SEO & State of SMS

April 2011

Pete Scott, IZEA@prscott

SEO

SEO is like...

Seriously?

Take a minute...

What are the traits of a great chef/restauranteur?

Generally➡Skilled

➡Passionate

➡Leader

➡Understands Ingredients

➡And how they come together

➡Puts out great food that people love

But also➡Usually didn’t come easily

➡Studied and trained

➡Built a reputation over years, not days

Make Sense? “Put simply: If your food isn’t good enough to attract people into the restaurant, it does not

matter how “good” the ingredients are”

SEO Today “Put simply: If your content isn’t good enough to attract good, natural links, it does not matter

how “optimized” that content is”

Brian Clark - copyblogger

So let’s start...

It starts with...➡What’s your passion?

‣ Could you love doing this (even if you weren’t paid)?

➡Who are your customers?‣ Are there enough people that want your food?

➡What are the ingredients? ‣ What will make you unique and interesting?

➡What is on the menu? ‣ What will make people come back for more and tell their friends?

It starts with...➡What’s the concept?

‣ What’s the name, the interior design, etc.?

➡How about equipment?‣ What’s in the kitchen?

➡What about marketing? ‣ How will people find you?

➡What about service? ‣ How will you take care of your guests?

Now let’s apply...

SEO

It starts with...➡What’s your passion

‣ Could you love doing this (even if you aren’t making money)?

➡Who are your readers?‣ Enough people, but not too competitive

➡What are the keywords that you’ll use? ‣ How will your content be unique and compelling?

➡What’s on the content calendar? ‣ How often will you update the content so people keep coming back for more and tell their friends?

It starts with...➡What’s the look of your site?

‣ What’s the design, logo, fonts, colors, etc.

➡How about equipment?‣ What template and CMS/platform are you using?

➡What about marketing? ‣ Will you proactively venture out, comment on other blogs, do guest posts, use pr, social media etc.?

➡What about service? ‣ Will you respond to comments, thank people, and not be annoying?

The Food Critic➡A food critic can make or break your

success in a restaurant.

➡This person will judge the total experience, food atmosphere, service, etc.

➡She will then tell their listeners exactly how you stack up.

The Food Critic➡Google is your ultimate food critic.

➡It judges your site

➡It judges your content

➡It judges your inbound links

➡And then publicly ranks you.

The Food Critic➡A word on inbound links

‣ The trust and authority of the other sites (24%)‣ The number of links to a specific page (22%)‣ The text used int he link to your site (20%)

2/3 of your SEO success is the inbound links to

your site

Your Brand...

Consider SEO Success to be a third party judge of your

site’s brand...

Your Brand...

What people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself

Playing Games

Serving great food is not trying to trick people into thinking your

frozen dinner is really...

locally grown, organic, and fresh

Playing Games...

“SEO is not about trying to trick search engines, is simply means building a site that is

friendly to them”- Danny Sullivan

Playing Games...

“The last time I checked, it’s people who use search

engines, not some other life form. So you are always

writing for people.”- Brian Clark

However...

As smart as search engines are, they are still like children

What’s this...

5 Recipes➡Research

➡What’s Your Concept

➡Link Building

➡Copywriting

➡Recipes, really.

Research ➡Research is finding out what they are

hungry for.

➡It’s not what they say they like, it’s what they ate...

➡Oyster Sauce - that’s what they want!‣ All 49,500 of them according to the Google Keyword Tool

‣ SEOBook Keyword Suggestion Tool

➡Not just Pepper...‣ It’s a Roasted Habanero Pepper

Research ➡It’s all Relative

‣ Balance between competition and adequate numbers

➡OK, It’s all about Relevancy‣ Oyster Sauce is gold, but you hate it! ‣ What now?

➡Does it go on the menu anyway? ‣ People want it and nobody else makes it‣ If you can make it better than anyone and people will talk about it...

‣ Do you find a place on the menu for it?

The Critic Returns

and asks... What’s your concept?

So, what is it?➡Buzzwords

‣ The critic will want to hear the right buzzwords‣ Google will want the right keywords

➡Signage ‣ The critic will drive by if you don’t have the right signage

‣ Google still looks for Title Tags and headlines ‣ Both want you to answer the question they are asking

Post Title | Blog Title

So, what is it?➡The Entrance

‣ When the critic enters the restaurant, it better be visually pleasing, inviting, and easy

‣ Same thing online, make it easy to share and quick to show the value

➡The Product ‣ Your food better rock or the critic will ignore you‣ Your content better be “linkable” or Google will ignore you.

➡I <3 This - What Else Do You Have‣ Related links to other menu items (pages) help guide search engines and people

Link Building➡Social Media

‣ Social Networking Food Sites

➡ Guest Posts

➡Social Networking ‣ It’s not about numbers, it’s about engagement‣ Your Updates and Posts should be valuable

➡Show the Love ‣ Strategically link to great content‣ Look for relativity and relevancy ‣ Seriously write. Seriously.

PR➡Getting a great write up in the paper can

really boost the success of a restaurant.

➡A local or national TV appearance can have people lining up outside.

➡The same thing can happen for your site.

Pitching ➡You have to be interesting

➡You need to be specific

➡It’s not about you, it’s about the unique value you bring to your readers

➡Be exclusive

➡Be brief

➡Email is best

Copywriting➡Title

‣ Look at magazines ‣ Keywords near the front

➡Who or What?‣ CMS should serve an alternative title (One for the post and one for the search engine)

➡Meta Description ‣ Why not! ‣ 165 words or less‣ Use keywords and satisfy the reader

Copywriting➡Keep the Menu Consistent

‣ Your restaurant is not a restaurant, department store, day spa, and dry cleaners.

‣ 300 words or greater

➡Stuffing is for Turkey ‣ More than 5.5% ratio of a keyword to total words and you are stuffing your post.

➡With this recipe, try this side item‣ Link out evenly in copy (+/- 120 words)‣ Interior pages of your or other sites ‣ Remember the value of the text (20%)

Recipe View

Recipe View

Recipe View

Recipe View

Recipe View

Microformats

A simple data format that can be embedded in a webpage

Recipes➡Google’s Recipe View

‣ If you don't use microformats for your recipes your blog currently won't show up in Recipe View searches.

➡RecipeSEO Plugin gives you the power to take of microformats, without having to deal the code.

RecipeSEOhttp://sushiday.com/recipe-seo-plugin/

http://recipeseo.com/

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/slice-and-dice-your-recipe-search.html

Recap ➡Think Like a Chef

➡America’s Next Great Restaurant

➡Do Your Research

➡Understand the Food Critic (links)

➡Don’t Play Games

➡Know Your Recipes

➡Know Your Recipe Formats

State of SMSSocial Media Sponsorships

What is SMS?

Social Media Sponsorship or “SMS” is the practice of providing compensation to a social media publisher in exchange for mention, promotion or review through that publisher’s social media channels.

Compensation can be in the form of cash, free product or service, experiences, discounts, coupons or other special incentives.

Blog Posts

Where does it fit?

A Few Brands➡Chevy

➡Unilever

➡Sears

➡Nestle

➡Kraft

➡Frito Lay

➡Con Agra

➡Ford

➡Microsoft

➡Schwann’s

➡Swiss Army

➡Aladin

➡Express

➡Quiznos

➡Ford

➡Hershey

➡Alberto Culver

➡Fiskars

➡HP

➡Jones Soda

➡GoDaddy

Brands Brands are looking for bloggers who: - Are passionate

- Write quality content - Have engaged audiences - Can be an effective ambassador - Have good traffic

- Have a quality, attractive site

SEO & SEM By using SEO to optimize your site and

by engaging with your audience throughout your social media

channels, you can align with brands you are proud to represent and

increase the value of your relationship.

Thanks. Pete Scott @prscott

www.izea.com