Online Marketing Blog

Can’t make it to Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose 2009, yet want to stay on top of the largest and longest running conference dedicated to Search Marketing?  Never fear, Online Marketing Blog readers won’t miss a thing.  Jolina Pettice and Adam Singer from TopRank Online Marketing will be putting the pieces together for you throughout the event through liveblogging, photos and videos.

The skill set necessary to be an effective SEM/SEO is analogous to having all the pieces of a puzzle.  Learning search engine marketing can seem complex when you’re starting, but getting each new bit of knowledge brings you that much closer to having all the pieces in place, providing greater clarity as you go.  Sessions, workshops, networking, exhibitors and sponsors at SES San Jose 2009 can each provide a different portion of that puzzle.  Jolina and Adam will bring you the essential information from several must-see panels including:

In the course of providing consulting services and conducting training programs for companies on social media marketing & PR or a combination of SEO and social media, there are some common questions that have come up. I thought it might be useful for readers if I documented a few of them here along with answers.

“If we open up to comments, won’t people criticize us?”

This is one of the most common questions I hear. Companies have traditionally feared negative content posted online because bad news travels fast and most businesses aren’t entirely sure of how to deal with online criticism.

Even more of a concern is the fear that after creating social content for the purpose of building goodwill, positive buzz and influencing sales, an angry troll decides to use that platform for their sinister purposes.

Remember the Grinch? “Noise, noise, noise!”  Many marketers feel the same way about the plethora of search marketing blogs. We’ve been managing a list of over 500 search marketing blogs (BIGLIST) for the past 3+ years and know a little something about the category. SEO blog reviews are helpful, but some people want a qualifyer when deciding what’s noise and what’s worth checking out. That’s why we’ve assembled a top SEM blogs list ranked by RSS Subscribers. The first list is here.

Below is an updated list of 26 top Search Marketing Blogs with Google Webmaster Central dominating followed by upward movement by SEOMoz and Search Engine Land.  Online Marketing Blog, Marketing Pilgrim and Graywolf’s Blog have seen big increases as well. We’ve also added several blogs that made the 2,000 subscribers cutoff. Enjoy:

There are thousands of blog posts that get published every day and your posts are competing with them. Not only is good content needed, but so is a good image. Imagery can draw users attention to the content and give your post an additional boost.

Screenshots, logos, people, and product images are all good easy ways to incorporate imagery into a blog post. Almost anything is better than a big block of text.

When considering what type of image to add, think of what’s visually appealing. It may not always be a product shot, or a picture of a smiling person, quite possibly an image of the sky or an animal can convey the feeling you are trying to get across in your post much easier.

Guidelines for marketing with social media aren’t all that new. In 2006 five members of the digital marketing community collaborated on 16 rules for “social media optimization”. Fast forward to nearly 2010 and social media has begun to take a more significant role in the marketing mix.

The original “rules” were posted by:

• Rohit Bhargava (1-5)
• Jeremiah Owyang (6 & 7)
• Cameron Olthuis (8-11)
• Loren Baker (12 & 13)
• Lee Odden (14-16).

Let’s revisit these 16 rules for social media optimization (SMO) and see which are still relevant.

1. Increase Your Linkability

Social Media Smarts: Interview with Lee Aase, Social Media Manager at Mayo Clinic

By day, Lee Aase is manager of syndication and social media for Mayo Clinic and by night, he is chancellor of Social Media University, Global (SMUG). I first met Lee at a media relations conference in San Francisco a few years ago. He was kind enough to sit in on a presentation I gave to the public relations community on search engine optimization for news content. It was a pleasure to meet another Minnesotan at an industry conference and Lee’s savvy with social media was immediately apparent.

In the Q and A post below, Lee Aase provides insights into social media within the Mayo clinic, offers advice for other companies on his “MacGyver-style” testing , developing a strategy, winning management approval, measuring social media ROI and his work with SMUG.