Digitalia | Indianapolis Social Media Marketing

PR professionals: 6 things to help get your content found online

An interview with Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Marketing

I caught up with Lee Odden recently, whose widely regarded as on of the most influential online marketers. We talked about the relevance of value of blogs especially in the context of public relations that is focused on traditional media, bloggers, analysts, and, increasingly, consumers. Lee makes some great points. Here's the recap. Watch the interview (recorded on the fly at a conference hence the somewhat hushed tone in both our voices).

1. Use blogging software as your newsroom CMS

2. Archive everything - press releases, case studies and more

3. Categorize your content by topic

4. Categorize your content by keywords

5. Use keyword rich tags

6. Use RSS feeds for the newsroom and categories

News rooms can be link magnets and can dramatically improve search results. While push marketing is still important, there are more and more situations where writers, editors and producers under deadline are mostly turning to the web to find information and people. Optimized content can make a world of difference - that is getting your content found on search!

Do you have questions? Do you have a story of how a journalist found you because of your optimized content?

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz | Blip.fm

The time has come

Yes, everyone. It's time. Time for this little intern to spread her wings and fly from Firebelly (or be pushed out of the next unexpectedly by Duncan. You choose the visual you prefer!) and venture back into the world where commoners don't understand social media and all of the opportunities it presents; back into the world where aren't thinking about what they need to Tweet or how they can update their status every second of every day; back to a world where I must defend my social media obsession and repeatedly explain why it's so important to thrive as a functioning human being in this computer-driven day-in-age. I have been so spoiled here at Firebelly and learned so much. 

What have I learned? Can I write a novel to answer this question? No? Well, then I'll summarize a few of the major things:

Social media is a conversation, not a lecture: As I've written in a previous blog, social media can't work as a marketing tool if there's no response. You can tweet or update your status all you want about what's coming up next or something new going on at your company, but if you don't respond to comments/advice/feedback from your followers/friends, they'll lose interest. They won't feel connected to you or your company, which is a major purpose of social media marketing. So respond. Be interactive. Take the time to reply to at least one response each day. It will pay off in loyal followers and more personal communication between producer and consumer.

Video is an extremely effective marketing tool: People read and comprehend. They see and comprehend. If they can do both at one time, that's most effective for the company marketing to people. Studies show that people remember 10 percent of what they see, 20 percent of what they hear and 50 percent of what they see and hear. Utilize that statistic by registering for a Youtube page and updating it frequently. Furthermore, people recall 80 percent of what they see, hear and do. So if you can make your videos interactive (i.e. instructing them to click links, get up and do this, anything at all interactive), your videos will be the most effective they can be towards your marketing goal.

Twitter is a legit obsession: Yeah, yeah, I know everyone said this about Facebook, Myspace and every other social media networking Web site that's out there and will be out there in the future. However, Twitter is a rare breed. When you learn how to use it properly, you can't live without it. My TweetDeck is my best friend. As a news junkie, I visit at least 10 news-based Web sites daily. Because I follow them on Twitter, TweetDeck allows me to collect all of those sites' updates in one place and have them fed to me as they are updated. It's pure heaven! I also RT people consistently as a way of giving mad props to someone's thought or Internet find. On the marketing side, #hashtags make searching for what your customers are talking about extremely simple. Learn how to use Twitter to your marketing advantage. You won't regret the time (and/or money, since time is money, as smart business people say) spent on the effort.

Lastly, and most importantly, I learned I love social media and wish to continue working with it in the future. Based on how popular it is now, I don't think that wish will be difficult to grant. I will be continuing my interning life in New York City this summer at an organization that is in the rookie stages of incorporating social media into its marketing strategy. I know I will take the lessons I learned at Firebelly to help that currently small component of the organization to grow into a driving force (like a heard of cattle, right Duncan?)

I send so many thanks to Duncan and the rest of the Firebelly team for allowing me so many opportunities and being so willing to teach me everything they know in the short time I was here. I hope to continue writing/editing/blogging/social media'ing for them in the future.

Alyson (@ Twitter)

The evolution of black hat tactics and the skinny of twitter

Interview with Dave Naylor and Todd Friesen

I've had some interesting interviews - educational, academic, and oh-so-polite. This is a different interview. It's sort of exhilarating to listen to these two big dogs' almost stream of consciousness dialogue on what black hat was, and how its white hat now.

The activities discussed ranged from buying links, hacking .edu sites and placing links, 301 redirects from expired domains, resurrecting old sites with key word relevant content translated from English to German and back to English add some ad-sense blocks and more, DNS poisoning, spreading rumors about the competition, and much more. No question that what was black before is grey now, if not white; and that the eastern bloc and India are the churners and burners in 2009. I agree completely, by the way, with the declaration on full client disclosure. The take away point is clearly that smart marketers are here for the long term and don't engage in dangerous tactics that can get a site banned and even result in jail time.

Anyway, here's the background on these fellows:

David Naylor (DaveN) is a Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing bad ass. He's led huge campaigns for all kinds of companies. He leads Bronco Internet. And he's an engaging guy - in a presentation or one-on-one.

Todd Friesen, Position Technologies, is considered by many to be an SEO pioneer. He's worked with top-name clients and is co-host of the popular SEO Rockstars on WebmasterRadio.FM, as well as a regular speaker at Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld Pubcon, SMX and other conferences.

And, by the way, the video is mis-labeled. David is labeled as Todd and vice versa. Whatever. The content is what matters.

On a lighter note, Dave and Todd both "blame Google for everything",  theorize that "Twitter's in bed with Google" and agree that Twitter is the new instant messenger. Neither care to be assailed by rubbish third-party applications on Facebook.

Enjoy!

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

How to rank higher in search

Interview with Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot

Recently spoke with Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot. HubSpot is an internet marketing company and their product is B2B Inbound Marketing Software that helps their client attract more visitors using SEO, social media and blogs, as well as, capture more leads with landing pages, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Whew what a mouthful! What's even more interesting is we're working with HubSpot on one of a project.

Both Brian's presentation (which I'd watched earlier) and our interview (which you can watch below) confirmed my strong beliefs in content. Its clear that companies that are leading in the search race are producers of great content. Great content includes copy, photography or illustrations, video, and applications. Good content can be on your website, your blog, and on other places on the web with links back. Brian actually believes in "remarkable content" (coined in this context by Seth Godin who coins everything that already exists with cool little phrases) which is content that people dig (pun only slightly intended) so much that they are compelled to remark on it. Yeah I know you didn't really need the explanation.

So, while I believe there is a place for paid search, invest in good content FIRST. Whether its on your website, blog or social media assets. Doesn't matter. If you know what you're doing, write it up, get some photos, get some video, develop an application. And if you've got chops - develop it yourself, if not, hire a professional. Remember your content is a reflection of who you are!

Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

4 components of a successful paid search strategy

Interview with Jamie Smith, Engine Ready

Talked with Jamie Smith from Engine Ready recently (sorry about the spotty video. This was recorded on the fly with a flip and not our normal video crew). Anyway, here are the 4 components of a successful paid search strategy

Visibility
Make sure your campaign have visibility with your target audiences.

Ad creative
Ensure that you have the right keywords and that you’ve tested and are measuring the click through rates.

Continuity
You’ll be amazed how many times landing pages have no keyword continuity with the ad creative.

Conversion
Measure the conversions! Look at conversions by campaigns and dig deeper into what is generating the best results.

And make sure you measure these key performance indicators – impressions, click through rate and conversion rate.

So at the end of the day, these are pretty intuitive. Testing is obviously key and measuring by the hour! There are a lot of "haters" when it comes to paid search marketing. I think there is a time and place for a paid strategy especially when your organic strategy isn’t where it needs to be yet.

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz

Being Found: The importance of Search

My top 5 realities of search

I wonder if you watched my recent interview with Jonathan Ashton from Agency.com. It's a short, yet thought-provoking piece. The subject matter really merits a longer discussion on the importance of being found online. It's not just about search. More importantly, its about being found!

Here are 5 realities of organic search marketing:

First page or bust. #1 or you're not a contender
If I'm looking for a product or service that your company sells. Your home page is no longer the main page on your website. Its whatever comes up on the first page of Google, Yahoo or MSN, and even YouTube. Are you represented? That's what people will read. My new friend Jon from Infinamic argues that if you're not #1 on the SERPs, you're not really a contender. Wow, not even first page but #1.

Create multiple interaction points on your website
The main page may not even be the most  important page. Especially if you're serving several markets with several products or services. A landing page approach with more content and functionality is a growing trend. The urgent need is to get people to the right "interaction point" - whether its to download a white paper, watch a video, read some important research and so on. That way you can measure it. Plus then you can market these different points instead of just one main page.

It is measurable
Even the most basic analytics packages can tell you which search engines are performing, and specifically which keywords are producing for you. So if you're trying to keep the boss of your back, here's an easy way. Especially if you've got a budget to protect - whether its search, social or email. Analytics can help you. Plus you can really breakdown keyword-based behaviors.

Conversion matters more when it leads to ongoing engagement
Regardless of whether you are selling products, services, or ideas – people need to come to your site or social media outposts. If you have a killer site that no one visits – its useless. Traffic leads to conversion. But, traffic is focused on a single engagement. Getting people to join your community is the beginning of a potentially life long relationship. So one time conversion isn't enough. The goal should be ongoing engagement.

Content is king
Regardless of who says what. Content rules baby. Whether its duplicate content across multiple sub-domains or unique content in different places across the web. Fresh, unique and relevant content is still preference #1. So compelling copy, vibrant imagery, and captivating video is a great investment. If this list was organized by importance, this point would be the most important. Different people absorb and scan content differently. So look at your users and think through their cognitive patterns. Then plan the site accordingly. That’s the good part. The best part is that the content will also help your company be found!

At the end of the day, search is about being found. If you're not being found, go back to the drawing board.  Or call a professional!

- Duncan Alney Facebook | Twitter | Naymz