Productivity Tips For The Busy Search MarketerSMX West – Santa Clara 2009

Presented by David WallaceCEO, SearchRank

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SMX West 2009Santa Clara, CA

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SMX West 2009Santa Clara, CA

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Run full service SEM

Write for 7 blogs

Manage 3 directories

Follow 100+ blogs in RSS reader

Active on Twitter/ social media

Respond to all RFPs

Liaison for all clients

I AM VERY BUSYDaily Duties

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ROUTINE

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Take care of new emails that require little or no response right away

By categorizing blog feeds, I can sift through new ones quickly

Open new posts in separate tab that I want to write a post about

Click on TwitterFox icon and look for DMs or @ replies only

Process usually takes 30 – 60 minutes, depending on volume

ROUTINEBegin Day With Email, Bloglines & Twitter

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5 of 7 blogs I write for cover industry-related news

Creative or resourceful posts can be scheduled anytime

Posts covering industry news need immediate attention

Read, write & publish

This process can run anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours

ROUTINEWriting New Posts

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The remainder of the day can be filled with multiple tasks including…

– Working on client projects– Dealing with clients– Responding to RFPs– Dealing with finances– Developing new business– Managing employees– Writing more blog posts– Running errands– Etc. etc., etc.

Without having a routine, at least to start the day, I’d fail to be productive

ROUTINEEverything Else

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I use Outlook Express

Utilize extensive category structure

Only keep ‘pending’ emails

Important non-pending emails saved to hard drive

Non-important, non-pending emails are discarded

Outlook Express Backup Genie

EMAILEffectively Managing Email Overload

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Inbox- PendingClients- Complete Projects- Current Projects- SEM MaintenanceThis & That- Conferences & Meet-ups - SMX West - SEMpdx Searchfest- Copyright Infringement - Copyright Infringer Folder- Travel

EMAILMy Outlook Express Category Structure

Prospects- Advertising/Lead Gen - Hot - Leads - Processing - Shelved- SearchRank - Hot - Leads - Processing - Shelved- Etc.SEM Maintenance

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– Bookmark items I’m interested in

– Bookmark items people ask me to

– Bookmark our own stuff

Managing the chaos:

– I do not visit individual blogs

– I use Bloglines to manage feeds

– I use categories within Bloglines

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING3 Forms of Social Bookmarking

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Anthem (feeds related to the community I live in)

Christian StuffDisney/Amusement ParksGeneral NewsAffiliate/ContextualBloggingConferencesSearch Engines(official blogs of search engines)

Search/Social Media News(Search Engine Land, Mashable)

SOCIAL BOOKMARKINGMy Bloglines Category Structure

SEM/SMM(individual bloggers I follow)

Social News & ForumsClients(feeds from Client’s blogs)

Company Blogs(feeds from our own blogs)

Friends(personal blogs)

Yahoo! Answers(open question feeds)

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– Limit activity on social sites

– Avoid time wasters (i.e. Facebook)

– When submitting content, submit where you will derive most benefit.

– If submitting to multiple locations, SocialMarker is one of many tools

http://www.socialmarker.com

SOCIAL BOOKMARKINGBe Selective Where You Are Involved

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– TwitterFox (PC)- Post, reply and direct message- Updates every 3 – 30 min.- Plays sound on updates- Switch between multiple accts.

– TwitterBerry (mobile phone)

– Many other apps as well!

– Key is to use for benefit and not allow Twitter to rob you of productivity

TWITTERBeneficial or Time Waster?

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Let somebody else respond to them (I’m not there yet)

Give each one careful consideration (i.e. listen to goals and needs, evaluate site and current visibility) but…

Use form letters and inserts

RFPsRFPs Can Be Huge Time Wasters

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With 2 business sites, 7 blogs, and 3 directories to manage, it is difficult to find time to work on these, not to mention the countless additional internal projects we have brewing. You either allow client work to suffer or your own stuff is constantly being placed on the backburner.

SEM MANAGEMENTEveryone Is On a Schedule

Make sure all regularly scheduled work is complete by 20th of each month.

Still have to respond to client emails/calls, respond to RFPs, etc. but…

We typically have a whole week (sometimes more) to…- Work on internal projects- Develop new projects- Develop new business- Write lots of content

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SMX West 2009Santa Clara, CA

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SEM MANAGEMENT

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SMX West 2009Santa Clara, CA

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Have some kind of a routine

Deal with email wisely

Be selective when social bookmarking

Make Twitter beneficial and not a time waster

Simplify the RFP process

Leave room for yourself when scheduling maintenance tasks

FINAL THOUGHTS

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SMX West 2009Santa Clara, CA

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David Wallace

SearchRankwww.searchrank.com

Search & Social Media Marketing Since 1997

THANK YOU!