Phew! What a whirlwind week at SES Chicago.
While my TopRank Online Marketing teammates were taking SES Chicago by
storm, I was holding down the homefront manning the blog, monitoring
Twitter feeds, and helping in any way that I could.We were fortunate to have an army of TopRank staff speaking, attending, live blogging, and interacting for the entire conference including:
Lee Odden: CEO
Jolina Pettice: Director of Client Accounts
Thom Craver: Senior Technical SEO Manager
Alexis Hall: Account Manager
Evan Prokop: Associate Account Manager
Miranda Miller: Content Marketing Manager
In this wrap up I’ve provided you with a 360 view of the conference which includes links to our live blogs, tweets, a video with keynote presenter Avinash Kaushik, and photos from the conference. Enjoy!
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A Strategic View of Search Engine Optimization – Where Does SEO Fit in Your Content Strategy?
Lee Odden on Nov 19th, 2012 Online Marketing, Optimize Book, SEO
Companies
large and small, in industries from retail to manufacturing, publish
content online with an expectation that a certain audience of people
will find, read and act on that content. While most Search Engine
Optimization efforts are rightly focused on marketing goals like
acquiring more customers and increasing revenue, making purchases is not
the only reason consumers use search or ask for referrals through
social networks.There’s a lot of tactical advice online about search, social media and content marketing for companies that want to better connect with customers but that advice doesn’t always consider the differences between types of companies or even content within companies. For the best return on marketing investment, it’s important to understand that there are notable differences in tactics for effective optimization depending on who the audience is, how they prefer to discover, consume and act on information. The very nature of B2C vs. B2B or small company vs. large company content, audience and outcomes can be different, so the approach to optimizing content for search and social media must be tailored accordingly.
Online Marketing News: Run Effective A/B Tests, YouTube Pulls the Plug, Hijacking Google, Windows 8 Dead?
Ashley Zeckman on Nov 16th, 2012 Online Marketing, Online Marketing News
Social Stereotypes: You Are What You Share
This recent infographic from WIX focuses on social media, and the types of things that people share, or read. Findings include:- 71% of tweets are ignored
- 23% of tweets get a reply
- 5% of Pinterest users are under the age of 18
- 97% of executives surveyed used LinkedIn in 2010
23 Tips on How to A/B Test Like A Badass
With all of the tools now available it has become very easy and effective to run an A/B test. However, many marketers are still scratching their heads trying to determine how to take their testing to the next level. Via Search Engine Watch.
7 Effortless Ways to Find New Ideas for Your BlogWith all of the tools now available it has become very easy and effective to run an A/B test. However, many marketers are still scratching their heads trying to determine how to take their testing to the next level. Via Search Engine Watch.
Coming up with new and exciting topics for blog content is no easy undertaking. This article shares 7 easy ways to come up with new blog content regularly. Read on to find out more. Via Social Media Examiner.
Guest Blogging: Stop Thinking Link Building, Start Thinking Relationship Building – #SESCHI
Evan Prokop on Nov 15th, 2012 Online Marketing
Another
update live from SES Chicago. Erin Everhart and Katherine Watier gave
a highly entertaining and informative presentation about link building
through guest blogging.Guest Blogging Works, But You Have to do it Right
It’s a scenario that’s far too typical in the SEO world. An awesome new tactic is discovered, word gets out, and it gets done to death, resulting in it not working anymore (sorry, but it’s true).
Link building through guest blogging has definitely suffered this fate. Starting out as an incredibly effective means of generating high quality white hat links, over-use and poor implementation have resulted in bloggers cringing at inboxes full of poorly written, self-serving pitch requests, and ultimately ignoring the vast majority of would be guest posts.
5 Strategies to Increase Conversion in a Social World from #SESCHI
Alexis Hall on Nov 15th, 2012 Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies
95%
of decisions are considered preconscious. In fact, the majority of
decisions we, as humans, make are automatic or based on “gut feel”,
rather than conscious decision making.So then why are so many businesses building websites for consumers who view and act based on their rational brain? This is the question Tim Ash (@tim_ash) posits during his SES Chicago session “Beyond the Click: Conversion in the Social World.”
The human brain, shaped by thousands of years of evolution, is highly influential on our online decision making. So marketers must look for opportunities to make the conversion process as intuitive, consistent and automatic as possible.
Taking the evolutionary approach, here are five strategies for increasing conversions in a social world, from Tim Ash.
SES Chicago: Building the B2B Social Media Machine – 6 Steps for Success
Evan Prokop on Nov 15th, 2012 B2B, Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies, Social Media
It’s
day 2 of SES Chicago, and the online marketing education is flowing
full force. I saw an excellent presentation about building a killer B2B
social media strategy with Adriel Sanchez (@Adriel_S)
of SAP. With the sea of platforms, tactics, and schools of thought
around B2B social media, it can be difficult to put together an
actionable strategy that gets real results.Follow the steps below to get your B2B social media strategy working for your business.
1. Forget Social Media, Think Content Marketing
Social media works best as a component of an overall content strategy. The key is to think like a publisher, not a marketer. This means avoiding the common pitfalls of being overly self-promotional or too sales oriented.
7 Link Building Philosophies for a Post-Penguin World – #SESCHI
Jolina Pettice on Nov 14th, 2012 Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies
Panda, Penguin
and other Google updates are part of search marketing. The frequency
of updates has continued to garner attention over the last 6 months.The only sure thing; it’s likely to continue as Google stays its course in refining standards for quality content.
And in a post-Panda and Penguin world, smarter more meaningful link building is not only recommended but a requirement.
Understanding this is only the tip of the iceberg. What lies below the surface is the real opportunity and from SES Chicago, here’s what you should be thinking about.
7 Link Building Philosophies to create value and remain Penguin-friendly. Shared with the audience by Jon Ball of PageOnePower.
1. In a World without Google
Imagine if Google didn’t exist, where would you spend link building efforts? What would you do and not do?
Remarketing & Retargeting Done Right and Wrong – 6 Do’s and Don’ts From SES Chicago
Evan Prokop on Nov 14th, 2012 Online Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy
Live from SES Chicago,
I had a fantastic opportunity to learn about the ultra-hot online
marketing area of remarketing / retargeting from Christopher Hansen and
Marty Weintraub. Remarketing can be extremely powerful, but is easy to
get wrong, and the consequences can be costly both in terms of budget
and brand image.Below are 3 tips to make retargeting campaigns work for you, and 3 potential mistakes.
Retargeting Done Right
#1: Identify Your Best ContentThe key to effective retargeting is finding what is already working in your marketing strategy. Retargeting can be very effective at increasing the success of your content, but the content must be effective on its own in order to see a benefit from retargeting.
10 Of the Best Kept Secrets to B2B Videos from #SESCHI
Alexis Hall on Nov 14th, 2012 Online Marketing
Did
you know that 42% of business executives have made a purchasing
decision based on an online video? In fact, 60% of execs will watch a
video, before the ever read the text on the screen. Wow!In the last session on the first day of SES, I was pretty excited to learn the secrets to B2B video success from Peter La Motte from GeniusRocket (@geniusrocket). You see, I hear from clients all the time reasons why video isn’t a larger part of their marketing mix.
Top 3 Reasons B2Bs Give for Why They Can’t (or Won’t) Do Video
- Video is too much work!
- B2B is too boring for video
- Video doesn’t drive sales
Exploiting the Infinite Loop: 5 Tips for Mobile Marketing Optimization from SES Chicago
Alexis Hall on Nov 13th, 2012 Online Marketing
Today’s
consumer is connected every where and in every way. Additionally, we
are no longer subject to the agenda of businesses when it comes to when
and where we consume content, shop or view ads. As marketers is our job
to take advantage of what Geoff Tam-Scott describes as the infinite
loop.The infinite loops refer to the ongoing cycle of touch points marketers with consumer across devices such as smartphone, tablets, TV, PCs, etc.
On the first day of SES Chicago, Tam-Scott and Gagan Kanwar from Marin Software (@MarinSoftware) offer tips for marketers to optimize marketing for mobile and exploit the potential which mobile unlocks.
14 Online Marketing Wake-Up Calls from @Avinash – SES Chicago
Jolina Pettice on Nov 13th, 2012 Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies
Online Marketing Magic blankets the Midwest as SES Chicago kicks off this morning. Audience members packed the room and gulped coffee anxiously awaiting to know what Avinash knows.Curious to know what makes Avinash Kaushik (Digital Marketing Evangelist, Google) roll out of bed each morning? Surprisingly, it’s not data.
3 Simple Ideas Keeping Avinash’s Finger Off Snooze
1. Influence: The ability to find people and brainwash them that they need our products or services.
2. Experience: Most websites suck according to Avinash. And he’s on a one-man mission to fix them.
3. Value: If we solve the 2 problems above and can’t make money doing it, we’re doing it wrong. And that’s no fun at all.
How do you reach the intersection of influence, experience and value and find Online Marketing Magic? Start with 14 online marketing Wake-Up Calls spanning from Analytics to Social to Mobile.
Content Marketing Confessions: 5 Simple Tips to Improve Marketing Performance
Ashley Zeckman on Nov 13th, 2012 Content Marketing, Online Marketing
Think
back to a time when you created a piece of content marketing
awesomeness. Visually it was appealing, you were very confident about
the content, and you were sure that it was going to be a hit.
Unfortunately, it fell flat. And it left you wondering, how did this
happen?Your first instinct may be to assume the online audience just didn’t understand how good the content really was. But here’s the gig, it’s time that we as marketers understand “why” we’re creating content and “who” it is for. This will allow us to make better marketing decisions and project what type of content will resonate best with our audience, and meet business objectives.