Lee Odden

Help Us Celebrate 15 Years of Blogging – TopRank Marketing Blog

Lee Odden     Blogging Strategy, TopRank Agency News

15 years of marketing blogging

I think it’s safe to say that there are not many marketing blogs that have hit the 15 year mark.

However, I am happy to say that the class of 2003 includes an impressive cohort of marketing blogs including several that have become industry standards like Search Engine Roundtable by Barry Schwartz and Search Engine Journal founded by Loren Baker.

While TopRank’s Online Marketing blog started with a focus on search marketing, we’ve grown and evolved over the past 15 years just like the marketing industry has. Plus, instead of me writing 3-5 posts a week myself (over 2,400 total), I now have a great team that does most of the hard work.


Help Us Celebrate 15 Years of Blogging – TopRank Marketing Blog
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Caitlin Burgess

Giving Thanks: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Thankful For

Caitlin Burgess     Digital Marketing, TopRank Agency News

TopRank Marketing Gives Thanks

For centuries, Thanksgiving has been an American tradition, bringing families and friends together for a day of feasting, gratitude, and—most importantly, in my opinion—unity.

For the TopRank Marketing team, it seems that every day is Thanksgiving.

Each day, I have the privilege to see team members engaging and laughing. I see huddling and collaborating as everyone works hard to do their best work to not only drive results for our clients, but also lift themselves and other team members up. I see constant praise for good work or lending a helping hand. I see unity.

TopRank Marketing Team Gives Back

So, in the spirit of TopRank Marketing tradition, I’ve asked team members to share what they’re most thankful for in work and in life. Here’s what many had to say.


Giving Thanks: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Thankful For
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Ashley Zeckman

New Year, New Outlook: TopRank Marketing’s 2018 Integrated Digital Marketing Predictions

Ashley Zeckman     Digital Marketing, TopRank Agency News

The new year is barely underway and already we’re already seeing significant shifts in digital marketing.

Facebook recently announced their decision to favor friends over brands in news feeds and YouTube has tightened the reins on what channels can be monetized. And this is just within the first few weeks of the year.

Undoubtedly, digital marketing tactics like content marketing, SEO, paid, influencer marketing and social media will all face changes in the coming year. Some of which we’ll be able to predict, and some of which we won’t.

However, today’s best marketers know that individual marketing tactics do not stand alone. Which means that integrated, “best answer” digital marketing strategies will reign supreme. That is why instead of focusing our team’s predictions on how individual tactics will evolve in 2018, we’ve uncovered how the role of each tactic will change as part of the overall digital marketing mix.


New Year, New Outlook: TopRank Marketing’s 2018 Integrated Digital Marketing Predictions
Lee Odden

Happy 14th Birthday to @TopRank Online Marketing Blog

Lee Odden     TopRank Agency News

Happy 14th Blog Birthday TopRank Blog

Over the past 14 years this marketing blog has had numerous contributors, thousands of posts, hundreds of thousands of social shares and millions of views. To say blogging has had a positive impact on our business would be a gross understatement.

December 28 is our blog birthday and what started simply as an experimental way to share resources and develop writing skills has turned into one of our most effective recruiting, marketing and community engagement tools. That success is thanks to a team effort including Ashley Zeckman with 360 career posts, who has served as blog editor over the past 2 years, Josh Nite with 113 career posts, Caitlin Burgess with 106 career posts, Tiffani Allen with 90 career posts and our newcomers Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson and Elizabeth Williams.


Happy 14th Birthday to @TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Ashley Zeckman

The TopRank Marketing Team Reflects & Gives Thanks

Ashley Zeckman     Digital Marketing, TopRank Agency News

Today is a day that has become a cornerstone of American tradition and many of you are preparing for a day of fun and feasting with your love ones.

Every family has their own Thanksgiving traditions. For many families, you spend the day cooking, eating, conversing and eating some more. Others (like myself) take a more non-traditional approach and host a Friendsgiving with no turkey (don’t worry, there is prime rib).

The team at TopRank Marketing has our own Thanksgiving tradition which includes asking our team members to share thanks on a specific topic each year. Last year we shared why we were thankful for our clients and the year before we focused on why we were thankful for our team members.

This year, we decided to focus on what we are most thankful for in our career and what we’ve learned in our time at TopRank Marketing.


The TopRank Marketing Team Reflects & Gives Thanks
Steve Slater

How We’re Building a Digital Advertising & SEO Dream Team

Steve Slater     Digital Advertising, SEO, TopRank Agency News

In today’s competitive and content-saturated digital landscape, SEO is no longer a stand-alone, sure-fire way to grab audience attention in the search results. As a result, the role of a search marketer is transforming beyond the traditional walls of organic SEO and merging with the world of digital advertising — and the hunt for skilled marketers with the right mix of both skillsets is heating up.

At TopRank Marketing, we’re taking part in that hunt.

After more than 15 years as a digital marketing agency, if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that the collective talent of our team members is what drives our clients’ success and our company’s success. And we have our sights set on building a dream team including SEO Specialists and SEO Strategist roles.


How We’re Building a Digital Advertising & SEO Dream Team
Lee Odden

Here we Grow Again: Welcome New VP Katie Uphus to TopRank Marketing

Lee Odden     Marketing Industry News, Online Marketing, TopRank Agency News

Here we grow again TopRank Marketing

TopRank Marketing evolved from PR to digital marketing agency in the mid 2000’s, right about the time our new VP of Operations got into agency project management.

Twelve years and multiple advancements from a creative agency Director of Production to Senior Director of Operations later, Katie Uphus has now joined the team as Vice President at TopRank Marketing.

Katie Uphus Lee Odden

Talent is what makes our agency magical for our B2B clients and we’re excited to bring Katie on board. Her experience developing teams, coordinating workflow and marketing operations will help us establish the framework for an environment where each of our team can become the best they can be in their respective roles.


Here we Grow Again: Welcome New VP Katie Uphus to TopRank Marketing
Lee Odden

Lucky 13 – Happy Birthday to TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog!

Lee Odden     Online Marketing, TopRank Agency News

Happy 13th Birthday TopRank Marketing Blog

We have a lot to celebrate this time of year and I feel incredibly lucky that TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog gets to celebrate yet another blog birthday.

Happy Lucky 13 Birthday Online Marketing Blog!

And thank you to Ashley Zeckman for doing a great job managing our blog in 2016!

I have a confession: Starting a blog in 2003 was just another “thing” to explore for its marketing value, not some ephiphany-inspired marketing journey. The inspiration came from a drive to reach more people with fewer resources in a meaningful way. Could blogging be the solution?

In fact, the creation of TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog followed several other search marketing focused blogs that launched the same year including Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal and SEO Book. Two of those three are still going pretty strong with daily posts and large readerships.


Lucky 13 – Happy Birthday to TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog!
Ashley Zeckman

Why These Digital Marketers Swiped Right on Working at TopRank Marketing

Ashley Zeckman     Digital Marketing, TopRank Agency News

why-swipe-right-on-toprank-marketing

Applying for a new job isn’t too different than today’s world of online dating. You do a little research to see if you like them and then once you hit submit, you wait anxiously to see if they like you back.

When you receive that email or phone call that they’d like to interview you, the nerves really start to set in. You change your outfit no less than five times and realize that you’re more nervous than any other first “date” you’ve ever been on.

Navigating the world of digital marketing and finding the right career path is not always an easy task. There are many bright and talented marketers out there, and a seemingly endless list of agencies that at least claim to have digital marketing expertise. And weeding your way through the duds to find those that will truly create a great experience, and a lasting connection takes work.


Why These Digital Marketers Swiped Right on Working at TopRank Marketing
Ashley Zeckman

Reflecting on 2015 & Gearing Up For Digital Marketing Innovation in 2016

Ashley Zeckman     Online Marketing, TopRank Agency News

2015-TopRank-Marketing-Reflections

This year brought many opportunities for innovation, creativity and growth for the team at TopRank Marketing.

On a personal note, I was beyond excited to re-join the team and dive head first into my new role as Director of Agency Marketing. In this role, part of my responsibilities include ensuring that our team provides creative, engaging, actionable and innovative content for our blog readers each week.

In 2015, our team published nearly 300 blog posts and amassed over 1.4 million unique pageviews for our blog content alone. Keeping the content engine running is an essential part of what we do at TopRank Marketing and I’m pleased to report the numbers above. Nearly a million of the pageviews above were generated from Organic Search which means that our strategy to optimize customers and search engines has led people to our content.


Reflecting on 2015 & Gearing Up For Digital Marketing Innovation in 2016
Ashley Zeckman

The TopRank Marketing Team Gives Thanks

Ashley Zeckman     Online Marketing, TopRank Agency News

Thanksgiving-Word-Cloud

Before you dig into the turkey, mashed potatoes and my personal favorite, stuffing, the team at TopRank Marketing would like to take a moment to give thanks.

In the word cloud above, you get a glimpse into what many of our team members are thankful for. We would also like to thank you our readers for consuming and sharing the content that we work hard to create. Also, a huge thanks to our awesome clients for entrusting us with their digital marketing strategy.

In addition to asking our team members what they are thankful for personally, I also wanted to shine a light on who has inspired them or they are thankful for on our own team, below are some of their responses:


The TopRank Marketing Team Gives Thanks
Ashley Zeckman

4 Signs That You Belong at a Digital Marketing Agency

Ashley Zeckman     Digital Marketing, TopRank Agency News

digital marketing agency career

Think back to when you were a child, teenager or young adult. When someone asked you “What do you want to be?”, how did you respond? Scientist, superhero, actor or rockstar may come to mind for many of you.

When I was younger, I always knew that I wanted to do something creative. As a child I drove my parents crazy coming up with new ways to create art, often out of things that weren’t art supplies. It didn’t matter if I was sewing clothes for my dolls or painting a “masterpiece”, I loved art.


4 Signs That You Belong at a Digital Marketing Agency