21 Social Media Marketing Trends for 2012

Curious to find out what 2012 could have in store for online marketers?  This presentation from DreamGrow shares 21 predictions on what 2012 could look like.

Highlights include:

• Social CRM making inroads
• Social media influencing more sales
• Social commerce on mobile devices

Facebook IPO and Most Popular Social Sites:

Social Media: Disasters

“Ocean Marketing vs. Penny Arcade: Paul Christoforo PR Disaster Goes Viral” Documented via email and enacted on numerous YouTube videos, this might be one of the most reprehensible exchanges in the history of customer service. A PR/Marketing contractor representing N-Control, a maker of modified game controllers for hardcore gamers and disabled people has been accused of insulting a customer, plagiarism, extorting a past client and shady SEO practices. Could it get any worse? Yeah. Domestic abuse.  Via International Business Times.

“Social media, rumors might have fed melee at MOA”  On Sunday December 25th it was rumored that rappers Lil Wayne and Drake were going to be making an appearance at Mall of America in Bloomington, MN.  In the afternoon mayhem broke out involving more than 200 young people, one of the most serious disturbances at the mall in over 15 years with 10 people arrested.  Via StarTribune.

“Top 5 Most Common Networking Mistakes”  Good networking is an art and a science.  While some people may not have an innate networking skill this article points out basic mistakes and how to avoid them.  Via Inc.

Network Growth: Exceeding Expectations

“Pinterest: Crazy Growth Lands it as Top 10 Social Site”  Pintrest has grown 4,000% over the past 6 months marking it as the number 10 social media site.  While most traffic comes from California and Texas, Pinterest also receives unusually high traffic from states like Utah, Alabama, and Tennessee.  Via cNet.

“Instagram Becomes the Largest Mobile Social Network” In the past two months Instagram has added over 2 million new users.  While currently only available on iPhone, Instagram is poised to outpace Foursquare, the largest mobile focused social network available today.  Via Social Fresh.

“Google+ may reach 400 million users by end of 2012”  Google+ is on average adding 625,000 new users per day.  While the numbers are reflecting total users not active users, there is no denying that Google+ is growing.  Via LA Times Blog.

Cashing in on Christmas:

“Final Christmas Push Propels U.S. Online Holiday Spending to $35.3 Billion, Up 15 Percent Versus Last Year”  Spending reflected in this report takes into account the first 56 days of the November – December holiday season.  It is said with certainty that Cyber Monday 2011 ranked as the heaviest spending day of the season for the second year in a row.  Via ComScore.

Battles In the Court & On the Screen

“A Dispute Over Who Owns a Twitter Account Goes to Court” How much is a Twitter follower worth?  In a world where social media influence can mean the difference between a new customer and a fruitless cold call, one company thinks it’s worth a lot.  The question remains, can a company claim ownership of an employee’s social media account, and what does that mean for employee’s posting during work hours?  Via NY Times.

“YouTube Slam Begins Video Clip Battles for Users’ Votes”  Each week YouTube will put user submitted videos head-to-head to battle it out on screen.  Users will be asked to submit a vote for their favorite video.  This contest is designed to keep visitors on YouTube for longer periods of time and deepen their connection to the site.  Via BBC.

Online Marketing News You Can Use = TopRank Team Edition

Ken Horst – “Google Will Change Web Marketing in 2012”
Google has designed a new method for websites to structure data so that its crawler can pull better information. These plans revolve around metadata that will allow Google to access more rich data about a topic.  This may be a wakeup call for marketers and web masters to start looking at the new data and plan for the deployment of the new code in order to improve or maintain rankings.  Via Harvard Business Review.

Emily Conley – “The 22 Best Infographics We Found in 2011”
This is a compilation of some of the best infographics released in the past year.  I thought this was a pretty cool trend feature to reflect on the past year and gear up for 2012!  Via Co.Design.

Alexis Hall – “77 of Top 100 Brands Now Have Google+ Pages”
This article from Marketing Land discusses the fast adoption of Google+ by businesses, since its launch on November 7th.  According to BrightEdge’s December SocialShare report, 77 of the top 100 brands now have Google+ pages. This adoption rate will likely continue to increase in 2012 as big and small businesses begin to leverage Google+.  Via Marketing Land.

Ken Horst – “Will Clever Sense Help Google Become The Perfect Search Engine?”
Google is beefing up its voice search capabilities with the recent purchase of Clever Sense.  Similar to Siri for Apple, Google’s new voice search app will remember things it learns about the user so that future search results are even more targeted.  As more people use voice search on their mobile devices, online marketers will need to learn what it takes, other than location, to acquire a high ranking in the SERP.  Via Search Insider.

Happy Birthday TopRank Online Marketing Blog!

We’ve celebrated our 8th year of blogging this week. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, shared, linked, commented and reached out over the  years. It’s an honor to be a part of such an amazing community and in this world of information overload, we appreciate your attention a great deal.  Thank you!

Have A Safe Holiday Weekend!

From the entire team at TopRank Online Marketing

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. | A to Z Internet Marketing News: Happy Birthday TopRankBlog!, 2012 Marketing Predictions, Social Disasters, Cashing in on XMAS | http://www.toprankblog.com

Uptime for Online Marketing Blog has been amazing since we moved to VISI and customer service has been exceptional. With web site hosting, the ideal situation is to forget about them, to not even know they are there because things are working so smoothly.

But when situations arise, and a site goes down, you remember pretty quickly who your hosting company is. VISI was good about working with us when we had a major problem earlier this year and get the right equipment to meet our needs. As our traffic has increased, there hasn’t been a blip of downtime.

Our relationship with VISI has gone well enough that when they launched a tier one cloud computing/cloud hosting service called ReliaCloud, they came to TopRank for Social SEO consulting services.

I’d like to thank Gary Elfert and the team at VISI for being “invisible” 99.99% of the time and being on the spot when we needed them.  If your company is in need of high availability website hosting, check out VISI.com.   If cloud computing or hosting is your thing, then check out their cloud hosting services.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. | Thank You To Our Web Hosting Sponsor VISI | http://www.toprankblog.com

In the upper left corner of this post there are 5 different headers to check out, each with it’s own name. Click on each one and the header will change – see what you think.

Once you decide which one you like best, please vote below!

We’ll let voting run until Friday this week and then we’ll update the blog design with the most popular header. All thanks to you

Thanks!

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. | Blog Fun: Vote Your Favorite Header for Online Marketing Blog | http://www.toprankblog.com

After a much deserved blogging vacation last week, I thought I’d start this final week of 2009 with wishes of appreciation for the readers of TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog and the fantastic team of writers we have. It was 6 years ago today, that TopRank started an agency blog as a way to publicly save and comment on industry news.

We’ve been through and observed many, many changes in the internet marketing industry over the past 6 years. Of course, Online Marketing Blog isn’t the only internet and SEO focused blog celebrating a 6 year birthday this year. There are several others listed here including a few that are still very active: Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal and SEO Book.

The most popular content in 2009 (by page views and unique visitors) continued to be resources such as the BIGLIST of Search Marketing Blogs (watch for a HUGE upgrade in 2010) as well as the managed list of Blog and RSS Directories, the RSS Button and Social Bookmarking tools created by Thomas McMahon, tips articles “25 Must Read Social Media Marketing Tips” and “25 Tips For Marketing Your Blog“.

One of the biggest changes for Online Marketing Blog in 2009 has been the addition of new contributors. Posts by new team members have earned hundreds of ReTweets on average as well as numerous comments, links and off site citations by influential industry blogs and online publications.

Many companies have shifted attention towards other social media channels and some have postulated the death of blogging due to the increasing popularity of Twitter and Facebook. The reality is, blogs are a tool like any other digital asset and will remain as effective as ever according to their usefulness and ability to meet the needs of customers.

As the owner and editor, I admit a great degree of bias, but I’d wager that TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog is one of the most successful agency blogs published.  According to MajesticSEO we’ve attracted over 1,000,000 links from other web sites.  We’re mentioned on top industry web sites and major news web sites on a regular basis.

From a PR perspective, Online Marketing Blog generates 20+ unsolicited citations each month from influential industry blogs and publications. We’ve estimated those placements and industry coverage to be equal to about a $10,000 per month PR agency retainer. Plus, there’s no additional content creation or interviews necessary outside of what we’re already doing.  OMB also generates daily or weekly advertising requests, new consulting project requests, candidate inquiries and speaking opportunities.

The great work by TopRank’s blogging team has been recognized through inclusion in numerous “top” lists including:

• #1 Content Marketing Blog Junta42
• Top 10 marketing blog by Advertising Age
• #1 Small Business Blog by Technorati

An effective agency blog does not work in a vacuum though. By serving as a destination for our participation in other social channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Forums and other niche social sites, this blog provides a useful resource for the TopRank community of readers, fans, prospects and clients.

I sincerely appreciate the comments that our readers leave, the links that other blogs post to our articles and the opportunity to be a media sponsor for major Search Marketing Conferences like Search Engine Strategies and WebmasterWorld Pubcon. The pre-show posts, interviews and promotions as well as the live blogging during those conferences has produced a tremendous amount of mutually beneficial content and exposure.

Our liveblogging efforts wouldn’t be as successful without TopRank team members like Jolina Pettice attending conferences and writing, taking photos and networking with other attendees.  Even though we’re not a news blog, there have been over 2,500 posts published.

The blog itself wouldn’t run as smoothly without the efforts of Thomas McMahon, who keeps the front end and the back end of Online Marketing Blog running smoothly.  Our dedicated server hosting is provided by VISI, a first rate internet services and web hosting company based in Minneapolis. We’ve had flawless hosting service from them for over 3 years and highly recommend them for high demand and availability blogs and web sites.

Online Marketing Blog in 2010:

For the upcoming year we have a number of improvements planned to make Online Marketing Blog even more useful for readers and our partners. Some we cannot discuss just yet, but a few upcoming changes include:

• All new BIGLIST – We’ve been developing a categorized, ranked list of the BIGLIST that will also offer additional information on each blog as well as regular content updates, sorting features and several new aggregation options.
• More active participation off the blog – We’ve recently added a Online Marketing Blog Facebook Fan page that was originally started in 2007 but will now provide Online Marketing Blog readers a venue for continuing conversations from the blog as well as an opportunity for updates. The TopRank Twitter account has over 3,000 followers and will continue to aggregate TopRank’s content publishing and bookmarking of useful resources on the web. LinkedIn is another area we’ll grow along with niche forum and social network participation.
• All new Online Marketing Blog design – We’ve been closely monitoring what our readers like on AND off the blog and will be updating both design and front end functionality to make it easier to find and interact with the content that interests you most.
• Limited Advertising Opportunities - In 2010 TopRank will be offering selective advertising and co-promotion opportunities that will be content based both on the site and in the RSS feed.  In the 6 years we’ve been blogging, TopRank has never taken on advertisers and the only ad displays we’ve ever had have been for media partners or for speaking events.  As one of the most popular marketing blogs on the internet, TopRankBlog provides a very high standard for quality exposure to an audience of client side and agency internet marketers. More details to come with the launch of the new design.

We have an editorial calendar of topics and content objectives as part of our own content strategy and would also like to know what enhancements our readers would like to see? What kinds of posts do you find most useful? Liveblogging, articles, interviews, tips, how to’s? What topics are of most interest? SEO, Social Media, Online PR, PPC, Email, Mobile, Local, Industry Specific?

Thank you again to our readers and to the TopRank blogging team for rounding out a fantastic year!

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Happy Holidays & Happy 6th Birthday TopRankBlog | http://www.toprankblog.com

We have a winner – Congrats goes to Dana Larson:

Winner! Dana as Minnesota Strawberry Shortcake

Safari Thomas

Bad Angel Julie

Michelle the Football Star

Monkey Audrey and Veterinary Nurse Amie

Mike as Zombie Soupy Sales

Sue After Being Attacked by Scooby Doo

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | TopRank’s SEO Halloween Costume Contest | http://www.toprankblog.com

There are many ways for company marketers to advance their knowledge in the digital marketing and PR space. A big part of TopRank’s consulting services are to provide clients with education so they can better implement recommendations and promote the advantages of SEO, Social Media and Optimized PR in house. We’re also active participants towards industry education on these topics through speaking at conferences.

September is the calm before the storm of speaking events for TopRank but October and November are packed with opportunities to learn strategy, hear case studies and understand specific tactics for implementation on the topics of Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing and Online Public Relations. Here are our upcoming events. We hope to see you there:

Oct 5, 2009 – MIMA Summit, Hilton Minneapolis

The Intersection of SEO and Social Media
Successful social media efforts build community, better connect brands with customers and can influence both media coverage and increased sales. Yet implementing a social media marketing program without optimizing content for search is literally “leaving money on the table.” Useful social content (blog, video, images, audio and applications) that cannot be discovered via search is a lost opportunity to reach audiences that are looking. Why do so many companies fail to leverage their participation on the social web for SEO? This session will provide specific “Do’s and Don’ts” of social media optimization and provide attendees practical examples of how companies can leverage SEO and social media content to improve their search marketing performance. This is a solo presentation by Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing.

Oct 19, 2009 – DMA09 Conference, San Diego Convention Center

Search Engine Marketing Experience
If you’re an in-house marketer that’s frustrated with your current SEO campaign (or new to SEO and need some basic tips), this is the session for you! Thought leaders are on hand to teach you everything you need to succeed with your SEO campaign—from SEO 101 to advanced technical and conversion tips. Two sessions (morning & afternoon) will be led by SEO Copywriting and Content Strategy expert, Heather Lloyd Martin. TopRank CEO Lee Odden will participate in the morning site review session.

Oct 22, 2009 – Digital PR Next Practices Summit, Grand Hyatt New York

Search Engine Marketing, Optimization and How to Write for the Web
Every element of digital communications has its own degree of importance, but there is one thing that consistently ties it all together: Search. In this vein, knowing how to optimize Web content for search is as crucial as knowing how to write Web content that supports your messaging, heightens engagement and meets bottom-line goals. This panel will untangle the Web of confusion surrounding how search engine optimization and marketing actually work; it will also provide you with the tools that will make media professionals and journalists more apt to engage with your brands online. Speakers include Daina Middleton and Lee Odden.

Oct 29, 2009 – MN PRSA Conference, Minneapolis Metropolitan Ballroom, Golden Valley

Breakout sessions on Social Media:
1) Panel discussion on social media – Rick Mahn, Lee Odden, Albert Maruggi & Greg Swan

2) Taking iMarketing to the next level with the intersection of SEO & Social Media for PR– Lee Odden

Nov 7, 2009 – PRSA 2009 International Conference, San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina
Looking Ahead: The Nexus of Social Media and Public Relations
Where do news releases, media training, message development and the tenets of crisis management fit into the new world communications order? A panel of thought-leading professionals shares examples of successful social edia/public relations programs across a range of industries. Learn how to jump-start promising new media tools and channels in your organization and incorporate them with many of the core public relations skills you’ve honed over the years. This panel is moderated by PR industry veteran, Peter Himler this panel includes: Rick Clancy, David Bradfield, Rob Key and Lee Odden.

Help Google Find Your Releases: Top 10 Search Engine Optimization Tactics for Public Relations Professionals
Nine out of 10 journalists, reporters and editors use search engines to do their jobs, according to a recent survey by TopRank Online Marketing. In this environment, public relations professionals must understand the ins and outs of search engine optimization (SEO). Find out how to choose the best key words, optimize your newsroom and press releases, build better links and sell SEO to decision makers. Plus, attendees will learn the No. 1 SEO tactic to implement today. This is a 75 minute workshop by Lee Odden.

Nov 10, 2009 – WebmasterWorld Pubcon, Las Vegas Convention Center
How do Social Media & Search Intersect? –  Does social media prevent the need for search? Does social media play an important role in search? This session will discuss both worlds with moderators Vanessa Fox & Brian Carter plus speakers: Tony Adam, David Wallace, Bill Hartzer and Lee Odden

How SMBs Can Use PR Campaigns to Grow Traffic - Online PR has become a profound contributor to search engine optimization as well as proving to be its own qualified driving channel. This presentation will show how small businesses can take advantage of online PR to increase traffic links, and how to overall do good business. Moderators Alex Bennert & Taylor Pratt plus speakers: Jiyan Wei, Lee Odden & Sean Jackson

Search Bloggers : What’s Hot and Trending? – This session is a round-table discussion featuring the prime bloggers and reporters of search examining the state of the industry moderated by Greg Hartnett and with panelists: Michael McDonald, Barry Schwartz, Lee Odden & Loren Baker.

Be sure to watch specific announcements and details plus discounts and giveaways for many of these events at TopRank’s Digital Marketing News Blog.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Learn SEO, Social Media & Digital PR from TopRank | http://www.toprankblog.com

TopRank has continuously evolved over the past 8+ years to become a well known and authoritative brand in the Search, Social and Online Public Relations space.  Our clients include an engaging mix of companies ranging from start-ups like Marketo, a marketing automation software company, to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), to the Fortune 20 such as McKesson, a $100 billion healthcare services company.

As one of the leading internet marketing agencies in the Midwest, TopRank Online Marketing has a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Search Marketing Account Manager to join our team of dedicated, client-focused internet marketing professionals.  While plenty of advertising, public relations and interactive agencies are downsizing, TopRank is growing smarter with new team members. Could you be our next Superstar?

Don’t just take my word on it, read what Adam Singer, our newest Account Manager at TopRank has to say:

“Working with TopRank is challenging, exciting and inspirational from my perspective as someone new to the team, but not new to the Internet marketing industry.  If you enjoy a fast-paced environment working with a knowledgeable team and have the drive to succeed, TopRank is second-to-none.”

The ideal person for this career is passionate about internet marketing, ongoing learning and making a difference for clients.  Leadership, marketing creativity and problem solving skills combine to provide both strategic direction and the development of tactical marketing plans for clients and the TopRank teams that support them.  Success in this position means being comfortable providing guidance and consulting to the companies we serve as well as TopRank team members. Excellent communications skills and the ability to effectively work with multiple clients are essential.

Skills We’re Looking for

Prior experience with:

• Client/Account management with internet marketing programs
• Digital marketing project management
• Developing client internet marketing strategy
• Search engine optimization
• Pay per click
• Social media marketing
• Directing team execution of tactics

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Careers at TopRank: SEM Account Manager | http://www.toprankblog.com

Topics during these events will emphasize the practice areas of our agency: Search Marketing, Online Public Relations and Social Media Marketing. Locations will range from New York to San Francisco to Minneapolis.

May 19: Media Relations Summit, Crowne Plaze Hotel in NYC (event info)

4:30 pm: Mastering SEO, Google AdWords and Other Search Tools to Increase Visibility
If you’re ready to vault your website, landing pages, corporate videos, blogs, press releases, and online newsroom into the top of the search rankings, take in this one-hour bootcamp. You’ll learn all the latest tools, tips and tricks for making Google and Yahoo love you.

Panelists:  Howie Jacobson, Consultant/Author, “Google Ad Words for Dummies”, Bill Barnes, EVP, Business Development, Enquiro and Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing 

Tweetup Monday 5/18

May 28-9:  Private Company Training Engagement, San Francisco (Contact TopRank for our on-site training services)

• Social Media Monitoring and Brand Positioning
  
• Search Engine Optimization Skills for Corporate Marketing & Public Relations
  
• Social Media Roadmap: Strategies and Tactics for Large Organizations

Presenters: Susan Misukanis, President, Jolina Pettice, Senior Account Manger, Lee Odden, CEO (All from TopRank Online Marketing)

Tweetup Friday 5/29, location TBD 

June 2: ClickZ Online Marketing Summit, The Depot in Minneapolis (event info)

3:30 pm: Twitter and Advanced Blog Strategies
The Social Media Road Map:  Many companies are jumping off the cliff of Social Media, while others fear directly engaging customers.  Learn how to strategically align your marketing objectives with long-term social media strategies that work.

4:40 pm: Big Brands, Big Plans Panel
This is the highlight of the day… join a  round-table panel comprised of  the world’s leading brands and practitioners and get the inside scoop on how leading brands are driving success through social media, SEO, websites, and testing, and how you can apply these principles to your own initiatives. 

Panelists: Jeanniey Mullen, CMO Zinio, Founder of Email Experience Council, Kevin G. Espinosa, eBusiness Platform Manager, Caterpillar Inc., Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, Keith Dieruf, Manager, Online Marketing, Ameriprise Financial, Matt McGowan, Vice President of Marketing and Publisher, ClickZ

Tweetup – meetup 6/2

June 4-5:  Social Media Smarts, DMA Seminar Facility, NYC (event inf0)

9:00am – 5:00pm Introduction to the Intersection of SEO and the Social Web Through Strategy, Tools and Tactics
Intensive, 2 day workshop will help companies better understand the social web and how social media and SEO can help increase brand awareness, improve customer relationships and compliment both PR and marketing efforts at growing business.

Tweetup June 4, location TBD

June 10: PRNews Webinar (event info)

1:30pm (EST):  Boosting Your Bottom Line with Online News & Other Cost-Effective PR Tactics 

From savvy email marketing campaigns to press releases that attract media attention, there are simple, cost-effective strategies that will help you increase revenue. This webinar promises insight from a mix of expert practitioners in a wide range of areas including: 

• How to generate buzz and word of mouth around your small business
• Integrating PR efforts with marketing and advertising to increase sales
• Driving traffic to your website through search engines
• Building a strong community around your brand
• PR’s role in uncovering customers’ needs for new products/services
• Getting buzz and coverage among bloggers and citizen journalists
• Best/worst tactics for holding media or customer events for your business
• How to effectively leverage Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook & MySpace
• Blogs and Video sites: what you need to know
• Pitch your stories to bloggers and to the Twitter community
• Writing social media press releases that work
• Conducting keyword research and finding the keyword sweet spot
• Optimizing PR content online, posting it and building reciprocal links
• Linking techniques: from blogs to social networking pages
• Identifying the most popular search terms for your campaigns
• SEM tools, resources and SEM for-hire checklists
• Email marketing Do’s and Don’ts

Panelists: Idill Cakim Vice President, Golin Harris, Sally Falkow Principal, ExpansionPlus & Senior Fellow Society for New Communications Research, Greg Jarboe President, SEO-PR, Lee Odden CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, Sophie Shiatis
Vice President Ecommerce, PRWeb, Moderator: Courtney Barnes Editor, PR News

If you’re attending any of these events and you would like to connect, please @ or DM on Twitter: @leeodden

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Learn SEO, Social Media, Digital PR from TopRank | http://www.toprankblog.com

The bottom line for the presentation is that there are opportunities to gain advantage from optimizing content according to it’s purpose or goals. In the case of news content, make it easy for consumers and journalists alike to find your message on the channels and in the format they prefer. That means understanding the difference in search behaviors for consumers vs journalists and analysts doing research on companies/individuals.

TopRank conducted a survey late last year with journalists and reporters to discover their use of search and social media for researching stories. We wanted to know how they found companies and individuals that were ultimately referenced in the articles and media they produce.

Of the respondents (multiple answers were allowed), 95% said they use search to research past stories, 91% to research new sources and 59% to research press releases.  As for the type of search used most often, 91% use standard search (Google, Yahoo), 27% use  news search, 27% use search on social media sites and 18% use image search. There were more questions and answers in the survey than this which I’ll be presenting in the webinar. 

Using SEO as part of a Pull PR effort, ie optimizing news content, puts a company’s news content in the places where the media are looking. Pitching directly to journalists and analysts via email and phone is hit or miss. With thousands of press releases distributed each day, it’s a challenge to stand out. That’s why optimizing news content to facilitate self discovery by the media is a perfect compliment to any SEO or Media Relations effort.

The most fundamental types of news content to optimize are press releases and online newsrooms.  Since most SEO advice centers around lead generation, it’s an important distinction to make when optimizing news content for researchers vs consumers looking to buy.

There are many content types that can get indexed by general and niche search engines. If something can be searched on, it can be optimized for search. This applies not only to news content but also to job listings, FAQ or Knowledgebase content and even events.

The larger opportunity for companies is to realize that by treating content optimization for search holistically, can result in much greater impact than siloing SEO to specific departments or purposes. Common keyword glossaries can be leveraged in the way key messaging is leveraged with PR, marketing/sales and corporate communications. This approach makes keyword optimization a part of routine communications and not only improves search based discovery of company content, but might also improve usability.

If you’re on this blog post after PRWeb webinar, I encourage you to post any questions you have in the comments below.  

Update: Here is the archived News SEO webinar with audio and below are the PPT slides hosted on Slideshare

Please Tweet this post:  “Using Your News to Drive SEO”  http://bit.ly/newseo  and use the hashtag #newsseo on Twitter

Also, feel free to check out these related articles on PR and SEO:

• Tips for Online PR
• The Yin Yang of PR and SEO
• Digital PR and SEO Series: Part 1
• Digital PR and SEO Series: Part 2
• Public Relations Benefits from SEO
• Pull PR – Combining SEO and Public Relations

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Using Online News to Drive SEO | http://www.toprankblog.com

The entire TopRank Blogging team wishes a sincere Thank You to everyone that has commented, subscribed and linked to us over the years.  TopRank’s blogging efforts have been recognized in many ways including being one of the top 50 favorited blogs on Technorati, ranked a top marketing blog on Advertising Age and endorsed by fans from The DMA, PRSA, Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo and many others.

We hope readers will continue to enjoy the mix of current insights, tactics, interviews and conference coverage on the topics of search, social and online PR content that we’ve been providing during the past 5 years of blogging.

A big thank you goes to Thomas aka TwisterMC who helps keep the blog back end and design running smoothly as well as making periodic contributions.  A big thanks also goes to TopRank team members that have endured gruelling liveblogging schedules.

One of the benefits of blogging for the past 5 years has been to use our own blog as a way to test a variety of content types, usability and blog software features, analytics and promotion tactics. We’ve been able to share some of these insights in our posts but more specifically with our corporate blogging clients.

Some of our Most Popular Blog Posts Include Resources:

• RSS and Blog Directory Submissions List
• RSS Buttons tool
• Social Bookmarks tool
• BIGLIST of SEO Blogs
• Online Marketing Blog Recommended Resources

Most Popular Tips Posts:

• 25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog (June 2006)
• SEO Tools: Firefox Addons for Search Engine Optimization (January 2008)
• 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features (Feb 2008)
• Lowdown on Press Release Optimization (Oct 2005)
• Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR (November 2007)

Most Popular Interviews:

• Guy Kawasaki Interview on Alltop, Blogging and SEO
• Dell Social Media Interview with Richard Binhammer
• Video: Interview with Adam Lasnik of Google
• Enterprise Social Media Interview with Jim Cuene and Douglas Pollei
• Interview with Danny Sullivan & Neil Patel on SMX Social Media

Most Popular Polls:

• Best Internet Marketing Tactics 2008
• Best SEO Podcasts
• Best Keyword Research Tools
• Best Search Engine Marketing Email Newsletters
• Best Social Media Marketing Analytics Tools

Most Popular  Conference Liveblogging Posts:

• Pubcon: Top Secret SEO Tools (November 2008)
• Pubcon Images: Microsoft Party at ghostbar – (December 2007)
• SMX West Google’s 5 Tips to Succeed in Universal Search (February 2008)
• 15 Things Not to Miss at SES San Jose 2008 (July 2008)
• SES London: Beyond Linkbait Getting Authoritative Online Mentions (February 2008)

There were many insipiratoins for the interviews, live conference blogging, SEO blog reviews, lists, polls, tips, news and commentary posted in the 2,000 plus entries at Online Marketing Blog.  I thought it would be interesting to take a look down memory lane and see what other search engine and search marketing blogs were on the scene late 2003. Keep in mind, these are true early adopters and pioneers. Google started their main blog late Spring 2004 and Yahoo in Fall of 2004:

ABAKUS – Blog born on our about February 07, 2003.  Initially written in English, this German blog from Alan Webb and friends  is now all German SEO all the time. At least as far as I can tell. Spreken ze deutsch? Alan was another pioneer in SEO blogging that I met early on.

Google Blogscoped – Blog born on our about April 28, 2003.  Phillip Lessen started this blog emphasizing information about Google  ”Contains 80% Google” (news, products, tips/tactics) as well as many posts about search engine optimization and marketing.

Searchblog - Blog born on or about October 20, 2003. John Battelle is the author of “The Search - How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture”, co-founding editor of Wired Magazine and CEO of Federated Media.  With over 140 thousand subscribers, Searchblog is by far the most popular blog on search engines not run by a search engine itself.

Search Engine Blog - Blog born on or about April 15, 2002. Started and owned by Peter Da Vanzo, Search Engine Blog was a pioneer in the world of blogging and blogs about search engines. It isn’t really updated any more since Peter now writes at seobook.com.

Search Engine Journal - Blog born on or about June 11, 2003, Loren Baker Search Engine Journal has fluctuated in it’s focus over the years from news to tips to news to a hybrid and in the past few years bringing on advertising and more staff bloggers.  SEJ is now a thriving search marketing blog and continues to grow subscribers and offer useful tips and industry news.

Search Engine Lowdown - Blog born on or about July 15, 2003 Started by Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal when he was with a company called Websourced and when people spelled blogg with two g’s.  Andy paved the way towards respectable blogging of industry news and grew a tremendous following at SEL. After he left, Garrett French took the reins doing a great job of writing, but the blog never quite recovered. It’s now been dormant for over a year.

Search Engine Roundtable - Blog born on or about December 2, 2003.  One of the most unique  formats and comprehensive in it’s coverage, Search Engine Rountable is run by Barry Schwartz and includes a number of contributors and guest bloggers. Barry and his team of bloggers were the first I know of to aggregate search marketing industry forum threads of interest and provide extensive liveblogging of conferences. I have the utmost respect for the pioneering work Barry has done over the years and will always appreciate the guest blogging opportunity he offerred, which inspired me to liveblog conferences here at OMB.

SEOBook - Blog born on or about December 1, 2003. Aaron wall decided to document his quest to learn SEO and wrote a 24 page e-book online about SEO which has grown much larger and to be one of the most popular books online about search engine optimization. Aaron started out writing commentary about industry news as well as his own observsations. He’s gone in, out and back into consulting and continues to write provacative, original content. Peter Da Vanzo mentioned above now writes for SEO Book as well.

Traffick – Blog born on or about July 03, 2002 and called “Threads and Needles”. However, the Traffick.com site has been posting savvy and insighful industry observations since 1998. Cory Kleinschmidt and Andrew Goodman were two of the first pioneers of commentary on the search marketing industry.

Besides the pioneering search engine and and marketing blogs above, there were a number of other informative resources on search engines and search marketing available in late 2003 (and before) that eventually added or moved entirely to a blog platform later on including: Search Engine Guide, Pandia & ResearchBuzz and Search Engine Watch.  Sites like SEO Today and Li’l Engine also focused on articles about search marketing in 2003 and are now blogs.

What other search marketing blogs were popular in the latter part of 2003 that I missed?

Photo adapted from Rev Dan Catt

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Happy Birthday TopRankBlog & SEO Blogs Class of 2003 | http://www.toprankblog.com

The entire team at TopRank Online Marketing would like to wish our valued readers a very happy holidays and a fantastic new year. We sincerely appreciate all our subscribers and all the amazing insight, comments and connections you’ve helped us make over 2008 and hopefully between each other.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Happy Holidays from TopRank Online Marketing | http://www.toprankblog.com

On December 4th in New York the new course entitled: “Social Media Smarts: An Introduction to the Social Web, Tools and Strategies” will introduce participants to the marketing and communications channel opportunities of social media through practical demonstration of social media tools, case studies and exercises. The first 3 workshops will be held in New York, Chicago and then again in New York.

Decreasing marketing budgets and increased consumer skepticism towards traditional advertising is driving many companies to new ways of attracting and engaging customers.  At the same time, new communication channels such as social media represent the most significant change in marketer/advertiser communications with customers in the history of marketing.

To help educate in-house and agency side direct marketers on how to better understand and engage the social web, the DMA has engaged TopRank Online Marketing to launch a series of social media marketing workshops called, Social Media Smarts, providing practical insights into social media as a communications and customer engagement channel.

The two-day workshop will enlighten attendees on strategy and cost effective tactics for succeeding on the social web with services ranging from Facebook to Blogs to Twitter. Along with tools and practical examples of best and worst practices, attendees will develop a framework for building a social media strategy specific to their business.

Attendees will learn the basics of blogging, blog marketing and online reputation management as well as social networking, news, bookmarks, video sharing, image sharing, wikis and podcasting. Social media monitoring, analytics and measurement strategies will also be presented.

Understanding social media usage and platforms along with practical exercises will enable attendees to create the framework for a strategy and business case for social media by the end of the course.

The ideal audience for a workshop like Social Media Smarts includes marketing and communications professionals at all levels working in advertising, direct marketing, internet marketing, communications and public relations fields.

Event Details:
Social Media Smarts: An Introduction to the Social Web, Tools and Strategies

Workshop Locations and Dates:

12/4-5, 2008
MicroTek New York Facility
90 Broad Street 11th Floor
New York, NY 10004

4/22-23, 2009
MicroTek Downtown Chicago
230 W. Monroe - Suite 550 
Chicago, IL 60606 

6/4-5, 2009
MicroTek New York Facility
90 Broad Street 11th Floor
New York, NY 10004

More information and registration is available here.

Also, be sure to follow updates on DMA Social Media via Twitter.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Hands On Social Media Smarts for Direct Marketers | http://www.toprankblog.com

Lists are always controversial by nature as they exclude and include based on criteria that rarely satisfy everyone. But we’re happy to be included all the same and a BIG THANKS goes to the TopRank team that’s been liveblogging conferences over the past two months of consideration for this list.

Here’s the complete list of 42 top content marketing blogs:

1 Online Marketing Blog
2 Copyblogger
3 Writing on the Web
4 Influential Marketing Blog
5 Web Ink Now
6 Marketing with Meaning
7 Nigel Hollis
8 Conversation Agent
9 Buzz Marketing for Technology
10 Post Advertising
11 Conversation Marketing
12 Marketing Interactions
13 PR 2.0
14 Nick Burcher
15 The Toadstool
16 Servant of Chaos
17 Chaos Scenario
18 No man is an iland
19 What’s Next
20 Buzz News
21 Be the Voice
22 Really Practical Marketing
23 Bringing Brands to Life!
24 ContentMarketingToday
25 Hard Knox Life
26 Web Strategy by Jeremiah
27 Drew’s Marketing Minute
28 JournaMarketing
29 Writing White Papers
30 Seth’s Blog
31 Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog
32 News from the Herd
33 EyeCube
34 Find and Convert
35 Techno//Marketer
36 Eat Media Blog
37 Conversational Media Marketing
38 Emerson Direct Marketing Observations
39 Internet Marketing Blog
40 Feed Growth!
41 Daily Fix
42 Occam’s Razor

One of the other nifty features of being on this list is inclusion in Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop page for content marketing.

Also, here’s a custom Google Search Engine for just these blogs if you’d like to focus on content marketing in your research and/or blog reading:

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Top Content Marketing Blogs from Junta42 | http://www.toprankblog.com

We turned to a local web hosting company, VISI, for a dedicated server and things have been running smoothly ever since. Our experience with VISI is documented on this post, “VISI – A Web Hosting Company That Rocks“.  We’ve been hosting with VISI for over 1 1/2 years and we’ve had very rare if any reason to contact them. When it comes to hosting, that’s a very GOOD thing.

So, consider this a love letter of sorts for our hosting company VISI. They have a top notch reputation for everything from co-location to hosting to internet connectivity and for TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog, they’ve delivered everything promised and more. I highly recommend VISI for any high traffic blog or corporate web site that needs super reliable hosting services and “go the extra mile” account services.

You can watch the TopRank video testimonial VISI recorded here.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Thank You to VISI Web Hosting – Best in Minnesota | http://www.toprankblog.com

Take a first-hand look at the phenomena that are redefining the practice of public relations.  Hear from three digital PR pioneers about the array of new tools, strategies and channels available to today’s practitioner from Facebook and Second Life to blogger relations, digital video and search engine reputation management.

As has been the case with a number of public relations industry events, I am tasked with bringing a search marketing perspective to a PR and social media focused panel. A similar session was held at the PRSA International Conference last year, “Social Media for PR Practitioners“, so the seminar tomorrow will be a nice update.

The PR and Social Media event will include an interesting cast of PR characters:

• Peter Himler from Flatiron Communications and The Flack blog who will be handling moderator duties.
• David Bradfield, senior VP/partner at Fleishman-Hillard and manager of the FH Digital team
• Nicco Mele, founder and president of EchoDitto
• Lee Odden, CEO TopRank and co-founder of Misukanis Odden Public Relations

Interestingly, PR and web 2.0 pundit Steve Rubel made an alarmist post recently that SEOs using social media for search engine optimization benefits are going to ruin the fabric of the community. I have an opinion about that including the surprising fact that Steve is just noticing this trend now.

There’s been quite a bit of buzz about social media as a search marketing channel for well over a year and Online Marketing Blog has been warning SEOs about abusing social media since April 2007 with posts like “Social Media Marketing – Get it Straight” and “5 Blunders with Social News and Bookmarking“. Heck, there’s an entire conference dedicated to the subject of social media marketing, you may have heard of it, SMX Social Media.

I do happen to agree with Steve that over aggressive SEO efforts will have an effect on communities, but I’m not so sure it will ruin them. It makes no sense to ruin a channel that can be so productive. There’s also a difference between participating in social communities in a search engine friendly way and blatant manipulation for SEO purposes. Obviously, we advocate the former.

What I can promise you for the PRSA teleconference tomorrow is a fresh perspective on how PR professionals as well as marketers can better understand the unique opportunities with social media as a communications platform and the power of community. Many of the benefits of participating in social media communities come in the form of influence, credibility and brand trust as well as search engine and online marketing benefits.

The teleseminar happens tomorrow, so be sure to visit the PRSA site if you want more info or to register.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | PR and Social Media: PRSA Teleseminar | http://www.toprankblog.com

Along with the tremendous growth we’ve experienced, TopRank has several positions open. Since Online Marketing Blog has such a talented group of readers, we’re curious if some of those readers have the right stuff or perhaps know someone with the right stuff to join our energetic, growing marketing company based in Minnesota. The open positions include:

PR Superstar [Position Filled]
Do you have what it takes to be a PR Superstar? We’re looking for a talented PR professional who can effectively sell our client’s stories to top influencers offline as well as online. Our PR Superstars thrive on picking up the phone and conducting compelling media pitching to targeted journalists as much as they excel at developing relationships with influential bloggers and social networks.

M&O-TopRank PR Superstars work hard to clearly identify newsworthy nuggets that our clients otherwise dismiss as day to day “oh well’s”. They see the diamonds in the dirt and turn them into news stories their competitors envy! Whether a tenured media relations guru or 2-4 years out of University, a M&O PR Superstar possesses a strong mix of great organizational skills along with energy, creativity and a passion for achieving results.

Contact: hr@toprankresults.com with “PR Superstar” in the Subject line

Online Marketing Specialist [Position Filled]
TopRank is looking for an equally creative and technical marketer for an Online Marketing Specialist position. No stranger to acronyms like “SEO”, “SERP” and certainly “ROTFLMAO” this search engine and social networking enthusiast will navigate curiously named Web 2.0 sites like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Digg and StumbleUpon promoting a variety of client projects.

As a instrumental part of our Online Promotions Team, the Online Marketing Specialist will creatively concept and implement web content and social media promotions as well as a variety of link building tactics for our clients. Measuring results with our social media reporting tools as well as web analytics to the Account Teams is all part of the magic provided on a daily basis by the TopRank OMS.

Contact: hr@toprankresults.com with “Online Marketing Specialist” in the Subject line

Account Coordinator
A passionate and ambitious Account Coordinator to help develop communications strategies, provide client account support and deploy an integrated and measurable mix of tactics for our online marketing clients is needed in our Lake Minnetonka office. OK, we only have one office, but hey, it is on a lake! This upbeat, stylish office may very well be the perfect place to grow your online marketing skills.

Creative writing, great organization and excellent people skills make the Account Coordinator position a perfect match to work side by side with one of our Online Marketing Managers. You’ll learn the fundamentals of SEO, Online and Offline PR plus blogs, social media and paid search marketing.

Contact: hr@toprankresults.com with “Account Coordinator” in the Subject line

Online Marketing Manager [Position Filled]
The 007 of online marketers, TopRank’s Online Marketing Mangers posses a range of marketing skills with a decidedly SEO slant ranging from traditional media to search marketing to social media. The Online Marketing Manager serves as a liason between clients and the service specialists.

With a true, “We get more done by 9am than you do all day” attitude, TopRank Online Marketing Managers excel at assessing client marketing needs, providing strategic direction and setting tactical implementation plans. Whether its managing the day-to-day execution, analysis, management and communications with our search marketing clients or coaching their Account Coordinator sidekicks, the AM has “been there and done that” – and wants more.

Contact: hr@toprankresults.com with “Online Marketing Manager” in the Subject line

Online Marketing Developer
Working both with Misukanis & Odden PR as well as TopRank, the Online Marketing Developer is a creatively technical and talented individual that will help support our client web development, online lead generation and email marketing efforts. Excellent organization, process, design and development skills are required. HTML, PHP, MySQL and CSS are the languages you speak but you’ll also do quite well in office English. JavaScript and Ajax are also handy.

Experience working with WordPress and Movable Type blogging platforms along with a wide variety of plugins and customization features will speak volumes.

Contact: hr@toprankresults.com with “Online Marketing Developer” in the Subject line

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Online Marketing and PR Jobs @ TopRank | http://www.toprankblog.com

Loren Baker’s Search Engine Journal has recently taken nominations for best search marketing blogs in a variety of categories. I am happy to say TopRank’s blog, aka “Online Marketing Blog” has been nominated in 4 of the 19 categories.

Thank you to friends and readers of Online Marketing Blog for nominating us! You can now vote for TopRank’s blog (5 for best!) in the following categories:

• Best Search Conference Coverage – Category #16
  As an official media sponsor for blog coverage of: SES, ClickZ, SMX, Pubcon, SIS and eMetrics plus 14 search, PR and marketing conferences blogged in 2007, TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog is against exceptionally tough competition but we hope the work our team has put into providing coverage of sessions, photos, videos, after conference parties and interviews was helpful enough to rate a 5.

• Best Search Conference Coverage in Photos – Category #17
  With over 1500+ conference photos in 2007, Online Marketing Blog has taken and promoted it’s share of conference photos. Here are a few links for your SEM conference viewing pleasure: SES San Jose, SES Chicago, SMX Social Media, SIS Utah, PRSA, DMA07, SIS Florida photos, SES New York Vintage Tub & Bath Party, General SES NYC photos

• Best Overall Search Marketing Blog – Category #3
  This one was a big surprise with formidable competition for sure. We do certainly write about a variety of topics in the search marketing, social media and online PR categories. Don’t take my word for it though, they say links are like votes and there are at least 830,000 links that support this one. At least according to Yahoo Site Explorer.

• Most Giving Search Blogger – Category #19
  I was very surprised to see “Lee Odden” in this list and really appreciate the nomination, but there are so many other super qualified people on this list. However, it’s Danny Sullivan and Barry Schwartz that stand out to me.

Be sure to visit Search Engine Journal and vote for TopRankBlog along with all your other favorite search marketing blogs. There are a variety of categories to choose from and I’ve listed the full survey below.

Voting began today and will run until January 4th, 2008 or so, after which Loren announces the winners.

For reference, below is a copy of the actual survey/voting form so you can see all the sites listed.

1. Best SEO Blog of 2007 : Blogs covering SEO news, tips and research.

• SEO Scoop
• PageTrafficBlog
• Search Marketing Gurus
• SEO Book
• SEOmoz Blog
• Sebastian’s Pamphlets
• Traffick
• Search Rank Blog
• Graywolf’s Wolf-Howl
• SugarRae
• SEO by the SEA
• Tropical SEO
• Search Engine Roundtable

2. Best Search Industry News Blog : These blogs cover the search engine industry news which is happening on a daily basis.

• John Battelle’s Search Blog
• Search Views
• Pandia
• PageTrafficBlog
• Search Engine Watch Blog
• Search Engine Land
• MediaPost’s Search Insider
• ValleyWag
• Marketing Pilgrim
• WebProNews
• Search Engine Roundtable

3. Best Overall Search Marketing Blog : These search blogs cover everything, from SEO to aid search tips, to conference and industry coverage.

• Search Engine Land
• TopRank Blog (Online Marketing Blog)
• Search Marketing Gurus
• Search Engine Roundtable
• SEOmoz
• Marketing Pilgrim
• Bruce Clay Blog
• Search Engine Guide
• Search Marketing Gurus
• SEO Book

4. Best SEO Plugin for WordPress : Run a WordPress Blog? Which of these plugins do you feel is the most important for SEO purposes?

• Joost’s Meta Robots Plugin
• Simple Tags Plugin
• All in One SEO Pack Plugin
• Do Follow
• Add Your Own

5. Best Link Building Blog of 2007 : Which link building blog have you turned to the most in 2007 for updated link building tips and news?

• Text Link Brokers Blog
• Justilien.com
• LinkJuicy.com
• MartiniBuster
• Wiep.net
• Link Building Blog
• Jim Boykin’s Blog
• Eric Ward Link Moses
• The Link Spiel

6. Best Social Media Marketing or Optimization Blog of 2007 : More than last year, social media marketing blogs have carved their own niche in the marketing mix.

• Search Engine Guide
• 10e20 Blog
• Social-Media-Optimization.com
• Graywolf’s Wolf Howl
• Techipedia
• StuntDubl
• Rohitbhargava.Typepad.com
• MicroPersuasion
• Performancing
• Pronet Advertising
• CenterNetworks
• Dosh Dosh
• DanZarrella.com

7. Best Local Search Blog of 2007 : For local search marketing on a small or large business level.

• Local Onliner
• Kelsey Group Blog
• Local SEO Guide
• LocalBizBits.com
• Blumenthals
• Greg Sterling ScreenWerk
• SmallBusinessSEM

8. Best Google Blog Not Owned by Google (or an employee of Google) :

• Inside Google
• Googlfied
• Googling Google
• Google Blogoscoped
• Google Operating System

9. Best Search Blogging Authority on Google’s Treatment of Paid Linking

• Michael Gray
• Matt Cutts

10. Best Search Engine Corporate Blog (owned by the search engines) of 2007

• Live Search Blog
• Google Webmaster Central Blog
• AOL Search Blog
• Yahoo Publisher Network’s YPNBlog
• Yahoo Search Blog
• Ask.com Blog
• Microsoft adCenter Blog
• Official Google Blog

11. Best Contextual Advertising Blog of 2007 : Blog dealing with advertising in contextual networks or making money from them.

• ShoeMoney
• Traffick
• Dosh Dosh
• JenSense
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Problogger.net

12. Best Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2007

• PepperJam Blog
• Revenews
• ShoeMoney
• John Chow
• 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blog

13. Best Search Engine Community/Forum of 2007 : The most vibrant, active and resourceful community this year.

• High Rankings Forum
• SEO Chat
• Google Blogoscoped Forums
• iHelpYou Forums
• Webmaster World
• Search Engine Watch Forums
• v7n Forums
• Sphinn
• DigitalPoint Forums
• Cre8asite Forums

14. Best Search Engine Research Blog : This special category is for blog which pride themselves on uncovering search trends, patents and formulas.

• AltSearchEngines
• ResourceShelf
• SEO by the SEA
• HamletBatista
• SEOFastStart

15. Breakout Blog of 2007 : These blogs were launched this year (or went popular) and became an instant resource. Please rate them.

• Dosh Dosh
• VanessaFoxNude
• Tropical SEO
• SEOish
• BlogStorm
• AltSearchEngines

16. Best Search Conference Coverage of 2007 : Speed typing and unrivaled stamina fuel these conference hounds, who cover the ins and outs of search sessions on a live and regular basis.

• AimClear
• TopRank Blog (Online Marketing Blog)
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Create Value
• Bruce Clay Blog

17. Best 2007 Search Conference Coverage in Photos : Taking the best snapshots from search marketing conferences.

• Tamar Weinberg
• Li Evans
• ShoeMoney
• Top Rank Blog (Online Marketing Blog)
• SEOmoz Cartoons

18. Best Search Marketing Facebook Group of 2007 : Got Facebook? Then which search marketing group do you feel is at the top?

• Drinking Your Way to Popularity
• Cuttletts
• SEO Bloggers
• Search Engine Optimization
• Internet Marketers
• Facebook Whores for SEO, SMO and SEM Awareness
• Search Party Animals

19. Most Giving Search Blogger of 2007 : Search Blogger that shares the most resourceful information on an ongoing basis. Please think of overall contributions to this industry and (I know this is difficult) please pick one.

• Aaron Wall
• Matt Cutts
• Andy Beal
• Michael Gray
• Lisa Barone
• Neil Patel
• Kevin Newcomb
• Danny Sullivan
• Lee Odden
• Bill Slawski
• Rand Fishkin
• Charles Knight
• Barry Schwartz
• Tamar Weinberg
• Andy Beard

Remember to vote!

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Voting Begins – Search Marketing Blog Awards | http://www.toprankblog.com

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Happy Holidays from TopRank! | http://www.toprankblog.com

I’m not sure how many of our readers are in warm climates, but I thought I’d share a few chilly Minnesota photos from today:

Lake Minnetonka on the way into the office in the am. I really shouldn’t be taking pictures and driving at the same time.

The two ice fishing houses on the lake outside our office. Besides the satellite TV, they’re probably outfitted with an easy chair, refrigerator, card table, hot plate and wireless internet. Oh, and probably a small fishing rod – you never can tell.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Frozen Sunrise Lake Minnetonka | http://www.toprankblog.com

On day three, the last day of sessions at WebmasterWorld Pubcon here in Vegas, I participated on a panel called, “Search and Blogging Reporters Forum” with Rand Fishkin and Andy Beal.

Moderation duties handled by Mike McDonald. Basically, it was a round table-style discussion about blogging in the SEO industry as well as blogging as a marketing tool. There were some good points about using blogs as a public relations tool as well as some debate about hosting team blogs separately or all under the company domain name.

There was some nice back and forth with Andy and Rand plus great questions from Mike and the audience.

Fortunately, there was a celebrity crew of bloggers covering this session including Lisa Barone, Tamar Weinberg and Jane Copland so you can read more details on their respective posts.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Pubcon Session: Blogger Reporter Panel | http://www.toprankblog.com