This session coverage is sponsored by Michael Gray who lent me his laptop because mine had no Internetz and threw a tantrum right before the session started. Hey Rae, can I get a Wifi card now? Please? [shakes fist]
Brett Tabke is NOT moderating this panel as advertised and I missed the new moderators name because I was having computer issues. [No wifi = Angry Lisa]. What I do know is that we have speakers Jay Berkowitz, Bill Hartzer, and Chris Winfield up on stage. That and they’re all very, very nice people.
Bill Hartzer is up first. He’s actually already speaking because I’m way late. I hate Internet issues. I HATE THE INTERNET!
Old Style SEO was about creating content on your site. It was on-page optimization, buy links for Google PageRank, buying links for advertising, writing articles for directories, creating link bait, etc. The problem was getting the content on our site noticed. Now we’re in a new age of Social Media SEO. We still concentrate on creating content on our site. We have to worry about our on-page optimization.
Keys to successful social media
- Participate on a regular basis
- Vote and comment often
- Add friends
- Put your site in your profile
- Social media has niches
- Submit to appropriate niche sites
- Use social media to get noticed
- Use social media to help get contextual links
- Use social media to get market share of links.
Market share of links means having more links than others. Being first with market share of links gives you an advantage. You get noticed by humans and noticed by crawler. Humans have the ability to link to you.
How do you get market share? Watch industry for newsworthy content. React quickly and post the content to your site. Submit it to social media sites for links. Edit, update later as necessary.
RSS Feed Promotion
Promote RSS feeds that will help you. You should take advantage of all RSS feeds (the one for your site. the feeds for your social submissions, RSS feeds for those who link to you, etc.). Promote the sites, articles, and blog posts of those who link to you. Remember that a link to you is more powerful if the page that link is on has more links.
Social Media and Search
- Make sure on-site SEO is done.
- Create new link bait content on your site on a regular basis.
- Social media: Participate!
Jay is next. He’s going to wander around the room. This should be fun.
Trend 1: Social Sites are like the new search engines
It’s about an organized, instant search. He’s talking about TweetDeck and I’m about to kick something because I just lost my computer again for 10 minutes. :( I apologize for our tech screw ups today. You deserve better.
Trend 2: Search Results From Social
He shows a SERP for his name and it’s all social content — SlideShare, LinkedIn, etc.
LinkedIn: Complete your full profile. List all your jobs. Use good keyword phrases. Do it for top executives.
Advanced Facebook Fan Pages: You can creaet a sign up form for your own site through Facebook.
People Pond SEO for People: Look it up and check it out.
Trend 3: Social Media Content = Subscriptions and Links
He talks about Guy Kawasaki and his 80,000 followers. I roll my eyes obnoxiously. People retweet him, those are links back to his Web site. The power of social media links are huge.
He talks about Gary Vaynerchuck. 80,000 people are watching his videos online.
Create a “blidget” aka a blog widget and put it on your blog. You can recruit people to add it to their blog so they get the latest news on topic X. Gives your clients links back to their site.
Three Strategies to Capitalize on Search and Social
1. Thew New Search Engine
2. Search Results From Social
3. Content = Links and Subscription
Sigh. Up next is Chris Winfield. He’s the happiest person in SEO. He has to turn this session around for me, right? Right!
Social Media News Overview
New stories chosen by users. It has a huge reach. Many bloggers look to these sites for what is important/hot/cool, etc.
If you can get one of your sites on Digg you’re going to get a tremendous amount of visibility. National, editorial links are given (LOTS of them!).
How does this help you? If you’re getting targeted content out on these social site it’s going to give you a boost in your rankings. It will also boost the authority of your domain.
When you get on Digg, that’s cool. But what’s more cool is that TechCrunch and LifeHacker and TMZ and Gothamist now see your posts and talk about it. Then others see it and it’s submitted to Reddit or to Facebook. Then even more people see it. That’s how things go viral.
He goes through some examples in the wild. I’m not blogging them because (a) you should have been here, (b) he’s flying through them lightening fast, and (c) I am trapped in a Chris Winfield-inspired daydream. He’s just so gosh darn happy. I will tell you that he made a “palin nude” joke and everyone laughed.
Additional Non-SEO Byproducts
- Traffic
- Ad impressions
- RSS Subscribers
- Conversions
- Publicity
Tips to Make It Work For You
- Stay on topic with link bait
- Make it linkable
- Adhere to site’s TOS to make sure you or your site isn’t banned
Question and Answer
Do links overcome everything?
Chris: He jokes yes. The content has to be amazing. A lot of people believe that the social signals are really important, as well. Everyone has the Google toolbar. Google’s looking to see how people are getting to your content. Chris says “links are mad important”. :)
You can only rank for so many keywords. You’re not going to get long tail keywords based off just links.
Chris: Right. You need a comprehensive Internet marketing strategy. You should be doing what works for your company. You shouldn’t just be doing content, you shouldn’t just be doing SEO, you shouldn’t just be doing social media.
How would you recommend someone get on the Digg home page?
Chris: You want to build up your network on that site. You want to understand what works. The amazing thing about a site like Digg is that most people who are really active on Digg are also on a lot of different sites, as well. If they’re on Digg, they’re probably on StumbleUpon or Reddit. Look at the different niche sites that will fit you.
Holy computer issues, Batman.
