Strategize Your Content for Maximum SEO and Social ROI

Agenda• Some Background on SEO• How Online Marketers Tend to Think About Marketing• Why This Paradigm Isn’t Enough• A Better Model for Thinking About Marketing• Designing and Documenting a Marketing Content Process• A Model B-to-B Content Creation Process That Leverages

– Repurposing– Appeal to Ego– Transcription

• A Model B-to-C Content Creation Process• Other Tactics Worth Considering

Challenges Business Face with SEO

• It’s easy to cause yourself problems with the wrong kinds of Link-Building

• It can be difficult to align Content Creation with User Demands

• SEO takes varying timeframes; architectural changes can take effect on the order of a few weeks, but content and link-building may not see for 3-5 months or even 3-5 quarters!

• Very difficult to keep up to date with SEO best practices, particularly with Google creating new algorithmic penalties (Penguin, Panda, and so on).

• “Local” search (“pizza warwick”) is different from general search (“squeaky floor”)

How does Google’s Organic Ranking Algorithm Work?• Google discloses they use more than 200 variables in their various ranking algorithms.• However, a study made by some academics in 2011 of Google Search results identified the

following weightings for important factors. The weightings they came up with are an oversimplification, but instructive; negative weights indicate ranking factors that can hurt you.

• In short: You need content + PageRank (external links) pointing at that content.• The more of both the better!

http://www.coconutheadphones.com/googles-secret-ranking-algorithm-exposed/

SEO: Linking…How Many Links Do You Need?• Answer: That depends on an individual pages’ competition for a keyword.• Each PageRank level takes 5x as much effort to reach. See article link below.

http://searchengineland.com/what-is-a-link-worth-part-1-valuing-pagerank-34526

So, you can think of SEO as…

Architecture+

Content+

Linking

Linking – Methods of Outreach Compared

Approaches I use vary but tend towards the Green and Blue sectionsNote: this table was updated 09/20/15; it’s taken from an original article which is now out of date, but which may still be useful in understanding it:

http://www.coconutheadphones.com/linking-strategies-the-complete-guide/

Impressions

Online

Search

Organic Search

Traditional Results

Universal Results

LocalResults

Paid Search

Traditional PPC

E-Commerce PPC

Non-Search

Email Marketing

Content Syndication

Social Media

Display Advertising

Offline

How Online Marketers Tend to Think about Marketing

…Yes, They Also Think About Retargeting…Impressions

Online

Search

Organic Search

LocalResults

TraditionalResults

Universal Results

Paid Search

Traditional PPC

E-Commerce PPC

Non-Search

Email Marketing

Content Syndication

Social Media

Display Advertising

Offline

…Why This Paradigm Isn’t Enough.

• This diagram is the wrong way of thinking about your marketing; it’s oriented only around how you spend your budget. It’s oriented around your company and the marketing department, not around the customer.

• This leads to stovepipe thinking focused on channels - “how” focused:Let’s expand into Video MarketingLet’s focus on Twitter

• However, the customer doesn’t care about your budget – and is going to interact through most, if not every, of these channels.

• You need to think about the whole, system, i.e.

What are we going to communicate to who, and how?

CHANNEL

Diagram source:Claude Shannon,“A Mathematical Theory of Communication”,Bell System Technical Journal, Oct. 1948

http://bit.ly/R1lRL

MARKETING CHANNELS

PAID SEARCHORGANIC TRAFFIC

DISPLAY ADVERTISINGSOCIAL MEDIA

OUTDOOR ADVERTISINGEMAIL MARKETING

MARKETING CONTENT

WEB PAGESWHITE PAPERS

PODCASTSVIDEOS

PRESENTATIONSBLOG POSTS

ADVERTISEMENTS

MARKETING AUDIENCE

PREVIOUS CUSTOMERSCART ABANDONERS

READERSFOLLOWERS

VISITORSINTERESTS

DEMOGRAPHICS

Diagram source:Claude Shannon,“A Mathematical Theory of Communication”,Bell System Technical Journal, Oct. 1948http://bit.ly/R1lRL

CHANNEL

MARKETING CONTENT

WEB PAGESWHITE PAPERS

PODCASTSVIDEOS

PRESENTATIONSBLOG POSTS

ADVERTISEMENTS

MARKETING CHANNELS

PAID SEARCHORGANIC TRAFFIC

DISPLAY ADVERTISINGSOCIAL MEDIA

OUTDOOR ADVERTISINGEMAIL MARKETING

MARKETING AUDIENCE

PREVIOUS CUSTOMERSCART ABANDONERS

READERSFOLLOWERS

VISITORSINTERESTS

DEMOGRAPHICS

Diagram source:Claude Shannon,“A Mathematical Theory of Communication”,Bell System Technical Journal, Oct. 1948http://bit.ly/R1lRL

CHANNEL

Start by Designing & Documentinga Marketing Content Process

• Decide on what documents/media you will create, and how.• Wire the output through all your social channels.• Make this function routinely, almost on automatic.

• B-to-BFocus on White Papers, Presentations, Podcasts, Testimonials

• B-to-CFocus on Surveys, Promotions, Contests, Coupons, Testimonials

Considerations While You’re Designing Your Process

• Expanding to different channels, traffic sources, and content types may require organizational changes.– You may want to hire an email marketer…several interns to write content…and so on. – In many cases however, you’ll have to beg/borrow/steal/cajole resources.– As a result, it’s critical to squeeze every bit of value possible out of every piece of content.

• Your Company’s “Thought Leaders” will make or break your content.Seek them out and cultivate them!

• Thought leaders are difficult to harness – do so using:– Repurposing – Appeal to ego– Transcription

“You fight with the army you have, not the army you wish you have.”– Don Rumsfeld.

White Paper:6-8 Pages, 3 Tables, 2 Diagrams

Presentation

Speech at a Trade Show Webinar

Transcribed Speech

Transcribed Webinar

Blog Posting 1

Blog Posting 2

Blog Posting 3

Blog Posting 4

Blog Posting 5

BLOG

Paid Search Call-to-Action

Email Newsletter

Weekly Industry Roundup

RegularPodcast

TranscribedPodcast

Announcement Press Release

Interviews

Articles byThought leaders

The three keys:• Repurposing• Appeal to Ego• Transcription

White Paper:6-8 Pages, 3 Tables, 2 Diagrams

Presentation

Speech at a Trade Show Webinar

Blog Posting 1

Blog Posting 2

Blog Posting 3

Blog Posting 4

Blog Posting 5

BLOG

Paid Search Call-to-Action

Email Newsletter

Weekly Industry Roundup

RegularPodcast

TranscribedPodcast

Look at all the other channels that are involved!

Also – sales can use the WP & Preso as collateral,

Upcoming Webinars are a great excuse to pingprospects.

Announcement Press Release

Interviews

Articles byThought leaders

Transcribed Speech

Transcribed Webinar

White Paper:6-8 Pages, 3 Tables, 2 Diagrams

Presentation

Speech at a Trade Show Webinar

Blog Posting 1

Blog Posting 2

Blog Posting 3

Blog Posting 4

Blog Posting 5

BLOG

Paid SearchCall-to-Action

Email Newsletter

Weekly Industry Roundup

RegularPodcast

TranscribedPodcast

Announcement Press Release

Interviews

Articles byThought leaders

= Activities an intern or a junior marketer can handle.

Transcribed Speech

Transcribed Webinar

White Paper:6-8 Pages, 3 Tables, 2 Diagrams

Presentation

Speech at a Trade Show Webinar

Blog Posting 1

Blog Posting 2

Blog Posting 3

Blog Posting 4

Blog Posting 5

BLOG

Paid Search Call-to-Action

Email Newsletter

Weekly Industry Roundup

RegularPodcast

TranscribedPodcast

Announcement Press Release

Interviews

Articles byThought leaders

Transcribed Speech

Transcribed Webinar

= Social Updates

Project Video

Exquisite HD Photos from

Video

Post on Facebook

Social Contest:

Guess Which Project We

did *not* doShare with Owner

BLOG

Use Photos inDisplay Advertising

Email Newsletter

Detailed Case Study

on Website

For aB-to-CHomeContracting Business:

Post on Instagram,

Flickr, Pinterest

Solicit G+ or Yelp Review

from Owner

Photo Gallery on Website

Other Tactics Worth Considering• If you produce at least one piece a day: syndicate content.

– Syndication is just guest blogging writ large.

• Look up every keyword you had a conversion on in the last 12 months in Paid Search – make a 2 minute video on it.– Interview an internal expert about the topic and make it a Q&A format. – Simple to produce many of these in one sitting. Bring extra shirts!

• If you have not tested Paid Search – do so yesterday!• If you’re not doing email marketing – consider immediately!• Invest in one or more additional websites

– Thought lead in a specific content area that resonates with your clientele

In Summary:

• Leverage:– Repurposing– Appeal to Ego– Transcription

• Think:– Content– Channels– Audience

http://bit.ly/19632UESource: