At Online Marketing Blog, content marketing is frequently a hot topic. And with good reason: it’s a vital skill for marketers. Not only do we at TopRank Online Marketing see great results implementing content marketing for clients, but the industry as a whole sees it as a clear trend. Consider the following stats: 6 in 10 marketers plan to spend more on content marketing in 2010. 71% of bloggers who maintain blogs for a business – their own or one they work for – report that they have increased their visibility within their industries through their blogs (as just one example of content marketing in action). Content marketing plays an integral role in many of the top digital marketing tactics marketers implemented in 2009. In this fast-paced panel, 3 content marketers each shared some quick tips, trends and strategies for content marketing. Byron White, Chief Idea Officer, ideaLaunch Byron ran through an overview of 10 tips to follow when fleshing out a content marketing plan: 1. Develop a content marketing plan – many digital marketers just dive in without any type of plan. This is always a mistake, before going any further, you need to get organized and understand next steps 2. Use free and paid research tools to research terms – there are a slew of both free and paid research tools which can help you define keywords necessary to create a keyword glossary. Use tools in conjunction with your own creativity to create an inclusive list of terms. 3. Find the hot topics and keywords – by understanding the industry and leveraging tools, you can discover hot/trending topics and keywords to be a part of your mix in addition to the mainstay terms. 4. Develop customer profiles for testing/research the competition – building customer profiles and competitive research allows you to draw upon a knowledge base when creating content to both stand out from competitors and connect with your audience. 5. Develop an SEO plan with “keyword silos” – made up of long tail and short tail keywords – in addition to building a keyword list, group it into like terms in order for your content team to leverage it in an effective manner during content creation. 6. Score content for SEO strength – either via an automated tool or manually, score existing content for SEO strength in order to gauge what to optimize first. 7. Infuse your brand with great content – on the web, your content is your brand (and your brand is your content). 8. Create stories – people connect with stories more than just product pages and lists of features. Tell stories and connect with prospects at a much deeper level. 9. Define great content – know what great content looks like before you develop it. You can’t create something remarkable unless you have a vision in mind. 10. Document content publishing date – this is a frequently forgotten, but important tip. Only by documenting new content publishing date can you track/trend success of that content over time. Of course, metrics are key – track interaction and engagement with content. Get to a point you understand how your content, whether a blog post or a product page, is converting and working for your brand. Heather Lloyd-Martin, CEO, SuccessWorks Heather spoke on developing great content in the B2C and B2B space. Why care about content? The best SEO is good content, according to Seth Godin. If you want people to convert, link to you or even visit your site you need quality content. Main advantage of good content? Control. Great content allows you to gain control of your site. Tip # 1: Think about your target audience Start by creating a customer persona. The questions you need to answer to do this include: Who is your target audience? (hint: it’s not everyone) Do you have multiple audiences? How old is your typical buyer/reader? What education level do they have? What are their average levels of income? What benefits are important? Tip #2: Expand your keyphrase universe Look for opportunities to build out new, unique content. Reach both hit and long tail phrases, and create content that speaks to a broad mix of terms. One way to do this is build out a resource section to answer both broad and ultra-specific, detailed questions. Tip #3: Free your content from “fake SEO rules” “Party like its 1999…but don’t optimize your site that way.” I.E. – there’s no need to follow a specific keyword density to rank. Instead focus on quality first, keywords second. General SEO content rules: Keyphrases in headlines/subheadlines Keyphrases in hyperlinks Keyphrases throughout the content (but not forcing it) Keyphrase-rich title Focus around 2-3 keyphrases per page Tip #4: Help your titles sizzle off the surface of SERPs When you’re on a SERP, there are 10 results and users need to pick one. Try to keep your titles to around 70 characters Include your main keyphrases Clearly explain what the landing page is about Include benefit statements (such as “free”) whenever possible Tip #5 There is always something you can do Beware the “website mullet.” Check for outdated copy. Some of the worst offenders can be press pages, conference/events pages, old articles, etc. Where possible, update copy or add additional content if you have older areas of a website gathering cobwebs. Also, if you want to build out a new section of the site to make your content friendlier but can’t change the template: start a blog or create a new section of the site. Don’t let technical issues get in your way. Jonathan Allen, Director, Search Engine Watch Jonathan spoke on the idea of using other people’s websites/social sites to gain rankings and an audience. The theme was on mash-ups – aka remixes of content. Define your goal – is the goal of this content to persuade or sell people to take action or is it more long-term, to develop links to improve your search engine rankings/brand awareness. Develop personas – I.E. connectors, those hyper-connected individuals who will help your content spread. By reaching them, you achieve the highest propensity for your content to spread. Create content – it must be relevant and must be compelling. Connect – once content starts to spread, connect with others and encourage them to share so it spreads further. Rinse and repeat – when you find a formula that works, continue to leverage that to create additional content.
Posts Tagged: ses-ny
23
Mar 10
How to Become a Link Magnet – SES NY 2010
Links are the lifeblood of the web. Without fresh links, your website has no authority in the engines or consistent referral traffic. Some companies and individuals appear to attract links without really trying. Others struggle and never break through to the point of building links at increasing velocity. We’ve shared plenty of linkbuilding tactics at Online Marketing Blog, and it’s an ongoing popular topic for search marketers. In addition to direct and mechanical tactics, becoming a link magnet in your own right is an indirect yet powerful strategy to attract organic links. The rise of the social web has set the idea of personal branding on fire. By developing a brand for yourself, your company and even the individuals within it, you can build an army of advocates ready to link to everything you post. How can you develop your personal brand so that you only have to publish that sticky idea and links occur as a byproduct? During SES New York 2010, Greg Jarboe, President & Co-Founder of SEO PR, moderated a notable group of linkerati: Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz.org Jennifer Slegg, CEO, JenSense.com Aaron Kahlow, Chairman & Founder, Online Marketing Summit Jennifer Slegg, CEO, JenSense.com Jen started things off by talking about the building blocks to creating a personal brand with the goal of link magnetism: First, ask yourself, “What an I doing it for?” Rankings Clients Job opportunities Stardust Recognition Figure out why you want to be a link magnet before anything else. Next, consider your name. Personal name Is your name fairly unique? If not, you may have a difficult time building a personal brand. Are there others with similar names? If so, there is the potential for confusion, and you’ll want to consider developing a handle. Is the domain name available? This is vital for your blog, and you’ll want your domain name to be your personal brand if possible. If you use a handle, does it narrow your focus too much? I.E., if your name was “content queen,” you may limit your appeal. Company name This is potentially problematic in that you and the company brand are forever merged. This can create potential company marketing conflicts in the future. Consider using a spin on a company name (i.e., GoogleGuy or Company CEO). Remember company name and your name will always be tied together. What if the company gets sold? Setting the groundwork Whatever name you go with, register it everywhere . Then, set up your blog on your site – everyone who wants to develop a personal brand needs a blog. Create a unique design/logo and ensure it is just as brandable as the name you use. Define your personality People link to personalities as much as quality information. What do you want to be? Helpful – Great way to start if participating in forums is key to your branding. If you show knowledge, people will follow and then link to you. Informative/expert – The most important thing is, you need to know your stuff. If you don’t consider yourself expert quality, start researching and learning now. You’ll get called out if you post bad info. Try these ideas: Guest blogs Speak/participate in events (offline/online) Answer questions via Twitter Controversial – Take the opposite stance on any popular industry topic. If everyone is singing praise about a company, look at the negative. If a company makes a move that everyone loves or hates, take the unpopular view and run with it. But tread carefully – you could develop a reputation for being “anti” or “pro” on a topic. Being a jerk – This is very difficult to pull off, but those who are successful can be extremely popular. This gets you noticed, but you live with the rep. It could prevent you from being an authority. So if that’s your goal, this route may not be the way to go. The key point to remember is the entire world is a stage – everything you say or do will help or hurt your brand. Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz.org Rand started his presentation with the notion that link magnets are the new paradigm of link acquisition. How is a link magnet different than linkbait? Linkbait = Content that’s built to attract links (but not necessarily reward their creation). Link magnets emotionally or physically reward the linker, creating an incentive. Why is this so powerful? Overall, the web has become jaded. Previously, we used to get plenty of legitimate blog posts/links due to great content. Now this has shifted. With a great post, we’ll get tons of Facebook status updates, Tweets, etc. There was a golden era of linkbait where people loved and supported great content. Now we’re too sensitive; “The fish have figured out that there is a hook attached to our content.” This suspicion has created difficulties in attracting linkbait. But people still link when it benefits them. Savvy marketers are rewarding linkers in non-financial ways. For example, Yelp created a digital badge version of “People Love Us on Yelp” that restaurants could use on their websites. This made the most relevant pages on the web link back to the Yelp site. There is the notion that great content earns links. According to Rand, this is a myth. You could post the absolute best piece of content on a subject on the web, and people will not link to it just because it’s good. It’s like saying, “The best ideas in politics are supported by the voters.” Instead, it’s branding and marketing to sell a concept that has an impact on where content goes. The new bait is an emotional and obvious hook. Linking to content should do something for the people linking to it. Play to a linker’s psychology: Self-fulfillment Satisfaction Efficiency Effectiveness One of the most beautiful things about the concept of link magnetism is that much of the time, especially when it’s embeddable, you have control of targeted links and anchor text. You need a strategy for promotion & spreading of links. You need to create a distribution mechanism and a way to attract people, or it will never work. Examples of great link magnetism: Vimeo – When you click the “share” button on a video, it creates the overlay box to copy-paste the code and share it. By embedding the video, Vimeo also gains three links. OKCupid – They create trends all the time using their data to help market the site. Their blog is frequently an example of both linkbait and a link magnet. By sharing the information on the blog, users are rewarded by sharing something interesting. Techmeme – When they launched the learderboard, more than 30 of the top 100 bloggers linked to them. Simply Hired – They publish the data/stats/salaries behind jobs. It is both interesting and useful data that frequently acts as a magnet for media. Aaron Kahlow, Founder, Online Marketing Summit Aaron decided to be interactive and not give a presentation. He gave just a few tips before turning over the panel to an audience Q&A. Content – If you don’t have great content, there’s no reason anyone should link to you. Personas/branding – If you don’t have a personality or aren’t comfortable with yours, you’ll never form the affinity necessary to gain links. Social – Every time you create something, ask yourself if your colleagues/constituents would share. Friends – Make sure you build relationships with those who are link magnets. Suggestions: 1. Decide who your target market is, and then address them appropriately. For example, you can’t “geek out” and get technical if your audience is not. 2. Make sharing simple and easy. For example, if your audience is active on Twitter, leverage the Tweetmeme button on your blog. 3. When you find things you like, say something about it and link to it as opposed to always linking to the source.