Janet Driscoll Miller, President and; Lead Strategist of Search Mojo, and Elizabeth Shea, President & CEO of SpeakerBox Communications, discuss how to leverage Search, Content, and Social Media resources to help your company gain higher rankings, increase traffic, and get more leads!
1. Content For Customers: Search, Content, Social Janet Driscoll MillerPresident & CEOSearch MojoElizabeth SheaPresident & CEOSpeakerBox Communications
2. Start With Some Math… Search + Content + Social Media = Leads * According to HubSpot, 2009, Inbound Marketing Software Provider
3. Content Strategy Start with the keywords! Identify, rank, execute against. Identify where your customers live online. Put a search plan in place. Take content inventory: Where are the gaps? Create, revise, disseminate, track. Leverage social media tools to optimize search, drive leads back to site, landing pages. 1. 2. 3.
5. Why is Content So Important to Search Engines? How does the engine know WHAT your website is about if it cannot READ it on the site? Site content should contain keywords/phrases relevant to your messaging and offerings IMPORTANT: Search terms and brand terms are not ALWAYS equal Example: “certified used vehicles” vs. “used cars” “used cars” searched 600% more Incorporate non-attractive keywords by spinning them in content Example: “Our certified used vehicles are better than regular used cars – each vehicle has passed a 20-point safety inspection.” If you don’t want to use a keyword on your website, maybe you shouldn’t be optimizing for it!
6. Keys to High Search Engine Rankings Select good keywords Not too broad (“software”), not too specific (“virtualization software for the public sector”) Site content edits Include the keywords in the text of the website Keyword Density: percentage of times that a keyword appears in page text Site structure Certain technologies can “block” search engine bots Inbound links Serves as a measure of site “popularity” on a subject Ongoing monitoring
7. Keywords: The Foundation of SEO How often keyword appears in page content is important in algorithm and ranking Keywords should be targeted to specific offering/content Keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
8. How Important Are“Inbound” Links? The most important ranking factor for Google Good content can create viral, inbound links
9. Which Links Are Most Valuable? Which links are most valuable? Check PageRank PageRank is a measurement of inbound links to that page/site. Does the link contain your keyword in the anchor text? Bottom line: Treat links like PR efforts. If you’d want press there, you’d want a link from there too!
10. Optimizing Website Pages Keyword should appear in: Filename Title tag Meta keyword, Meta description Bold text Link text Overall content of the page Keyword Density Percentage of times a keyword appears in the total page content Ask for links to your website from partners, etc.
11. Optimizing Blogs Host the blog on your domain Example: blog.search-mojo.com NOT: search-mojo.wordpress.com Use SEO pluginsto optimize title tags, etc. Wordpress: All in One SEO Pack Promote blog content to get viral inbound links Register blog with blog directories (i.e. Technorati)
12. Articles If you own the copyright: Post articles on your website or blog Post to article distribution sites Creates inbound links from those that republish your article Further establishes your subject matter expertise across the web
13. Whitepapers Submit to whitepaper submission sites For maximum SEO benefit, focus on sites that link to the paper on YOUR website
14. Images Especially important if images really showcase your offering Example: National Geographic Name the image file with the keyword as the filename. For multiple keyword phrases, separate terms with a dash (-) or an underscore (_). Example: <imgsrc=”/images/keyword.jpg”> Ensure that the alt text of the image tag contains the target keyword. Also consider incorporating a title tag on the image tag.Example: <imgsrc=”/images/bear.jpg” alt=”A bear eats a fish.” title=”A bear eats a fish.”> Incorporate the keyword into the page content where the image resides. If the image has an enlargement version, ensure that the link to the enlarged version contains the keyword in the anchor text. Ensure that the surrounding text on the page uses the keyword for that image. Append your keyword with the word “picture” or “pictures”.
15. Videos Include the word “video” in your keyword when possible. Many people searching specifically for video will use this term with their search phrase.Example: Polar Bear Video Name the video file with the keyword as the filename. For multiple keyword phrases, separate terms with a dash (-) or an underscore (_). Example: <imgsrc=”/videos/keyword.jpg”> If Flash is used as a player model, be sure to also embed the video in the non-Flash page version, contained in the <noscript> tag. Include the keyword in any video meta data when possible, such as titles, descriptions and keyword tags. Include the keyword in the anchor text for links to the video. Example: <a href=”/videos/polar_bear_video.mpg”>keyword</a> Try to include the keyword as much as possible in the page linking to that video, using standard SEO techniques. Incorporate your video into a video sitemap or an mRSS feed. Information on how to build one can be found at: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80472
16. Webinars/Podcasts Promote events through various event sites Provide a registration page ON your website Archive, archive, archive! Creates viral inbound links to content Register archived content links with webcast and podcast directories
17. Press Releases Distribute press releases online Example: PRWeb Make sure that you use SEO keywords as the anchor text on your press release links
21. What Qualifies as Content? Website Search-optimized press releases eBooks Blog comments Twitter feeds Photos/Videos (with keyword tags) Blog Posts Articles in publications/blogs Surveys Product Reviews Whitepapers Social conversations
22. Marketing Strategies Outbound Marketing Inbound Marketing (e)Mail Call-to-action Collateral Leavebehind Advertising Direct Mail Tradeshows Press release pickups Article Syndication Editorial coverage Link from Twitter Viral Campaigns Customer
25. Social Media Social media impacts SEO and other marketing efforts If you’re not on Twitter, you should be! Twitter links affect SEO rankings Get a Twitter ID for company Tweet news, events, blog posts, etc. Use links back to your own website to help SEO Facebook and LinkedIn also helpful for marketing, but have less impact on SEO
26. So Yesterday vs. So Right Now YESTERDAY Faxed press releases Website optional Golden reporter rolodex Wall Street Journal article Printed “clip” books Embargoed “exclusives” Press kits TODAY Viral videos SEO or No-Go Followers with authority Huffington Post shoutout Google analytics Breaking stories on Twitter Wikipedia
27. For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating content for the social web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be. - B.L. Ochman, BusinessWeek, February 2009
28. Twitter Stats 4.3M unique visitors in August 2008 (comScore) 54.7 Unique visitors in August 2009 (comScore) Average age: 31(Pew Internet & American Life Project) Fastest Growing Twitter Age Group: 35-54 BTW: “Teens Don’t Tweet” (Mashable)
32. Contact Us Janet Driscoll Miller President and CEO Search Mojo www.search-mojo.com blog.search-mojo.com Twitter: @janetdmiller @searchmojo jmiller@search-mojo.com 800-939-5938 x101 Elizabeth Shea President and CEO SpeakerBox www.speakerboxpr.com www.speakerboxpr.com/sounding-board/ Twitter: @eliz2shea @speakerbox eshea@speakerboxpr.com 703-287-7800
Notas del editor
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Janet
When asked to speak to this group, your organizers suggested I discuss how much things have changed, how far we’ve come – not just in PR and communications, but as a society. That’s somewhat of a tall order, since when I was asked three months ago to participate I had no idea how relevant things would be on this very day. That’s how fast things are changing. My hope today is to do two things: Expand your awareness of what’s happening in the communications field and how it reflects the changing landscape of businessProvide some direction as to where to possibly start. The good news is that there really aren’t many rules in this new world order, The bad news is that there really aren’t many rules in this new world order!
Bottom line: this is not a fad, everyone, the most important thing to take away is that this is not a discussion about Facebook or Linked In, or MySpace or Twitter – I will briefly touch on those particular tools, but THEY are not the issue. Human nature has progressed to a point of transparency, collaboration, social networking, regardless of what platform of logo’d product they use. Don’t lose sight of this, it’s not going away.