Getting Granular: The DigitalGrit Blog

What Search Engine Feeds has done RIGHT with their best blog contest - besides nominating us!

Search Engine Feeds has proven they're worth their salt by launching an SEO-friendly, viral campaign...and they've nominated us as one of their "Featured Feed Sources" in the process.

Before I go any further with this post, be sure to vote for us.

The SEF blog has employed a time-tested and always smart marketing tactic -- the contest. This is the kind of marketing idea I love. It's clever, it's easy, it's cheap (or free) and it's effective on so many levels. Just a few of the things Search Engine Feeds has done -- and that anyone can do -- to make an online contest work.

Capitalizing on the fact that everyone wants to win something, SEF made their contest a battle for "most useful" engine marketing blog. Here are some of the crafty tactics they've employed. Read and learn:

1. They created a hyperlinked list of contestants -- Outbound links are an SEM staple, and key for attracting spiders.

2. They asked everyone to include a link to the contest post on their blog. Assuming their request is honored by all nominees, this brings in the ever-so-important inbound link, the "ying" to the outbound link's "yang."  By having an abundance of both, your site becomes very attractive to spiders. Lots of relevant inbound links also raise your Google page rank, which brings me to ....

3. They've kept they're contest extremely relevant. This is a Search blog creating a contest (and inbound and outbound links) for other Search blogs. Does it get anymore SEO-smart than that?

4. Of course they've syndicated their contest post via RSS, which will ensure that the contest appears in any relevant searches in both Google and Yahoo news.

Add the fact that they've created a viral element by emailing notification to the nominees -- and encouraging us to email it to our friends and colleagues...and you've got a very clever and no-cost marketing campaign.

When you get down to it, good marketing boils down to creativity, hard work, and common sense. This campaign just reminds me of how much fun it is to roll up your sleeves, put your thinking cap on, and create something from nothing.

What Search Engine Feeds has done RIGHT with their best blog contest - besides nominating us!

Search Engine Feeds has proven they're worth their salt by launching an SEO-friendly, viral campaign...and they've nominated us as one of their "Featured Feed Sources" in the process.

Before I go any further with this post, be sure to vote for us.

The SEF blog has employed a time-tested and always smart marketing tactic -- the contest. This is the kind of marketing idea I love. It's clever, it's easy, it's cheap (or free) and it's effective on so many levels. Just a few of the things Search Engine Feeds has done -- and that anyone can do -- to make an online contest work.

Capitalizing on the fact that everyone wants to win something, SEF made their contest a battle for "most useful" engine marketing blog. Here are some of the crafty tactics they've employed. Read and learn:

1. They created a hyperlinked list of contestants -- Outbound links are an SEM staple, and key for attracting spiders.

2. They asked everyone to include a link to the contest post on their blog. Assuming their request is honored by all nominees, this brings in the ever-so-important inbound link, the "ying" to the outbound link's "yang."  By having an abundance of both, your site becomes very attractive to spiders. Lots of relevant inbound links also raise your Google page rank, which brings me to ....

3. They've kept they're contest extremely relevant. This is a Search blog creating a contest (and inbound and outbound links) for other Search blogs. Does it get anymore SEO-smart than that?

4. Of course they've syndicated their contest post via RSS, which will ensure that the contest appears in any relevant searches in both Google and Yahoo news.

Add the fact that they've created a viral element by emailing notification to the nominees -- and encouraging us to email it to our friends and colleagues...and you've got a very clever and no-cost marketing campaign.

When you get down to it, good marketing boils down to creativity, hard work, and common sense. This campaign just reminds me of how much fun it is to roll up your sleeves, put your thinking cap on, and create something from nothing.

Optimizing your Press Releases for Search - from Search Engine Lowdown (and DigitalGrit)

Search Engine Lowdown, one of the best blogs in the space, offers some excellent tips on optimizing your press releases for the search engines. I'll give you a byte, but definitely read the whole post:

Tips for Maximizing Your PR Efforts in Search Engines
• Include company name and your most important keyphrase in the title of the press release.
• Include company name and keyphrases in line with your PR and SE presence goals throughout the release, though not conspicuously and not to the detriment of readability or sense
• If you're publicly traded, include your ticker symbol in the title of the press release.
• Link your keyphrase in the body of the press release to the page on your site that's optimized for this keyphrase.
• Include contact info and a paragraph targeted specifically towards bloggers

Now, I've been writing what I thought were optimized releases for years... and these no-nonsense tips include ideas I hadn't even considered. For example, the idea of specifically targeting bloggers is beyond clever. As the line between consumer-generated and traditional media (i.e. bloggers v. reporters) grows ever blurrier, we PR folks should consider how to best reach bloggers. Fashioning news releases in a way that appeals to both, while it may be challenging, is definitely smart. (I'll have to look for examples of releases that have successfully managed this -- for my own benefit and yours.)

Anyway, I'd like to add some additional suggestions for optimizing your press releases:

First of all, check out PR Web, particularly if you're not using one of the larger PR services at this point. PR Web allows you to keyword optimize your releases by inserting your own keywords into a dialogue box.  It also, for a small fee, guarantees inclusion in Yahoo and Google News.

Secondly, use analytics to track your release. Most wire services offer basic tools. We use our own proprietary tracking tool, InsightGrit. Every link I included in our releases is coded so I can track every visit and conversion that comes in from the release, no matter where it's been picked up.

Third, be sure to keep your release straightforward and relevant. SEO has certainly taken all the joy out of writing press releases -- the challenge has gone from writing a snappy headline to incorporating as many of your important keywords as possible and still keeping it understandable and somewhat eye-catching. But the clear, concise, well-written release catches the search engines AND the reporters, so stay the course.

Finally, post your release -- or a key portion of it -- on your blog. Seems obvious, but even I forget to do that sometimes.

Incidentally, I love SEL's tip about linking the release's keyword phrases to a landing page specific to that page. Very, very smart stuff.

Although it may seem that PR and SEO are counterintuitive, disciplines stemming from different sides of the brain, they really can -- and need to -- work together. Making it happen is a tough exercise, but it's in your company's best interest to give it a shot.

Optimizing your Press Releases for Search - from Search Engine Lowdown (and DigitalGrit)

Search Engine Lowdown, one of the best blogs in the space, offers some excellent tips on optimizing your press releases for the search engines. I'll give you a byte, but definitely read the whole post:

Tips for Maximizing Your PR Efforts in Search Engines
• Include company name and your most important keyphrase in the title of the press release.
• Include company name and keyphrases in line with your PR and SE presence goals throughout the release, though not conspicuously and not to the detriment of readability or sense
• If you're publicly traded, include your ticker symbol in the title of the press release.
• Link your keyphrase in the body of the press release to the page on your site that's optimized for this keyphrase.
• Include contact info and a paragraph targeted specifically towards bloggers

Now, I've been writing what I thought were optimized releases for years... and these no-nonsense tips include ideas I hadn't even considered. For example, the idea of specifically targeting bloggers is beyond clever. As the line between consumer-generated and traditional media (i.e. bloggers v. reporters) grows ever blurrier, we PR folks should consider how to best reach bloggers. Fashioning news releases in a way that appeals to both, while it may be challenging, is definitely smart. (I'll have to look for examples of releases that have successfully managed this -- for my own benefit and yours.)

Anyway, I'd like to add some additional suggestions for optimizing your press releases:

First of all, check out PR Web, particularly if you're not using one of the larger PR services at this point. PR Web allows you to keyword optimize your releases by inserting your own keywords into a dialogue box.  It also, for a small fee, guarantees inclusion in Yahoo and Google News.

Secondly, use analytics to track your release. Most wire services offer basic tools. We use our own proprietary tracking tool, InsightGrit. Every link I included in our releases is coded so I can track every visit and conversion that comes in from the release, no matter where it's been picked up.

Third, be sure to keep your release straightforward and relevant. SEO has certainly taken all the joy out of writing press releases -- the challenge has gone from writing a snappy headline to incorporating as many of your important keywords as possible and still keeping it understandable and somewhat eye-catching. But the clear, concise, well-written release catches the search engines AND the reporters, so stay the course.

Finally, post your release -- or a key portion of it -- on your blog. Seems obvious, but even I forget to do that sometimes.

Incidentally, I love SEL's tip about linking the release's keyword phrases to a landing page specific to that page. Very, very smart stuff.

Although it may seem that PR and SEO are counterintuitive, disciplines stemming from different sides of the brain, they really can -- and need to -- work together. Making it happen is a tough exercise, but it's in your company's best interest to give it a shot.

Friday Fun: The Future of Search (Scott Delea's Presentation from eComXpo)

Well, education can be fun, too!

Want to see where search is heading? Watch this multimedia presentation on the Future of Search. Learn how local search and consumer-generated media will change the face of "the searchosphere." 

Download scottdelea_the_future_of_search_evolving_seo_ecomxpo_presentation_april_4.pps

Then start thinking about how you need to update your approach to search engine marketing and optmization to stay ahead of the curve -- and at the top of the SERPs !

Friday Fun: The Future of Search (Scott Delea's Presentation from eComXpo)

Well, education can be fun, too!

Want to see where search is heading? Watch this multimedia presentation on the Future of Search. Learn how local search and consumer-generated media will change the face of "the searchosphere." 

Download scottdelea_the_future_of_search_evolving_seo_ecomxpo_presentation_april_4.pps

Then start thinking about how you need to update your approach to search engine marketing and optmization to stay ahead of the curve -- and at the top of the SERPs !

Google Offers Position Preference

One of our account managers just forwarded this info to everyone:

FYI…We can now enter a position preference for our keywords in Google

 

Google Offers Position Preference

One of our account managers just forwarded this info to everyone:

FYI…We can now enter a position preference for our keywords in Google

 

Open Letter to Our Webinar Attendees re: Tech Problems

To everyone who attended our webinar today:

We’re so sorry for the technical issues during today’s event -- we experienced a multitude of audio problems. So apologies to all of you for this. We truly appreciate the time you gave us, and -again -  we're sorry it wasn't spent in the way you anticipated.

Many thanks to those of you who hung in there. Your questions were amazing, and we’re happy that you chose to tough it out with us! We hope you found the content educational and useful.

We will be recording a clean version of this Webinar this very afternoon, and we’ll send you a playback link as soon as it’s available. (We’re assuming that this, at least, will go off without a technical hitch.)

Also, you will be receiving your transcript via email as soon as it’s ready. It will include all slides from the presentation.

We’ll also try to answer all of your questions on the blog over the next few days.

Again, we can’t apologize enough for these technical problems. We look forward to hearing your feedback. And we’ll get you the playback those transcripts ASAP.

Thanks again for participating today.

Sincerely,

Aimee Kessler Evans

Marketing & PR

DigitalGrit

PS - I have to blame this -at least partially - Scott Delea, who at 11:00 this morning said, "Don't be so nervous, Aim. It can't be as bad as July's webinar." Way to jinx us.

Ah, superstitious hindsight is 20/20.

Open Letter to Our Webinar Attendees re: Tech Problems

To everyone who attended our webinar today:

We’re so sorry for the technical issues during today’s event -- we experienced a multitude of audio problems. So apologies to all of you for this. We truly appreciate the time you gave us, and -again -  we're sorry it wasn't spent in the way you anticipated.

Many thanks to those of you who hung in there. Your questions were amazing, and we’re happy that you chose to tough it out with us! We hope you found the content educational and useful.

We will be recording a clean version of this Webinar this very afternoon, and we’ll send you a playback link as soon as it’s available. (We’re assuming that this, at least, will go off without a technical hitch.)

Also, you will be receiving your transcript via email as soon as it’s ready. It will include all slides from the presentation.

We’ll also try to answer all of your questions on the blog over the next few days.

Again, we can’t apologize enough for these technical problems. We look forward to hearing your feedback. And we’ll get you the playback those transcripts ASAP.

Thanks again for participating today.

Sincerely,

Aimee Kessler Evans

Marketing & PR

DigitalGrit

PS - I have to blame this -at least partially - Scott Delea, who at 11:00 this morning said, "Don't be so nervous, Aim. It can't be as bad as July's webinar." Way to jinx us.

Ah, superstitious hindsight is 20/20.