If you are not a part of SEOmoz in some way go check them out now.  I am not one to gush or give reviews but they are the real deal when it comes to SEO & online marketing. The newsletter is proof positive that they not only put out great content but also deliver great content from some of the best sources on the web today. Go here to get this newsletter - The SEOmoz Top 10

Full disclosure: I am a paying SEOmoz client – but I have not embedded any affiliate links or anything in the links on this post (not even sure if they have an affiliate program).

Some tidbits I learned from the SEOmoz Top 10 newsletter;

1. Anyone having issues with understanding why Google Analytics is now returning results on referring sites that are from (not provided)? This is a recent Google change and this article from the that newsletter points to the “why its there” and “what to do” – 7 Best SEO tips for (not provided) Keywords

2. Crawling Bots (especially the Google bot) are NOT archaic crawlers that just see “code or text” any more.  They can crawl flash sites and also will assess user experience as well as crawl Javascript.  Check it out here -  Just How Smart are Search Robots?

3. And my favorite! People are thinking that On-page SEO isn’t as useful now since the Panda update and Long Tail doesn’t convert – Think Again! Great article and study of long tail conversions and on-page SEO versus great consumable content – On-page Optimization is Not Dead & Long Tail Keywords Increase Rankings and Conversions

There are 8 more too like “How to Use Twitter as a Lead Generation Tool”.

Get the Newsletter so you don’t miss this great stuff!

SEO in the USA especially will benefit from creating social networking profiles on social media websites. In addition to the three best known social media websites (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) there are very many lesser known social networking sites. In principle any of these could have a significant search engine ranking, but you should only create a profile on a site where there will be a clear benefit to your website. Creating a profile just for the link is acceptable, but having a meaningful profile will have much greater value in the long run. You will find social networking sites to be ideal for building a strong network of relationships with your clients.

You should routinely incorporate keywords into tweets and posts, and although Twitter limits you to only 140 characters. it is still a great way to share a link to a blog or an article.  Simply placing a keyword into a Tweet (perhaps as a hash tag) can ensure that the Tweet will make it to a search engine results page.  With Facebook, there’s more room for targeting keywords in your posts.  Don’t forget that the title of your post is a great place for keywords.   Write descriptions of  the content of the posts, and these should also contain keywords.

Your blog posts on Facebook or LinkedIn shouldn’t include the whole article.  Include a teaser and a call-to-action that will encourage visitors to move from the social networking site to your company blog. If they read the whole posting on the social network site they won’t need to go to your website.

By all means include links to your social media profiles on your website, but not too prominently.  Why would you want to send them away from your site?  There’s no point in getting someone to ‘like’ you on Facebook if you want them to make a purchase.  If they are already on your site, don’t send them away. Your social media profiles should serve as entrances to your main site, not the other way around.

If you can identify leaders in your industry that your target audience looks up to for advice, you should reach out to them. These influential individuals can help you improve the position of your brand in the eyes of that audience. The first step will be to connect with them on social networking sites. But you will have to provide some content. You can’t expect others to share their content if you don’t share yours. Google has stated that they will consider the authority of the author for social media posts to impact search results.  A link or story shared by a quality user will have significant value as opposed to a link to a low value account. Quantity can be a useful goal, but ultimately quality will be worth more.

Some earth shaking shifts are happening in the Google/SEO/Social Media arena that are going to get folks talking for a few weeks on what it all means and if the changes Google is making will stick.

Social Media is being influenced and affected by Google’s ranking algorithms – we’ve seen hints. I just noticed today that Facebook video is ranking individually and is also viewable via a google search – take a look!

I have a long term client who is now ranking for several positions on Google for a particular key phrase – but notice #10. The cool thing is the video plays WITHOUT being logged into Facebook.

So, will this stick and if so does that mean Facebook is a new SEO hot spot?

I have always been a big believer in the fact that you can intentionally set yourself up for success in Social Media but you must do it with solid SEO principles if you want to be on-purpose with your programs. What do you think?  Is SEO still the foundation even when it comes to Social Media?

I’m not sure what I expected but it sure wasn’t what I experienced.  Knowing that some of the best and brightest minds from the interactive world would all be in one place sharing information, case-studies, new tools and beer was the build up but I really only experienced the beer.  And I didn’t really even go to many parties and that sure wasn’t my intention but I thought it would be worth a try since some of the sessions were so bad and rudimentary I had to walk out.

I do want to give credit to the major brands that were there.  Pepsi, Sony, CNN, Chevy etc. had massive presences at SXSW interactive from massive displays to full building takeovers.  It was a contest of who could have the bigger display.  CNN took over a Bar & Grill and created their own CNN Bar and Grill sign about 8 foot in diameter and replete with neon and beautiful graphics. Pepsi took over what seemed like almost a quarter of a block of space for “Pepsi Max Lot” which they shared with the cool peeps from Foursquare. The best part about the brands is they didn’t take advantage of a captive audience and charge Disneyland prices for food, drinks and swag.  Everything was free and fun – they rocked it.

So should I go next year? Right now I say, No Way. I’ve gotten more info & made more contacts at a small event of 200 people locally than I did at SXSW Interactive 2011.  Or should I go to get my party on next year and just forget about learning anything worthwhile. What do you think?

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

Social Media = cost effective, viral and a level playing field. Where else could you go 5 years ago and get the word out about something, spend less than $500 bucks and get 100k people looking at it every day and millions more views to come. Social Media = Good ROI.

The idea behind the social media marketing is quite simple. It executes the changes to the website thus it would be linked more easily, more visible in the searches and also quite frequently get included in various posts on the blogs. It helps us to promote business to the prospective customer directly.

1. Increase the link-ability

2. Make bookmarking and tagging easy

3. Reward the inbound links

4. Social Media Content

5. Give value to the users

6. Reward the valuable users

7. Participate in Social Media Conversations

8. How to target the audience

Another great resource for social media articles.

During my head-bobbing experience which wouldn’t allow me to sleep much I was thinking about my last blog post regarding Social Media Experts/Gurus and how they seem to be popping up everywhere.  The thought that kept me ruminating on the post was that there aren’t many professed SEO experts or guru’s that have only been around a few months. Why?, Check it out;

1. SEO isn’t something you learn overnight.  SEO is continually changing and it’s not something you “jump into” and call yourself an expert.  There is On-Page SEO (an art in itself) with no-follow rules, internal page linking strategies and all of the associated tags.  There is Off-Page SEO (which includes Social Media) requiring back link strategies, bookmarking, authority acquisition and content development strategies to support your On-page SEO. Most importantly, you actually have to prove that you can get results.
2. SEO is more science than marketing.  You can’t wave your arms extolling the benefits of transparency with fancy terms such as “media assets can be created on various platforms to increase your reach and interaction”.  SEO is working with raw data, interpreting the effects, testing and implementing additional strategies to get results – lather, rinse, repeat.  Social Media will be a contributor, however, I haven’t seen Social Media lower an average site Alexa rank 25,000 spots within a couple of months.
3. SEO isn’t for the weak or timid.  You charge a client money and you better get results – more traffic, more visitors, more conversions and have the numbers and knowledge to back it up and adjust to get predictable outcomes.  Social Media is engagement and testing messages but rarely do you see intensive backend tracking for social media campaigns – unless they were truly a social media expert/guru.

Tracking and numbers are everything and social media, to me, is very much a part of the overall plan for a company or a client; however, it must be measured for it’s overall effectiveness based on the client’s needs, products and audience.

I think a better term for anyone in the industry would be to stay away from being a Social Media Expert/Guru and become an Online Marketing student working to become an expert.  Learn all of the various ways to get a client tangible results that bring traffic, conversions and revenues that can be tracked back to all of your online campaigns. Learn how to adjust a complete campaign not just one aspect of the campaign (i.e. Social Media).  Those who take this approach and get extremely good at it will be the ones who will be revered as the complete package in the online world and will never have to look for work even in a recession.

A good article by Shoemoney – SEO vs Social Media

Oh yeah, and I will blog about DEMO too which was an incredible experience!

I attended Alex Mandossian’s reunion this past weekend at the Marriott in Millbrae.

A great event and Alex is a fantastic speaker.  There were numerous take-aways such as productivity, mental strengthening and much more.  The disappointment I experienced was from a standpoint of expectation.  I thought there would be much more about the “nuts and bolts” and how to get various aspects of systems in place to get traction in your business and on the internet.

I do agree though, you need the mental piece because without it, the “how-to’s” don’t matter.

The experiential nature of the event was good, however, it was very much geared to gratuitous networking and self-promotion.  Not that I’m opposed to it, but being a first timer I was a little taken aback and definitely not prepared to have 150 business cards to hand out and have my “pitch” honed to attract buyers (previous attendees were well prepared with special cards designed for the event).

The most interesting thing I am finding at events, like Alex’s, today are the number of “social media experts”.  I’m tired of hearing of another social media guru.  Anyone who has been on Facebook for the past 9 months is now a social media expert,  anyone who has been able to build their way to a 10,000 or greater following on twitter (which can be gamed extensively) is now a social media guru, anyone who lost their job in the past year is now a social media expert/guru.

I’m excited about the future of where we are going but social media experts should understand that social media is more than just Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and various other places online to attack users with bad marketing messages.  I recently met a 9 month social media guru who was giving talks, booking speaking engagements and teaching groups how to “find their voice” online and in social media circles without having any idea of how to actually engage their audience to get traction and achieve results.

Social media is going to need some major overhauls to clear out the experts, gurus and riff-raff that might know something about social media but have no idea how to develop an overall online strategy to use all aspects of marketing, message development, traffic development, on-page/off-page SEO, website development and a comprehensive plan to fully engage their audience beyond just social media.  Social media is a place for transparent, interactive and engaging relationships and conversations but it should not be treated as the final frontier for monetization.

I look forward to the day I can go to a seminar and the social media guru’s I meet are really social media guru’s.

Here is a link to Aaron’s blog/video post – http://www.theaaronist.com/regarding-social-media-experts/

And here is the video – good stuff!!

Regarding “Social Media Experts” from Aaron Lewis on Vimeo.

Best viewed by zooming and dragging the screen to see the detail and each logo is clickable so you can jump right to their site (how cool is that – interactive too!).

Brian Solis is one of the co-creators of this Infographic – I have been involved with sponsoring some tweetups in Silicon Valley he attended. Brian knows his stuff and knows Social Media. In the land of Social Media Snake Oil (where eveyone is an expert…) Brian is the real deal.