Awesome Analytics, Local Search, SEO, Social Media, & Converstion Rate Optimization Info
November 13, 2009 by Ed Reese · 4 Comments
A big thank you to The Spokane Club and everyone that attended my presentation earlier this week at their Networking Breakfast! I really appreciated your questions, engagement, and enthusiasm. As I mentioned during our session, I want to provide additional resources for you to continue your education in the ways of analytics, SEO, local search, social media, and conversion rate testing. We covered a lot of topics in a short period of time and as a follow-up I wanted to create an awesome resource library for you. Now it’s time for you to choose your own Internet marketing adventure and learn from the best and brightest in the industry.
ANALYTICS, ANALYTICS, ANALYTICS
As I’m sure you recall from my presentation, I hammered home the importance of understanding analytics. I’m not talking about “reporting” or “monthly reports” for your boss. I’m talkin’ about kick-butt, actionable analytics that teach, provide valuable insight, and inspire action. What’s workin,’ baby? What does the data tell us today? This higher level of attention to your data is not optional… if you want your business to succeed. You must “know thy data.” Here’s how:
Occam’s Razor - Awesome analyics blog from Avinash Kaushik
Web Analytics an Hour a Day - Great introduction to actionable analytics (also from Avinash)
Google Analytics Blog - Resource for understanding Google Analytics (beginner & advanced)
Google Analytics Videos - Educational videos that show how to use Google Analytics
Conversion University - A curriculum of analytics video tutorals
Analytics 2.0 [The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity] (Thanks Avinash!)
MAKE SURE YOUR WEB SITE CONVERTS TRAFFIC
I think it’s great when companies embrace new technologies and ways of thinking. Social media has taken the Internet marketing world by storm and generated all kinds of buzz (much of it well deserved) this year. However, I’m always wary of what I call the “Shiny Penny Syndrome.” It’s a condition where companies throw resources at the latest and greatest marketing techniques without testing and tracking what the shiny penny actually does. I’ve also seen companies completely stop doing what works (like email marketing) just because it doesn’t have that new marketing smell.
Don’t Make Me Think - Great read (really fast, too) about web site usability
Conversion Rate Experts - UK company focused solely on conversion rate optimization
108 Ways to Improve Conversion Rates (from Conversion Rate Experts)
Google Web Site Optimizer Blog (The Official Optimizer Blog)
Always Be Testing - Great book for learning A/B & Multivariate testing
Marketing Experiments - I love these guys. Their webcasts rock!
LOCAL SEARCH = LOW HANGING FRUIT
As an Internet marketer I’m always looking for the low-hanging fruit—the best bang-for-the-buck in the shortest period of time. And for most small and medium businesses that’s Local Search. Like I mentioned before, this doesn’t mean you stop doing everything else and go local only. It means that it’s time for a dedicated local search strategy to compliment your existing marketing efforts. Learn more from these experts:
David Mihm - Portland, OR Local Search expert & designer
2009 Local Search Ranking Factors - I’m proud to be a contributor to this research project 
Mary Bowling - Denver, CO Local Search expert
Understanding Google Maps & Local Search - For those that want details, details, details.
Small Business SEM - Local Search + SMB Advice = Awesome!
Miriam Ellis - San Francisco, CA Local Search expert & designer
Chris Silver Smith - Cartographer & Local Search expert. Again, for folks that want the technical details.
ORGANIC SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
There is a lot of information out there about SEO. In fact, there is so much information that it’s tough to know where you should even begin. These folks provide the best information and their content is always up to date.
SEOmoz - Free and premium levels of membership - Both are great!
SEO Book - Again, free and premium levels of membership - Great as well
Search Engine Journal - Free SEO content from a variety of SEO experts - including me starting next month
Search Engine Land - Center of the universe for all things search - Look through the categories
Vanessa Fox - She has an uncanny ability to explain complex details in very simple terms
Rand Fishkin’s HostingCon Preso - Awesome SEO explanation (and motivation for my art project)
BUT WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?
Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about social media. Remember, this socia media stuff is new for everybody so the importance of testing and learning from data is paramount. I think this bit of reading will provide good insight for you.
Outspoken Media - More than social media, but they cover it very well. Many good social media posts here.
Copyblogger - Read Copyblogger now! Writing is so freakin’ important. This is one of my favorite blogs!
7 Harsh Realities of Social Media Marketing - Great new post from Copyblogger
Trackur - Cool way to track social media mentions & reputation
Samepoint - See all mentions of your name or company online. A very cool social media monitoring tool.
5 Facebook Case Studies - Yes, 5 real case studies about marketing with FB.
Twitter, Tacos, & Trucks - The Story of Kogi Bar-B-Que
LIKE I SAID,… WHAT MATTERS IS HOW IT HELPS YOUR BUSINESS
Here’s an example from the presentation. I know it’s hard to believe,… but I didn’t even go to art school!
WANT MORE INFORMATION? HAVE QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? JUST LET ME KNOW.
Please feel from to leave a comment below, send an email, or contact me at my office (509-456-4350).
How SEOs Know SEO
November 10, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
SEOmoz published a great Whiteboard Friday last week all about how we do the thing we do. Like the title says, it does a really good job of describing how SEOs know SEO. So, if you’re interested in learning about search engine optimization it does a really nice job of pulling up the curtain a bit. Enjoy!
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday - How SEOs Know SEO from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.
Spokane Club November 11th Event Preview
November 5, 2009 by Ed Reese · 6 Comments
How to Navigate the Waters of Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media to Generate New Business.”
I’ll be speaking at the Spokane Club on November 11th at 7am for their Breakfast Networking Series. Spokane Mayor Mary Verner gave a great presentation this week about the city budget and future plans. Next week I’m going to do my part to increase Spokane’s tax base by teaching local business owners how to use online marketing to increase revenue. I realize there has been a lot of buzz recently around social media, SEO, and online marketing in general, so I wanted to create a short video to preview a bit of the content I’ll be covering during my presentation. For those of you that have seen me present before, you know that I don’t hold back when it comes to content. If you want to understand how to use online marketing to generate business for your company I’ll help provide the roadmap, tools, and resources to succeed. I look forward to seeing you there!
Spokane Club Nov 11th Networking Breakfast Preview - Ed Reese from Ed Reese on Vimeo.
To learn more about the event, please feel free to call Debra at the Spokane Club (509-838-8511).
Dex Knows… My Recycle Bin
November 2, 2009 by Ed Reese · 2 Comments
Monday is garbage day. As I was taking out our recycling this evening I looked down and saw the phone book in our recycle bin. I didn’t put it there. My wife did. That’s what really struck me. As a local search guy, I get nearly all of my information online. But I’m supposed to find it online. I would’ve thought my wife would’ve wanted to have it around just in case she needed it. Nope. Has the general public finally outgrown their need for it? I’m trying to find an impartial survey to find out how many real people still use the dang thing, but so far most surveys seem to be pretty biased one way or the other. If you know of any, please let me know.
Do you throw it away? Do you eagerly await its arrival each Fall? Do you keep it around just in case you need to organize a game of bridge with your grandparent’s friends? Does it help you get things off of high shelves? I’m curious.
United Airlines Responds to Dave Carroll
July 12, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
Yesterday I wrote a post re-capping Jason Murphy’s great SEOmoz post that offered ideas to United Airlines regarding how to respond to the Internet smash United Breaks Guitars from Dave Carroll. As it illustrated, United actually has a phenomenal opportunity to show a captive audience of how they can “make things right.”
United’s response: Donate $3,000 to a nonprofit on Dave’s behalf.
My response: Really? Three grand? That’s it?
Really? Three grand. You REALLY need to be featured on SNL’s Really ?!? with Seth & Amy. You have an audience of millions awaiting your response and this is the best you can do? “Wow.” Talk about underwhelming.
You see, if this were a private issue I would call it an appropriate response. You broke a $3,500 Taylor guitar, cost Dave Carroll $1,200 in repairs plus countless hours chasing down a response. $3,000 would be absolutely appropriate if nobody else knew about it. But they do. You blew an incredible opportunity to save face here.
In fact, in just one day United Breaks Guitars jumped from the 4th to 3rd on page one of Google and added two new references to the story. It was also viewed on YouTube over 300,000 times yesterday alone. Check out the rest of a page one search for United Airlines. Half of page one is of the story. Here’s a look at a few:
So who are the winners and losers in all this?
Dave Carroll & The Sons of Maxwell
It’s nearly impossible to put a value on this degree of exposure for a band other than to say this is a life-changing event that will impact their lives for the better. I wonder how many other people like me just bought their album. Dave Carroll is my new personal hero. Look for them to gain a huge crossover following.
Taylor Guitars - Taylor is so brilliant. They didn’t even have anything to do with all this mess. But they’re savvy enough to know a great marketing opportunity when they see one. They set up Dave Carroll and company with sweet Taylor gear and are going to get some great mileage out of this. Talk about a low cost relative to the amount of positive exposure this will generate. Nice work, Taylor. (As a proud owner of a Taylor guitar, I can tell you their guitars are awesome.)
United Airlines - Sorry guys. You blew it. Sure, you gave a few bucks to charity and got a positive response from Dave about it. But this is a very public black eye that $3,000 won’t fix anytime soon.
SEOmoz and Jason Murphy - SEOmoz for recognizing how great Jason’s post was and promoting it to the main page and Jason for adding a new perspective regarding reputation management strategies. Thanks!
New Reputation Management Strategies
July 11, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
I’m finishing up a reputation management project and thought this would be a good opportunity to explain online reputation management in simple terms, include an entertaining example, and direct you to more resources.
In the simplest of terms, online reputation management is the process of creating new web pages that rank higher than the pages containing the bad stuff for your name, product name(s), and/or important keywords. Create enough high ranking & relevant content from enough sources and in time your reputation is clean. Ideally, it’s pushed down to page 3, 4, and lower, but page one is the first big goal.
I hadn’t given much thought to embracing poor reviews until I read this SEOmoz post about reputation management. It was written by Las Vegas Reputation Management & Social Media Consultant Jason Murphy. He gives United Airlines some brilliant ways to respond to the wild popularity (and incredibly awesome) United Breaks Guitars YouTube video from David Carroll. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video. Oh yeah, it’s also the 4th listing on page one of Google for “United Airlines.” Tell me this didn’t get their attention.
Well, according to the LA Times, it looks as though they are contacting Dave Carroll to “make things right.” I’m curious to see if they’ll take any of the steps outlined by Jason in his post. Rather than re-cap his ideas, check out the complete post to see some very creative ways to handle a big reputation management challenge.
In addition to Jason’s post, I recommend reading related posts from SEOmoz, Distilled, Matt McGee, and Bruce Clay.
Britney Paul: Our New Project Manager
July 6, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
I’m proud to announce Sixth Man Marketing’s first employee, Britney Paul. Her primary focus will be client services and project management. However, we are dedicating two hours a day to education and exposure to the search industry. She is also responsible for a weekly blog post and engagement with the business community here in Spokane as well as the search industry at large. Please help me in welcoming Britney to the team. I’m lucky to have her on board.
Britney’s Introduction/First Blog Post:
I am the new Project Manager at Sixth Man Marketing and this my first real job in the professional world. That’s right, I am officially the newbee in town. I am also brand new to the SEO industry, so I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into.
Part of my responsibilities is to attend various networking events around Spokane to meet and engage with the people in our community. Ed threw me right into the ring with a beer in my hand. It’s my first week on the job and I’m attending two events.
My first event this week was LaunchPad’s Quarterly Networking Event. I met a few people who were really welcoming to the new girl in town. As a result of the event, I am a LaunchPad member with four friends and counting. It’s a great networking web site for Spokane that’s growing quickly and doing productive things for our community. I’m looking forward to their future events to meet more people.
My second event was a celebration. Seven2 celebrated their 5th Anniversary. The festivities included a margarita fountain, Mexican food, and even karaoke. Although I didn’t make it up on stage to exercise my “unique” vocals and dance skills, I had a really good time and met some more great people that I hope to stay in contact with. These Seven2 guys work really hard at what they do and I congratulate them for five years of success.
I survived Week 1 and I’m interested to see what adventures Week 2 will bring.
Rhonda Sand - Purposeful Africa Non-Profit
June 18, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
I believe it’s important to focus my SEO efforts on good causes when I can. But, between running a business, keeping my mind fresh with new technical content, and spending time with family, I’m not able to take on as many projects as I’d like.
However, I’ve just added a new one to the list and wanted to let you know. It’s a non-profit founded by Rhonda Sand of TMI Tours called Purposeful Africa. I was introduced to Rhonda by Jamie Birch, who is already on board supporting her efforts with a small team from Coeur d’Alene and Spokane volunteering their time and resources. As I’m new to the project, I don’t have much to share other than that I’m on board and looking forward to contributing to their efforts. More details in the coming months…
Contributor - 2009 Local Search Ranking Factors
June 14, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
I was proud to participate in David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors project this year. It has quickly become one of the most anticipated articles in the Local Search industry each year.
David asked 27 Local Search experts to rate the importance of 49 criteria with respect to their influence on rankings in the Google and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms. These are the factors that trigger a local map result from perceived local search queries. Since early 2008 all the major search engines now display a map for locally-focused keywords.
Gain insight into local search drivers and understand how your business can get found in Maps and increase online exposure.
SEO & Social Media Tips, Tools, & Resources
June 11, 2009 by Ed Reese · Leave a Comment
Yesterday I posted a re-cap of steps small business owners can take to engage in social media. It was half re-cap and half articles/tips I’ve found useful. While I’ve heard positive feedback, I feel that it didn’t quite live up to my promise of free tools & tips for business owners, so I wanted to also provide a 100% pure tools & tips post that will provide the ammo small business owners need to get started.
SEO Tools, Tips, & Articles
The Beginner’s Guide to SEO (SEOmoz) OK, I’ll be the first to admit that this is not a quick-and-easy guide to SEO. However, it is the most thorough, detailed, and effective introduction to search engine optimization that I’ve seen. If you’ve got the time to read it and are motivated to learn SEO, this is a great place to start.
The Ten Commandments of Online Marketing for Small Business (David Mihm) This is a fabulous ten step process small businesses can follow to achieve success online. It covers the basics, yet includes all the necessary details you’ll need to know to get started. As David is an SEO like myself, it’s focused on search, but has quite a bit of information on real world strategies, tips, and marketing insight. It’s a must read!
Small Business SEM (Matt McGee) Matt continually provides great content for small businesses. His focus (though technical at times) always caters to small businesses and their needs. He provides great overviews of Internet Marketing as it pertains to business owners. I’d also like to call out his May round-up of the best search & online marketing posts. It’s a great collection of very useful posts in one place.
SEOmoz Blog This blog might be a bit deeper than most folks might want to go into the waters of SEO, but I’ve always been a fan of reaching beyond ones comfort zone. For those that want to go into the deep end of search, consider SEOmoz the tan, smiling, chisled lifeguard there to make sure you stay safe and get out of the ocean alive. They also have a paid section, but there is HUGE value in the free stuff they offer. Their most valuable blog posts (in my opinion) are their White Board Friday Videos. Definitely check them out!
SEOmoz Free SEO Tools If you can’t tell already, I’m a HUGE fan of SEOmoz. They have a great selection of free and paid tools. For small business owners, there are plenty of free tools to get you started.
SEO Book (Aaron Wall) Aaron has a great blog, collection of videos & tools, as well as insight to the industry. He has a paid level as well as eBooks you can purchase. But like SEOmoz, he has plenty of valuable free information and is a great resource. Like SEOmoz, his blog is a daily read of mine.
Claim Your Local Listing (Mike Blumenthal) It’s absolutely imperative for small businesses to claim their local listing. In this post, Mike explains what a local listing is and how to claim it. He also talks about how this prevents someone else from hijacking your local listing. I have seen this happen in Spokane on several occasions, so don’t think this is just a big city thing.
2009 Local Search Ranking Factors (David Mihm) David has quickly established himself as a leader in the local search arena. His yearly ranking factors study has been the local search reference of choice for the past two years. I was honored to have been asked to be one of the 27 SEO’s worldwide to participate in this years study. Much like the SEOmoz Guide, consider this the deep end of the pool. However, it contains some incredibly detailed local search information for those so inclined to dive right in.
Social Media Tips & Articles
Harness the Power of Twitter for Local Marketing (Chris Silver Smith) This article provides a great roadmap (and more importantly, examples) on how to use Twitter to engage with your prospective customers on a local basis.
Leveraging Social Media for Local SEO (Steve Espinosa) Steve provides a great guide and chart to incorporate your social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) for greater reach and local SEO power.
13 Things I’ve learned about Blogging (Darren Rowse’s 500th Post) This is a great supplimental guide to our discussion yesterday. Darren goes over many of the things we discussed and provides more details and insight from his experience and rapid rise in the blogosphere.
ROI and Social Media: Focus on Impressions! (Marketing Sherpa) This quick read reinforces the talk yesterday of the difficulty of correlating ROI to social media efforts while calling out the value of doing so.
How to Manage Your Socia Media Profiles (Social Media Rockstar) This quick guide is a reinforcement of Bethany’s advice from yesterday and will help make your online social life much easier to manage.
11 Ways to Lose Friends & Followers Online (Social Media Rockstar) I really like this post. It points out failings that we have all seen online. I have unfolled many people making these mistakes. It’s a must read!
27 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Can Use Today (Small Business CEO) A great list of useful Twitter tools. Again, Bethany mentioned several of these yesterday, but this list is quite helpful. They don’t include a few I like (Tweetdeck, Twitpic, etc.) but it’s still a good list.
Well, I think that is plenty to get you started. Please let me know if there are other tools, tips, or articles you’ve found useful. Happy to include those as well. Cheers!