A week ago ended the last SES Chicago scheduled to occur in December as it will move to October 18 in 2010.

Although mid December is not technically Winter it was wintry enough especially compared to a much more Fall like mid October date starting next year.

The 2009 SES Chicago started on December 7th with a dusting of snow outside as Jeff Jarvis kicked it off with his interesting keynote on the link economy being part of the greater Google economy the online space is currently in.

The sessions that followed had a predominant SEO theme versus the growing social media focus of Pubcon & SMX conferences in my opinion.

Although the Google Real Time Search did evolve into a hot topic near the closing of SES as Rae Hoffman was furiously writing a great post in the speaker lounge on the real time search spamming potential.

I was particularly surprised there wasn’t much focus to online mobile marketing, beyond one session, which is sure to be a greater focus in all of the major Internet Marketing conferences in 2010.

Matt McGowan & Mike Grehan were generous enough to have me speak on a site clinic with Tony Wright & Elisabeth Osmeloski before I had to quickly take the shuttle through the snow to Midway Airway where my flight back to San Diego encountered chronic delays.

The wet snow & flight delays at this recent SES Chicago will be a distant memory when SES comes back to the United States here in San Diego February 2010.

Also this is my last post here on the Internet Marketing Inc Blog as I will be joining Resource Nation as the SEO Director there going into 2010 but be sure to check back here for the latest Internet Marketing news as well on Android at my personal site GoogleAndBlog.

In case you didn’t know, we’re in tough economic times.  These economic conditions have drastically cut budgets across the nation and world, leaving meager allowances for marketing and advertising in its wake.

Nonetheless, expectations for 2010 remain optimistic.  In a new study released yesterday, StrongMail reveals nine out of ten business executives plan to maintain or increase their marketing budgets.  Execs aren’t thinking conventionally for the new decade either, instead the survey’s respondents indicated they were open to marketing strategies that utilize the Internet and maximize their dollar.  Next year, 69 and 59 percent of business executives anticipate increasing their email and social media marketing, respectively. Another 42 percent claimed they expect to spend more on search engine initiatives, such as SEO and PPC.  The survey’s results indicate a migration to internet marketing tactics, as advertising and direct mailing initiatives are expected by less than 30 percent of execs.

Furthermore, the study showed a desire among business executives to combine the tested and proven tactics of emailing potential customers with social media.  Execs did not, however, demonstrate uniform confidence about how they would go about implementing such strategies in the upcoming year.  Instead, one out of five executives claimed they had no idea where to begin.  With more businesses seeking to establish an online presence in hopes of finding cheaper alternatives to conventional advertising, it is certain that social media marketing and search engine initiatives will play integral roles in the year 2010.

Are you ready for the Google Caffeine update forewarned to be unleashed in early 2010 after the upcoming holidays?

Google first alluded to this next generation infrastructure shift back on August 10th.

This shifts will change how Google does its crawling, indexing, and ranking as it will be on a much faster scale in many respects can be seen as a response to both Bing & Twitter.

Matt Cutts put everyone on notice at PubCon in Las Vegas this November that Caffeine will be released after the holidays and that your site’s load time will be a factor.

Site loading speed is important not just for better search results but as well for mobile browsers which with Android & the iPhone is exponentially increasing in search share, so Google has provided a tool to help your site get faster.

I directly asked Matt while he was fielding questions during the Search Engine Smackdown at PubCon if the SERPs or Search Engine Result Pages will be rendered in AJAX with the Caffeine update to which he said no, but they are still experimenting with it.

Matt Cutts & Michael Martin playing pool at The Garage in Seattle

Just as I learned to not beat Matt Cutts when playing pool if you want to keep your rankings, you should also test your site out before a big Google algorithm shift such as this.

You can test your results on the one Google datacenter containing Caffeine that pushes those results about half the time at 209.85.225.103

As we all know, link building is the bulk of true SEO and one of the most important aspects for authority in Google’s eyes.  There have been many common practices for building link popularity over the years such as directory submissions, sending out optimized press releases, blog and forum posts with links, paid links, etc.  Most of these are a good support element but won’t take your SEO to the next level.  True link building takes time and real effort because it starts with developing great content, being involved in respected organizations, and attending events.  These five tips require more time and work, but will result in “real” links that will improve your search engine optimization strategies.

1. Develop Great Content – This can come in the form of articles, white papers, blogs, or videos.  The point is that it needs to be compelling and informative enough for people to share and distribute it.
2. Distribute Your Content – This is where social media can come into play.  Having good content is one thing but unless you already have a ton of traffic, you need to proactively get it out there.  It is recommended to have a blog and submit it to blog directories.  Utilized social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to distribute content.  If you have videos, get them on YouTube.  Use a “Share This” social media tool bar to allow people to easily submit content to sites like Digg and Technorati.
3. Leverage Your Partnerships and Associations – Link building can have a bit of business development involved so you need to get out there and lobby for some links.  For example, ask for a link on websites of companies that you have business relationships with.  It is optimal to have this on a page with a decent PR and have some supporting content.  If you are involved in any trade associations, ask if they offer links to the companies involved.  Attend trade shows and speak on panels.  Most of the time there are interviews and videos that you can leverage to gain some extra link juice. 
4. Offer FREE Services – You can discount your services or do some FREE consulting in exchange for a good link.  Depending on the value you provide its not much to ask for and costs the partner nothing.
5. Being Involved in Your Community – This strategy can be executed in many different ways.  Your company should get involved in charities, attend events, etc.  You could also throw a cocktail party and give a FREE seminar about Internet Marketing or Legal Advice for example.  Ask the attendies to blog about it of they feel compelled to.  Make sure not to forget the link!

A week after speaking at SMX East in New York City these are my reflections on the conference:

• There were a lot of the same faces from other Internet Marketing conferences such as PubCon & SMX Advanced.

• I thought there would be more corporations and neophytes to Internet Marketing at the conference than there were.

• Weather was extremely warm the first couple days in New York City as it was similar to that in San Diego.

• Less than half the attendees were at the last day of sessions on Wednesday which I felt were the best to attend.

• The best part of conferences is not necessarily the sessions themselves but the networking after and talks during such as the extensive conversations I had with Stephan Spencer of NetConcepts.

I was also appreciative of all the live bloggers covering my session on Google Android Monday October 9th such as Bruce Clay, Outspoken Media, 10e20, &  SEO Roundtable, as well WebProNews for the interview below:

Blogging is not social media in itself, but it is a perfect avenue for providing great value to your audience and social media strategy. When I speak about Internet marketing and social media to CEO’s and business owners, one of the biggest hurdles is blogging. Why? Because it takes time, understanding, and a general committment to provide a consistent knowledge transfer to for your readers.

Business owners simply need to embrace the importance of blogging as a tool for communicating your knowledge and experiences in your particular field. To do so, they must understand what its all about, why it is indeed important, and in what capacity. Once they have a clear vision, it is easier to make the committment.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED:

Be An Expert in Your Field >>We can use the term “expert” losely but it does help if you know what you are talking about.  If you are a business owner, chances are you have a lot of knowledge and experience you can share with your readers. 

Start Be Reading Other Blogs >> Blogging is different than traditional writing and usually takes on a more casual tone.  The best way to gain a clear understanding of how bloggers in your industry do it is of course to read their blogs.  Simply run some Google searches or use Technorati (great tool for searching the blogoshpere) to find top blogs related to your business industry.

Messaging >>  After reading other top blogs you should have a good understanding of how people write.  You may also notice that good blogs are vary rarely self serving.  As a businss owner, the most value you will bring to the table (and therefore gain positive feedback) is through thoughtful educational topics such “How to..” guides or “10 Great Ways to…”.  Blog readers want it simple, well written, casual, and valuable.  They want to be able to lear something quickly and easily.

Be Consistent >>  The worst thing we can do as business owners is to start something and then not follow through.  That is why you must make the time committment.  Will you always be able to stick to your “blogging schedule”?  Of course not.  But that is why you have to make other sacrifices.  Why do you think I am multitasking on a Sunday (watching football while blogging)??  Contributing to your blog three to five times each week is good enough.  Don’t stress out about it.  Once you get into the groove it can be an enjoyable activity.

UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETING VALUE:

We already touched on the fact that good blogging allows you to show what you know.  The more free knowledge you provide your audience, the greater value it will bring your business.  Blogging also brings a certain amount of trust to a company.  That is why I always recommend that companies (large and small) have a corporate blog.  It is also great if the owners and/or top executives are the key contributors.  This goes back to the “transparency” part of social media.  Consumers want to see the CEO’s and owners out in front leading by example and taking responsibility for their brand.  But there is a more technical marketing value behind blogging and that is search engine optimization. 

Blogging is one of the best ways to add great content to your site as often as you like.  Great content of course leads to more pages for your website that can potentially get indexed and ranked by the search engines. 

Here are some tips:

1. The best way to accomplish this is to use a SEO friendly blog platform such as Wordpress (this blog is a Wordpress platform) and integrate it with your website (i.e. www.yourdomainname.com/blog). 
2. Have your keyword strategy in mind when writing.  Use blog titles and phrases relevant to your topic and industry.  For example, if you run a financial consulting firm you might write a blog about “How to Maintain Financial Liquidity”.  In that blog you would want to include keywords related to your topic as it relates to your keyword strategy.  I don’t want to get too far into SEO because that is a whole other topic.  As long as you write well and at least keep these tips in mind, it will add value to your website.
3. Promote your blog on your website in the header or footer so people know you have one.  I also recommend having a link to your blog in your email signature.  If you are engaged in social media, provide links to your blog through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  After each blog you write, post it on Facebook with a note about the topic.  The more you write and promote the blog, the more successful you will be in increasing links and website traffic.

True SEO strategy is of course a lot more involved that just choosing some keywords and implementing those into your site structure, content, and off-page strategies (link building).  Just like any other marketing effort, SEO should start with a foundation of core business goals.  Whether you are doing this for your own company, outsourcing to an SEO company, or a hybrid of the two, make sure to follow these steps for building a great strategy that the whole company can stand behind.  This article spends less time on the technicalities behind on page SEO and places more emphasis to how marketing and off page efforts enhance the overall strategy.

Define the company goals:  The “discovery” process is probably the most important opportunity for getting the strategy defined right out of the gate.  The company goals will of course the be applied to the keyword research and keyword assignment.  This discovery process should involve company owners, executives, marketers, content providers, and possibly accounting.  The bottom line is that everone has to be on the same page as to what drives the company forward, what keywords relate to both the brand and the products/services, etc.  You should also look at what keyword phrases drive revenue (or have the potential to drive revenue). 

Apply the goals to the keyword strategy:  Even companies that have been doing “SEO” for a while often need to put on the breaks and redefine the strategy.  You can of course apply all the research you need to help you refine the goal (i.e. competitive analysis, website analytics, etc.).  Start by dialing down on your top 25 or so “money” keyword phrases.  Make sure the list is a mix of both broad and long tail terms.  This task is more complicated than it sounds and can take time.  For example, if you have an e-commerce platform and sell hundreds of products it might seem impossible to dial down to 25 keywords.  Keep in mind this is a starting point and should be developed throughout the campaign.

Apply keyword strategy to the keyword assignment:  Now that you have your list and everyone from the CEO to the marketing team has signed off on it, apply the keywords to the website.  Keyword assigment should start with the home page and work down from there.  Remember to follow best practices such as charater limits, the use of hypens to separate title words as opposed to underscores, page hierarchy, etc.

Make sure to have a blend of SEO and “marketing” in the application:  SEO is not just about having your top keywords associated with the page in the title tag.  Getting rankings is only the first step.  You then have to entice clicks.  If your not getting the clicks, who cares about the ranking.  That is where marketing comes into play.  Your title pages are what will appear for your search result listing so make sure you use a structure that is appealing as well as keyword appropriate.

Have a comprehensive off page strategy:  The fundamental goal of the off page SEO effort is to distribute content and build links.  Good links start with compelling content.  The old link building strategies won’t do you much good anymore.  The natural link building efforts take more time, more energy, and forces you to develop great content that people want to consume and share.  This may include but is not limited to the use of blogging, social media, SEO focused PR, engaging your local community, engaging you online communities, and continually developing great articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, and any other content that is relevant and that will add value to your users.

Things change rapidly in the SEO world and good marketers are always trying to stay on top of the latest and greatest information around “best practices”.  There is a science to SEO but not an exact science.  Many SEO’s have slightly different strategies and I think we can all agree that no one campaign is created equal.  However, when listening to different types of SEO advice circulate, there are always seem to be some misconceptions behind some of the core theories.  This is normal in such a dynamic industry so I wanted to review a few of these points as a discussion piece. 

LINK TRADING

This is a big one because everyone is very careful not to “anger the beast” (Google).  We all want to abide by best practices so as to build great relevant link popularity and increase rankings for oursleves or clients.  However, the fear factor has pushed this a little over the edge.  The idea behind link building is to create a interaction between a site and other relevant resources, partners, content, etc.  The foundation should be similar to how we build our own relationships personnaly or in the business world (at least if we want to gain the most value). 

So for example, people seem to still think that you should only build high power inbound links and never reciprocate.  This is true in some cases and may not be true in others (these are just my opinions).  If you get a link request that comes into your site from some randon website then you should probably stay away from it.  However, if a partner company, client, or relevant blog has linked to you and is interested in having you reciprocate, then it should be fine.  Again, this goes back to key relationships and have a link architecture that makes sense.  Don’t accept a link and give a link if both parties are just doing to have another link.  It probably won’t do you much good.

CONTENT:  SEO VS MARKETING VALUE

This topic is a difficult one because there is value on both sides and the truth or best practice most likely falls somewhere in the middle.  Bascially, I am talking about the difference between search engine optimization copywriting that may be good from an SEO algorithm (a machine reading your content) perspective vs a more emotion driven marketing perspective (a person reading your content and being compelled to link to you, share the content, or convert to a sale). 

The best case scenario is to have a blend of both it seems but this is easier said than done.  To achieve this the SEO content writers must be very good writers and have a sound understanding of an industry and the audience.  This is why I always encourage cleints to blog.  They know their business the best, and with a little coaching, can weave in some keyword strategy as well.

TITLE, H1, AND URL STRUCTURE

All of this starts with keyword strategy and understanding the clients core goals.  Once that is established you want to dial in on how the keyword assignment will reflect the titles and description in the SERPs as well support the page content.  For example, a title tag that simply uses keywords may rank high but might not be as compelling as the result around it in the SERPs that may have a better “marketing message”.  I have seen both work quite well so it most likel will vary from site to site and industry to industry. 

I have also heard people say that title should not mirror H1 exactly but I have seen this work well too.  From a marketing and conversion optimization perspective, the page title (or H1) should be representative of the title tag itself which is what will appear in the search results.  This goes back to the marketing message and being consistant.  For example, if you are running a PPC camaign and use a specific call to action in your titles, the landing page used to support that link should have a direct keyword association and reflect the message in the title.  The same could hold true for SEO title tags. 

From a ranking perspective the variation seems to not matter much but from a marketing perspective the two should at least be a close mirror of one another in my opinion.  This of course also depends on how you use the H1 one, where it is on the page, and the page design (as far as call to action is concerned). 

conclusion

There is value on both sides of these arguments which is why this stuff takes constant testing and researching to find what works best in a myriad of different circumstances.