SEO Marketing Expert – Gaining Visibility

It’s not that hard to gain some recognition as an SEO marketing specialist.

I just tried.

It started in 2005 when I got a chance to speak for the first time at a Search Engine Strategies conference. I’ve always been grateful to Danny Sullivan for giving me a shot.

Between then and now, I’ve spoken at a lot of different places and written many articles and industry guides. The effort has paid off for the places that hired me and my career. Everyone wins.

The key is to be authentic and informative. I make sure that nothing I say, present or write is like a big advertisement. That wouldn’t sit too well with anyone.

Have I been accepted to speak every place I contacted? No.

But I kept trying. Timing (and a good topic) paid off.

Here are some of the subjects I have covered and the organizations that have been kind enough to welcome me – both for speaking and for writing.

• “SEO Overkill,” “Can You Please Them All?” “75 Minute Search Abs,” “SEM Pricing Models,” and “Dealing with Difficult Clients” – Search Engine Strategies conferences in New York, Chicago and san Jose
• “How To Turn Search Engines Into Sales Machines” – What’s Working Now! Conference
• “How To Boost Your Website ROI” – American Marketing Association, Cleveland chapter
• “How To Reach More Customers in A Search Engine Marketing World”  –Franchisee meeting (2008)
• “Reaching New Bank Customers”  – Banking and marketing workshop
• “SEO and SEM: What Does It Take to Succeed?”  – Educational Travel Conference in Providence, Rhode Island
• “All About Search Engine Optimization” – University of Toledo Internet Conference

In the News…

• “10 Minutes with Mike Murray”– Marketing News magazine
• “San Jose – Search Engine Strategies” – WebProNews Video Interview
• “Hot Links” – LifeTips, WebmasterRadio
• “Start Your Search Engines” – Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine
• “Study: Health Sites Fail on Natural Search Marketing” – Direct Marketing Association Blog
• “Manufacturers Need to Learn the Joy of Search Engines” – IndustryWeek
• “SEO for Large Corporations” – SEO Radio

And stuff I wrote:

• “10 Critical Errors to Avoid with Your SEO Campaign”– Visibility magazine
• “It’s Not Mojo: How to Take the Guesswork Out of Keyword Selection” – WebProNews
•  “Tips for Taking a Holistic Approach to SEO & PPC” – SEO video
• “Google Duped By Massive Comment Tag Stuffing Ploy” – Search Engine Land’s Sphinn discussion forum, citing blog post
• “Excuse Me While I Give My Sales To Someone Else” – ReveNews
• “Improve Your SEO in Minutes with Titles” – iMedia Connection
• “How Lousy SEO Smothers Good Practices” – WebProNews
• “New Archenemies? SEO and ROI – Say It Ain’t So, Joe” – Marketing Pilgrim
• “Is Search Engine Optimization Worth It? SEO and the ROI Debacle” – an industry guide
• “U.S. Health Care Web Sites Resist Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Sales Leads,” national study of 350 health care companies
• “10 Ways to Master SEO Keyword Selection” – eMarketing & Commerce(eM+C)
• “13 Ways to Sabbotage Your SEO Efforts” – WebProNews
• “Ranking Analysis – How to Look Beyond What Is or Isn’t Ranking” – SiteProNews
• “How to Navigate Online Marketing’s Slippery Path” – SiteProNews

SEO Marketing and Web Marketing Strategy Writing Tips

If you want to do well with SEO marketing and a web marketing strategy, just be an expert.

But you don’t need to be an online marketing specialist.

Let me explain.

I can’t tell you how many business executives I meet who are enormously gifted and smart. They just don’t share their knowledge with the world.

But they should.

Being a member of a trade association is a good start. They have all sorts of publications and ties to places that do.  Or, every industry is packed with online magazines that may accept their articles.

It just takes time. Sure, every pitch won’t be accepted. But it’s not that hard to find an online publication willing to accept an article.

The key is to be informative without being a sales rep. For some people, that may be a tall order – writing something that manages to promote the business while leaving the reader fulfilled. Again, it’s not difficult. Just don’t mention your product or service.

Some people may ask, “What’s the point?” It’s about credibility. If you write for the industry, you build notoriety – fast. And every article includes a bio with a reference to the business. Plus, you get a link to your web site. Links can influence natural search engine rankings.

If writing isn’t one of your God-given gifts, then talk to someone who can take some notes or give them an edge with some bullet points.

The bottom line is that an article is invaluable – for image, links and so much more. Cite the article when approaching prospects. Tease it in a e-mail newsletter. Feature it in your social media efforts. You get all of that – and more – for writing one article.

Bonus tip: Repurpose your article into anything else you need content for – like your web site, a PDF people can download, etc.

Internet Home Page Marketing Tips

If you want to do better with search engines, pay attention to your Internet home page that packs a lot of power – and for good reason.

It’s typically the most visited page and your web site navigation points to it.

Sure, you may want someone to go to a specific product or service page.

At the end of the day it may be the home page that they discover first.

What’s on that page that may drive someone to the right page after the home page. What conversion opportunities are there?  Is there a short form? What about a phone number?  Is there a download opportunity for a white paper? Can you announce a special offer?

A home page does so well because other web sites link to it from the outside.  It’s not abnormal for a newsletter and other web site or a directory to link your home page merely out of protocol. In other words, it’s the beneficiary of how people link. Links are crucial because search engines put a lot of stock in them.

Search engines determine whether websites linking to yours are related. Search engines also look at what text someone uses when they link to you, especially the text that’s within the link or near the link. Everything makes a difference.

Again, your home page needs a terrific web design. What words are you using and where are they located?  What headlines and subheads are you using? What words are boldfaced and what words are hyperlinked? What pictures you use will make an impact. Your home page must make it easy for someone to get around and to understand what it is you even do.

If your home page ranks well for some keywords, don’t do anything drastic. If you go in, make simple changes, subtle adjustments and measure the results.  You don’t want to capsize your efforts just because you get a little too greedy or you naively make alterations without really knowing what you’re doing.

Need an online marketing specialist? I can help.

Keyword Rankings and Shortcuts

Some people would argue that there are no shortcuts when it comes to keyword research for keyword rankings.

I disagree.

You can only do so much given everything else on your plate.  Your search engine optimization or SEO campaign will never be perfect.  So cut yourself some slack with keyword search engine optimization.

Do the best you can with your time and your talent.  Unfortunately, there are some people who would expect to use all 50 keyword tools if there was an official list of 50 keyword tools and techniques.

I don’t know all the ways that you can tap to research keyword phrases.  You could look at Google’s free keyword tool.  But it’s better to get a Google account in accessed more data.  You can go to Keyword Discovery.  Or you can check out the competition.  And that’s just the start.

The extent of your keyword research is an important topic.  Sure, you don’t want to go overboard.  We don’t want you to claim you’re busy either and just try one keyword research tactic.  You have to decide how much keyword research your website merits.  Do you really need to research all of the keywords at the beginning?  Or can you target a certain product, a series of products or maybe a section of the website?

Keep in mind as you look at possible keyword phrases that different online marketing research resources will have considerable common ground.  In other words, you’re going to come across the same keyword  phrases no matter where you look.

Sometimes you need to get creative.  I was running out of ideas ones so I got a large book on a topic, skipped the Table of Contents and went right for the index that provided ample ideas for keyword.  It never hurts to ask someone, particularly the customer, how he would look for your product or service.  Can you imagine a web site owner targeting “autos” when his customers are searching for “cars”?  Or maybe the campaign needs to be robust and target both.

At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself whether you made the effort that you should have to help increase your search engine visibility.  Get rolling, measure what you’ve accomplished and adjust.