SEO & Link Building for 2010

1. Presented by Arnie Kuenn arniek@verticalmeasures.com http://twitter.com/arniek SEO & Link Building for 2010

2. A Few Quick Questions(Know your audience) • How many of you do NOT consider SEO or link building one of your primary functions? • How many of you think link building sucks? • How many of you are hoping to learn some easy, fast, inexpensive ways to get trusted links?

3. My Background(Know your presenter) • Have been an Internet Marketer for about 12 years • Formed Vertical Measures about 4 years ago • Primarily an SEO link building company however everything is geared around Internet marketing • We have 70+ clients • About 25% of our business is outsourcing from SEO & Web Development Agencies

4. SEO is Critical • When someone types a keyword into the search box, there are only two possible outcomes: • They will find you. • They will find your competitor.

5. Search Marketing Reality • Organic search traffic can be so valuable, it can sustain an entire business. • Organic search rankings are something you can work to influence, but ultimately you do not control them. The search engine algorithms make that call.

6. What Happened in 2009? • Search Engines got even better at eliminating spam techniques. • They update the algorithms almost every week. Google: Made 160 changes in Q1 of 2009 • Quality backlinks became much more important this year, weak backlinks became almost worthless • Social Media “signals” are now a real factor for 2010

7. Why Invest In Higher Rankings? • 60% of listings in the #1 position will get a click! • Natural search results receive many more clicks than paid search • Natural search converts 30% better than paid search • Clicks are Free!!!

8. How Does it Work? What to Expect in 2010: • Create Engaging, Unique Content • Optimization Each Page You Want To Rank • Get Trusted Inbound Links Bot or Spider

9. #1 Create Good Content • Build pages around your keywords • Add real value to the web visitor • Unique • Informative • Entertaining • Who do you link to? • Good neighbors • It’s your reputation

10. #2 Proper On-Page Optimization(in order of importance for 2010) • Links - internal & external • Freshness of content & keyword usage • Title tag • Image Alt text • H1 tag • Description meta tag • URL structure

11. Anatomy of a Page #3 Title tag #1 Link from Home page #5 H1 tag #6 bold #4 Alt text #2 Content

12. What NOT to do • Try to fool the search engines • Keyword stuffing • More links than text • Any content that is not of value to your visitor

13. Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Indented Listing Local Listing

14. #3 Biggest Factor is Inbound Links • The best links: • From trusted sites • Have proper anchor text • Have varied anchor text • Are from many different domains • We are not too worried about: • Reciprocal • PageRank

15. What are Bad Links? • Link farms • Links pages • Multiple links to same site on same page • Non-relevant or spammy footer links • From same pages that have PPC – porn, pills and casinos • Side bar links do not carry much weight

16. How Do You Get Links? • Internal links (from content) • Friends & family • Associations • Social Profiles • Clients & Suppliers • Directories (but not thousands of free ones) • Articles (focus on good article placement) • Blogs (guest posts or your own blog) • Send emails to webmasters asking for a link • Social Media (whole other session)

17. Remember - It Starts With Good Content! • Good for Social Media? • Is it “Link Worthy”? • Can you promote it? • Some ideas: • Lists • Videos • Case Studies • Comparisons • Satire & Parody • Interviews • Polls & Surveys • Contests (detailed example, next) • Promote it using social media!!!

18. Example: Contests & Promotions • What makes a good contest? • A great offer or prize, valuable to the people you want to attract • Why should they put in the effort to have a chance to win? • Can you obtain sponsors to help you out? • Proper time frame, enough time to enter but not so long they lose interest • 3 days may be too short and in 30 days they may forget about you • Create a buzz, who will help you promote it and how? • Your panel of judges, press releases, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Offer prizes to those who help you promote it.

19. Small Companies Can Run Contests! • Bridal Contest • Answer 3 questions: • Your engagement story • Your wedding day theme plan • What is special about your wedding that you shall win this free sponsorship? • Facebook Ad • Increased followers on Twitter through regular tweets

20. Big Companies Too! • Major hotel chain has us working 6 different promotions • Attend a Motor Sports event, get a discount • Visit Disney, get a discount • Attend LPGA event, get a discount • Go to a Little League Baseball game, get a discount • Multi-night stay, get Double Rewards • Multi-night stay, get $50 Gift Card

21. Even Link Building Companies! • Vertical Measures’ contest • Boost Your Juice • $5,000 Grand Prize and $1,000 for 2nd Place • Submit video or essay • 2 week duration • Recruited a panel of judges (who help promote it) • Offered “socialize prizes” (Rebecca Lieb)

22. Our Contest Results • Over 700 references on Google for “boost your juice” AND “vertical measures” • Own all 10 results on the 1st page of Google for “boost your juice” (branding) • Over 1200 visitors to just the contest page • Contest page became a PR3 in 30 days • Links from more than 50 different sites • Dozens of new leads for link building services

23. Your Clients & Suppliers(the twist here is how you approach them) • Ask your clients & suppliers for links! • Offer company shirts, gift cards, discounts, etc. or even a good old fashion reciprocal link • Send letters → via the US mail!! • Include an offer or request in your invoices • Use the phone! Set aside some time for a telemarketing campaign • Also: your local & national associations • Become a sponsor or make a donation, just make an offer

24. Why a Corporate Blog? • The original social media • 24% of our page views come from our blog posts (~2,000 per month) • We make 2 new posts per week • Gives us a vehicle to post new link worthy content • Keeps the search engines coming back

25. SEO Video Tutorials • If you would like free access to several very good SEO Video Tutorials, email Patty Adams at pattya@verticalmeasures.com or hand her your business card, just write SEO Video Tutorials on the back.

26. Questions?

27. Thank You! Our Contact Info: http://twitter.com/VerticalMeasure http://www.linkedin.com/companies/vertical-measures www.facebook.com/verticalmeasures www.VerticalMeasures.com Contact Patty Adams pattya@verticalmeasures.com 602-314-3467 (direct)