urges SEO content writers and online businesses to write for their audience, not for SEO’s sake.
“…better search rankings, better conversions and a better connection with your customers. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what it’s all about?”
Here is a second video post Heather addressed to the Google-stressed, written after Matt Cutts warned that the next Penguin update would be “jarring” to SEOs and webmasters.
Published in August of 2012, here Heather encourages site owners to move past their Google-fear and learned helplessness, and their ensuing content generation paralysis.
“…instead of being all fearful about what Google is going to do next, think of what’s going on as an opportunity: Good content is still good for Google.”
Remember those mullets from the 70’s and early 80’s? You know – “business up front, party in the back”?
Once upon a time they were considered hip, even attractive. But today…not so much.
The same goes for your site content. Tune in to this video post as Heather explains what a “content mullet” looks like, and what to do about it.
Know how to make Heather grind her teeth? Ask her about “keyword density”…
In this video post published exactly two years’ ago today, Heather explains why there is no such thing as keyword density anymore.
Unless you’re stuck in a time warp and writing content for Alta Vista rankings, it’s time to put this SEO bone down. Really.
“You can party like it’s 1999, but don’t write SEO copy that way!”
image thanks to cnystrom (Chris Nystrom)
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SEO content marketing roundup, week ending May 22nd
May 22, 2013 • written by Laura Crest
Social media marketers are buzzing about “the new Google+, a stream with style and smarts” and its 41 new features.
Other discussions in the forefront include Social Media Examiner’s 2013 industry report, Facebook’s continued status as the social network of choice after surviving its first year post-IPO, reputation management, and social media strategies.
And of course, the SEO and search community is focused on all that flowed from the Google I/O 2013 conference, especially its introduction of the Hal-like OK Google.
Other discussions center on post-Penguin linking strategies, mobile search, Yahoo’s purchase of Tumblr, analytics and referral data recovery, as well as Google’s continued experimentation with Authorship and its new company logos markup feature.
In the meantime, content marketers feel the stress of competition as everyone seems to be getting into the content creation and publishing game, and discuss B2B marketing, brand-generated content, and the native advertising trend in their industry.
Ready? Go now, and enjoy this week’s selections!
Content Marketing
Robert Rose posts “Be Remarkable or Fail: Changes Content Creators Must Make” at Content Marketing Institute.
Lyena Solomon discusses sustainable content creation with “Scalable content generation strategy: The online marketer’s formula for success” at SEO Copywriting.
Lee Odden discusses “Integrating Digital Marketing & PR – Breaking Down Silos Through Content” at TopRank.
Ritika Puri discusses “Core Tech Concepts that Marketers Need to Know” at The Content Strategist.
Gini Dietrich gives a lesson in Google Analytics 101 for content marketers with “Three Goals Every Blogger Must Have” at the Feedblitz blog.
Andrew Isidoro makes the case that “Guest Blogging is not Content Marketing” at The Wall Blog.
Lisa Buyer lists “60 Digital Marketing resources shared in South Beach” from the inaugural Interactivity Digital Conference.
Melissa Fach shares Angie Schottmuller’s Interactivity Digital Conference presentation with “Lots to Learn From: Conversion Optimization – 6 Power Tricks of the Trade” at AuthorityLabs.
Miranda Miller discusses “The Power of Visual Content and Brand Visuals in Action” at TopRank.
Daniel Ellis-Ferris posts a video excerpt from Contently’s Social Content Summit with “How Top Brands Create Content that Works” at The Content Strategist.
Deborah Bates discusses “How 5 brands took huge risks on controversial content” at iMedia Connection.
Joseph Cruz posts “A Guide To Choosing A Competitive Title For Content Marketing” at Search Engine Journal.
From an SEO perspective, Richard Kirk posts “Designing a Content Strategy to Destroy Your SEO Nemesis” at Search Engine Watch.
Bob Geller shares “9 Surefire Content Promotion and Distribution Tips” at WindMill Networking.
Referencing the rise of native ads, Joe Pulizzi discusses “Next-Wave Content Creation Strategies for the End of the Online Ad Era” at Content Marketing Institute.
Chris Crum reports “Native Advertising Trend Has Some (Including Google) Concerned” at WebProNews.
Lee Odden shares “11 Examples of Killer B2B Content Marketing Campaigns Including ROI” at TopRank.
eMarketer posts “B2B Email Marketers Focus on Targeting Content.”
Caroline Watts posts “Beyond Lead Generation: How to Use Content for Sales Enablement, Lead Nurturing and Retention” at Marketo.
Michele Linn posts “B2B Marketing: 9 Ideas for Solving Your Biggest Content Challenges” at Content Marketing Institute.
Events:
SEO & Search
Dan Lyons provides an overview of Google’s I/O 2013 conference with “Google I/O and the Push for Better Context” at HubSpot.
Danny Sullivan summarizes the Google I/O 2013 opening keynote and lists links to several individual “breakout stories“ related to Google’s deluge of products and announcements from the conference, at Marketing Land.
Of the more notable products from Google I/O 2013 is its OK Google multi-screen conversational search feature, as reported by Jessica Lee with “OK Google: ‘The End of Search as We Know It’” at Search Engine Watch.
Matt McGee critiques yet another Google I/O product makeover with “A Tour of the New Google Maps [15 Screenshots]” at Small Business Search Marketing.
Chris Crum reports on a Google I/O Knowledge Graph session for developers with “Google Shows You How To Use Its Knowledge Graph Data In Your Own Apps” at WebProNews.
Citing eMarketer data, Aleyda Solis shares her Mozinar presentation on adapting to the reality of mobile search with “The 3 Steps for Success in a Multi-device Search World” at SEOmoz.
Referring to a study by Google, Jessica Lee posts “Google: Mobile Search Helps 82% of In-Store Shoppers Make Purchase Decisions” at Search Engine Watch.
Bharati Ahuja posts “What Is Responsive Web Design And Why Should We Opt For It?” at WebPro Technologies.
Anthony Verre discusses “What Google Knows & The War Against SEOs” at Search News Central.
Ian Lurie discusses “How Google Ruined Marketing” at Portent.
Referring to “the SEO buzz kill” that is post-Penguin link building, Marty Weintraub posts “SEO Link Building ALERT! Paid-Organic Social Content Distribution Is The Future” at aimClear.
Jon Ball posts “How to Be a Badass Link Builder” (even in the post-Penguin world) at Search Engine Watch.
Matt McGee reports “Google Zaps Another Link Network, ‘Several Thousand’ Link Sellers Hit” at Search Engine Land.
From #MyBlogGuest Twitter Chat comes “Guest Blogging for Co-Citation: the Benefit of Linking out” at MyBlogGuest.
Heather Lloyd-Martin discusses “Penguin 2.0: Should you rewrite your evergreen site copy?” at SEO Copywriting.
Rand Fishkin posts “How to Move Rankings Up On Older, Existing Content” (Whiteboard Friday) at SEOmoz.
Expanding on a recent Google Webmaster video, Barry Schwartz reports “Google’s Matt Cutts: Domain Clustering To Change Again; Fewer Results From Same Domain” at Search Engine Land.
Tom Pick shares “16 Remarkable Web Analytics Guides, Tips and Techniques” at Webbiquity.
Josh Braaten shares “16 Secret Google Analytics Advanced Segments Worth Their Weight in Gold” at Search Engine Watch.
Tim Resnik shares his (SEOmoz) Mozinar on “Reclaiming your Google referral data” via his SlideShare platform.
Alex Moss reviews “10 Essential WordPress Plugins to Improve SEO & Usability” at Search Engine Watch.
Ginny Marvin posts “Google: Nearly 2 Million AdWords Campaigns Are Now Enhanced, Early Results Are In” at Search Engine Land.
Aaron Wall discusses “Why the Yahoo! Search Revenue Gap Won’t Close” at SEO Book.
Chad Kearns posts the second of his 6-part series with “Building Successful Low Budget PPC: Understand Your Campaign Settings” at Portent.
Benjamin Vigneron posts “Analyzing Competitiveness In Your Paid Search Account” at Search Engine Land.
Reporting on a recent Google Webmaster announcement, Thom Craver posts “Company Logos Coming to Google Search Results, Thanks to New schema.org Markup” at Search Engine Watch.
Danny Sullivan also reports on the new markup with “’Organization Markup’ Supported As Non-Google+ Way To Put Logos In Knowledge Graph Box” at Search Engine Land.
Nathan Safran cites data supporting “Google+ in the SERPs Increasing; Authorship Adoption High” at Search Engine Watch.
Janet Driscoll Miller posts “Google Continues To Experiment & Expand Authorship” at Search Engine Land.
Barry Schwartz reports on another UGC (user generated content) spam penalty with “Google Notifies Sprint of Spam Penalty; Seeks Advice In Google Help Forums” at Search Engine Land.
Peter Kafka posts “How to Spend a Billion-Plus on User-Generated Content, Google Edition” at All Things D.
Jeff Bercovici posts “Yahoo’s Mayer Vows To ‘Let Tumblr Be Tumblr’ – But With A Few More Ads” at Forbes.
Jay Yarow and Nicholas Carlson co-author “Why Yahoo’s $1.1 Billion Tumblr Buy Is A Great Idea” at Business Insider.
Cotton Delo posts “Is a Yahoo-Owned Tumblr More Attractive to Brands?” at Ad Age | digital.
Events:
Social Media Marketing
Michael Stelzner announces the release of Social Media Examiner’s fifth annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report (2013), available for free download through May 30th.
Based on Social Media Examiner’s 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Lee Odden posts “Top 5 Social Media Questions Marketers Want Answered” at TopRank.
Google+ shares a sleek 56-second video on its new upgrade with “Meet the new Google+: A stream with style and smarts” at its YouTube G+ channel.
Danny Sullivan live blogs “Grow Your Audience With Google+” from the Google I/O 2013 session by the same title, at Marketing Land.
Chris Crum rounds up Google’s “slew of new features” for Googe+ – noting they number 41 – with “Don’t Miss These Google+ Talks From Google I/O” at WebProNews.
And of course, “Google+ Redesign” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.
Danny Sullivan posts “Up Close With The New Google+ Related Hashtags” at Marketing Land.
Just one thing…Nick Statt posts “Google: Please Fix The Crippling Problem Plaguing Google+” at ReadWrite.
“Twitter on steroids”? Jim Lodicoo posts “Google+ Comments Poised to Change Social Media…But Not Yet” at JAL Communication.
Citing eMarketer data, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols posts “Facebook remains top social network, Google+, YouTube battle for second” at ZDNet.
Kim Lachance Shandro takes a look at “Facebook Hits and Misses Since Its IPO” at Entrepreneur.
Greg Sterling posts “After The IPO: Facebook Survives Its ‘Year Of Living Dangerously’” at Marketing Land.
In response to a dubious but widely-shared Manta survey, Mark Schaefer presents the facts with ”Are businesses failing to find an ROI in social media? Another view.” at {grow}.
Nur Bremmen shares “83 incredible examples of social media marketing” at memeburn.
Leo Widrich posts “For the first time, you can now schedule retweets” at The Buffer Blog.
Kathleen Davis shares a brief post and infographic, “The Key to Building a Strong Online Reputation,” at Entrepreneur.
Jay Baer shares an excerpt from Geoff Livingston’s Welcome to the Fifth Estate with “5 Reputation Management Lessons from Prince, Dell and Beyond” at Convince and Convert.
Brian Solis posts “Getting Back to Basics: Why Brands are Getting it Wrong in Social Media” at his blog.
Mark Shaefer entertains a new model of influencer and outreach strategy with “Influence marketing: What’s next?” at {grow}.
Julio Viskovich discusses “The Benefits of Embracing Real-Time Marketing on Social Channels and Beyond” at Marketo.
Sorcha Mullis shares “Simple Steps to Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy” at Search Engine Journal.
Biz-Zoom Marketing shares an interesting “Infographic: What Drives Social Media Searches and Engagement?”
Colin Walker posts a thoughtful “Of circles, communities and serendipitous discovery” at his site.
Ana Hoffman shares “Triberr: Your Step by Step Guide to Being Heard” at Traffic Generation Café.
Heidi Cohen shares “33 Blogging Tips to Maximize Social Media Reach” at her site.
Devon Glenn posts “Google Glass Gets Social With Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Other Apps” at Social Times.
Events:
(For an all-in-one listing and description of social media, content & inbound marketing events, check out Neal Schaffer’s “The 12 Best Social Media Conferences to Attend in 2013” at Social Media Today.)
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Scalable content generation strategy: The online marketer’s formula for success
May 21, 2013 • written by Lyena Solomon
And in the end, high quality content is not a guarantee of explosive attention and viral sharing.
In order for your content generation to be sustainable, it needs to be scalable. The formula for success is using fewer resources to generate more high quality content.
In addition, your content needs to provide an excellent user experience and convey a consistent brand message, in compliance with brand standards.
Yes, I know, it is easier said than done!
The only way you can sustain content generation without breaking the bank is by making your content strategy scalable.
Planning Your Content Strategy
Planning your content strategy can be broken down into three foundational steps: defining your target audience, doing a content audit and regular inventory, and setting your content marketing goals.
1. Audience. You will be using your content to speak to the customers you are trying to reach. Of course, it makes sense to learn about these people to determine what is important to them. Why would they listen to you?
Once you know what they want and what message they respond to, you will be able to craft your brand message more effectively.
There are many ways to collect information about your website visitors. You can run surveys, look at feedback and contact email, or talk to customer support. You can follow your tribe on social media. You can interview your most typical clients.
Once you know who your audience is, look at your website analytics. If you can, segment the data to fit your audience profile better. Trace their routes on your website and make note of what they are doing with your content.
Find out which content they like and share. Learn which content prompts them to take action and become your customer. And finally, which content does not affect them whatsoever.
Note what type of content they prefer – text, video, audio, etc. You will also notice if your audience likes to comment or they prefer sharing.
2. Content audit and inventory. It is important to do a content inventory regularly. Audit your content to avoid duplication and ensure accuracy and freshness.
You can combine the audit with your audience review. The analysis will show if your content corresponds with the interests of your visitors.
When reviewing your site, mark the pages that need to be updated or expanded. These should be popular pages that your visitors share and comment on. Review the comments and note ideas for new pages or blog posts.
Some of the content can be re-purposed, some needs to be deleted. Mark the pages accordingly.
3. Set goals. You know what your audience wants. You know what you have to offer. It is time to define your content marketing goals.
Revise your business objectives and align them with your content strategy. Use your business and branding goals to guide your marketing.
At this step, you need to craft your brand message:
If you have answers to these questions, you are ready for the next step – implementation.
Implement Your Content Strategy
The only way to achieve scalable content generation is to have good processes in place.
You can start with a content schedule. Define tools and technology you will need to build work flows, help with the planning, approval, optimization, and distribution of your content.
Now you are ready for resources. Train them. Assign specific roles for each person. Your staff needs to be held accountable for the results and, therefore, they need to own their part of the process. Outsourcing content generation is also an option. With clear goals and processes, outsourcing can be very successful.
Create a process for generating a content pipeline. It should start with ideas. Then you can take each idea and cover different angles for a series of (un)related posts.
Define types of content that match your goals. Consider options like how to’s, tutorials, guides, checklists, or glossaries. These are usually very popular types of content.
Determine how much of each type of content you need. Create a process for generating each type of content.
Remember that content you needed to update? Go for it. Re-purpose those other pages. Put the deadlines on the content calendar.
Measure Results
Determine how you will measure success. Go back to your goals and objectives, review your content strategy, and set KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and targets.
Define reports and their frequency. Who is your audience for the reports? What are the next actions for them based on the data you are reporting?
What you measure will show you how you are doing. Base your metrics on data that matters to achieving your goals. A high bounce rate on a blog post might be okay, if the time-on-page is high enough. But a high bounce rate on a conversion page means that your message missed the mark.
Final Thoughts
Remember the formula to a scalable content generation strategy?
Fewer resources generating more high quality content make a scalable strategy. Good processes will ensure that few resources are used. They will also streamline the very process of content generation.
As a result, you will receive large quantities of different types of content. Applying audience knowledge to your company message will solidify the quality.
About the Author ~ Lyena Solomon
Lyena is Director of Search at Milestone Internet Marketing. She is leading the SEO and analytics teams providing strategy, overseeing processes, facilitating and carrying out training and testing latest strategies to improve conversion and revenue.
Lyena has extensive experience in SEO, analytics, website usability and navigation. You can connect with Lyena on Twitter and Google Plus.
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Penguin 2.0: Should you rewrite your evergreen site copy?
May 20, 2013 • written by Laura Crest
Matt Cutts, a distinguished engineer from Google, recently released a video announcing the next wave of Google algorithm updates. He specifically discussed Penguin 2.0, saying it will roll out this summer.
So Google is giving site owners a big heads up!
Also, on last weeks’ SEO Copywriting Certification call with Bruce Clay, he discussed Penguin 2.0 and what it means for site content. So Heather thought she would address this update today because it is a big deal to a lot of site owners!
Tune in to learn what web copy on your site might need rewriting, before the imminent Google updates hit:
Are Some Of Your Pages So-So At Best?
- Does your site have any low-quality posts or articles?
- Does your sales copy walk a keyphrase-stuffing line?
When speaking to the SEO Copywriting Certification folks last week, Bruce Clay advised listeners to go through their websites and locate those pages that are of so-so quality, and make them as good as they can be.
A lot of companies have these so-so pages on their site. They might not be technically keyphrase-stuffed, but they’re not necessarily high-quality or well-researched either.
These mediocre pages might be articles that you kicked out all at once and under deadline, so maybe you or the writer in question were working a little bit more quickly than normal. Or you might have some lower-quality blog posts on your site from way back when you first started out.
There also may be old sales copy on your site, where you thought you were supposed to include more keyphrases than you really should, and they are walking that keyphrase-stuffing line.
These are all examples of evergreen content that is ripe for a rewrite.
Also consider that you’re probably not getting much promotional value from them, because you know they’re not good. You never link to them, you never talk about them, and you may haven’t had the time or the inclination to go through your site and make those posts or those sales pages as good as they can be.
Well…
Now Is The Time To Make Some Changes!
- Google wants to recognize authority sites.
- Identify low-value and low-quality content and rewrite it.
- If your blog hasn’t been updated in months, it’s time to start blogging again.
In his Google Webmaster Help video, Matt Cutts made it very clear that Google wants to recognize – and reward – authority sites. And Bruce Clay emphasized in his presentation that if you have those kinds of pages on your site that are so-so at best, now is the time to revisit and rewrite them.
So identify that low-value and low-quality content! And if you don’t have time to go through and rewrite those pages, now is the time to find someone who can help you with it.
That way, when the Penguin update does hit, you know that all of your pages are exactly the way you want them to be: they are well-written and well-researched, and you’re able to link to them and refer to them without embarrassment!
And if you’ve neglected your blog for months, now is the time to get back to it. Again, Google wants to recognize and reward authority sites, and the way that you can establish yourself as an authority in your niche is by blogging about it – consistently!
If you tackle this evergreen content rewriting project now, then when Penguin 2.0 and other Google SEO updates roll out, you should be in good shape!
Thanks for tuning in! Have any questions or feedback? I’d love to hear from you! You can leave them in the comments, or email me directly at heather@seocopywriting.com. You can also find me on Twitter @heatherlloyd.
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How to fire a vendor (and still feel OK after doing it.)
May 16, 2013 • written by Heather Lloyd-Martin
When it comes to giving someone the ax, I am a far cry from Donald Trump. Did I get pleasure from the experience? Heck no. Did I lose sleep over the decision? Sure.
Did it need to be done? Yes.
Fortunately, I’ve (finally) learned when to fire someone – and how to do it well.
Chances are, you’ll have to fire someone someday. The writer who misses deadlines. The accountant who doesn’t return your calls. The consultant that isn’t teaching you anything new. It’s never easy – no matter why you have to let them go.
Looking back, I’ve made many “I should have fired them sooner” mistakes. There was the vendor who bad-mouthed me to clients and colleagues (and yes, my clients and colleagues told me what she said.). There was the flaky vendor who would do a half-assed job, make lots of mistakes, and would charge me for fixing the mistakes she made. And then there was the vendor who was so rude to clients that they refused to talk to her. At all.
In all of these cases, I gave everyone chance after chance. I sent supportive emails. We had “talks.” There would be a temporary short term improvement. Then, time would pass, old habits would kick in and we’d be back to square one. Or even square zero.
This time, I was definitely smarter and more methodical. It didn’t make the process psychologically easier, but it did make it smoother.
Here’s what I learned:
Figure out the core problem
Is the vendor missing deadlines? Are your emails to them going into a black hole…and you never hear from them in a timely manner? Or, is it just that you aren’t “clicking” with the vendor, no matter how you try? There may be a list of issues, or just one main one. Be clear about your reasons for wanting to let them go.
Do you want to work it out?
If the vendor lied to you, bad mouthed you or purposely did something to jeopardize your business, you got to let them go. Right now. I don’t care how much you like them, or if they’ve worked for you for years. Let them go. You can’t afford to work with people who don’t have your back.
If there’s room for improvement, determine your desired outcome. Maybe you need them to always get back to you by the end of the business day. Or, you want them to proof their work before sending it to you. Ask yourself what kind of behavior change you need, and when you need to see it.
Start documenting the problem
It’s easy to think, “Things aren’t that bad” and fool yourself into thinking things are OK. When you document the problem, you’re forced to acknowledge that, yes, it is a problem. It’s not a one time thing. It’s a long standing issue. Plus, the documentation helps during the next step, which is…
Talk to the vendor about it.
This is not the time to suffer in silence. If missing deadlines is unacceptable to you – tell them. Outline what deadlines they’ve missed and how that affects your business. If communication is an issue, tell them you need a faster response time – and be specific about what that means to you. I prefer to do this by email so I have the paper trail. Other people prefer to do this by phone and then they later send a follow-up email. It depends on your personal style and the relationship you have with the vendor.
You may learn that the vendor has been sick, is going through a divorce or having another problem that prevents them from giving their 100 percent. Be sympathetic, but remember that their problem isn’t your problem. It’s OK to cut them some slack. But it’s not OK to do it when it’s at the expense of your business or sanity.
I will have one – maybe two “talks” with the vendor. After that, my next step is to…
Set up consequences
Have you told the vendor what you need – and you’re still not getting it? Tell them that if things don’t improve by X date, you’ll have to let them go. At this point, your vendor may quit. Or, she’ll promise to get back on track. Promises are nice – but action is what you’re looking for. If your vendor doesn’t fulfill his or her end of the bargain, it’s time to…
Say, “You’re fired.”
If things have reached this point, you have done everything you can do. The vendor, for whatever reason, can’t do what you need – so it’s time to let them go.
Send them an email and keep it professional, factual and friendly. Tell him or her why it’s happening, refer to past documentation and sever ties immediately. If they’re in the middle of a project, find someone else who can take over. The faster you (and your vendor) can move on, the faster it’s out of everyone’s lives.
Firing someone is never fun – but it is necessary. What tips would you add to this list?
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SEO content marketing roundup, week ending May 15th
May 15, 2013 • written by Laura Crest
Content and social media marketers discuss the reality of a youthful audience and its preferences for mobile, social, and visual content. Meanwhile, YouTube introduces paid channels, Bing helps Klout out with its new “experts” feature, and local search shifts to mobile apps in a big (and affluent) way.
The SEO and search community buzz about Matt Cutts’ forecast for SEO over the next few months, and discuss the need for a new mindset around link strategy as Penguin 2.0 looms ever larger on the horizon.
Enjoy this week’s picks!
Content Marketing
Alex Clifford posts “Content Marketing in 2023: Expert Advice on the Trends that Will Matter” at Content Marketing Institute.
Lee Odden shares eight optimization fundamentals with “Want to Improve Your Online Marketing? Master These Search & Social Media Tactics” at TopRank.
Frederic Lardinois reports “Google Launches Content Recommendation Engine For Mobile Sites, Powered By Google+” at TechCrunch.
Josh Byers posts “Three Reasons a ‘Mobile First’ Philosophy is Critical to Achieving Your Business Goals” at Copyblogger.
James A. Martin shares a slideshow, “The Content Marketing Hall of Fame: 13 Ways to Build Your Business” at CIO.com.
phrase HQ assembles an illustrious list featuring “The 101 Best Copywriters in the World” at their site.
Alicia Lawrence posts “Writing Pixelated: Visual Content for Generation Y” at Spin Sucks.
Steve P. Young posts “The 2013 YouTube Marketing Guide” for video content marketers at KISSmetrics.
Tom Pick features “30 Awesome Blogging Guides, Tips and Resources” at Webbiquity.
Miranda Miller discusses “Content Marketing Tactics: Business Blogging Pros, Cons, Best Practices & Brands Doing It Right” at TopRank.
Ben Straley posts “3 Keys to Activating an Audience with Smarter Content” at Search Engine Watch.
Arnie Kuenn posts a video interview with Curata’s Pawan Deshpande on “Content Curation for Your Website” at Vertical Measures.
BtoB Magazine has released its annual “B2B Media Power 50”, listing the top b-to-b advertising vehicles in eight different categories, posted by Kate Maddox.
For fun: Simon “Media Guy” Dumenco posts “What Happens Next in Media? 9 Predictions” at Advertising Age.
Seth Godin posts “The reason they call it a browser” at his blog.
Shelly Bowen discusses “Exploring Your Brand’s Personality with Story” at Pybop.
Rae Hoffman posts a self-described rant, “Content Marketing is the ‘Escort’ of Online Marketing” at The SugarRae Blog.
Mark Emond discusses metrics and ROI with “Four Foundational Elements of Marketing Analytics Success” at MarketingProfs.
John Bonini discusses “How to Fix 6 Failing Marketing Metrics Your CEO Actually Cares About” at HubSpot.
Zach Bulygo discusses “How Being an Authority can Boost Your Online Sales” at KISSmetrics.
Lee Odden shares his keynote presentation to the Portland Communicator’s Conference with “Digital Convergence of Public Relations & Marketing” at TopRank.
Laura Hazard Owen reviews “Ping.it: Not a Google Reader replacement, but a tool to discover emerging viral content” at paidContent.
Roger Dooley posts “Persuade with Visual Metaphors” at Neuromarketing.
Karen J. Bannan posts “How real-time analytics help email marketers” at BtoB Magazine.
Danny Sullivan shares an infographic from Email Monks with “Infographic: The Challenge Of Email Success In A Fragmented Mobile World” at Marketing Land.
Jakob Nielsen shares insights into why users often fail at new tasks with “Usability for Novel vs. Routine Tasks” at his Alertbox blog.
Events:
SEO & Search
Matt Cutts discusses “What to expect in SEO in the coming months” from his Webmaster Help video, re-posted at his blog (Gadgets, Google, and SEO).
Chris Crum covers Matt Cutts’ main points nicely with “For Better Or Worse, A Lot Of Change Is Coming To Google SEO” at WebProNews.
In step with Matt Cutts’ video and post, Heather Lloyd-Martin asks “Are you writing content ‘for Google’?” at SEO Copywriting.
Referring to a tweet from Matt Cutts earlier in the week, Danny Goodwin posts “Matt Cutts: Google Penguin 2.0 Coming in ‘Next Few Weeks’” at Search Engine Watch.
Peter DaVanzo discusses post-Penguin linking strategies with “Link Madness” at SEO Book.
Michael Garrity posts “Could Google+ Play a Role in the Upcoming Penguin Update?” at Website Magazine.
Sean McGinnis shares “Link Building Techniques That STILL WORK!” at 312digital.
David Harry speaks to SEO link-building addiction with “It’s Time to Change the SEO Mindset” at Search Engine Watch.
Ron Garrett discusses “Positioning Your Business for the Future of SEO” (Whiteboard Friday) at SEOmoz.
Mani Karthik discusses “The Future Of SEO in a Socially Driven World” at Search Engine Land.
Barry Schwartz reports that “No, Publishership Isn’t Coming Soon To Google Search To Join Authorship” at Search Engine Land.
Courtney Ramirez addresses client enlightenment and managing expectations with “SEO client education: It’s your most important job” at SEO Copywriting.
Rob Toledo discusses explaining SEO to non-techies with “How My Mom Thinks Search Engines Work” at SEOmoz.
Amy Gesenhues reports “Another One Bites the Dust: Google SMS Search Shuts Down Without Warning” at Search Engine Land.
Jessica Lee discusses the website Gwern.net with “Can This Data Analysis Predict Which Google Products Will Close Next?” at Search Engine Watch.
In the first of a six-part series, Chad Kearns posts “Building Successful Low Budget PPC: Account Structure” at Portent.
Trond Lyngbo posts “How To Double Your Revenue With SEO” at Search Engine Land.
Tim Ash posts “The Secret Ingredient for Successful Websites: Effortlessness” at ClickZ.
Jennifer Horowitz posts “Site Redesign: Avoid These Mistakes” at Level 343.
Jill Whalen shares the “SEO Tools and Extensions” she uses on a regular basis at High Rankings Advisor.
Tom Demers posts “Web Analytics Software Comparison: Identifying The Right Web Analytics Tools For Your Business” at Search Engine Land.
Marc Purtell posts “Beyond Search Rankings: Using SEO to Improve Site Optimization” at Search Engine Journal.
Cyrus Shepard posts “How to Rank: 25 Step SEO Master Blueprint” at SEOmoz.
Glenn Gabe discusses “Facebook Graph Search: Local Search Ranking Factors” at Search Engine Watch.
Spencer Yao discusses “How Your Domain Name Will Impact SEO & Social Media Marketing” at Search Engine Journal.
Anna Bager discusses “How to Benefit From the Mobile Shift in Local Search” at ClickZ.
eMarketer reports “Affluents Drive Local Search App Use.”
Allison Howen discusses the latest development in the Bing-Facebook connection with “Bing’s Social Sidebar Gets Interactive” at Website Magazine.
Another Bing alliance: Anthony Ha reports “Klout Gets Into The Q&A Business By Launching Klout Experts (With Help From Bing)” at TechCrunch.
Mark Schaefer posts “Klout innovation will power search engine results” at {grow}.
Events:
Social Media Marketing
eMarketer posts “Which Social Networks Are Growing Fastest Worldwide? Twitter, Google+ see major gains in active users.”
Todd Wasserman reports that while Google+ may be catching up to Facebook, it still lags in average time spent on the site, at Mashable.
Josh Constine reports “Facebook Previews New Features For Home, Which Is Near 1M Downloads And Increases Users’ Time Spent On Facebook By 25%” at TechCrunch.
Andrea Vahl discusses “How Your Business Can Use the New Facebook Cover Photos” at Social Media Examiner.
Mark Burgess discusses “Building Your Brand With Google+” at Blue Focus Marketing.
Re-posting a video interview, Ad Age reports “Foursquare’s Crowley on Automatic Check-Ins and Privacy: ‘Just the Natural Progression.’”
“YouTube Paid Channels” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.
Frank Strong discusses “The End of Free” at Sword and the Script.
Acknowledging its 10th year, LinkedIn’s Outstory posts an interactive infographic, “A Brief History of LinkedIn.”
Host G+ Hangouts? Tim Schmoyer posts “How to Create A Permanent Link for Your Hangouts-On-Air [Creator’s Tip #90]” at ReelSEO.
Rachel Freeman posts “Overlooked and Underappreciated: the Social Share Button Strategy” at Search Engine Journal.
Peter DaVanzo posts an in-depth discussion on “Measuring Social Media” at SEO Book.
Debbie Hemley collects “26 Social Media Marketing Tips from the Pros” at Social Media Examiner.
Brian Solis discusses “New Digital Influencers: The Coming Youthquake” at his blog.
Bonnie Fuller posts “Baby-Boomer Marketers Are Misreading Millennials’ Media Behavior” at Ad Age | digital.
Gini Dietrich looks at “The Best of the Least Engaged Brands on Twitter” at Spin Sucks.
Rachel Miller asks “Is Your Company Social Media Friendly?” at WindMill Networking.
Jeff Bullas shares “How to Make Money from Your Blog: 11 Powerful Case Studies” at his blog.
Kristi Hines posts “How to Generate More Leads With Your Blog: 5 Tips” at Social Media Examiner.
Rebecca Debono posts “Top 5 hottest social media tools” at iMedia Connection.
Greg Jarboe posts “Unruly Unveils Top Vine Metrics and 100 Most Tweeted Vines” at ReelSEO.
Events:
(For an all-in-one listing and description of social media, content & inbound marketing events, check out Neal Schaffer’s “The 12 Best Social Media Conferences to Attend in 2013” at Social Media Today.)
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SEO Copywriting Checklist: Are you writing content “for Google”?
May 13, 2013 • written by Laura Crest
The idea that you need to write content in a particular way for it to position well in search results is a tenacious misconception. It’s also an unhealthy one, both in terms of search engine appeal and user experience.
Tune in to hear what Heather has to say about writing “for Google” and how to correct for this stubborn tendency in your own SEO content:
“Gift Baskets” Is Repeated 9 Times!
So here’s an example of what writing content “for Google” can mean, where the term “gift baskets” is repeated nine times within a teeny-tiny block of copy!
I’m sure that the person who wrote this content didn’t do so thinking “Im gonna try to spam the engines and get up to the top results!” But the problem is that a lot of folks still think this kind of keyword stuffing is the way you write good SEO content.
Relax! Google Wants You To Write Good Content
So if this has been your mindset – that you have to write separate pages “for Google” or stuff the page full of your keyphrases in order to get a good ranking – you can relax: Google wants to you to write good, quality content. Really!
- Never write copy “for Google”. Write it for your readers.
Instead of hanging onto the notion of writing your content for Google, think about writing for your readers – always focus on their experience!
You don’t want to include a keyphrase so many times that it becomes distracting. People may well bounce off your page and out of your site to find another source of information that sounds more reputable, and offers content that is easier to read.
Additionally…
- Keyword stuffing won’t help your SEO.
Google has closed that loophole. Once upon a time, sure, jamming your copy full of keywords might’ve worked – but not today. So there’s no reason to do it!
- Unsure if you added too many keyphrases? Read the copy out loud.
If you aren’t sure whether or not you’ve been heavy-handed with the use of keyphrases in your content, sometimes the best thing to do is to just print that page and read it aloud.
The same applies if you’re a site owner working with a copywriter: when s/he submits the copy, read it out loud. That way you’ll hear if the keyphrase has been used too many times.
- Think quality – not quantity.
When thinking about your content, it’s always best to think of it in terms of quality.
It’s not about how many pages you can kick out so Google starts thinking you’re an authority on “X”. It’s about how many good pages you can write for your readers, so you attract more traffic and build your brand that way!
Thanks for joining me for this week’s video! As always, if you have any questions about today’s post, or anything else for that matter, I’d love to hear from you! You can email me directly at heather@seocopywriting.com, or find me on Twitter @heatherlloyd.
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SEO content marketing roundup, week ending May 8th
May 8, 2013 • written by Laura Crest
Content marketers discuss mobile trends and innovation, the future of PR, cross-platform content creation realities, and the interplay of SEO and content marketing.
The SEO and search community note Google’s new offering in real-time analytics as well as its quiet elimination of yet more search tools. Other notable discussions include the impact of Google Now on search, the implications of its acquisition of Wavii, post- (and impending) Penguin link-building strategies, and the new role of the SEO professional.
Social media marketers discuss LinkedIn’s introduction of visual content, YouTube’s premium content monetization, Google+ overtaking Twitter, and Twitter’s extending its platform to all advertisers.
Enjoy this week’s picks!
Content Marketing
Arnie Kuenn posts his presentation on “The Intersection of Content Marketing and SEO” via Vertical Measures on SlideShare.
Lee Odden discusses “What Should Lead Your Online Marketing Strategy: SEO or Content Marketing?” at TopRank.
Joe Pulizzi shares “The Top 10 Content Marketing Strategy Lessons from the Last 15 Years” at Content Marketing Institute.
Eric Enge shares post-Penguin strategy with “How to Shift From Guest Posting to Content Marketing in 6 Basic Steps” at Search Engine Watch.
Forrester has released its 2013 Mobile Trends for Marketers report, highlighting how to become “more strategic with … mobile initiatives” as well as “game-changing mobile topics.”
In her ongoing series on mobile innovation, Christina “CK” Kerley posts “Innovating Value Propositions Through Mobile” at MarketingProfs.
Kelsey Libert shares “The Secret Recipe for Viral Content Marketing Success” at SEOmoz.
Dan Tynski posts “Mining Current Events for Content Marketing Home Runs” at BuzzStream.
Sujan Patel discusses “Mining Your Social Networks for Content Marketing Ideas” at Search Engine Journal.
David Gould posts “Rethinking Relevance in Content Marketing” at Vertical Measures.
Jeff Ogden posts “How to Organize a Digital Marketing Team – Lessons from Hubspot” at Fearless Competitor.
Gini Dietrich shares her Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference keynote with “The Future of PR: It’s Our Time to Lead” at Spin Sucks.
Paula Andruss shares “The Secrets of 7 Successful Brands” at Entrepreneur.
David Soyka posts “Be Your Brand: 5 Tips To Help Your Brand Connect With Customers” at My Blog Guest.
Jay Baer interviews Kyle Lacy of Exact Target on content creation vs. engagement with “Don’t Ignore Content in Favor of Engagement” at Convince and Convert.
MarketingSherpa’s weekly research chart is on “Use of analytics to inform customer theory.”
Cheri-percy posts “Data vs. Personas for Content Planning” (a DistilledLive video discussion) at Distilled.
Courtney Ramirez discusses “How to Perform a Content Audit” at Greenroom Interactive.
Seth Godin posts “Remind you of anything? Simple typography for non-professionals” at his blog.
Heather Lloyd-Martin discusses readability with “Does your web content pass the quick-scan test?” at SEO Copywriting.
Dan Virgillito posts “How to Write Copy in the Post-PC Era: Surrender to the Cross-Device Reality” at KISSmetrics.
Amanda Clark shares “10 Essential Components Of Effective E-mail Marketing Copywriting” at Business 2 Community.
Ben Settle discusses profitable email marketing with “How To Sell Without Selling” at Copyblogger.
Karen Talavera shares “Three Powerful Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Email Marketing” at MarketingProfs.
Heather Lloyd-Martin shares “7 tips for sales call success” at SEO Copywriting.
Miranda Miller posts “Conversion Rate Optimization Software: Choose the Right Tools for Your Business” at TopRank.
Events:
SEO & Search
Guillaume Bouchard posts “How Google Now Will Impact SEO: What You Can Do to Get a Head Start” at Search Engine Watch.
Bill Slawski discusses the ramifications of Google’s purchase of Wavii in “With Wavii, Did Google Acquire the Future of Web Search?” at SEO by the Sea.
Danny Sullivan reports “Yahoo Extends Microsoft Search Deal & Revenue Guarantees” at Search Engine Land.
Jayson DeMers discusses the anatomy and how-to of co-citations with “SEO co-citations: What they are & why they matter” at SEO Copywriting.
Michael Martinez shares “Link Building Strategies for 2013” at SEO Theory.
Pratik Dholakiya posts “The Definitive Guide to Recovery from the Unnatural Link Penalty” at Search Engine Journal.
Nick Stamoulis discusses “Who’s Name to Use for Link Building?” when using blog commenting as a linking strategy, at Brick Marketing.
The latest (non T-shirt related) Matt Cutts’ Google Webmaster Help Video addresses the question: “What’s the latest SEO misconception that you would like to put to rest?”
Citing Cutts’ video (above), Brafton posts “Is Matt Cutts saying Authorship updates are not imminent?”
Nathan Safran posts “SEO Branding: Appearance In Search Results Impacts Brand Perception” at Search Engine Land.
Rand Fishkin discusses “Why We Can’t Just Be SEOs Anymore” (Whiteboard Friday) at SEOmoz.
Thom Craver posts “New in Google Analytics: Real-Time Conversion Report” at Search Engine Watch.
John E. Lincoln posts “The Ultimate Guide to Multilingual and Multiregional SEO” at Search Engine Land.
Tom Pick shares “11 Expert PPC Guides, Tips and Techniques (and One Rant)” at Webbiquity.
Ginny Marvin reports “AdWords To End Product Extensions As PLAs Take Over,” at Search Engine Land.
eMarketer reports on declining CPC rates and rising global paid search ad spending with “Mobile Gets One Out of Five Paid Search Clicks.”
Garrett Moon discusses “5 Things You Must Do Before Jumping Into Paid Internet Advertising” at KISSmetrics.
Describing mobile, local, and apps as “the trifecta in web marketing,” Jessica Lee reports “Local Search via Non-PC Devices Quadrupled in 2012 [Study]” at Search Engine Watch.
Another search feature removed: Barry Schwartz reports “Google Local Results Drops ‘More Results Near…’ To ‘Improve’ Local Search Experience” at Search Engine Land.
SERP URL displays on Google’s chopping block too? Chris Crum posts “Webmasters Hope This Google Test Doesn’t Become A Reality” at WebProNews.
George Freitag assures with “5 SEO Strategies We Swear Aren’t Going Anywhere” at Portent.
Derek Edmond shares “5 Ways to Create Productive B2B SEO Benchmarks in a ‘Not Provided’ World” at Search Engine Watch.
Carrie Hill discusses “Using Advanced Segments & Scroll Depth To Test Content Types in Analytics” at Search Engine Land.
Lori Kirk posts “Not all traffic is created equal: Qualifying SEO & PPC visits” at Brafton.
John Gagnon shares “5 Free Excel Add-Ins to Help Digital Marketers Decipher Big Data” at ClickZ.
Cyndie Shaffstall posts “23 Keys to Targeted Landing Pages: Conversions, Attribution and SEO” at Target Marketing Magazine.
Jim Yu discusses “Optimizing For Facebook Graph Search: SEO Meets Social” at Search Engine Land.
Bill Slawski takes a departure from patents with “Bill’s Most Excellent Top 10 SEO Rules” at SEO by the Sea.
Starting off a monthly SEJ video series, Srinivas Rao posts “A Sit Down With SEO Expert Alan Bleiweiss” at Search Engine Journal.
Events:
Social Media Marketing
Thomas Watkins posts “Suddenly, Google Plus Is Outpacing Twitter To Become The World’s Second Largest Social Network” at Business Insider.
Chris Atkinson reports “Google+ Hangouts-On-Air Now Feature Live Rewind, Instant Publishing” at ReelSEO.
Ryan Hanley posts “Building Authority Online using Google Plus with Mark Traphagen” at his Content Warfare Podcast.
“LinkedIn Visual Profiles” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.
Kristi Hines posts “The 2013 LinkedIn Marketing Guide” at KISSmetrics.
Maura McGowan reports “New Instagram Feature Allows Users to Tag Brands” at Adweek.
Eric Schwartzman shares a podcast on “Why Salesforce is Closest to Pulling KPIs from Social Media” at Social Media Today.
Amada Sibley posts “Twitter Opens Advertising to All: Here’s How it Works” at HubSpot.
From Business News Daily comes “The Best Twitter Accounts for Entrepreneurs” at Mashable.
Chris Atkinson posts “YouTube Trends Adds Nifty Map for Popular Videos Across the U.S.” that shows what people are sharing as well as watching, at ReelSEO.
Mitch Joel advises “Pay Closer Attention to YouTube” via Six Pixels of Separation at Twist Image.
Adam Morgan reports “YouTube Will Now Monetize Its Premium Content” at Search Engine Journal.
Jeff Bullas shares “21 Awesome Social Media Facts, Figures and Statistics for 2013” at his blog.
James Dohnert discusses a recent LinkedIn study that indicates “Nearly 90% of Affluent Consumers Use Social Media” at Search Engine Watch.
Craig M. Jamieson discusses connection vs. engagement with “How Engaged Are You With Your LinkedIn Contacts?” at Adaptive Business Services.
Danny Brown discusses “The Crossroads of Influence Marketing” at his blog.
Rachel Sprung shares “5 Ways Marketers Can Stay Updated on Facebook Changes” at Social Media Examiner.
Jay Baer shares “4 Ways to Thump Your Competition with Better Facebook Analysis” at Convince and Convert.
Christopher Penn posts “More than 1 in 6 access Facebook only on a mobile device” at Shift Communications.
Lisa Buyer shares “22 Facebook PR Secrets Every Community Manager Should Know” at Search Engine Watch.
Scott Gerber discusses “8 Facebook Graph Search Pros and Cons for Marketing” at Mashable.
Michael Stelzner interviews Facebook wizard Jon Loomer with “Facebook Ads and Beyond: What Marketers Need to Know” at Social Media Examiner.
Semil Shah shares several good references in posting “Iterations: A Youthful Rebellion Against The Permanence Of Facebook’s Walled Garden” at TechCrunch.
Jennifer Horowitz talks social media planning and blogging consistency with “Does Your Blog or Social Interaction Suffer When….” At Level 343.
Brian Solis shares an edited excerpt from his new book (What’s the Future of Business…) with “The First Mile: The Broken Link of Social Media Customer Service” at his blog.
Brent Leary interviews Sprout Social’s Justyn Howard with “Social Media Management Evolution” at Small Business Trends.
Kelsey Jones posts “How To Organize A Social Media Content Strategy” at Marketing Land.
Natalie Saumure shares “2 Great Tools to Help with Your Sales Process” via social media marketing at Business 2 Community.
Events:
(For an all-in-one listing and description of social media, content & inbound marketing events, check out Neal Schaffer’s “The 12 Best Social Media Conferences to Attend in 2013” at Social Media Today.)
photo thanks to UggBoy<3UggGirl
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