Evan Prokop

5 SEO Considerations to Win with Both Customers and Search Engines

One of the cornerstones of any digital marketing presence is a company website. From being a destination for people to visit that are searching for your products and services to servicing existing customers, it’s difficult to understate the importance of a great website (or understate the missed opportunities that come with having a bad one). Of course, a great website isn’t much use if nobody can find it, which is where a solid investment in SEO can pay big dividends.

However, a question that often comes up when planning out an SEO strategy is: should you be more focused on optimizing for customers or search engines? Arguably, there was a time when this was a real trade-off. Many SEO tactics such as keyword stuffing or spam linking were effective for gaining search presence, but came at the cost of customer experience.

5 SEO Considerations to Win with Both Customers and Search Engines

The New Era of SEO: Optimize for People Before Searchbots

Evan Prokop
Online Marketing, SEO

Dating back to when the first mainstream consumer search engines became available in the mid-nineties, digital marketers have desired to see their businesses succeed in the lucrative but often confusing search marketing landscape. And thus search engine optimization (SEO) was born.

Twenty years later, we’ve certainly come a long way, both in terms of the capabilities of search engines and in the strategies that SEO professionals implement in their attempts to master them. Given the complexity of modern search engine algorithms, it takes a lot more than just sticking keywords on your website in order to achieve prominent search rankings.

So, what does it take to win in search in 2015 and beyond? With hundreds of complex algorithms working 24 / 7 to serve up answers for over 5 billion Google search queries per day, that’s a question that can get very complex, very quickly.

The New Era of SEO: Optimize for People Before Searchbots

Web Analytics Tips: Getting More from Google Analytics with Jeff Sauer #MNSummit

Evan Prokop
Online Marketing

Jeff Sauer

Google Analytics is used by more than 10 million websites, but the majority of digital marketers and businesses are merely scratching the surface of what this powerful free tool can do. As Jeff Sauer says, “any report that is one click away in Google Analytics isn’t worth your time”.

In his fascinating and super actionable presentation at MNSearch Summit 2015, Jeff shared some great tips to help marketers get more value from Google Analytics.

Google Analytics Custom Channel Groupings Jeff Sauer MNSearch 2015

Customize Your Content and Channel Groupings

Out of the box, Google Analytics comes with a default set of traffic channels, including organic search, referral, direct, paid, social and email. While technically these are inclusive of the range of sources which may drive traffic to your site, there is opportunity to break up these broad swaths of visitors into customized segments that are specific to your business by creating customized channel groupings. Doing this can help you efficiently track the performance of your site for visitors that really matter, your customers and prospects.

Web Analytics Tips: Getting More from Google Analytics with Jeff Sauer #MNSummit

Essential SEO Considerations For Any Website Migration

Evan Prokop
Online Marketing, SEO

Website Migration SEO Considerations

Sometimes implementing a website migration an essential part of doing business in a digital world. There are a variety of reasons why a company may choose to migrate from one site to another. Regardless of the reason, it’s important to remember that your website is your virtual calling card to prospective customers and sometimes a website migration is a necessary step in providing your customers the best possible user experience.

Like botched plastic surgery, a poorly executed website migration can bring a host of SEO problems, including making your site difficult to find in search engines, confusing to use or filled with errors that make the searchbots run away.

To ensure that your website migration goes smoothly and leads to improved business, follow these essential migration SEO recommendations:

Essential SEO Considerations For Any Website Migration

Top Digital Marketing Takeaways From Authority Rainmaker

Evan Prokop
Marketing PR Conferences, Online Marketing

What does it take to become an authority in your industry? How can we make better sense out of an integrated approach to digital marketing?

According to the presentations we saw at Authority Rainmaker 2015, it takes the passion to learn and pursue knowledge, the expertise that warrants credibility and respect of your peers and the time and effort to earn your place as an industry thought leader.

While only in it’s second year, Copyblogger’s Authority conference brought the passion and expertise that will no doubt result in achieving authority status among digital marketing events in the industry.

Alexis Hall, Lee Odden and I had the pleasure of representing TopRank Online Marketing for this informative and entertaining event, which took place at the beautiful Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver Colorado. We met interesting people, created great blog and social content and learned lots of great digital marketing tips to share with our agency team.

Top Digital Marketing Takeaways From Authority Rainmaker

Danny Sullivan on the State of Search Marketing in 2015

Evan Prokop
Marketing PR Conferences, Search Marketing

Danny Sullivan Authority Rainmaker 2015

To say there have been major changes in search marketing in recent times would be a big understatement. From the increased complexity and intelligence brought about by several Google search algorithm updates to the meteoric rise of mobile device usage, search marketers have had plenty to keep them busy.

Founding editor of Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan has been an authoritative voice in the search marketing industry for nearly two decades, so he’s certainly seen and weathered plenty of big changes since the inception of search.

In his presentation at Authority Rainmaker 2015, Danny educated and entertained the audience with insights into the current state of search and how businesses and marketers can prepare for the future.

There isn’t One ‘Front Page’ of Google Anymore

Danny Sullivan on the State of Search Marketing in 2015

Content Marketing: 6 Steps for Building a Massive Audience

Evan Prokop
Content Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi has been a content marketer before content marketing had a name. While working at a media company in the Custom Publishing department, he had dreams of starting a small business, which he eventually did in 2007 by starting a blog about content marketing.

Fast forward 3 years later and he had built Content Marketing Institute, which is well-known today as a source of content marketing thought leadership, training, events and consulting.

Today, Joe is joined by many other companies who built their businesses aided by the power of creating an audience first through content marketing, such as CopyBlogger Media, Social Media Examiner, Moz and even our very own agency, TopRank Online Marketing.

Content Marketing: 6 Steps for Building a Massive Audience

Dr. Evil’s Guide to Landing Page Design and Optimization

Evan Prokop
Marketing PR Conferences

Sonia Simone - Authority Rainmaker 2015

Copyblogger’s Sonia Simone kicked off her Authority Rainmaker presentation with a question that has certainly been asked before. Is marketing evil? Unfortunately we’ve all come across misguided campaigns that seem intended to trick people rather than help them. But that’s not how it’s supposed to be.

“Like brushing your teeth before going out on a date, marketing is about putting a good face on what you have”, explains Sonia. You may be able to pull the wool over people’s eyes in the short term, but tricking your audience is a sure path to failure in the long run. Every brand’s reputation is pretty easy to research on the internet these days and people just aren’t dumb enough for a truly ‘evil’ strategy to work.

Dr. Evil’s Guide to Landing Page Design and Optimization

The New Era of Sales and Content Marketing – Daniel Pink Keynote

Evan Prokop
Marketing PR Conferences

Dan Pink Keynote

This week’s forecast calls for heavy rain. Not from the sky, but from the stage at Authority Rainmaker 2015, hosted by CopyBlogger. The conference got off to a bang with an electrifying keynote from Daniel Pink, TV show host, keynote speaker and author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.

According to Dan, the buying experience has changed more in the last ten years than in the previous 100, due in large part to the unprecedented access to information that the average consumer has today. However, many companies’ sales processes have yet to catch up to the meteoric changes that the internet has brought to the marketplace

The New Era of Sales and Content Marketing – Daniel Pink Keynote

Authority Rainmaker 2015: Conference Peaks & Previews

Evan Prokop
Marketing PR Conferences

Authority Rainmaker Conference in Denver Colorado

Did you know that there are 53 mountains in Colorado with an elevation over 14,000 feet? Known as the “Fourteeners”, ascending all of these peaks is a lifelong goal for many avid climbers.

What better setting to learn about Online Marketing from the authorities on the subject. This year, Copyblogger’s Authority Rainmaker 2015 will be held in Denver Colorado, with a full view of the rocky mountain peaks for visitors to take in. The TopRank Marketing team will be represented at the conference by Lee Odden, Alexis Hall and me, Evan Prokop.

In addition to majestic scenery, great food and entertainment of downtown Denver, we can’t wait to learn from some of the leading authorities on online marketing on how they recommend marketers take their craft to new heights.

Authority Rainmaker 2015: Conference Peaks & Previews

Where Does Search Fit in Digital Marketing in 2015?

Evan Prokop
Digital Marketing, Search Marketing

What does search fit in your digital marketing program? If you answered ‘with the SEO department’, you’re certainly not alone, as many marketers and businesses owners still use the traditionally siloed approach to search marketing, leaving the SEO folks to do their work, separate from the social, paid and content marketing teams.

However, in the ultra-competitive world of search marketing, integration of tactics under a unified digital marketing strategy is becoming more important than ever.

Similar to mobile accessibility, 2015 is the year when integration of search with the overall digital marketing strategy will increasingly move from a ‘nice to have’ to an essential. Brands that embrace an integrated approach will be rewarded.

Where Does Search Fit in Digital Marketing in 2015?

Improve Digital Marketing Performance with Attract, Engage, Convert Sales Cycle Analytics

Evan Prokop
Web Analytics

Web analytics across the sales cycle

According to recent research from Hubspot, CMOs are planning to increase their budgets for web analytics by 60% in 2015. That may sound like a lot, but it’s money well spent when you consider that web analytics are the key to measuring, understanding and optimizing the effectiveness of your digital marketing programs.

Getting Started

With the vast amount of data available from modern web analytics tools, it’s easy to get lost or focus on the vanity metrics, missing the truly valuable insights that can benefit your business.

For example, it’s tempting and all too common for businesses engaging in Facebook marketing to focus solely on increasing ‘likes’ to their page and content. It’s certainly not a bad idea to track this metric, but on it’s own it doesn’t say much about the real business impact. Tracking and reviewing actions like referral traffic to your website from Facebook, leads generated or social sales will tell you much more about the true business impact of your Facebook marketing initiative.

Improve Digital Marketing Performance with Attract, Engage, Convert Sales Cycle Analytics