SES Munich 2007 | Linkbaiting, Social Search Marketing & Blogging

SES Munich 2007 | Linkbaiting, Social Search Marketing & Blogging

Blogging, Social Media Marketing & Linkbait

...the sort of people who have been doing “new” SEO, or whatever you want to call it, that’s social media optimization, link bait, things that are interesting to people and attract word of mouth and buzz, those sorts of sites naturally attract visitors, attract repeat visitors, attract back links, attract lots of discussion, those sorts of sites are going to benefit as the world goes forward.

- Matt Cutts in an Interview from Friday, March 2nd w/ Gord Hotchkiss


An Introduction to Blogging

Technical Topics• Blog Software & Features• Optimizing the Blog

Fun Topics• Blog Content Strategies• Blog Promotion & Marketing

Blog Software & FeaturesHow to Choose the Blog that’s Right for You.


Blog Software & Features


Software vs. Custom-Built Blogs

Choose Blog Software

Easy Installation Handles Basic Functions Multiple Community Plugins to

Customize Choose Custom-Build

Allows for unique content serving methods

Easiest to customize specs & GUI Greatest flexibility for multiple uses

• WYSWIG Editors• Website Look & Feel • Delayed Publishing• Static Pages• Navigation Options• Archiving System• Comment Options

Anonymous Comments Moderated Comments Threaded Comments No Comments


Publishing Considerations

Serve the Users; Serve the Engines; Rule the World


Publishing Considerations


Domain Use & Hosting

Bad:

company.blogspot.com companyblog.com blog.company.com

Good:

company.com/blog/ company.com/blog.html

Keep the blog as part of the site for maximum benefit

“Web 2.0” Companies like these are inconsistent about domain use, reducing their linkjuice and ranking power


Keyword Research

Step 1: Decide on a Topic

Step 2: Write a Title

Step 3: Run KW Research

Step 4: Consider Re-writing title based on KW popularity

Step 5: Write content to fit the title and your intent

NOTE: Sometimes it pays to write catchy titles and ignore KW research – it's not necessary for every post


Title & Meta Tags in Blogs

Blog titles should be reflected in the title tag

Compare stats on blog posts that receive heavy search traffic and consider writing compelling meta descriptions

Keep your brand name in your blog titles


Blog URLs

Worst to Best:

yourblog.com/post/entry.py?answer=42098&topic=8914

yourblog.com/post/entry.php?ID=42098

yourblog.com/post/entry/42098

yourblog.com/post/entry/writing_good_blog_titles.html

yourblog.com/writing-good-blog-titles


Leveraging Comments

Comments = Free Content For new blogs, turn off comments

– wait until you're popular Reward frequent commenters Offer incentives for comments


RSS Feeds

Sidebar Feed Options

Full Text VS. Partial Snippets

Feedburner – Track Feed Usage

Action Tracking – Measure Signups

Offer multiple feed options on the sidebar of your blog


Action Tracking Through Analytics

Blog Actions to Track Feed Subscriptions Registration (to use

comments, create a profile, etc.)

Newsletter signups Ad clicks Browse Rate (number

of pages viewed per user on average)


Blog Content Strategies

Blog Content StrategiesBut, Rand… What am I Going to Write About?


Claiming a Unique Niche

More Popular Topics - More Need for Differentiation

Less Popular Topics - Broader Focus is Desirable

Niche coverage allows for broadening, and general coverage allows for specificity – pursue both


Embedding More Than Text

Additional Content to include in blog posts Screenshots Photos Cartoons Logos Charts/Graphs Diagrams

A few of the images recently on the SEOmoz blog


Multimedia Content

Videos (Youtube, Metacafe) Interactive Elements (tools, search boxes, polls) Audio Podcasts Flash Animations


Deliver on Expectations

Create & Fulfill Expectations on: Post Frequency & Timing The Subject Matter of Posts News Events that Will be Covered Other Blogs Users Should Read Boundaries for Comments Frequency of Off-Topic Posts Level of Discourse & Language


Brand Your Blog

Titling Blogs – Memorable, Descriptive Use your brand in press, on other sites, in interviews,

presentations, networking, when you comment, etc. Don't shill, and be aware of who/what you promote


Blog Promotion & Marketing

How to Bring Eyeballs to the Site


Community Participation

Comment on Other Blogs Build Relationships with

Other Bloggers Participate in Memes, Polls,

Events, Promotions, etc. Make Your Blog Interactive -

Let Users Suggest Topics & Ask Questions

Some blog communties are highly structured, others, less so.


Blogging Q+A

Topics

Blog Software & Features Optimizing the Blog Blog Content Strategies Blog Promotion & Marketing

More questions? Just ask [email protected]


Social Media Marketing

Rule the SERPs Control your Brand Get Link Love

Show the Community You're a Participant

Build Traffic from Alternate Sources

Influence Traditional Media


How Social Communities View SEO

SEO = Perceived Spam

In fact, SEO helps these communities to grow and spread by creating content and contributing

An SEO must be mindful of the community and respect the establishment

This Gentleman Pretty Much Sums it Up


Control Your Brand Before Others Do


Build Link Popularity


Rule the SERPs


Creating Successful Profiles

Use your website's name or a single person's name from the website.

Create robust profiles – use a consistent photo and take the time to create content at each site

Comment at and build relationships with other site users – go for popular/well-linked-to pages on the site for your comments/interaction, as these will give you the most link weight


Sites to Target

www.seomoz.org/article/social-media-marketing-tactics


Social Media Marketing Q+A

Topics How Social Communities View SEO Controlling Your Brand Building Link Popularity Ruling the SERPs Creating Successful Profiles Sites to Target



An Introduction to Linkbaiting

How to leverage the web's most powerful linkers into sending traffic, links & higher rankings to your site.


What is Linkbait & Why is it Valuable?


Meet the Linkerati


Linkerati Dominate Linking on the Web


How Does Linkbait Help You Rank?


Samples of Successful Linkbait

Make Fun of College Students; Get Links.

Worst College Mascots Article on Drivl.com

Launched via Digg Sports 128,000 Pg Views 2,000+ Referring Domains #4 for “College Mascots” 200 New RSS Subs



Celebrity Nudity Awards on Drivl.com

Launched via GorillaMask 100,000 Pg Views 400+ Referring Domains #5 for “Nudity” 250+ Searches/Day

Naked Never Gets Old



21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic

Launched on SEOmoz 75,000 Pg Views 250+ Referring Domains #1 for “Increase Blog Traffic” 75+ Searches/Day Speaking Gig from Stanford

Drug Identification Chart Launched via Digg 100,000 Pg Views 300+ Referring Domains #1 for “Ilegal Drugs” 500+ Searches/Day




Content Strategies

Lists (best of, worst of) Lists of tips, how-tos, problems, benefits, resources Teaching resource (how to) Humor, Irony Controversy Interviews Breaking News Product Review Poll Results / Data Results Aesthetic Beauty Tools Comprehensive Reviews Great Insight Many, many more...


Linkbait Launching Portals

CRITERIA: High Visibility Sends Big Traffic Right Demographics Potential to Go Viral


Digg.com

2mil+ Visits Daily Tech & Web Centric 50-100 Votes Req'd 10-30K visits avg 1000+ Links per


Reddit.com

500K Visits Daily Broad in Scope 20-40 Votes Req'd 4-10K visits avg 600+ Links per


Netscape.com

250K Visits Daily News Centric 20-40 Votes Req'd 4-8K visits avg 300+ Links per


Del.icio.us/Popular

1mil+ Visits Daily Developer Centric 20-30 Votes Req'd 2-6K visits avg 250+ Links per


StumbleUpon Toolbar

3Mil+ Users All Subjects 70%+ Thumbs Up 500-5,000 visits (cont.) 25-250 links


Popular Blogs & Sites (Editorial)


Rules for Linkbaiting Safely

IP Tracking Geography Groups Profile Identification Spam Submissions


Linkbaiting Q+A

Topics

How Linkbait Can Help Websites Rank Identifying the “Linkerati” Link-Worthy Content Linkbait Launch Portals Linkbaiting Safely


SES Munich 2007 | Linkbaiting, Social Search Marketing & Blogging

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Transcript of SES Munich 2007 | Linkbaiting, Social Search Marketing & Blogging