TopRank Online Marketing
Michelle Bowles

5 Must-Read Tips for B2B Search Marketing

Comments | Posted by Michelle Bowles on Dec 4th, 2009 in B2B, SEO, SEO Tips

Search marketing for B2B

[Note from Lee: A few weeks ago, Michelle wrote a great post on Retail SEO tips and this week, I've asked her to tackle B2B SEO and general search marketing tips, since one-size SEO does not fit all programs. Enjoy!]

Search marketing should be a top priority for organizations in any industry. But B2B search marketing efforts take a slightly different form than the tactics used in consumer focused SEO and PPC programs . Typically, B2B markets are smaller, products and services are more complex, and sales cycles are longer. Therefore, B2B marketers must think a bit differently in terms of target keywords, online content and link building.


Lee Odden

Social Media MiNterview: Rick Mahn Land O’Lakes & SMBMSP

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Dec 3rd, 2009 in Interviews, Online Marketing, Social Media

rick mahnMinnesota is home to a tremendous amount of digital marketing and social media talent. The local Social Media Breakfast events are notorious for “selling out” in minutes and attracting upwards of 300 – 350 attendees.  There are over 1,200 members of the group’s SMBMSP social network. The founder of this group is none other than Rick Mahn.

Officially, Rick is the founder of Social Media Breakfast – Minneapolis/St. Paul, Social Media Strategist for Land O’Lakes, blogger, podcaster and author for Personal Branding Magazine. As part of Online Marketing Blog’s continuing effort to showcase social media movers and shakers in the Midwest, I connected with Rick for the following interview.

You’re a technology guy that now works as a Social Media Strategist at Land O’ Lakes. Can you tell us about the journey to that position?


Lee Odden

SES Chicago: 5 Ways to Multiply Conference ROI

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Dec 2nd, 2009 in Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies

ses chicago 2009Next week is the final search marketing conference of the year for me and most others in the SEM industry: Search Engine Strategies Chicago is a MidWest focused event that will offer keynotes from the likes of Jeff Jarvis, Author of What WouldGoogle Do? and a multitude of Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced breakout sessions covering SEO, PPC, Social Media and many other related web marketing topics.

I know there are plenty of agencies and companies that are experiencing slimmed marketing and travel budgets, wondering if marketing conferences are worth the investment. Sponsoring and exhibiting are a big part of many companies marketing strategy and for those companies that do it right, with pre, during and post show promotion, it’s very productive. Even at small shows.


Lee Odden

SEO Case Study: PRSA Jobcenter

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Dec 1st, 2009 in Online Marketing, SEO

PRSA Jobcenter From time to time I like to post a case study as an example of the implementation of all the good advice we’ve been giving the past 6 years. Tips and how to’s are great, but stories of implementation are like a picture being worth a 1,000 words.

The following is a basic case study for SEO work performed on a portion of the PRSA site that is focused on PR and Communications Jobs.

Situation:

With over 32,000 professional and student members, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) represents the world’s largest organization for PR professionals. One of the key resources PRSA offers to its members is the PRSA Jobcenter, where over 77,000 potential employees are able to connect with a seemingly infinite number of public relations professionals.


Lee Odden

BIGLIST Search Marketing Blogs 113009

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Nov 30th, 2009 in BIGLIST SEM Blogs

BIGLIST SEO Blogs

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and we know online marketers already like the BIGLIST of online marketing blogs reviews. This new update that is decidedly focused on search engine optimization should start your week off right.

The Search Agents

While we have a good looking group this week, the Search Agents was the winner for the best looking Search Marketing blog. Not only does it offer a clever theme, but content and usability to boot. There are more contributors listed than most SEM agencies have in their employ. Content is balanced between SEO and SEM followed by everybody’s friend, Social Media. The Search Agents is the official corporate blog of The Search Agency, an integrated online marketing firm headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.


Michelle Bowles

10 Link Building Tools for Tracking Inbound Links

Comments | Posted by Michelle Bowles on Nov 27th, 2009 in Google, Link Building, Online Marketing, SEO, SEO Tools, Search Engines

Measuring Inbound LinksQuality inbound links are an essential element of web site marketing and search engine optimization programs to increase traffic and online sales. The greater the number of relevant and authoritative links to a web page, the greater the potential for higher search engine rankings and qualified traffic.

A recent survey from SEOmoz illustrates just how important inbound links are to rankings. An impressive 4 of the top 5 ranking factors involve inbound links:

  • Keyword focused anchor text from external links: 73% very high importance
  • External link popularity: 71% very high importance
  • Diversity of link sources: 67% very high importance
  • Trustworthiness of the domain based on link distance from trusted domains: 66% very high importance

Lee Odden

All New Google Design

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Nov 26th, 2009 in Google, Online Marketing, Search Engines

Google is a master of innovation in the search space and while they seem to subscribe to Guy Kawasaki’s “release early and release often” new product philosophy, the attention to changing the Google search page is near-holy. Minuscule design changes at even the pixel level are cautious and carefully considered. And rare.

Apparently, Google is testing a redesign and logo which you can see in this home page screen shot:

New Google Home Page 112609

The logo has changed and the “Google Search” and “I’m Feeling Lucky” buttons are blue rather than gray. But the biggest changes are on the search results page. There are three columns rather than two:

New Google Search Results 112609

I’ll mention some of the specific changes but I have to say, my initial (and critical) opinion of the updated search results page is “awesome”. I liked it immediately.


Michelle Bowles

Thankful Wishes From Online Marketing Blog

Comments | Posted by Michelle Bowles on Nov 25th, 2009 in Online Marketing

What TopRank Online Marketing Is Thankful ForWith Thanksgiving almost within reach, it’s hard to think of anything but turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and warm homemade rolls. Actually, for me, my mind is on my aunt’s chocolate pie and my grandmother’s macaroni and cheese.

But regardless of the type of food item occupying your thoughts right now, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we have to be grateful for. I, for one, realize I have a lot to be grateful for, considering the people I interact with on a daily basis and the work I’m tasked with each day.

michelle bowles
Michelle Bowles

Having been a part of the TopRank Online Marketing team for 4 months  now, I’m thankful for my fellow team members who have patiently shown me the ropes along the way and made me feel welcome.


Adam Singer

3 Steps for Effectively Using Social Media For PR

Comments | Posted by Adam Singer on Nov 23rd, 2009 in Online Marketing, Online PR, Public Relations, Social Media

social-media-prPreviously, I explored the intersection of social media and PR and explained why it is so important communications professionals leverage digital channels. In that post I touched on the following key points:

  • Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it
  • It scales – popular brands just get more popular
  • Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset
  • Leverage – digital PR is your social proofing
  • Intersection with SEO – links are by-product
  • PR has changed – pull is now more effective

Next I’d like to explore a brief outline of how you can effectively use social media to accomplish your PR objectives. I’ll run through 3 key steps as a primer, however I challenge you to consider a unique entry point for your own brand. The social web is as flexible as you want it to be, and there is no single “right answer”. The following are learnings for how you could potentially approach a social media PR strategy.


Michelle Bowles

SEO for Flash: 5 Tips and Best Practices

Comments | Posted by Michelle Bowles on Nov 19th, 2009 in Online Marketing, SEO, SEO Tips

flash seoSEO for Flash – is it a reality yet?

One of the most common issues for web sites with poor search visibility involves Google not being able to crawl and index a site’s content. Web sites made entirely with Flash are problematic because there are often no links for search engine crawlers to follow or HTML text to copy.

According to the Opera (browser) developer center, somewhere between 30% and 40% of all pages tested contained Flash files representing a lot of content that may not be included in search results or only partially indexed. Despite a large number of sites publishing content using this type of file format, Flash and search engines have been like oil and water. They just didn’t mix.


Lee Odden

Google: Social Media is a Party, SEO is Bullsh*t, Advertising is Good For You

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Nov 19th, 2009 in Google, Online Marketing, Search Engines

I noticed someone using Google suggest in another story today (honestly forgot where) and thought I’d see what Google “thinks” about social media. Then I tried SEO. Not surprising. Funniest of all, considering Google’s business model, was advertising.

What Google Thinks of Social Media

Pretty telling when you think about it. Of course this isn’t what Google “really thinks” about social media, it’s Google’s response to search queries and effort to predict what we’re really searching for.

Google Suggest works by drawing from searches by other Google users, sites in Google’s search index, and ads in the Google advertising network. If you’re logged in, Google will use your search history to make suggestions. It can be a handy search tool. It can also be revealing.


Lee Odden

Book Review: Socialnomics by Erik Qualman

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Nov 17th, 2009 in Book Reviews, Social Media

socialnomics “It’s a people driven economy stupid” and “Online word of mouth has made many traditional marketing strategies obsolete”. Those are powerful words and central to the theme in “Socialnomics” by Erik Qualman, Global VP for Online Marketing for EF Educatio, the world’s largest private educator.

I appreciate Erik’s characterization because it’s how I’ve viewed social media since our digital marketing & PR agency started blogging and using social news/bookmarking sites in 2004: as technology that facilitates word of mouth. At conferences, I often say to audiences that if a company has strong word of mouth in the offline world, then Social Media may be a powerful option for them. If not, perhaps social media can help them get word of mouth started.


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