SEO News

Posted by EricaMcGillivray

You may heard that in partnership with Local U, we’re putting on a local SEO conference called LocalUp Advanced on Saturday, February 7. We’re super-thrilled to be able to dive more into the local SEO space and bring you top speakers in the field for a one-day knowledge explosion. We’re expecting around 125-150 people at our Seattle headquarters, so this is your chance to really chat with speakers and attendees one-to-one with a huge return on investment.

Moz Pro or Local U Subscribers $699

General Admission $999

LocalUp Advanced 2015 Agenda

8:00-9:00am	Breakfast
9:00-9:05am	Welcome to LocalUp Advanced 2015! with David Mihm
9:05-9:30am	Pigeons, Packs, & Paid: Google Local 2015 with Dr. Pete Meyers In the past year, Google shook the local SEO world with the Pigeon update, rolled out an entirely new local pack, and has aggressively dabbled in local advertising. Dr. Pete covers the year in review, how it’s impacted the local landscape, and what to expect in 2015. Dr. Pete Meyers is the Marketing Scientist for Moz, where he works with the marketing and data science teams on product research and data-driven content. He’s spent the past two years building research tools to monitor Google, including the MozCast project, and he curates the Google Algorithm History.
9:30-9:55am	Local Battlegrounds – Tactics, Trenches, and Ghosts with Mike Blumenthal Join Professor Maps and take a ride in the Way Back Whacky Machine to look at Google’s technologies, tactics, and play books used to create, shape, and dominate the local ecosystem in their image. Learn what’s relevant to marketing today and how these changes are shaping Google’s coming battles in the space. If you’re in Local, then you know Mike Blumenthal, and here is your chance to learn from this pioneer in local SEO, whose years of industry research and documentation have earned him the fond and respectful nickname ‘Professor Maps.’ Mike’s blog has been the go-to spot for local SEOs since the early days of Google Maps. It’s safe to say that there are few people on the planet who know more about this area of marketing than Mike. He’s also the co-founder of GetFiveStars, an innovative review and testimonial software. Additionally, Mike loves biking, x-country skiing, and home cooking.
9:55-10:10am	Q&A with Dr. Peter Meyers and Mike Blumenthal
10:10-10:45am	Going Local with Google with Jade Wang Learn about local search with Google. We’ll chat about the potential of local search and discuss how business information gets on Google. If you’ve gone to the Google and Your Business Forum for help (and, of course, you have!), then you know how quickly an answer from Google staffer Jade Wang can clear up even the toughest problems. She has been helping business owners get their information listed on Google since joining the team in 2012.
10:45-11:05am	AM Break
11:05-11:25am	Getting Local Keyword Research and On-page Optimization Right with Mary Bowling Local keyword data is often difficult to find, analyze, and prioritize. Get tips, tools, and processes for zeroing in on the best terms to target when optimizing your website and directory listings, and learn how and why to structure your website around them. Mary Bowling’s been specializing in SEO and local search since 2003. She works as a consultant at Optimized!, is a partner at a small agency called Ignitor Digital, is a partner in Local U, and is also a trainer and writer for Search Engine News. Mary spends her days interacting directly with local business owners and understands holistic local needs.
11:25-11:50am	Local Content + Scale + Creativity = Awesome with Mike Ramsey If you are wondering who is crushing it with local content and how you can scale such efforts, then tune in as Mike Ramsey walks through ideas, examples, and lessons he has learned along the way. Mike Ramsey is the president of Nifty Marketing with offices in Burley and Boise, Idaho. He is also a Partner at Local U and many other ventures. Mike has an awesome wife and three kids who put up with all his talk about search.
11:50am-12:15pm	Review Acquisition Strategies That Work with Darren Shaw Darren Shaw will walk you through multiple real-world examples of businesses that are killing it with review acquisition. He’ll detail exactly how they manage to get so many more reviews than their competitors and how you can use their methods to improve your own local search visibility. Darren Shaw is the President and Founder of Whitespark, a company that builds software and provides services to help businesses with local search. He’s widely regarded in the local SEO community as an innovator, one whose years of experience working with massive local data sets have given him uncommon insights into the inner workings of the world of citation-building and local search marketing. Darren has been working on the web for over 16 years and loves everything about local SEO.
12:15-12:30pm	Q&A with Mary Bowling, Mike Ramsey, and Darren Shaw
12:30-1:30pm	Lunch
1:30-1:55pm	The Down-Low on LoMo (Local Mobile) SEO with Cindy Krum Half of all local searches happen on mobile, and that stat is just growing! Map search results are great, but your mobile site has to be great too. Cindy Krum will review the best practices for making your local site look perfect to mobile users and crawlers alike. No mobile site? No problem as you’ll also get tips for how to make the most of mobile searches without one. Cindy Krum is the CEO and Founder of MobileMoxie, LLC, a mobile marketing consultancy and host of the most cutting-edge online mobile marketing toolset available today. Cindy is the author of Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are, published by Que Publishing.
1:55-2:20pm	Thriving in the Mobile Ecosystem with Aaron Weiche A look into the opportunity of creating and growing the mobile experience between your customers and your brand: one strong enough to delight fingers, change minds, and win hearts. Aaron Weiche is a digital marketing geek focused on web design, mobile, and search marketing. Aaron is the COO of Spyder Trap in Minneapolis, Local U faculty member, founding board member of MnSearch, and a Local Search Ranking Factors Contributor since 2010.
2:20-2:45pm	Content, Conversations, and Conversions with Will Scott How local businesses, and the marketers who love them, can use social media to bring home the bacon. Helping small businesses succeed online since 1994, Will Scott has led teams responsible for thousands of websites, hundreds of thousands of pages in online directories, and millions of visits from search. Today, Will leads nearly 100 professionals at Search Influence putting results first and helping customers successfully market online.
2:45-3:10pm	Segmentation Domination with Ed Reese Learn how to gain powerful insight by creating creative custom segments in Google Analytics. This session shows several real-world examples in action and walks you through the brainstorming, implementation, and discovery process to utilize segmentation like never before. Ed Reese leads a talented analytics and usability team at his firm Sixth Man Marketing, is a co-founder of Local U, and an adjunct professor of digital marketing at Gonzaga University. In his free time, he optimizes his foosball and disc golf technique and spends time with his wife and two boys.
3:10-3:30pm	PM Break
3:30-4:00pm	Playing to Your Local Strengths with David Mihm Historically, local search has been one of the most level playing fields on the web with smaller, nimbler businesses having an advantage as larger enterprises struggled to adapt and keep up. Today, companies of both sizes can benefit from tactics that the other simply can’t leverage. David will share some of the most valuable tactics that scale—and don’t scale—in a presentation packed with actionable takeaways, no matter what size business you work with. David Mihm is one of the world’s leading practitioners of local search engine marketing. He has created and promoted search-friendly websites for clients of all sizes since the early 2000s. David co-founded GetListed.org, which he sold to Moz in November 2012. Since then, he’s served as our Director of Local Search Marketing, imparting his wisdom everywhere!
4:00-4:25pm	Don’t Just Show Up, Stand Out with Dana DiTomaso Learn how to destroy your competitors with bringing personality to your marketing. Confront the challenges of making HIPPOs comfortable with unique voice, keep brand standards while injecting some fun, and stay in the forefront of your audience’s mind. Whether at a conference, on the radio, or in a meeting, Dana DiTomaso likes to impart wisdom to help you turn a lot of marketing BS into real strategies to grow your business. After 10+ years and with a focus on local SMBs, she’s seen (almost) everything. In her spare time, Dana drinks tea and yells at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
4:25-4:40pm	Q&A with David Mihm and Dana DiTomaso
4:40-5:20pm	Exposing the Non-Obvious Elements of Local Businesses That Dominate on the Web with Rand Fishkin In some categories and geographies, a local small business wholly dominates the rankings and visibility across channels. What are the secrets to this success, and how can small businesses with remarkable products/services showcase their traits best online? In this presentation, Rand will dig deep into examples and highlight the recurring elements that help the best of the best stand out. Rand Fishkin is the founder of Moz. Traveler, blogger, social media addict, feminist, and husband.

And if that doesn’t quite tickle your fancy… Workshops!

We’ll also be hosting workshops with our speakers, which are amazing opportunities for you to dig into your specific questions and issues. I know, sometimes I get a little shy to ask questions in front of a crowd or just want to socialize at the after party, so this a great opportunity to get direct feedback.

See you in February, friends. And please, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

Posted by Isla_McKetta

You may have noticed a trend in the blog posts I’ve written for Moz lately:

• When Is a Blog the Right Form of Content Marketing?
• A Content Strategy Template You Can Build On
• “But How Do I Know if It’s Good?” How You Can Evaluate Content Quality (and Ditch Content Anxiety)
• Is that Mind-Blowing Title Blowing Your Credibility? You Decide

Basically, I ask a lot of questions because I don’t like or trust hard and fast rules. And while every last one of these posts offers you a little bit of knowledge to then take back to your marketing campaigns and apply in the way that works best for your team and your company, there’s not a guaranteed formula for success or correct answer in the bunch.

If you’re resorting to tried and true advice, you’re missing opportunities to do something better than anyone’s ever done it before. Instead, I want you to question everything anyone’s ever told you about how to make marketing (especially content marketing) work. You might fail a little along the way, but even the failures will teach you something about what success looks like.

Winning by breaking the rules

Image by laffy4k.

So in honor of the holiday season, let’s unwrap our presents early and look at some marketing campaigns that won by flouting some fundamental rules of marketing.

Appeal to a wide audience

Not everyone knows who Skeletor is. And few of those love him, but Honda threw caution to the wind and let him star in their latest commercial.

While they are hedging their bets with other commercials starring Jem, Strawberry Shortcake, Gumby, and Stretch Armstrong, none are designed for mass appeal. Instead, they’re taking advantage of random affinities that can help consumers feel deeply connected to your brand. I know I can’t stop talking about them.

Stay on message

In 2013, Oreo newsjacked the hell out of the lights going out at the Super Bowl with this now iconic tweet:

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

You know what happened. 15,000 retweets later, Oreo had won the Internet and real-time marketing was born. Imagine what would have happened if they’d stuck to their super-sweet pregame message of game day recipes. For one, we wouldn’t be talking about them here.

Focus on your competitive advantage

I have no idea if TD Bank has a local branch, what their rates are like, if their tellers are awesome, or if they have an app that will revolutionize the way I do online banking.

But after this commercial, I want desperately to do business with them because of the core values this video speaks to. They’re asking us to connect with who they are, not what they do. And it works.

Meanwhile, this commercial for the MacBook Air also skips product info and instead focuses on how people use the product rather than what’s amazing about it.

At the end, I have zero idea what the competitive advantages of a MacBook are. But I want one. And I want to put stickers on it.

Don’t offend anyone

Remember the Joe Boxer/Kmart commercial from a few years ago?

How could any of us forget? Sure, some people were annoyed when this commercial came out, but the rest of us played it over and over for our co-workers, friends, and family. Daring to be different is daring to be remembered.

Don’t be annoying

Speaking of memorable. While this Old Spice commercial is physically painful to listen to:

I can’t stop myself. This one will stick with you and everyone else who watches it. They’re stretching a little beyond those charming Isaiah Mustafa commercials and into Old Navy territory (please make it stop), but it just might work.

Name recognition is everything

In 2008, hipster author Tao Lin plastered New York City with stickers that read “Britney Spears” in bold black and white. Weird fan geek moment? Actually it was a guerilla marketing ploy for his book, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (which has nothing to do with Britney). The ploy may have made no sense, but publisher Dennis Johnson said soon his phone was ringing off the hook with people who somehow made the connection. 

The lesson here is that shouting your name from the rooftops is not the only way to get people to remember your brand for years. You may not have heard of Tao Lin before reading this post, but the stunt was weird enough that it lives on in publishing (and now Internet marketing) legend even eight years later.

Your turn

But really, other people’s presents are boring. Are you ready to bet on out-of-the-box thinking this holiday season (and beyond)? Here are some rules I want you to go break to see what the rewards might be.

Write right

If your brand voice skews toward concision and you’re using the Hemingway App (like everyone else is), are you really standing out? If your paragraphs are short and scannable, is anyone really remembering what you had to say? And if you’re writing to an eighth-grade reading level are all those simplified words just washing over your audience?
There are a lot of rules for writing. They’re all made to be broken.

Bigger (content) is better

Simon Penson already covered this fallacy quite well last week in his article about content flow. Just remember that if you’re aiming for big bang followed by bigger bang and then even bigger, you could be wearing your readers (and your writers) out. Try out a smaller project. See how people react.

Use storytelling

Stories are awesome. But nothing can make you crave a bulleted list of value props like sitting at a huge gathering with people shouting stories at you (ahem, the Internet). Why not A/B test storytelling versus a more straightforward style and see what converts.

The best headlines follow this formula

I’m all for a good headline. I’ll even resort to clickbait (if I think the reward for the reader is high enough). But what’s interesting to watch at Moz is that we’ll often choose the more academic headline over the flashier one. I’m not saying you should do the same (remember, the only rule here is that you should break all the rules), but consider your audience when writing that headline.

Narrow down your CTAs

Paralysis of choice blah blah blah. If you have only one action you want your site visitor to take, then of course you don’t want to confuse them with multiple other things to click. But too often we “simplify” pages by removing options people might actually want. I’m not saying you should add all those “click here” buttons back to your site, but I am saying you should think before turning your homepage into a single “buy here” button.

Make your blog posts actionable/entertaining/educational

One of the rules at the Moz Blog is that our readers like actionable posts. I’m glad we know our audience that well. But we’re also not going to sit back and decide that means a theoretical post won’t do well because the numbers say actionable=popular.

In fact, this post isn’t especially actionable (unless that action is “go back and think about what you’re doing”). Is it going to help you? I hope so. Even if it isn’t what you’ve come to expect from us.

Publish or perish

An editorial calendar is a terrible thing to let control your life. While publishing new content on a regular basis can be a very good idea, it’s also a good way to get stuck in the flywheel, churning out another interview with a supplier because that’s what you do on Tuesdays.

At Moz, we recently decided to let a day pass without publishing a new blog post (long story). As much as everyone on our content team believes in putting out fewer, better posts, it was still challenging to actually follow through with this decision.

But the resulting loss of traffic was negligible.

And while we aren’t eager to repeat the experiment (authors, please turn things in on time), we learned that the world does not end when we don’t put up a post. Our time on page and page values actually went up. Who knew?

Remember that blogs aren’t Twitter and you won’t be forgotten if you already have a reputation for good content. Publish when you have something worth publishing.

Create once, publish everywhere

Using one piece of content for multiple purposes seems like a good idea until you’ve got a LinkedIn feed full of podcasts no one has ever listened to and a Facebook wall covered in blog posts announcements that achieved no reach.

If your gut (and your data) tell you that your audiences on different channels expect different things, find a way to get them more of what they want, don’t just feed them what they have. Piece out that infographic so it shows up well on Twitter and your tweeps can get that two seconds worth of information they’re looking for. Or record a fantastically fun intro for your webinar and put the intro (not the webinar) on YouTube to see if you can tease people over to your site.

Get social

Social media can be an excellent way to get traffic to your posts. And sometimes it isn’t. Copyblogger is just one of the big brands who looked deep into the traffic and engagement they were getting from Facebook before deciding to close their page.

You’ll have to look at your numbers to see what the right decision is for you, but when it comes to social media, doing something simply because you’ve been doing it forever is almost as bad as jumping on every new platform that comes out before investigating it.

Packaging should be practical

While there is always a practical aspect to packaging, once you’ve seen the Nike Air sneakers packaged in a bubble of air or the labels on Smirnoff’s Caipiroska that peeled off like the skins of the fruits the vodka was flavored with, it becomes obvious that an investment of time and creativity in packaging (as with everything you do) can have a much bigger impact than more of the same.

Cover the next How to Train Your Dragon in dragon scales, wrap that hi-tech travel bag in special edition maps of popular destinations, or print your anti-pesticide pamphlet on seed paper that can be used to start an organic garden. Better yet, let your design team loose to create something amazing and brand new that’s exactly right for your audience.

Stick to your content strategy

While strategy is a very good thing (and you’ve likely invested significant money and/or resources into creating that strategy), how do you really know if it’s working unless you push at the edges a bit?

Know that your audience likes reading about car parts? See if they respond to a post waxing nostalgic about Knight Rider. Or introduce your organic skincare clients to some of the politics behind GMOs. You might bore someone. You might offend someone. You might also find you’ve made a stronger connection with some of your core customers.

Go break some rules

So if it’s been awhile since you asked “why are we doing this?” or tried something new, go shake it up already. Because unless you’re making Nestle Toll House cookies, chances are your recipe can still use some refinement.

Go forth and open your presents early. Enjoy the rush of innovation rather than the boredom of imitation. Then come back and tell us how it worked out and what you learned.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!