Quite simply, social media offers serendipitous moments when you are able to connect with someone in a meaningful and relevant way, and what’s more wonderful is that you can even find great business contacts and potential clients.
If you are not participating you will never have these moments!
Can’t read this? Click the image!
Right on the heels of an SEO conference I attended I find this little gem of link building genius.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has jumped on the zombie bandwagon splendidly. Writing a blog about Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness! Not only sharing the public’s love of all things zombies, they have also created an SEO and social media campaign surrounding it. Using badges and widgets for people to place on their own websites to show that they are prepared for a Zombie outbreak is genius! These badges are pretty cool looking, and furthermore give the CDC legitimate links back to their website, building up a diverse link portfolio to boost their Google rankings and improve traffic to their website.
This campaign is brilliant, and I think many people would find it surprising. Seeing a government agency showing a playful side to promote emergency preparation learning while building a solid SEO campaign all at once is an SEO professionals dream come true! Bravo to the CDC!
Wow, that was information overload! In a good way! First and foremost a HUGE thank you to Distilled for putting on such an amazing event! Another HUGE thank you to SEOmoz and Distilled for giving me a pass to the conference after I published my blog about it and promised to get a Mozbot tattoo (and yes I totally did it! Watch the video!).
The conference, in my mind, was a huge success. The caliber of speakers was unmatched, Will Critchlow, Marshall Simmonds, Rand Fishkin, Dharmesh Shah, Kate Morris, just to name a few! The caliber of the delegates was amazing as well! SEO professionals from all over the world flocked to Boston to take part in the advanced conference, and their level of expertise was apparent!
The biggest take away for me was all the tools and great stuff that was shared, I put most of it here in this post - Lot’s-O-Links, and I will add to it as more blogs and slide decks become available. Also, a major theme throughout the conference was ‘Do It Better’. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, see what has come before you, see what the competition is doing, and do it better!
SEO is a rapidly changing industry and still can have a bad rap, but I think that is changing. Especially with the implementation this year of Panda and digital marketers and SEOs taking the time to learn more about the social and buzz and what users expect and want. PRO SEO touched upon so many of these changing topics, from panda, to html 5, to new ways to think about link building and keywords. I can only see positive movement from here!
For me this conference was a jumping off point to learn more and develop a community of learning and curiosity within my organization. I am excited to implement many of the things I have learned and see where they take me. Furthermore I look forward to not only cultivating relationships with the amazing people I met, but also attending more events like this that can not only broaden my horizons, but improve our field as a whole. Thank you again to everyone who made this experience so rewarding and happy rankings to you all!
Feast your eyes on this! Loads and loads of links that were mentioned at ProSEO Boston, also links to slide decks, blog posts, fun tools, infographics…. you name it, We got it!
Distilled #PROSEO Live: All kinds of good info, speaker bios, agenda, tweet analytics etc!
Conference Video on Sale, promo codes and stuff for discount available
Zemanta: looks over your shoulder while you blog and gives you tips and advice, suggests related content and pictures, and makes sure your posts get promoted as they deserve to be.
FollowerWonk: Twitter user search
Trendsmap: Trendsmap.com is a real-time mapping of Twitter trends across the world.
trunk.ly: automagically collects the links you share online and makes them searchable.
Punch Tab Loyalty Rewards Program
Tout: robust email marketing stuff, analytics, scheduling, templates (PROSEO2011 promo code)
Linkstant: alerts you about new links to your site immediately
Lanyrd: The Social Conference Directory
Formstack: Optimized landing pages
Twitter Grader: Can find lists of people based on keywords or check Twitter ranks
Bitly Pro: use it to share links, will show ALL referring traffic, even from mobile or API apps like Hootsuite and Tweedtdeck
Braintree: a very awesome online payment system
Google Chrome Plugins for SEO: an app created by Distilled
Open Graph Protocol: Including Open Graph tags on your web page makes your page equivalent to a Facebook Page. This means when a user clicks a ‘Like’ button on your page a connection is made between your page and the user.
Facebook check login status: Find out the current session status from the server, and get return session object if the user is logged in and connected to your application.
R : R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphic
Stumble Upon Ads: promoting links via Stumble Upon
What makes an effective link builder: blog post from Justin Briggs of Distilled
Reevoo Mag: Great example of html5, it’s all html! No flash or Java
5 Takeaway Social Media Marketing Tools from Pro SEO
Distilled Pro SEO Seminar: Day One Recap
Distilled Pro SEO Seminar: Day Two Recap
Keyword Tools List from Kate Morris of Distilled
Microsoft Advertising Intelligence
Wordtracker Keyword Research Suite
YouTube Keyword Suggestion Tool
SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty Tool
Effective Link Building: Justin Briggs of Distilled
How not to fail at link bait: Presentation slides about creating infographics
by Chris Bennett from 97th Floor
Social Design
By Matt Clayton of Mixcloud.com also link is here to code mentioned in slides https://gist.github.com/975939
SEO Strategy for haberdashing.com: A mock strategy created by Rand Fishkin CEO of SEOmoz
Forecasting, presenting and explaining SEO to management by Conductor CEO Seth Besmertnik
ProSEO Boston: Live Site Review
5 Takeaway Social Media Marketing Tools from Pro SEO
Distilled Pro SEO Seminar: Day One Recap
Distilled Pro SEO Seminar: Day Two Recap
If I missed something, which I am sure I did, there was SO MUCH! Please just add it in the comments!! I hope this is helpful to everyone!!
When asked about how much time is needed to manage a successful social media campaign, I tell clients that it is about persistence. Whether you spend 10 minutes a day, 10 hours a week, or like me – 24 hours a day! – it’s all about being consistent and persistent.
I recently heard that Distilled, a SEO agency headquartered in the UK, and SEOmoz, a SEO software company, were holding their PRO Conference in Boston this year. I really wanted to go! As a digital marketer with an emphasis on SEO strategy it is imperative I stay current on industry trends. However, when there wasn’t extra money in the budget for me to attend the conference, I turned to social media to see if I could score a free pass somehow.
When engaging in social media for any reason, be it personal or business, your efforts need to be campaign-like. And like any campaign you will need a strategy, resources and a mentality that you are in it to win it! And that is exactly what I did!
I came up with a strategy for how I would influence SEOmoz and Distilled to give me a free pass, I evaluated the resources available to me, and I knew persistence would be the key to reaching the goal. Social media is all about building bridges. You can’t tweet once or slap up a Facebook status and give up because no one read it or followed you. This is a long term commitment, like any relationship your networks grow stronger as you share experiences, information, wisdom, and yes, even a little humor.
In my case, I wrote a blog post about my cause, stating the top 10 reasons I should be given a pass. I also made sure to optimize the post to the best of my ability. I then used Twitter and Facebook to share this post and to drum up supporters to champion my cause. Humor was a big part of my strategy, stating the #9 reason for giving me a free pass to the conference was that I was willing to tattoo the SEOmoz Roger Mozbot mascot on my body. Furthermore, I promised to allow this to be filmed and used as a viral video campaign! Crazy I know, but definitely attention grabbing!
Being persistent about sharing out my message paid off and I was rewarded in the end with a free pass to this amazing SEO PRO Conference.
So maybe you are at the beginning of this process or possibly you are firmly entrenched in it, the key is to be persistent. You need to keep plugging away at it knowing that every blog post, every upload, every tweet and status update makes you one step closer to reaching your social media goals.
***UPDATE*** This tactic worked! I am going to the PRO Conference! Check out my follow up post on the Power of Persistence! And yes! I did get the mozbot tattoo!
I really want to go to the SEOmoz Advanced SEO conference in Boston May 16 & 17 2011. I have been doing SEO and Digital marketing for a couple years now and I have been using the SEOmoz software. I would love the opportunity to go, alas money is tight. even with the Pro Account discount of 200 dollars, I just cant afford to swing the $799 to go. I asked my super supportive boss if the company would send me, but as much as he would like to send me, there just isn’t enough money in the budget. I asked my loving fiance, but again, we are paying for a wedding, there is no money left over to pay for a conference pass. So I am at a loss. I have resorted to begging SEOmoz to just give me a pass, and I need your support! Here are the 10 best reasons why I should go!
1. As a digital marketer and SEO specialist it is super important to stay up to date on industry trends
2. I am very passionate and I love the SEOmoz product, I will be a huge evangelist for SEOmoz, especially if given a free pass
3. I adore Roger Mozbot, he is my most favorite mascot of all time. I will even volunteer to wear a Mozbot costume throughout the conference
4. I will do everything in my power to drive more guests to future SEOmoz events and conferences
5. I will allow SEOmoz to use space on my truck to advertise their services
6. I will RT every SEOmoz blog for the rest of eternity
7. I promise to live tweet incessantly from the conference with the intent to promote SEOmoz
8. I am willing to change my last name to Mozbot
9. I will get a Mozbot tattoo and allow it to be filmed to be shared on YouTube
10. I will not stop begging until you give me a pass!
Today, Google announced “+1”, their version of the Facebook “Like” button. To most of us, this really does appear to be a copy of the popular like button. However, Google’s biggest selling point for this feature may be the ability to filter search results into something more manageable. And search is where Google truly excels. Social endeavors have never proved to be fruitful for Google and that is important to note because bloggers will be quick to compare +1 to the Like button; a fair, albeit incomplete, comparison.
Google’s explains how +1 works on their blog:
“Today we’re taking that a step further, enabling you to share recommendations with the world right in Google’s search results. It’s called +1 – the digital shorthand for ‘this is pretty cool.’ To recommend something, all you have to do is click +1 on a webpage or ad you find useful. These +1’s will then start appearing in Google’s search results.
Say, for example, you’re planning a winter trip to Tahoe, Calif. When you do a search, you may now see a +1 from your slalom-skiing aunt next to the result for a lodge in the area. Or if you’re looking for a new pasta recipe, we’ll show you +1’s from your culinary genius college roommate. And even if none of your friends are baristas or caffeine addicts, we may still show you how many people across the web have +1’d your local coffee shop.”
I especially like how Google is trying to turn “+1” into a verb, the way the term “Google” (as in “I’ll just Google it”) has become synonymous with search. Will +1 take off? Maybe, but not right away. A few reasons behind my opinion:
Google’s answer to the “Like” button is a good concept, but it would have been better served is rolled out as a button on individual web pages, instead of on the results pages. Given all of the other enhancements that Google has made to get web searchers out of the results page and into the sites they’re seeking out, it doesn’t seem that users will really get to know +1 right away – especially well enough to start using it as a verb.
