Chris Boggs Elected President of SEMPOI’d like to congratulate my good friend Chris Boggs on the recent announcement of Chris being elected the new President of SEMPO. As many of you know, Chris has been deeply involved with the SEMPO organization for years and has always been an ethically outspoken and active member of the search engine optimization industry.Boggs, Director, Search Engine Optimization at Rosetta, is no stranger to SEMPO as he has served on SEMPO’s Board of Directors since 2006 and has been the organization’s Secretary for the past three years. “I appreciate the opportunity to serve as SEMPO’s new president and lead the charge to expand our reputation as thought leaders in the global search arena,” Boggs said. “I look forward to working with the SEMPO board and members to inspire more people and companies to better understand and benefit from Search Marketing and analytics.”Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal. Chris Boggs Elected President of SEMPO       Creating a Social Media Analytics Action Plan – Part 2: Configuring Your AnalyticsLast month I introduced the idea that by creating a Social Media Analytics Action Plan, you'd find it much easier to not only find the ROI of social media for your company, but you'll also improve the effectiveness of your social media efforts.In Part 1 we defined our KPI's, and now it is time to properly configure your analytics package so you can measure those metrics. Add Campaign Tracking to URLs With URL shortening services like bit.ly and kl.am having analytics tagging capabilities built into them, there really isn't an excuse to not be tracking your social URLs. I recommend you take your URL shortening one step further. Instead of just setting up tracking URLs for each social platform, set them up for each tweet/wall post/etc. By taking the time to set up multiple tracking URLs of the same URL you plan to share on social sites, you'll be able to figure out what verbiage leads to more click-throughs and conversions, what time of day you see the most click-throughs, and other valuable insight. Create a Filter/Segment for Social Traffic This is more of a time saver than anything. Within you analytics account, setup a profile that only displays traffic from social media websites. This will allow you to quickly analyze your social efforts without having to go through a bunch of segmenting just to get the information you are looking for. Setup Virtual Pages The idea with virtual pages is that you create a vanity URL that redirects to a tracking URL. The vanity URL provides a nice clean link for the social media user to click through to, and when we redirect them (using a 301 redirect), we can track the user as they jump from that social platform to the website. This is a very similar technique to what pay-per-click marketers use. When you redirect the user, the URL of the page they land on will include your tracking information which will allow you to analyze exactly how a user from a particular social network interacts with your site. If you use Google Analytics, you can use Google's URL Builder tool to create these tracking URLs. Event Tracking Over on the Google Analytics blog, they have a fantastic case study about how Lollapalooza measured their social media efforts. What really stood out to me was how well they setup tracking on "events." An event can be any interaction with your website. It could be something as simple as a download, or even when a person registers or logins to their account. Lollapalooza also setup event tracking on their social "share buttons" so they could figure out where their social traffic would choose to share their website or if they decided to initiate Facebook Connect. Conclusion There are a number of things you can do to setup your analytics to gain additional insight into your social efforts. The key is to be meticulous, ask questions and be creative in solving them. You can learn a lot from the way you promote your website and the way your users interact with your site if you pay close enough attention. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal. Creating a Social Media Analytics Action Plan – Part 2: Configuring Your Analytics    
Easy Step by Step Way to Use Youtube for Link BuildingNylon Magazine (and yes I know that I’m a bit too old to be reading it) has started to put a youtube link in every article in their print magazine. It’s a fantastic way to mix media and use offline methods to promote online marketing. Jamie Oliver sends out emails to his subscribers with video messages in them. This goes to (you guessed it) his youtube channel.The interesting thing about using youtube for link building is that you don’t have to think about how these links will improve your PageRank, or your Google ranking. Think about how it will build brand awareness, connect you with your community, and bring more relevant traffic to your site. If you get a boost in anything else, consider it the icing on the cake. Now, since the web abounds with information on how to use youtube, I won’t go into anything like that here. Instead, I just want to get you thinking about ways you can use this to your advantage. I’m also not talking about funneling link juice to any site, period. I’m talking about getting traffic. Here’s a quick and easy step by step way to use youtube for link building. VideosHopefully you won’t be posting videos if you have poor content. Videos should be well-produced and professional, unless your style and brand suggest otherwise. I’ve seen some really hip and edgy videos actually, and because of the hipness of the brand, they worked. Point to other web and video content in this video to keep users engaged.ChannelsA user can create a channel, or a brand can create a channel. Google has some helpful tips on creating a brand channel here. In this piece when I refer to a channel, I mean a “brand” channel. However, a user’s channel can also be a good way to build links and do some social media link building.If you have enough content, you can create your own channel and have subscribers who will be alerted to any new content that you post. By doing this, you’re staking your claim on your brandspace on one of the most popular social sites out there today. SubscribersJust as you may use a blogroll to find other good blogs to ask for a link, you can use youtube channel subscribers to do the same.CommentsVideo comments work just the same as blog comments, allowing you to locate more like-minded individuals. Be prepared to wade through loads of spammy comments in order to find some decent prospects, as nothing attracts idiotic comments like youtube.SharingYou can share youtube videos from the site. People are lazier than ever (myself included) and sharing something from the post, page, or video makes things much easier.Just as with any other method of link building, you get the good and the bad, of course. The GoodThis is a good way to connect with other like-minded users and see what THEY write about on their own sites.If someone searches for your brand or your name, your youtube channel could be listed in the SERPs. It’s another gateway into competitive analysis. The BadThis type of link building won’t work with every demographic or every niche. It may be a fantastic way to generate more traffic for a fashion site, but not a great way to get more traffic to your site about retirement benefits. Some target demographics just aren’t really using a lot of social media sites yet.Depending upon the style of video that you want to shoot, cost can be prohibitive. It’s easy enough to sit down in front of a webcam and record yourself talking about something, but producing a slick and professional video isn’t cheap. The thing is…youtube is very, very hot. It has been for ages and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. I cannot tell you the amount of time that I’ve wasted watching videos of a cat knocking something over, or rewatching clips from a music show that I went to, etc. Video is a seriously important medium right now, and it’s also a nice way to attract enough attention to get people to see your actual website. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal. Easy Step by Step Way to Use Youtube for Link Building     Wordpot: Another Keyword Suggestion Tool to Add to Your ArsenalMy rule of thumb as to keyword research tools is: the more the better. Various tools have different algorithms and metrics to compare and when united, you may end up with many more keyword ideas and much more inspiration than when using just one utility.This is why I never grow tired of finding and sharing new (alternative) keyword research tools, both widely popular and known to just a few. Among such new and less-known keyword suggestion utilities were free Wordstream tools and Actual Keywords – both reviewed by me last year. Today I am sharing another little keyword suggestion utility: WordPot The most widely advertised features of the tool were actually not the reason why I added it to my list of tools for brainstorming content ideas:
1. The comparison metricsWe’ve seen quite a few tools that use various metrics to let you compare the keywords and choose the ones for your needs: be it Adwords competition numbers, search volume or number of search results for the given terms used in the title of the page.WordPot has quite a unique comparison algorithm: “Exact daily” versus “Total daily” where:
You can use these numbers to see which words are more general terms than others. For example since golf has only 6938 exact searches but 696364 total searches then that makes golf a general term. So if you are trying to advertise for “used golf clubs”, you should stay away from the term “golf” in your campaign.What it basically means in my understanding is that if “total daily” is MUCH higher than “Exact” daily, the term has higher chances to occur in the word combination and you don’t want to use that standalone term. You’d better stick with some keyword combination. A good example for that is “diet for” term which according to the tool is searched 7 times a day but occurs in almost 3K search phrases daily:  2. The base word infoAnother handy option offered by the tool is the ability to see each word thesaurus info:
 3. The “Freemium”Unlike many other keyword research tools, this one offers quite an advanced free plan, so you may never need to pay and use the free plan (like myself). So just bookmark the tool and use it randomly when you are stuck and need some inspiration.Some useful info on the tool:
Wordpot: Another Keyword Suggestion Tool to Add to Your Arsenal     More Recent Articles |
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Chris Boggs Elected President of SEMPO
Enhance Google Adwords Tool with Keyword Tool Supercharger
Enhance Google Adwords Tool with Keyword Tool SuperchargerKeyword Tool Supercharger is a great tool developed by GeekLad. It means to provide more competition and keyword analysis data for a widely-used free keyword research tool – Google Adwords Tool.It can be installed as Google Chrome Extension or as a browser bookmarklet – KWT Supercharger (FireFox: just drag it to your browser bookmarks toolbar). Now give it a try!Run a keyword suggestions search at Google Adwords Tool and click the bookmarklet. The first thing you’ll notice is an extra options box added to the regular Adwords tool interface.The box contains the following options: 
Search within your keyword listOr, in other words, filter your keyword list by one (or more) term you want to see in the key phrase.For example, first run the keyword search for [diabetic] and then filter the list by two words [diet] and [diets]. You thus see a clean keyword list containing your core term [diabetic] and the extra word you are currently interested in [diet(s)]:  Get an idea of the “supply”While the “search volume” data gives you an idea of each key term “demand”, the tool offers a way to research the supply: by default, it uses Bing API to check how many search results each term will generate if you search Bing for the exact match. Bing data may seem not exactly reliable but it can be used to compare.The tool also breaks down monthly searches by average daily search, and then builds a supply/demand ratio based on the daily searches divided by the total number of results for the keyword: Daily search volume / total number of search results = supply/demand ratioThe additional keyword analysis data is provided in three new columns in the display:  
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal. Enhance Google Adwords Tool with Keyword Tool Supercharger      The Schism Of Contemporary Professional Relationship Expectations"Come Get Some!"… Duke Nukem So, there's the guy I sort of know and, well, you see… Let me start over. My wife is really good friends with a woman whose husband has a very similar position to mine. Oddly enough for reasons not pertinent to this post, I've only met the guy a couple times and each meeting was brief enough so that we really never had a chance to "talk shop". I never ascribed much to this fact until it was communicated to me that the fact our lack of communication (with our being in the same industry) suggests to him that I am remote, inaccessible & aloof. Huh? His comment hit me kinda funny because I pride myself on being extremely accessible to anyone who wishes to reach out to me, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Email. My universe of friends, companions & colleagues (with very few exceptions) is connected to me through one or more social media platforms. In 2010, I actually take it for granted that everyone I need to communicate with or care about is digitally connected with me some way. As a part of my normal work routine, I go out of my way to memorialize even the most marginal relationships that I make via at least one of these platforms because each contact I make matters to me and it's impossible to forecast which of them might prove beneficial or fruitful down the road. I strive to not have any relationships that are "like two ships passing in the night." Truthfully, I'm surprised that I've only once come across even a hint of his presence anywhere in my sphere of influence (and it was a very fleeting reference). Now, how one participates in the social media sphere is a personal decision and if he decided to play the game differently than I do, I can respect that. However, I would suggest that the inaccessible, aloof person is the one who not only withholds their presence from the greater community but won't even use those clearly labeled channels to reach out and acknowledge something / someone that he felt needed acknowledgement. I also found it strange that I was evaluated purely through a pre-social media prism when most in our industry would acknowledge that the totality of a person must include their social media profiles & interactions. In an old post, I argued that the schism between those who "take the social media trip" and those that don't is vast and will continue to grow bigger. However, I presupposed that most people not "taking the trip" had no connection to our industry. Many more people are now "fellow travelers" than were when I wrote this post and I now make the assumption that anyone who qualifies as a "colleague" (loosely defined) will be trippin' with the greater group. I really don't know how to respond to someone in our industry who isn't "with it". The benefits of participating are well-chronicled elsewhere…people always have a reason why not to do something and I suggest that whatever those reasons might be are ultimately misguided. If he ever surrenders, I'll welcome him to the island with open arms…and I'm reasonably sure he'd view me in a different light :.)  Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal. The Schism Of Contemporary Professional Relationship Expectations      Five Fatal Flaws in a Link RequestI'm probably not going to entertain many link requests. At all. Simply because doing what I do for a living I understand the value of a link and am highly selective about the ones I give out. So I guess that makes me a tough audience from the get-go. However, if I WAS going to consider throwing a link bone in someone's direction it would take a pretty damn good link request.Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of those. I do however see a LOT of bad ones. A recent post from SEM-Group, Link Building Pet Peeves That Drive me Bananas, hit on a lot of them between the article and the comments. And I couldn't resist the opportunity to push the point even further. So when it comes to link requests here are some of the giant mistakes people make, ranging from the obvious to the slightly more subtle, yet equally insidious, deal breakers. Poor Grammar A lot of times it's definitely a matter of ESL. Kaila Strong highlights this really well in her Pet Peeves post. She gives a great example of one these laughter inducing, barely intelligible link requests. Really people? Do yourselves a favor, get a native English speaker to write you a template, I'm sure there is somebody Stateside that would take Twenty bucks to write one up or even just conjugate the verbs in the one you wrote. It's even sadder that native English speakers are almost just as guilty. Sometimes it's a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of the English language. But more often it's just laziness, carelessness, hurriedness or a combination of all three. The best advice I can give? SLOW DOWN. Seriously. Pay attention to details. Unless you don't care if the only responses you ever get come from people with an equally tenuous grasp on the basic functions of grammar. Not visiting The Site and/or Saying "I like your site" You do NOT like my site. In fact, it is clear to me that you have never BEEN to my site. Unless you are going to take the time to actually comment on some aspect of the site that you did indeed find intriguing, useful or relevant, don't bother to say you did. Generic, baseless flattery does not get links. Content of real value gets links. It's not even just the empty compliments that are the flaw… the REAL error is that you didn't actually visit the site! For example, anyone who owns or works for an SEO company has undoubtedly gotten an email from someone who is very "Generously" offering to help them with their SEO. This kind of email gives me 2 very important pieces of information, A. You have no idea what my business does. And B. You really don't belong in this industry and I wouldn't trust you to SEO my cat. The bottom line is, go to the site before you send the email. Period. Contacting un-related sites without providing a reasonable connection. Ok, I'm not a relevance prude. I understand that it is possible to create really good tangentially relevant content. But when you're asking me to link to the home page of a Sparkplugs site from my Gomer Pyle Fan site, unless there's something about Jim Nabors that I didn't know, I'm not seeing the connection. Of course if you've created a list of TV's most lovable Auto Mechanics…now you've got my attention. See the difference? Ideally there should be an EVIDENT, logical reason why you're contacting me about this link. Don't make me think about it; don't make me Wiki-search a possible connection between our sites. If you haven't done YOUR homework before shooting me an email, don't expect me to do it for you. If there is no logical connection between our sites and I got this mass email because your scraper found a viable email address on my site… yeah good luck with your link building. I mean, hey you know what they say about blind squirrels and nuts… they get shot by spam guards right? I think it's something like that. Overly formal greeting which is the opening for a Novel I don't care about you. I'm not insensitive, or cold… I'm just busy. I really don't have the time or the inclination to read a Brief 2000-Word History of Your Site before you decide to get to the point, which is oh yeah; you want a link from me. So you want more of my time? Super. You also opened with Dir Sir or Madam, To Whom It May Concern or Kind Sir. I am not a lawyer nor or a human resources office, and you are not Charles Dickens therefore the overly formal greetings are just off-putting from the very beginning. Try a more casual tone, hell try being a real human. Of course you can't do that if you're a spam-bot but, then again therein lies the problem. A good link request is friendly and short. Get right to the point. If I'm interested, trust me, I'll find out more about your site. Don't feel the need to explain it all up front, you're not making your case, you're losing my interest. It's ok to let me know right away this is a link request, but if you plan to do so using the subject line, be very careful with the words you choose… Using the words "link exchange" in the subject I'm not going to shoot down the link exchange process entirely. I believe there are actually circumstances under which a link exchange makes sense. The best ones are when it's accidental. Because Accidental link exchanges = natural and value based. No, I'm talking about unnatural link exchanges. The hair dressers linking to box cutters link exchanges. The Pet Peeves article commenters actually make some awesome points about some of the more pathetic link exchange offers out there. Like offers for links on un-cached resources pages or worthless third party sites… yeah SUPER enticing. And honestly, if you are still using reciprocal links as your link building strategy… I don't even want to link to a site that's linking to you're site's third cousin. To be fair the fatal flaw isn't even in the email for most people. How do I know it's not in the email? Because I never read the email! In fact, I never even opened it because someone thought it would be a good idea to put the words "link exchange" right in the subject line. Now I'm all in favor of being upfront about your intentions, but you have to be practical too. In fact a number of militant spam filters are trained to take out any email where the word "link" appears in the subject line. Don't take the risk. Hey, here's an idea why not make your subject something personal, "Hi, John, I loved your article on Tree Climbing Day…" And no, that's not a violation of the "I like your site" rule. Because I did read John's article on tree climbing and I DO think adults should climb a tree once a year… There are tons of other ways a link request can be doomed from the word "Send" but these are some of the biggest and most common reasons I hit delete. Most people aren't entirely opposed to giving links where there is merit; it's all about the approach and the content. If you haven't mastered either of those, then keep beating your head against the wall; let me know how it works out for you. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal. Five Fatal Flaws in a Link Request      More Recent Articles |
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