Author Archive

0

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Posted by rebecca
June 19, 2009

Posted by rebecca

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings."

We can talk about the temperature of the sea and the possibility of winged pork some other time; for now, I want to talk about one thing, and that’s how ridiculously good Up is. Seriously, Pixar can do no wrong. Go see it if you haven’t already. Oh, and this is my last post as an SEOmoz employee.

What’s that, you want to talk more about that second piece of news? Oh, fine, be that way. After 3 1/2 years as an SEOmozzer, I’ve decided to part ways with the company that introduced me to Internet marketing. Rand received the company credit card statement in the mail and saw that I charged $7500 worth of ShamWows to the corporate account, so I had to turn in my key and clear out my desk. Now he’ll have to clean up his office spills with measly paper towels. Sucker!

Actually, the fact of the matter is that while I greatly enjoyed working at the mozplex, I felt it was time to venture off and explore bigger opportunities elsewhere. I haven’t finalized my new job yet but have received numerous offers from potential suitors and am planning on holding a rose ceremony within the next two weeks to crown my eventual employer (it’ll be like an episode of The Bachelor, only with fewer whores). In the meantime, I’ve set up an Internet marketing blog called Fresh Edge Media that will be the new home to my snarky ramblings about SEO. Go visit it and become a FEMbot! FEMbots are the new mozfans! I may also accept the occasional SEO contract or freelance Internet marketing work, so send some stuff my way if you’d like to help ensure that I have a roof over my head.

SEOmoz has been a great home to me these past few years. I’ve become close friends with my coworkers and have gotten some great mentoring from my bosses. I’ll miss having lunches with the devs, giggling about Q&A with Jen, working on contracts with Lindsay, and making fun of Danny’s ever-changing facial hair. Most of all, though, I’ll miss the great community at SEOmoz. You guys sure know how to make a gal feel special, and I feel truly privileged to have interacted with each and every one of you. SEOmoz would be nothing without its readers, and I thank you all for being such friendly, loyal members.

I’ll still pop in every once in a while to post comments and to berate my successor for not catching a typo or deleting a spam comment, but you can also catch me at my new marketing blog my hobby athlete blog, on LinkedIn and on Twitter. You can also email me at relizkel@gmail.com if you want to say hello or if you’d like to lure me into a lucrative new job position (I can be bought easily–good thing I’m not a government spy). I’ll likely announce where I end up via Twitter and on my blog in the coming weeks. Until then, enjoy this photo montage (I recommend humming Green Day’s "Time of Your Life" to yourself as you peruse). So long!


Meeting Vanessa Fox at the first conference I attended, SES Latino in 2006


My favorite pic of me and Matt, former CTO of SEOmoz


Sneaking off to Paris with Scott and Boser


My first speaking gig at Searchfest 2007


The best coworkers a girl could ever ask for

See ya soon!

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

IMC Stockholm, Swedish Meatballs and New Friends

Posted by rebecca
June 10, 2009

Posted by rebecca

A couple weeks ago I went to Sweden to speak at IMC Stockholm. I had a really lovely time exploring the beautiful city as well as speaking at IMC and networking with marketers from all over the world. I thought I’d provide a recap of my trip and share some conference coverage with all of you who didn’t attend the conference but are curious as to what it entailed. Enjoy!

Stockholm: A Photo Recap

In a nutshell, Stockholm is beautiful, I had a great time exploring the city and I definitely want to go back and visit again. Here are a few photos:


SAS has cup holders that fold down from your tray table, allowing you to use the cup holder without
having the tray down. Such a simple perk that instantly made me mad at every other airline.


My first meal in Sweden was indeed Swedish meatballs. Maybe I was just exhausted
and starving, but they were crack addiction delicious.


The Vasa, aka the world’s only surviving 17th century ship. It’s almost as old as Larry King (hey-oooo).


Me standing under a "diving bell" that was used to salvage weapons
and small items from the sunken Vasa ship.


Manstery Guest getting his "fika" on (aka "coffee break"). The Swedes take their coffee very seriously.


Me looking like a vodka-swilling Eskimo at the Absolut Ice Bar.

IMC Stockholm

IMC Stockholm was organized by Lars Nordstrom, Lennart Svanberg and Lars Johansson. It took place over three days, May 26-28. Day 1 was Affiliate Day and was conducted entirely in Swedish so I didn’t attend (lest I offend people with my horrible Swedish Chef impression). Day 2 consisted of a single track conference, and Day 3 was devoted to special workshops for attendees. Below is a recap of Day 2’s sessions.

Combining the Best of the Web: Maria Ziv and Tommy Sollén from VisitSweden

Their goal: to build Sweden’s brand to other countries in order to increase the country’s attractiveness. A country is like a brand; if there’s an affinity for the brand, people will use it (or in this case, travel to it).

What they did:

  • Defined some core values that are specific to Sweden as part of their brand platform
  • Worked on improving their interactive communication
  • Analyzed the site’s current needs and new trends and established a new vision for the website
  • Wanted more efficient use of resources, interactive communication, modern navigation and SEO friendliness

Result:

  • New site has more images, maps, better interactivity (can plan a trip, watch videos, book hotels, etc.)
  • Was awarded Sweden’s Best Website by Internetworld in 2008
  • Set up the CommunityofSweden.com blog to be transparent with their readers and let them know what they were doing with the site and to ask for feedback. It was a great way to build an initial group of users and attract page views and buzz.
  • Won the Best Online Social Community Episerver Award in 2009
  • They utilize Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and "Add This" buttons to share/spread content and engage with their fans and community members

Making Social Media Profitable: Susan-Rice London from Master the New Net and Patrick Schwerdtfeger from Tactical Execution

Biggest takeaways:

  • Social media is not just a set of tools, it’s a community. It’s not just observation, it’s relationships, connections, sharing, collaboration, and creation.
  • Social media isn’t a new idea; it’s simply a variation of one of the oldest human activities: communication.
  • The biggest hurdle to overcome with social media marketing is getting over the "I’m not social!" hump. Companies need to find their own humanity, and it’s important to identify and capture your corporation/person. Share your essence and figure out an appropriate corporate voice, and dare to make mistakes.

Top 12 SEO Tips for 2009/Keynote: Mitch Joel, Twist Image

Some other guy was supposed to do the Top 12 SEO Tips panel but he was a no-show (how rude!), so Mitch Joel took over the panel at the last minute (and even hastily prepared a slide deck for the session). He also gave a very entertaining keynote that incorporated Journey videos, so I of course was an instant fan. (Interesting aside: the keynote was given after lunch, which I think is a good idea because if it’s boring then everyone will just sit in a post-lunch sleepy coma anyway, and if it’s a good keynote then everyone will perk up and have a good time. Either way, it’s better than subjecting three panelists to the dreaded Post-Lunch Slot.)

How to Use the 6 Conversion Rate Factors to Lift Your ROI: Chris Goward, WiderFunnel

Chris gave my favorite presentation. He specializes in conversion rate optimization and had a really awesome presentation full of case studies and great examples. He also hosted a conversion rate workshop that was very well attended. I’ll likely interview him for our blog in the coming weeks, so check back to learn more about Chris and his business.

The Conversion Rate LIFT Model:

  • Value proposition
  • Relevance
  • Clarity
  • Anxiety
  • Distraction
  • Urgency

Lift Model Analysis Examples:

Clarity:

  • The tagline doesn’t include a benefit
  • "Learn More" is more prominent than "Join Now"
  • Subheaders contain no features or benefits
  • The "Join Now" button is below the fold
  • It takes many clicks to get to individual products
  • Uneven images disturbs eye flow
  • Inconsistent mix of link treatment adds to confusion

Relevance:

  • Headlines don’t match search keywords

Distraction:

  • Animation reduces user control (generally, flash animation will depress conversions, so remove any flash animation that hasn’t been test and proven to work)
  • Many links redirect attention
  • The screenshots aren’t tied to the benefits
  • The feature image is unclickable

Value proposition:

  • The headline contains no value proposition
  • The page is missing reasons why you should shop here

Anxiety:

  • Users are worried about giving up personal information with no explanation or assurance of what it’s being used for

Urgency:

  • Page is missing/under-emphasizing urgent keywords/phrasing (e.g., "Join Now!")

Conversion rate optimization tips:

  • Don’t automatically believe best practices. Be sure to test for yourself to see what works for you. For example, one of Chris’s clients found that having the McAfee secure shopping logo in his shopping cart somehow decreased conversion rates by 1.1%. 
  • Start with A/B/n testing before multivariate.
  • Get the process right–follow it and be rigorous about changes. You may have to tweak your conversion rate process several times in order to get results, but be diligent instead of focusing too much on initial results.

Your Eyes Don’t Lie–What Works and What Doesn’t In Advertising: Mihkel Jaatma, Realeyes

Mihkel gave an overview of eye tracking and how it works. When conducting eye tracking, it’s important to have a sufficient sample size (reliable results start with samples of 30-50 people). He shared some test results with us that were really interesting. It seemed that of the following sites’ ads, Ebay’s were the "catchiest" to visitors. He also shared some banner ad variations and showed us which ones performed better based on eye tracking results. It was a neat presentation that gave a nice drill down of eye tracking and page layout.

Truly Understanding Visitor Behavior: Ewald Hoppen, wehkamp.nl

Ewald took us through some visitor behavior examples. I don’t have many notes from his presentation, so I apologize for that (maybe you can bug him for his slide deck if you’re super duper interested).

Websites Gone Bad: When Small Design Flaws Cost Big Money: Tom Calahan, Lost Ferret

Tom and I immediately hit it off over our mutual love of movies and general snarkiness. He owns a web conversion company in southern England. Below are highlights from his presentation:

  • A lot of companies still believe in acquiring traffic ahead of improving their website. They overload their websites with too much data and information, resulting in information overload and not knowing what to look for.
  • He focused a lot of his presentation on basket and checkout abandonment and highlighted some great examples:
    • Busy landing page
    • Hard to read/find the shopping cart
    • Lacking a clear call to action
    • Key information was hidden
    • Missing a clear/easily readable phone number
    • Basket is too low on the page
    • Security information is hidden
    • Weak call to action
    • Limited payment options
    • No progress indicator
  • Customer concerns to keep in mind:
    • When will it arrive?
    • What if I want to return it?
    • Is it secure?
    • What are your credentials?
    • Have I ordered the right item?
    • What payment options do you offer?
    • Can I speak to someone about my order?
    • Who else has bought from you?
    • Do I need to register?
  • Key points of basket completion:
    • Will it work in every browser?
    • Is the product information clear/easily labeled?
    • Make error messages readable and human-sounding
    • Offer assurances (e.g., "Shop with Confidence," "Safe and Easy Shopping")
    • Keep selling even throughout basket completion (there are still customers who will need a bit of persuasion)
  • Be careful in how you handle coupons. Display them carefully, because a lot of people may think they can get a product cheaper elsewhere and will leave to find out.
  • Be aware of the cons of one page checkouts (you can’t see who’s abandoned without additional development or software)
  • Don’t force anyone to register (low registration rates)

I was on a panel about Cost Effective Marketing Strategies. My fellow panelists were nice and very knowledgeable, but I wish we had operated under a different format. It didn’t feel as interactive as I’d have hoped, but hopefully the audience still derived some value from the panels. I was able to redeem myself the next day when I ran the SEO workshop (the no-show guy was originally supposed to run it but I stepped in when he seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth). Since I didn’t have a presentation or anything prepared, I ran the workshop as a site audit class and went through each attendee’s website and gave some SEO tips and suggestions.

Overall, I had a really nice time at IMC Stockholm. It’s a small but fun conference series, and I met a lot of great people from the US, Canada and Europe. There’s an IMC Vancouver coming up in the fall, so hopefully you’ll be able to make it out to that one (and I may be speaking, so come out and support your favorite mozzer).


Networking at IMC Stockholm

Lennart the Hospitable Swede

After the conference was over, later that week after inadvertently crashing a yacht club party (totally true–we got free burgers but had to sit through an hour-long slideshow presentation about Swedish boat races), Lennart invited me, Manstery Guest and Patrick to his house for a homemade Thai lunch courtesy of his wife, Sandra. Not one to pass up an opportunity to eat, I graciously accepted.


Lennart’s wife and daughter, Sonja, at the yacht club party (1/2 Swedish + 1/2 Thai = 100% adorable)

We had a ridiculously lavish and delicious meal that I’ve documented below to make you all jealous:


Thai soup that contained prawns and some sort of magically delicious broth


Chicken curry


Ridiculously tasty omelet thingies that were filled with spicy-sweet pork and other fixins


Dessert #1: Chocolates and Liqueur


Dessert #2: A concoction of Willy Wonka proportions

We got stuffed so full of Thai food and alcohol that I feared we were getting plumped up for some cruel Swedish version of foi gras. Patrick threw in the towel and succumbed to his food coma:


Dreaming of ABBA, no doubt

I had a fantastic time with Lennart and his family. Huge thanks to them for being gracious and wonderful hosts. And thanks to the IMC organizers, especially Lars Johansson, for inviting me to speak at IMC Stockholm. It was a fabulous experience and I really appreciate the opportunity. Hopefully I can bring you more IMC conference coverage in the future!


Lennart, me with a statue sprouting from my head, and Manstery Guest

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

SEOmoz Best of May 2009

Posted by rebecca
June 9, 2009

Posted by rebecca

Happy June, evvabody! Here’s what happened last month in case you were bedridden with swine flu:

Best Blog Posts in May 2009

  1. If I Could Go Back In Time & Give Myself Some Advice, This Would Be It. If Rand could turn back tiiiiiime…if he could find a wayyyyyyyyy…Rand hops into his DeLorean and gives his 2007 self some advice, including "Use email marketing," "Invest in your affiliate program," and "Don’t try to rip off the Libyans."
  2. 10 Resources That Changed How I View the Internet. Danny shares some stuff that’s substantially changed his view of the Internet. (Spoiler alert: his view of the Internet largely consists of porn.)
  3. URL Rewrites and 301 Redirects - How Does It All Work? New hire Jen gets all Mr. Wizard on us and gives us a handy step-by-step of how URL rewrites and 301 redirects work, complete with lovely visual aids.
  4. Rewriting the Beginner’s Guide Part X: Measuring and Tracking Success. Rand has finally completed the Beginner’s Guide series of blog posts. Now all we have to do is slap that beeyotch together and add an appendix and Bob’s your uncle.
  5. Whiteboard Friday - Link Farming. Rand talks about why link farming is bad, m’kay.

Best YOUmoz Posts in May 2009:

  1. The Real Power of Twitter. Dr. Pete knows what the REAL power of Twitter is, and he shares it with all of us. (It’s people! Twitter is peeeeeee-ple!)
  2. Weapons-Grade SEO Part 1: Laying the Foundation. Colewhitelaw teaches us how to create a "profoundly optimized" site that’s largely self-sustaining.
  3. Utilizing Twitter in a Link Building Campaign. Nicchenet shares some link building tips the ol’ Twitter way.
  4. The Seven Deadly Sins of Company Blogging. Chris Lister debuts a sinfully good list about common blogging missteps, and he tops it all off with Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in a box. (Okay, maybe not that last part.)
  5. Lost in the Ocean of Ghost Writers. SEMWarrior shares his struggle to find a quality ghost writer. I know what he means, what with them always spontaneously bursting into flames and turning into skeletons and whatnot…wait, that’s Ghost Rider. Oh. That explains a lot, actually.

Tool Updates and Launches in May 2009:

Monthly YOUmoz Contest Winner

Last month the monthly YOUmoz blog theme was social media marketing. We received a good chunk of submissions (many of which were about Twitter) that I’ve listed below:  

Wow, look at all those entries! We had a lot of great posts, but there can be only one winner this month. So, without further ado, paging Dr. Pete, Dr. Pete, you’re wanted in the winner’s circle so we can feed you a carrot and brush your glossy coat. Pete wrote a great, simple, straightforward and practical post about the best way to leverage Twitter, and not only did it get promoted to the main blog, it won him a lovely $50 Amazon.com gift certificate. Congratulations, Pete!

YOUmoz Theme for June 2009

And the YOUmoz theme for June 2009 is (drumroll please)…case studies!

We’ve kept it simple–all we want is to hear some great case studies from you guys. Whether you’ve got a personal anecdote or you have a client example, please share them with the SEOmoz community. We want to hear both success stories and failed attempts–submit them all! They should all prove to be a great learning experience (besides, sharing is good, as we all learned in kindergarten). Start cooking up your blog posts and submit them today!

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

Belated Thursday Roundup for the Week of 5/31/09

Posted by rebecca
June 5, 2009

Posted by rebecca

Stories, news, and other notable items from the past 3 weeks:

YOUmoz entries:

Best of YOUmoz:

New additions to the SEOmoz Marketplace:

Featured job postings:

Featured companies:

United States:

UK / Europe:

Asia:

Australia/New Zealand:

Miscellaneous:

Featured resumes:

Currently looking:

Happily employed:

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

Internet Marketing in the Movies: Are People Starting to "Get" It?

Posted by rebecca
May 26, 2009

Posted by rebecca

Since I’m a movie buff and an Internet marketing nerd, I often notice Internet marketing and search mentions in various movies, and I always pay attention to the movie URL shown in trailers (my two recent favorites: the URL for Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming Bruno film was www.meinspace.com/bruno, but it looks like now it’s redirecting to MySpace.com, and the URL for I Love You, Beth Cooper is www.iloveyoubethcoopermovie.com, making me wonder why they had to append "movie" to such a specific URL). Recently I came across two examples where the movie industry referenced or directly utilized Internet marketing/social media marketing, and it got me wondering if Internet marketing is finally starting to become more mainstream (meaning fewer people will look at you with blank faces as you try to describe what you do for a living).

The first example comes from Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, The Girlfriend Experience. Available in theaters and via Comcast On Demand, the movie is about a high-end escort in NYC and her relationship with her boyfriend and her clients and their stresses about the current economic crisis and financial instability (the movie takes place right before the 2008 Presidential elections). In one scene the main character is having a conversation with a web developer/designer about her website, and one of her questions is "How do I get my site to appear high up in search engines?" His answer is so-so–he mentions that she has to submit her site to a lot of directories and other sites, which is a "well, yes and no" response–but he does sum up the conversation by telling her that she’ll need a lot of links, which was a pleasant surprise (I’m used to hearing a lot of really appalling search misconceptions).

I was pretty geeked to see that Steven Soderbergh kinda-sort of addressed SEO in one of his movies. Internet marketing isn’t really something you see in commercials or movies–I mean, there’s really nobody buying commercial space to advertise their marketing services, and you never watch a movie about the cute hipster Internet marketer who’s trying to woo the unattainable hot girl, only to find out that his nerdy best friend is actually the girl he’s in love with. Could the mention of SEO, albeit brief and a wee bit inaccurate (well, maybe not "inaccurate" so much as "requires more explanation"), be a step in the direction of mainstream notoriety?

My second example comes from the Cannes Film Festival. A movie is making the rounds at Cannes this year and attracting a ton of buzz. Not only is it a zombie movie (which is awesome in its own right), but it was made for a mind blowing $70. The movie, called Colin, is a zombie film that takes place from the zombie’s perspective, and it cost less to make than most DVD box sets. The filmmaker was able to put it together by utilizing Facebook and MySpace to round up movie extras, helpers and all sorts of people who wanted to be involved in the making of a zombie flick. This movie is a ridiculous example of how you can use social media marketing and networking to benefit your brand. Not only was he able to get volunteers for his movie and make his dream a reality, he generated buzz by building brand evangelists and by getting fans involved and having them spread the word.

If people nowadays are able to make a movie and promote it primarily through social networking and social media marketing, shouldn’t that reinforce the benefits to your clients or to your own team of marketers? You could argue that if it’s becoming more mainstream and commonplace to do SMM since it’s "all the rage" right now that it’s going to get too crowded, but I just think that means you have to ensure that your marketing efforts are that much more clever and better than everyone else. It’s certainly what this guy did–tons of people promote their bands and movies and comedy acts and whatnot via MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, etc., but not everyone succeeds. It’s a mixture of having the right product, clever and persistent marketing, and properly utilizing your social networking channels that equates to a great viral campaign.

So what do you guys think? Can you recall any examples from movies, music or television that lend credence to the notion that Internet marketing is becoming more "mainstream," or do we nerdy marketers still have to huddle in a corner to have our geek conversations while the masses go about their lives dishing about Jon and Kate’s imploding marriage and what Tom Hanks’ hair looks like in his new Robert Langdon movie?

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

Lessons Learned from 3 Years of Blogging

Posted by rebecca
May 21, 2009

Posted by rebecca

The beginning of this month (May 2nd, to be exact) marked my 3 year anniversary as a blogger. My first post on SEOmoz was a paragraph long and consisted of asking our readers if they know of any Spanish-language SEO blogs. It attracted 18 comments. Huzzah! Since then, I’ve published 241 more posts, with this one being #243. I thought I’d reflect back on my three years of blogging and share the good, the bad, the downright ugly, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way.


Phase I: Asking Questions
I wrote 4 posts in May of 2006, and each of them centered on a question posited to the community:

At this point in my long and storied career at SEOmoz, I had been occupying a desk within the company for 4 short months (3 of which were as an intern), so I still had a lot to learn about SEO, Internet marketing, and, actually, about the Internet in general. I didn’t feel confident enough to blog about something as an "expert" or provide my input/opinion on a topic, so I resorted to asking open-ended questions in order to get feedback from our blog audience and establish a connection with them.

Lesson Learned:
The biggest lesson I learned with my first few posts was that you don’t have to be the expert when you blog, especially when you’ve got a good chunk of readers. It’s important to ask for feedback and reach out to your community for their input. I think they respect you more when you admit that you have limits and appreciate them for their opinions and level of expertise.


Phase II: Editorializing Existing Articles
My blogging evolved into me finding an article or blog post and talking about it (and, of course, ending with a question for our readers). With these types of posts I was able to inject a bit of personal interpretation and my input into them. I still wasn’t touting my knowledge level or expertise, but providing opinions about other people’s blog posts allowed me to step forward a bit and let my voice be heard.

Lesson Learned:
If you can’t think of anything to blog about or still aren’t confident in your "expert" abilities, there’s always an article or some news that you can highlight and add a personal spin to.

Phase III: Establishing a Voice
Once I got a handful of posts under my belt, I started to feel more comfortable sitting at a keyboard, Doogie Howser-style, and I was able to add my personality and voice more freely to my blog posts. I’ve always had a knack for writing, so I really enjoyed (and still do) injecting a little bit of myself into the posts I authored. I think that if someone were to remove the authors from a bunch of different posts and ask "Which one did Rebecca write?", you’d be able to identify mine pretty easily. :)

Lesson Learned:
At this point, even though I was still learning and considered myself to be a beginner SEO, I was comfortable enough with our readers and my coworkers that I could start being myself and letting my posts reflect who I was as a person. I think that’s one of the most important lessons learned when it comes to blogging. The thing that separates the good bloggers from the bad is their voice. What makes you read one blog over another? Sure, a lot of factors come into play, such as the frequency of updates, the quality of information, the level of expertise, etc. But for me, the thing that makes one blogger stand out amongst the throngs of everyone else is his ability to inject his personality into what he’s writing. I’m still no SEO expert, and I don’t pretend to be. Nonetheless, people still enjoy what I’ve got to say because I say it differently than anyone else, and that uniqueness I bring to the table is what defines me and makes me interesting.

Now that I’m at Phase III (profit!!!), I thought I’d share some other blogging odds and ends that I noticed after perusing through old posts.

Recurring Blogging Traits

1. Using punny titles that usually work in a movie, music or pop culture reference

Lesson Learned:
Constructing a fun and eye-catching title is a good way to attract attention to your posts. Since I’m a huge dork, I like working in some sort of pop culture reference–it’s a good way to identify fellow nerds who march to the beat of the same drum as I do. :)

2. Feigning abuse at the hands of Rand

Lesson Learned:
Sometimes it’s good to take a lighthearted, joking tone: it makes the post more fun to read, and if you can find a way to identify with the audience (by, say, pretending the leader of the company you blog for is a sadist), they’ll enjoy your blogging even more.

3. Writing completely useless blog posts that people somehow nonetheless seem to like

Lesson Learned:
A little humor goes a long way. Sure, the posts are off-topic and have little to no actual marketing tips, but it’s nice to take a break from the usual blogging schedule and present something fun for your readers. Plus, they seem to like it–the latter two posts I listed are among the most popular ever on SEOmoz, and they’re certainly two of the most popular posts I’ve authored.

4. Using personal interests as an analogy or direct example (with food, movies and training/exercise being my most frequent go-to subjects)

Lesson Learned:
I like using analogies and examples that I know/care about. Analogies and examples strengthen your point and make your post more understandable and relatable for your readers. If you use examples that have a close personal tie to you, you’re more likely to be excited about blogging. Plus, your readers will get to know you and will establish a personal bond, which will bring them back to your blog again and again.

Random Stats:

Most popular blogging categories:

Number of posts about Matt Cutts: 10, 7 of which are video transcription posts, and all of which make fun of him in some capacity.

Number of posts I published but didn’t write: 6 (they were written by our six hiring candidates)

Posts with the most thumbs (since the thumbs system has been implemented):

Favorite Posts:

Lessons Learned:

Least Favorite Posts:

Lessons Learned:

Polarizing Posts:

Lessons Learned:

Well, that about wraps up my retrospective on my three years of blogging here at SEOmoz. Blogging for this company has pretty much shaped my career and my image into what it is today, and it’s opened countless doors for me professionally. I can definitively say for a fact that blogging can be an invaluable asset if you know how to approach it. I’ve learned a ton about blogging and about myself in the past few years, and I hope the lessons I’ve shared can be of some benefit to you too. In the meantime, here’s to many more years of blogging about movies, marketing, and the wrath of Rand. ;)

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

Weekend Roundup for the Week of 5/10/09

Posted by rebecca
May 15, 2009

Posted by rebecca

Stories, news, and other notable items from the past week:

YOUmoz entries:

Best of YOUmoz:

New additions to the SEOmoz Marketplace:

Featured job postings:

Featured companies:

United States:

Canada:

UK / Europe:

Asia:

Featured resumes:

Currently looking:

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

Upcoming Spring 2009 Search Conferences

Posted by rebecca
May 13, 2009

Posted by rebecca

The weather’s getting nicer, the days are getting longer and Rand’s barely in the office. You know what that means: it’s conference season! Since there are so many conferences right around the corner, I thought I’d list some upcoming events in case you’re thinking of attending a show but aren’t sure which one to book.

SMX London in London, UK: May 18-19, 2009

SMX London is next week in jolly ol’. I won’t go into too many details since Rand covered 10 reasons you must attend SMX London, but I will say that PRO members receive a 10% discount on event registration. Also, you should go because in London you can eat pasties and drink bitters, and that alone should be worth the traveling costs.

IMC Stockholm in Stockholm, Sweden: May 26-28, 2009

I’m speaking at IMC Stockholm at the end of the month. Day 1 of the conference is dedicated to affiliate marketing, while Day 2 is the main conference day and Day 3 is full of various workshops (Google Adwords, social media, conversion optimization, customer experience management, and more). I’ll be speaking on a panel about Cost Effective Online Marketing, and there are a lot of other interesting session topics, such as the Top 12 SEO Tips for 2009, How to Use the Six Conversion Rate Factors to Lift Your ROI, Making Social Media Profitable, and Recession-Proof Online Strategies. I’m really looking forward to attending and speaking at IMC Stockholm–the agenda seems very practical, there will be a lot of  new people to meet, and, of course, I get to explore Stockholm for a week. If you’re interested in attending, you can receive a 20% discount off the registration cost by using the code imc-speaker. Hopefully I’ll see you there!

SMX Advanced in Seattle, Washington: June 2-3, 2009

SMX is hosting their third advanced conference in Seattle, and it’s right in SEOmoz’s backyard. Having attended both previous Advanced conferences, I can say that the event gets better each year, and I’m sure that this year there will be a lot of great, valuable information for intermediate to advanced SEOs. The Give It Up session alone should be worth the cost of admission. Also, if you attend you’ll get to meet several members of the SEOmoz team as we’ll be showcasing our suite of PRO tools at our Expo Hall booth. And you may run into us at various networking functions in the evening. ;) PRO members receive 10% off registration costs, so register today and we’ll see you in a few weeks!

SMX Madrid in Spain: June 3-4, 2009

¿Hablas español? ¡No problema! SMX Madrid is happening right after Advanced in lovely Madrid, Spain. The conference is in Spanish and offers both basic and advanced tracks. Yo estoy triste que no puedo asistir la conferencia, pero ojalá que algún día pueda visitar a España y conocer algunos vendedores españoles.

SES Toronto in Toronto, Ontario: June 8-10, 2009

For our neighbors to the north, SES Toronto is next month. Organized by smartypants SEM expert Andrew Goodman, the conference is broken into 3 fun tracks: Nuts & Bolts, Corporateville and the Geek Track. I spoke at SES Toronto two years ago about link bait and viral marketing, and I really enjoyed the sessions and ran into a lot of great marketers. Looking at the agenda, it seems that this year there are a lot of new approaches to traditional topics (which is nice–I hate it when a conference series rehashes the exact same agenda in every city).

Affiliate Convention in Denver, Colorado: June 17-20, 2009

Both Gillian and our very own Jenny from the block will be speaking at the Denver Affiliate Convention next month. Designed "specifically to meet the needs of affiliate marketers," this conference is free for all working affiliates (how nice!). It focuses on how to run and improve affiliate marketing campaigns. Jen will be covering Alternative Search Engines and Marketing Venues for Affiliates, while Gillian is talking about Industry Trends for Travel in the Current Economic Market. If you’re affiliate and plan on attending, be sure to stop and say hello to the SEOmoz crew!

I’ll post a separate entry soon about upcoming summer conferences. In the meantime, feel free to share any other spring events that are coming up, and let me know if you’re planning on attending any of the aforementioned conferences–we’d love to hear your input on the shows!

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

Roundup Thursday for the Week of 5/3/09

Posted by rebecca
May 7, 2009

Posted by rebecca

Stories, news, and other notable items from the past week:

YOUmoz entries:

Best of YOUmoz:

New additions to the SEOmoz Marketplace:

Featured job postings:

Featured companies:

United States:

Canada:

UK:

Europe:

Asia:

Australia:

Featured resumes:

Currently looking:

Happily Employed:

Do you like this post? Yes No

0

SEOmoz Best of April 2009

Posted by rebecca
May 6, 2009

Posted by rebecca

At the beginning of every month I’ll be highlighting the best content from the previous month. I’ll still be doing the weekly roundups (I owe you guys a big one tomorrow), but here’s a monthly recap of the best blogs, YOUmoz entries, tools and more.

Best Blog Posts in April 2009

  1. Fear and Forgiveness. Rand talks about feelings (whoa whoa whoa, feelings) and forgiving people who have rubbed him the wrong way in the past. It’s a post we can all relate to and a nice reminder that maybe we shouldn’t hold onto grudges as tightly as we do. 
  2. How Google’s Rankings Algorithm Has Changed Over Time. Rand shares his opinion on how some of the key factors in Google’s ranking algorithm have changed over the past several years.
  3. Whiteboard Friday: Domain Trust and Authority. Bookending Rand’s Google rankings algo changes post is this WBF video about various issues that can affect your domain’s trust metrics and its ability to rank well. 
  4. How to Rank Well in Google Products Search & a Big List of Places to Get Reviews. Tom Critchlow represents Team Distilled with pride as he shares some great tips on how to optimize for Google Base and provides potential ranking factors.
  5. 21 Tips to Earn Links and Tweets to Your Blog Post. It’s just not a Best Of list without, well, a list. Rand shares 21 ways to attract attention to your blog posts.

Best YOUmoz Posts in April 2009:

  1. SEO Since 1999. James Svoboda goes all VH1 "I Love the Internet" on us and gives a comprehensive history of how search engines, directories, PPC, affiliate program, social media marketing, and more have changed in the last 10 years. 
  2. Darren Slatten Sucks - Don’t Ever Hire Him. Darren takes an interesting approach to reputation management and says that he doesn’t need it; rather, he lets his work speak for itself.
  3. How a Site Redesign Increased Traffic By 515%. Whitespark shares the results of a major site redesign with us and includes some really compelling before and after web stats.

Tool Updates and Launches in April 2009:

Monthly YOUmoz Contest Winner

Last month I introduced a new feature, our monthly YOUmoz blog theme contest. Each month I’ll announce a blog theme and our members can choose to write a YOUmoz post about that theme. At the end of the month I’ll pick a winning blog post, and the author will receive a $50 Amazon.com gift card.

April’s theme was reputation monitoring and management. We only received two entries (sniffle):

Kudos to DanaDV for giving it a fightin’ chance, but I’m going to have to award the prize to Darren Slatten for writing an entertaining, thought-provoking post that takes a different approach to online reputation management. Darren, you goober, you are our very first YOUmoz contest winner. Congratulations!

YOUmoz Theme for May 2009

This month we’ve added a nifty little banner to the YOUmoz home page that displays the current month’s theme. Now you have no excuse–I want to see more entries this month, damnit!

As you can see from the screenshot, our theme for May 2009 is social media marketing. I figure that since Rand has been blogging about SMM a lot lately, it’s a good opportunity to keep the conversation going. We already have one entry so far, so stop dilly dallying and submit your post today!

Do you like this post? Yes No

Next Page