The first month of what promises to be a year of change in the SEO industry is drawing to a close. As usual, we have for you the content that we have found most interesting, informative, and entertaining during January.
The debate over the value of content marketing seems to be shifting away from straightforward cheerleading or naysaying towards a more nuanced dialogue. We expect that continue as the year progresses, and of course, we’ll continue to share with you the high-points in the inbound marketing landscape.
SEO
Why Executives Should Care About SEO, and How You Can Help Them
When I began my career in search marketing, organic search was often times a last minute consideration. It was more of the rule than the exception to have SEO brought in after content had been created and/or after a website had already been developed. And many times, once the cost of reverse engineering the damage was identified, stakeholders in …
PR + SEO When Two Worlds Collide
Until recently SEO and PR were regarded as two separate industries – but the scene has changed and we are now witnessing the coalition of the two. So what has led to this trend? What is it that those 2 professions are each missing – leading to the fact that they are now converging? In this post I would like to give you an understanding of these colliding worlds as well as some early adopter examples and their motivations for …
LSI Keywords for SEO: Importance, Selection & Usage
How do these web search engines work? And what is it that makes some programs less inefficient than others? When one enters a key phrase or a keyword in a web search portal and hits the enter key, the internet search engine throws up a list of results containing the terms in the inquiry. Generally users visit those internet sites that are highest on this list as they think that those sites are central to the question. This happens due …
Focusing on SEO nearly killed my staffing firm, says NY’s Ken Sundheim
Search engine optimization—a.k.a. SEO—is often held up as a must-follow principle to build your company’s web presence. But Ken Sundheim, CEO of KAS Placement Executive Search, discovered a dark side: more attention from the outside can harm service on the inside. I was born a …
12 Tips for Keyword Selection to Guide Your Content Marketing SEO
Some content marketers play fast and loose with keyword selection for natural search engine rankings. They shirk proper research and analysis, or merely take wild stabs at whether a keyword phrase is worth pursuing in the first place. If you constantly create internet content without thinking through search engine optimization (SEO) and keywords, you will rank for something (content does resonate with search engine algorithms). Yet, you will …
Link Building: Why Playing By the Rules of Best Practices Can Improve Our Social Media Image
We live in struggling times, while the Internet itself keeps changing and keeps demanding change. Some might say it is all due to the Post Penguin Era, others say Google is too demanding. I say that we need quality and we need to play by the rules. We are …
Five Reasons Why Inbound Marketing Is Going To Become Big In 2013
The world of online marketing has undergone some major changes in the past year. We’ve been watching as social media underdog Pinterest quickly gained ground. We’ve seen an aggressive political ad war, and watched several IPOs and acquisitions occur. So what’s on the horizon for 2013? A recent study performed by the Fornaise Marketing group uncovered a disturbing statistic. The study found that 73% of executives are working under the assumption …
Social Media Marketing
How To Prepare Your Facebook Page for Graph Search
The Internet is still abuzz with talk of Facebook’s Graph Search—and although some are skeptical about how the new tool will be used, that skepticism is countered by a growing realization that Facebook Graph Search has powerful potential for businesses. Beyond the bells and whistles, the core of graph search is about helping people discover products and services on …
7 Social Media Trends for Consumers: New Research
Are you wondering what the changing social trends are for consumers? If so, look no further. In Nielsen and McKinsey’s Social Media Report, consumers were surveyed to discover how they use social networks. Here are seven key findings from that report. #1: More Time Invested in Mobile The survey found that consumers are increasingly looking to their smartphones and tablets to access social media. While the PC is still the most widely used device when it comes to social media …
Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2013 – Part 1
It was certainly an exciting year in social media for brands in 2012, with many intriguing industry developments. Given that the pace of innovation in social will only increase this year, what will 2013 hold for brand marketers as they seek to capitalize on today’s trends? From my discussions, I find that CMOs in particular are facing a major test this year as external digital engagement has moved to the top of the …
Four Steps to Crafting a Connection Strategy on Social Media
The amount of information and the speed at which content is currently produced may seem overwhelming. If you have a message, product or service to deliver to the masses you may wish to use social media to connect with customers, friends or potential buyers. But you first have to be heard. How among all the social platforms will your voice be heard above the throng of tweets, posts and status …
Not Scheduling Social Media Posts Doesn’t Make You Authentic, It Makes You…
I have often explained that social media is like a freeway. Each car flying by is content you and others are posting in their feeds. You have to have enough relevant, valuable cars (content) on the road every day outside of RT’s and shares, so that whenever your audience steps up to the side of the freeway, one of YOUR cars fly by that is inline with your proper content strategy. I recently asked this question to my community; How …
How to Respond to a Social Media Crisis
Following on from my last article about the importance of preparing for a social media crisis, it’s time to cover the planning and strategy around the actual moment that most forward-thinking brands dread. There is no …
Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2013 – Part 1
It was certainly an exciting year in social media for brands in 2012, with many intriguing industry developments. Given that the pace of innovation in social will only increase this year, what will 2013 hold for brand marketers as they seek to capitalize on today’s trends? From my discussions, I find that CMOs in particular are facing a major test this year as external digital engagement has moved to the top of the …
Dogs With Glasses: A Lesson On Overthinking Social Content
No matter how hard we try, some things will never be sexy. That is lesson number 1. A bulldog with glasses quite possibly makes for the perfect intro picture on just about any blog. And that would be lesson number 2. Trying Too Hard = Boring Social Content As social media marketers, it’s sometimes our job to promote the un-promotable. It’s our task to engage (indirectly sell) with potential customers of a potentially …
Content Marketing
Content that Serves, Not content that sells
The landscape of online content marketing has become much more populated in recent years, but is still relatively wild and open. The earliest prospectors in the digital marketing arena learned the tricks of the trade through trial and error and many of them have the profits to show for it, while others just have advice about what not to do. A number of these tried and true tips are listed below from both …
Content Marketing: Why You Need Professional Help
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the most effective way to market online is to embrace content marketing. First, a definition: Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to attract, acquire and engage clearly defined and understood current and potential consumer bases with the objective of driving profitable customer action. via Wikipedia Yawn. Content …
Facebook strategies are misguided. You need a content strategy.
In a discussion I had a month or so ago after shrugging off Facebook’s changes to how Pages updates get into news feeds, I was told that the move frustrated marketers who had invested so much time, energy and money into their Facebook strategies. The unintended consequence of Facebook’s introduction of Graph Search may be …
Why You Shouldn’t Do Content Marketing
I’m guilty. There. An odd way to come out of the 2013 gate, I admit, but the truth will set you free, right? Intent to harm doesn’t factor into this crime. In fact, until now, I wasn’t even aware of my wrongdoing. My admission now: I’ve been talking some of my clients into doing content marketing. I can’t stop myself. I believe in content marketing. It works. But to do it well, creatively, most importantly, effectively, you have …
How to Determine the Potential Size of Your Content Marketing Opportunity
In my last Copyblogger article, I talked about how to build an agile content marketing team. This time around, I’m going to focus on how to determine the potential size and reach of your content marketing opportunity. One way to accomplish this is to see if readers are already displaying a passion for your space. Are they looking for the type of content you’re producing, or want to produce? …
How to Win with Video for Small Businesses
Screencasts can be fantastic marketing content for small businesses—they’re cheap, easy to do and can provide a great return on investment. A brilliant example of this is the WordPress Guide to Small Businesses. Here, using easy-to-follow video tutorials and links to articles and resources, the folks over at Simply Business …