While I’m busy hobnobbing (which means we dunk incredibly crumbly cookies in our cups of tea) with marketers at SES London, please enjoy these picks.

• Video search engine Blinkx has signed an advertising deal with Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Newspond might make an interesting competitor to Techmeme. As downloadsquad reports, it tracks technology memes but also allows you to add your own comments.
• Facebook’s Chief Revenue Officer Own Van Natta has decided to leave the company. It seems he’s itching to be a CEO somewhere–though no news as to where–and Zuckerberg’s in his way at Facebook. (OK, so none of that was said by Van Natta, but that’s how it looks)
• Looking for SES London coverage? Li Evans has it all covered for you.

Now, go take a look at photos of Frederick Marckini’s keynote. Trendy haircut, no tie, no glasses–that’s what a few million can do for you.

Comments

While I’m busy hobnobbing (which means we dunk incredibly crumbly cookies in our cups of tea) with marketers at SES London, please enjoy these picks.

• Video search engine Blinkx has signed an advertising deal with Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Newspond might make an interesting competitor to Techmeme. As downloadsquad reports, it tracks technology memes but also allows you to add your own comments.
• Facebook’s Chief Revenue Officer Own Van Natta has decided to leave the company. It seems he’s itching to be a CEO somewhere–though no news as to where–and Zuckerberg’s in his way at Facebook. (OK, so none of that was said by Van Natta, but that’s how it looks)
• Looking for SES London coverage? Li Evans has it all covered for you.

Now, go take a look at photos of Frederick Marckini’s keynote. Trendy haircut, no tie, no glasses–that’s what a few million can do for you.

Comments

While I’m busy hobnobbing (which means we dunk incredibly crumbly cookies in our cups of tea) with marketers at SES London, please enjoy these picks.

• Video search engine Blinkx has signed an advertising deal with Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Newspond might make an interesting competitor to Techmeme. As downloadsquad reports, it tracks technology memes but also allows you to add your own comments.
• Facebook’s Chief Revenue Officer Own Van Natta has decided to leave the company. It seems he’s itching to be a CEO somewhere–though no news as to where–and Zuckerberg’s in his way at Facebook. (OK, so none of that was said by Van Natta, but that’s how it looks)
• Looking for SES London coverage? Li Evans has it all covered for you.

Now, go take a look at photos of Frederick Marckini’s keynote. Trendy haircut, no tie, no glasses–that’s what a few million can do for you.

Comments

While I’m busy hobnobbing (which means we dunk incredibly crumbly cookies in our cups of tea) with marketers at SES London, please enjoy these picks.

• Video search engine Blinkx has signed an advertising deal with Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Newspond might make an interesting competitor to Techmeme. As downloadsquad reports, it tracks technology memes but also allows you to add your own comments.
• Facebook’s Chief Revenue Officer Own Van Natta has decided to leave the company. It seems he’s itching to be a CEO somewhere–though no news as to where–and Zuckerberg’s in his way at Facebook. (OK, so none of that was said by Van Natta, but that’s how it looks)
• Looking for SES London coverage? Li Evans has it all covered for you.

Now, go take a look at photos of Frederick Marckini’s keynote. Trendy haircut, no tie, no glasses–that’s what a few million can do for you.

Comments

Business Design Centre – Cool venue for a conference

Matt Bailey getting the sock puppet treatment from Greg Jarboe, pre-conference

Frank Watson and his budda belly gets rubbed by Li Evans

Kevin Heisler, Kevin Ryan, Gary Lynch and Stewart Quealy from Incisive

SES London co-host Mike Grehan and Keynote speaker Dr. Ralph Wilson

Registration

Exhibit Hall

Dave Naylor, Edward Cowell and Ralph Tegtmeier, aka Fantomaster duing the Organic Listings Forum

Mike Grehan moderates the Organic Listings Forum

Andy, Dixon, Kristjan, Mel, Brian

Matt McGowan and Rebecca Lieb

Frederick Marckini from iProspect giving day one keynote

Be sure to view many more photos from our SES London 2008 Flickr set.

Comments

It will be my first time speaking at an event in London and luckily I’ll be involved with 3 panels that are spot on with the marketing consulting work we do at TopRank.

The two panels that I am presenting on are concurrent Wednesday, Feb 20 with “News Search SEO” starting at 10:30 a.m. followed by “Blog and Feed SEO” at 11:45 a.m. I will also be moderating the “Brand and Reputation Management” panel on Thursday at 3:30p.m. Below are more details on those sessions.

News Search Engine Optimization – News search engines such as Yahoo News and Google News offer a great way to receive targeted traffic related to breaking topics or to help with a public relations effort. Moderated by Anne Kennedy of Beyond Ink, this session looks at how to make use of tactics such as press release optimization and optimizing news content to best tap into traffic from news search. I’ll be focusing on news content optimization, particularly online newsrooms.  Speakers include:

• Greg Jarboe, President and Co-Founder, SEO-PR
• Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing
• Tim Gibbon, Director, Elemental Communications

Blog & RSS Search Engine Optimization – This session session will be moderated by the VP and Editor in Chief of The ClickZ Network, Rebecca Lieb so I’d better be on my best behavior. Search U.S. Google for “blog optimization” and after seeing who is at #1 and #2, you’ll see why TopRank is on the panel. This panel of experts is set to explore how niche blog and RSS feed search engines work followed by tips on how companies can use blogs and RSS feeds as online marketing tools. In this session I’ll be giving a personal example of how we’ve leveraged Online Marketing Blog to build industry credibility, extend our network, grow our consulting business and attract media attention including book offers.  Speakers include:

• Amanda Watlington, Owner, Searching for Profit
• Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing
• Massimo Burgio, Founder and Chief Strategist, Global Search Interactive

Online Reputation Management – This topic has long been a hot issue and as increasing numbers of consumers are “empowered to publish” via blogs and social networks, companies are becoming keenly aware of the importance of managing brand and reputation online. This session will provide an overview and big picture issues related to online reputation management, a range of ORM tactics and a great collection of localized examples. Whether it’s PPC trademark issues, engaging legal help or blogger relations, there’s a lot to cover in the hour we have allocated. Moderated by TopRank CEO Lee Odden, speakers for this session include :

• Andy Beal, Consultant, Blogger, & Author, Marketing Pilgrim LLC
• Greg Jarboe, President and Co-Founder, SEO-PR
• Nan Dawkins, President and CEO, Serengeti Communications

The SES London show will be held February 19-21 at the Business Design Centre in Islington and hosted by search marketing guru Mike Grehan. Tracks at SES London include: Fundamentals, Search Advertising, Global, Kelsey Group Local, Organic & Beyond, Organic, Issues & Tactics and an “Improve Me” Track. You can get a glance of all sessions here.

If you’re attending the Search Engine Strategies conference in London, I hope you can make the sessions above and certainly say hello after. I’m looking forward to meeting up with UK friends Andy Atkins-Krüger, Mel Carson, Mike Grehan, BC Europe’s Rory De Niro and Marie Howell plus many U.S. based SEM pros that will be speaking/moderating.

Comments

The widget as link bait

First up, Nick Wilson gave a good high level introduction to ‘viral link building’. Giving a passionate speech, Nick discussed widgets as the ultimate linkbait, and his observations were well worth hearing.

Heellloou Jason Calacanis

Dave Naylor gave another extremely passionate speech. During the entire conference Dave entertained the crowd, and this session was no different. Jason Calacanis was the main target, as Dave vented vitriol on the ‘SEO is bullshit’ argument. All highly entertaining.

‘Textual advertisements’

Alan Webb of Abakus gave a presentation on link buying with some interesting, if not ground-breaking, discussion about how to approach site owners when buying links purchasing textual advertising . Bread an butter stuff.

This is the bit When Link Bait Isn’t Link Bait

This last guy annoyed me so much that I actually bailed about 60 seconds into his presentation. The official handbook says his name is Matt Paines, MD of XSEO. This guy obviously does not understand link bait.

He started off by referring to the famous SEO ‘Chris’ until someone in the crowd told him it was Rand. OK, that’s a human mistake – anyone could make it. But the 30 seconds that followed showed that this guy doesn’t have a clue. So fumbling on he’s muttering ‘Wow. yeah. Rand Fishkin. Superbowl.. now that was some link bait’. I got up and left right then and there.

Link bait is contrived content created with the intention of deriving inbound links. [My definition]

So what the final speaker was basically saying that Rand Fishkin contrived his engagement in order to generate links.

I don’t know Rand Fishkin personally, but do read his blog which regularly contains some great posts. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I believe that people are in general innately good. So the idea that someone would go on national TV (and the Internet) to say, first, that he loves his soon-to-be fianc, and then ask her to marry him, that this was in some way link bait.

Well I didn’t stick around any longer so I’ll never know what else he said.

Comments

Tag:

Bookmark WebProNews:

I was lurking toward the back of the room at the Linking Strategies Session when (I think) Tom Alby from Ask made a comment about hubs and authorities. He said that the difference between a link farm and a hub is that at least one or two authority sites would be linking back to the hub.

Hmmm so there I was thinking about that for a second. If one or two authority sites link back to a link farm, hey presto, you’ve got a hub! I’ll be honest – I couldn’t hold back the snigger, and I wasn’t alone.

From the last row in the room, I swear I could just about hear the penny drop in Greg Boser’s head as he sat next to the Ask guy. I’m pretty sure he was trying very hard to hold back the laugh (he didn’t succeed ).

Very funny moment, and probably one of those little nuggets the search reps wish they hadn’t dropped.

Comments

Tag:

Bookmark WebProNews:

At the Search Engine Strategies Conference in London, Jennifer Slegg of JenSense.com provides a stellar guide to creating quality content that maximizes on the enduring long tail of search, which produces more traffic in the long run.

Her notes are relayed via WebProNews guest correspondent Deb Harrison. This is what became of them.

Why focus on the long tail? Well, to put it succinctly: "Long tail search is less competitive and it narrows the market." Without further ado, here’s what to look for and to look out for when generating quality content.

Unique Content

1. Takes care of duplicate content concerns
2. Creates exclusivity at your website
3. Is a source of organic (free) search engine traffic

But Free Content…

1. Often comes from free article databases and is published in thousands of other places
2. Often has required author links linking to low quality, or very spammy sites
3. Often have ulterior motives to sell products, services, or ebooks

If Buying Content, Rather Than Creating It, Remember:

1. You get what you pay for
2. Research to be sure content is original and not copied
3. Pay close attention from the third and fourth paragraph, where infringers often get lazy
4. Recheck three months later to see if authors are reselling the same content

Focus On the Long Tail

Maximizing on the long tail of search involves narrowing the topic, especially in broad competitive areas. Slegg provides examples:

Broad: Perfect gifts for Valentine’s Day

Narrow: Valentine’s Day gifts for mums-to-be

Narrow: What to get your child’s teacher for Valentine’s Day

Ask:

What search terms lead visitors to my site?

Referring keywords highlight words that may not be specifically targeted on your site. "If ‘dialiang from UK to Canada’ is a referral," but was only mentioned briefly, write a new article focusing on that specifically. Link to original article.

What are your visitors asking?

Write articles based on the most common questions asked via email or phone support.

What are the hot topics?

People are driven to search by hot topics in whatever category, so write copy about those hot topics. This is also great blogger link bait and keeps your site current.

Get A Head Start On Seasonal Content

Slegg recommends creating a file with articles you should have written before the most recent season was over. Plan to write them six months in advance of the next shopping season to get ranked by the search engines by the time people start searching for that content.

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

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SES London: Touching Your Local Customers

WebProNews guest correspondent Debbie Harrison has been providing us with a look back at the proceedings at Search Engine Strategies in London.

ComScore tells marketers that 40 percent of all online searches have to do with local information. People want to find something in or near where they live on a regular basis. Touch Local’s Grant Muckle emphasized that search engines like Google and Yahoo are not the only places to play with local ads online.

Yellow pages type directories and smaller, local search engines get attention too. That may be hard to believe considering Google’s always-impressive share of search engine click-throughs, 64 percent by Nielsen//NetRatings January 2006 figures.

Google is where local advertisers need to be, plain and simple. Not just on the relatively lightly-used Maps and Local niches, but the main Google search that Internet users know so well.

The rationale for focusing on Google comes from Google’s increasing attention paid to local search. On Google’s search pages as Muckle demonstrated, a search for a particular business in a location may bring up a One Box of local results.

If the local business appears there, it’s going to get a lot more attention from searchers. The higher in the organic search results a website appears, the more likely it will get someone to click through to it.

Getting a higher organic result can take time, and a business may want to get faster results. That’s where PPC advertising comes in, and why Google has a US share price in the $470 range