content marketing events

Content Strategy beyond Top 10s – SEOgadget Webinar

JonQuinton

We’ve all been there – you’ve poured your heart and soul into a piece of content and for various reasons it just hasn’t worked out as planned. There’s nothing worse than experience a ‘flop’; but with proper planning and the right approach it’s possible to dramatically reduce the chances of this happening.  Starting with a […]

The post Content Strategy beyond Top 10s – SEOgadget Webinar appeared first on SEOgadget.

SEO

Mastering #PPC: Learn the Skills to Pay the Bills

Lauren

Now that Francis has showed you how to set up AdWords and BingAds accounts, let’s dive into how to pay for your ads and why you might chose each option. There are three primary billing options available for AdWords and BingAds. Prepay How Does Prepay Work? Advertisers are required to deposit funds into their account(s) prior […]

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Breaking out of the SEO Echo Chamber

Hannah Smith

start-upIt’s not that I don’t love this industry, I do; however I’ve been making an effort to change my usual reading habits in search of something new.

Post from on State of Search
Breaking out of the SEO Echo Chamber

15 tips for getting the best out of your guest bloggers

Graham Charlton

Why guest bloggers are useful

We have a small editorial team, and guest bloggers allow this blog to produce extra content. 

While the majority of our articles are written by the blog/editorial team, with some great contributions from elsewhere in the company, guest bloggers have been very useful in the blog’s development.

It also allows us to get different perspectives on digital issues from people ‘in the field’, both client and agency-side. They can also become ‘cheerleaders’ for your blog, promoting your content to their followers and networks. 

In short, guest bloggers can be a very valuable asset for a blog. 

How to get the most out of your guest bloggers

For the editor, the trick is to get the most out of guest bloggers and to make the right choices.

This isn’t always easy, but here’s how I try to achieve this: 

Ask for ideas

The tricky thing is to assess how good a guest blogger will be before they have written for your site. 

If they have a track record of blogging, this is a big help as you can instantly assess he quality of their writing.

If not, then another way is to ask the potential guest blogger to submit several ideas for the articles they’d like to write for you. This also allows you to provide some early feedback. 

Agree topics and themes in advance

Our problem can be that, while everyone wants to write about content marketing or social media, the gaps are often in the less ‘glamorous’ areas: RTB, affiliate marketing etc. 

Agreeing topics in advance helps the guest blogger to find their niche on the blog, and should help avoid duplication. 

Be selective

Given the volume of guest blogging offers we receive, being selective is vital. In fact, the volume does make it more difficult to actually respond to all the requests and sort the wheat from the chaff. 

I can understand Bas van den Beld’s frustrations on guest blogging, and his decision to stop accepting guest posts. We don’t want to head down that route, but the number of low quality requests is annoying. 

So, my advice is to only accept posts you know are going to be good, and of interest to your audience. Sometimes you can’t tell until they have submitted a post, but don’t be afraid to reject or ask for re-writes. 

Set the standards

We are sent a lot of articles which are obviously written just to tick the guest post box, not to write something of value.  

I’ve seen plenty of posts which are just four or five hundred words of waffle, or some very basic tips with little in the way of examples to back them up. This stuff doesn’t work, and actually shows the blogger in a poor light.

Make it clear what quality level is necessary to write for your blog. I tend to show examples of some of our best guest work, such as Kelvin Newman’s excellent Edgerank article and Paul Rouke’s post finding the method in the madness of Ling’s Cars. 

Set expectations

I have been referring people to lists like this, which explain our guest blogger criteria, but I’m coming up with a new checklist as it’s clear that some people aren’t reading it. 

It’s best to make expectations clear from the start, so people can decide there and then if they’re happy with that before they start writing. 

If you have expectations on the type of content you want, frequency of posting etc, make it clear. 

In our case, we want best practice tips and insight from guest bloggers, not news, infographics, interviews etc. 

Encourage the use of images

Posts look better with screenshots and charts to illustrate the points that guest bloggers are making. It breaks up the text and makes it more likely that people will want to read on. 

Getting guest bloggers into good habits like this reduces the workload of the editor. 

Make sure they know your blog

While I don’t necessarily expect every single guest blogger to be an avid reader of our site when they begin, it certainly helps if they’re familiar with your content. 

In fact, I’d wager that most of our best guest bloggers are successful because they have an understanding of the audience, what works, and which gaps need to be filled. 

If people are randomly searching for guest blogger opportunities and arriving that way, then they are likely to be lower quality. 

Have a clear style guide

Style and formatting is important to us. Posts should be informative but also easy to digest. To this end, we have a blog style guide which sets expectations on language, how posts should look, and of course, which hateful marketing jargon to avoid.

In fact, if I see the word ‘paradigm’ or ‘leverage’ in a guest post that has been submitted, it’s a sure sign they haven’t read the style guide!  

Speak directly to the guest blogger

I don’t want to dismiss all guest blogger requests which come via an agency or PR, but I find it helps a lot to have a direct conversation with the guest blogger. 

This way you can ensure that you have gotten your points across, and any feedback can be quickly passed on. 

It also ensures that posts aren’t ghost-written. 

Avoid the self-promotional

Despite making the ‘no self-promotion’ point upfront, I still get articles submitted with contain phrases such as ‘using our industry-leading solutions’ or which are little more than press releases. 

I do understand that it can be tricky to pass on tips and advice without talking about your own work and experience, but blatant self-promotion should be avoided. 

Use Google Plus

I encourage our guest bloggers to use Google Plus and I add their authorship mark up to their guest profiles. This helps the guest to improve their profile, and helps results to stand out in the SERPS: 

Don’t work too hard on guest bloggers

You can set out expectations, provide feedback on posts, but if they still don’t get it, then don’t be afraid to cast them aside. 

Why spend too much time getting guest bloggers into shape when this time would be better spent writing your own articles. 

A standard author bio

Standardising author bios ensures that no-one can request juicy anchor text on the phrase ‘leading SEO agency’ or try to describe themselves as some sort of ‘social media guru’. 

Here’s our standard bio. It allows the guest blogger to explain their job title and company and provide readers with a few ways to contact them after reading the article. 

Make sure articles are exclusive

There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, you don’t want to risk any potential duplicate content issues with Google and secondly, who wants the same post that has already been used on other blogs? 

Also, I suspect that this will raise alarms for Google if they look more deeply into guest blogging as a link building tactic. 

It’s worth entering the title or the odd paragraph from articles into a search engine just to check posts haven’t been ‘recycled’. 

Provide constructive feedback

You can’t expect guest bloggers to submit perfect posts first time, and if they are looking to improve, then they will appreciate your input. 

Let them know why you have changed certain aspects of posts, and the kinds of things they could do to improve next time. 

It often takes a few posts for guest bloggers to get into their strides, but once they are, this should mean less work for the editor and a consistent quality of content. 

Announcing The Digitals awards shortlist

Graham Charlton

Automotive

  • AutoTrader: New car drop. 
  • Bandwidth Group for Citroën: The New C1 Connexion.
  • Candyspace for Citroën UK: Citroën Seekers.
  • HookLogic for AutoTrader.co.uk: Launch of high-performing advertising opportunities for car dealers.
  • Line Up for Volvo: V40 Launch Event Toolkit.
  • Manning Gottlieb OMD for Nissan JUKE: Nissan JUKE and The Dark Knight Rises.
  • McLaren Automotive: Launch of a global luxury car brand.
  • SapientNitrofor Chrysler: Fiat 500 Abarth Reveal.

B2B

  • 1000heads for MarketReach: Real:The Physical Network.
  • Adido for Glenigan: Doing digital better for Glenigan Construction Insight.
  • Berwin Leighton Paisner: Do Amazing Things – winning the war for talent.
  • Creator for MSD: Thought leadership in medicine.
  • Financial Times: FT Smart Match for IMD Leadership.
  • Greenlight for RS Components: Transforming B2B SEO revenue project.
  • OgilvyOne for Kern & Sohn Precision Scales: The Gnome Experiment.
  • VCCP Media for Sage: Brand building through content and search campaign.
  • Ve Interactive for Liberty London: Cart recovery, remarketing & optimisation campaign.

Charity & not for profit

  • 3 Sided Cube for American Red Cross: Hurricane App.
  • Code Computerlove for Oxfam GB: Getting people to do more to fight poverty.
  • Firefly Communications for Give as you live: Give as you live.
  • M4C, MEC & Channel Flip for Department of Health: The Awkward Conversations Project.
  • 38 Degrees: Save our NHS.
  • Public Zone for Prostate Cancer UK: Football League campaign .
  • Responsys for charity: water: September 2012 Campaign.
  • The Good Agency for WaterAid: The Big Dig.
  • Wunderman London for Sabin Vaccine Institute: END7 – How to shock a celebrity.

Consumer products and services

  • 3 Monkeys Communications & LBi for Microsoft: Brandon Generator.
  • Cake for Sony: The Sony NEX-5R real-time gallery.
  • Carat for Kellogg Krave: Krave Week.
  • EVRYTHNG for Diageo: Father’s Day campaign.
  • Fifty6 for Virgin Media: 100 Day Game Project.
  • Line Up for Coca-Cola: The Coca-Cola Beat Generator.
  • McCann New York for IKEA: The 2013 IKEA Catalog App.
  • Mischief PR for Kellogg’s: Special K: The Tweet Shop.
  • Mondelez International for Cadbury: Let’s Play Our Way To London 2012.
  • netCORE Solutions for Hindustan Unilever: Active Wheel rural mobile marketing campaign.

Financial services

  • City Index: The Trading Academy.
  • Havas Media for AXA PPP Healthcare: Little Big Things.
  • HSBC Expat: Expat Hints and Tips.
  • Lombard: Web transformation project.
  • Ogilvy & Mindshare for American Express: Hidden Talent.
  • RKCR Y&R and MECLloyds for TSB: London 2012 Torchview.

Media & entertainment

  • AOL’s goviral for Volvo Trucks: The Ballerina Stunt.
  • Essence for Google+: Christmas Hangout.
  • Havas Media for Penguin: Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals – Cook it, Snap it, Share it.
  • Immediate Media for BBC Worldwide: Top Gear magazine interactive edition.
  • M2M for Momentum Pictures: Sinister – the theatrical release.
  • Numiko for Channel 4 & Windfall Films: Foxes Live: Wild in the City.
  • Reuters: The Wider Image.
  • Th_nk for Channel 4 & Kudos: The Utopia Inquiry.
  • Think Jam for Warner Bros. Pictures: The Dark Knight Rises – online campaign.
  • Tiger Aspect & The Project Factory for Channel 4 Television: The Great British Property Scandal.

Retail

  • Argos: The Multichannel Retailer.
  • Bell Pottinger Wired for Fortnum & Mason: Digitising a 300-year-old brand.
  • eBay Advertising for House of Fraser: Summer 2012 sale campaign.
  • Fast Web Media for Bravissimo & Pepperberry: FWM weatherFIT.
  • Greenlight for RS Components: Transforming online retail performance project.
  • iProspect Manchester for Go Outdoors: Driving multichannel growth through smart PPC campaign.
  • Deloitte Digital for John Lewis: Project EPIC.
  • MediaCom iLab for Co-operative Energy: Maximising market share campaign.
  • Orange & Last Second Tickets: Fun Finder.
  • UM for Royal Mail: Gold medal winner stamps campaign.

Travel & leisure

  • Bozboz for Fastjet: Airline launch campaign.
  • Brandwave Marketing for Clipper Round The World: “Achieve Something Remarkable”.
  • Detica for Transport for London: Get Ahead Of The Games.
  • Expedia for Drawbridge: Desktop-to-mobile retargeting campaign.
  • Gatwick Express: Express Tracks.
  • Rough Guides: RoughGuides.com.
  • VisitScotland: Operation “Shetland Ponies in Cardigans”.

Ad campaign

  • Aol UK for The Huffington Post UK: Conversations Start Here.
  • eBay Advertising for House of Fraser: Summer 2012 sale campaign.
  • RAPP for Virgin Media: Postcode Checker online banner campaign.
  • Time Out London for Samsung GALAXY Camera: “Share your Now” Time Out London vs Time Out New York.
  • Undertone & Essence Digital: Driving awareness and engagement for eBay campaign.

Customer & user experience

  • ASDA: The ASDA App.
  • Barclays: PingIt.
  • ITV News: Website and livestream project.
  • Line Up for Coca-Cola: The Coca-Cola Beat Generator.
  • OgilvyAction London for Triumph: Triumph Essence launch at Selfridges.
  • PrettyGreen for Cadbury: Cadbury House RFID.
  • Qualcomm: James May’s Science Stories.

Email marketing

  • CACI for Vodafone: Netherlands lead management programme.
  • optivo GmbH for RWE: Conversion campaign.
  • planning-inc for Argos: Abandoned basket project.
  • Rakuten LinkShare & SaleCycle for Monsoon: Basket abandonment email campaign
  • RedEye for LV=: Marketing automation customer conversion programme
  • RedEye for Craghoppers: Customer conversion programme with dynamic content
  • RS Components: Making email an essential part of our marketing mix
  • Sony Playstation: PlayStation Vita + hardware retail offer.

Mobile marketing

  • Cherry London for O2: Priority Moments.
  • Cybercom for L’Oreal: INOA Colour Capture App.
  • LIDA for O2: Money Account Card.
  • McCann New York for IKEA: The 2013 IKEA Catalog App.
  • MEC for Halifax: Home Finder App: Beyond advertising.
  • MEDIACOM for BSKYB: Sky Broadband Wi-Fi finder.
  • MediaCom iLab for Co-operative Insurance: Driving education and awareness through mobile.
  • Mindshare UK for LG: Ticket Hunter.

Multichannel marketing

  • 1000heads for CBS: Look for Longer.
  • Barclaycard: PayTag.
  • Creator & TUI UK for MyThomson Cruise: MyThomson Cruise.
  • Fast Web Media for Carling: Bottle your summer with Carling Zest.
  • Mindshare UK for Nestle: KIT KAT Chunky Champion 2013 .
  • RAPP for Bacardi: Our Birthday Your Party.
  • RS Components: Open-source Arduino starter kit launch.

Performance marketing

  • Affiliate Window for BT: Performance channel maximising project.
  • Havas Media for East Coast: Real time pricing project.
  • Infectious Media for Waitrose: Christmas RTB campaign.
  • LBi for Rakuten’s Play.com: Play.com response display.
  • MEC for T-Mobile: Optimising the T-Mobile affiliate programme.
  • Tradedoubler for Tesco: The Tesco affiliate programme.
  • Tradedoubler for The Body Shop: Omnichannel affiliate programme.

Rich media & video

  • ASOS: #BestNightEver – Christmas 2012 campaign.
  • Carat for SCA Bodyform: Bodyform Responds: The Truth.
  • City Index: The Trading Academy.
  • ITV News: Website and livestream project.
  • myThings for Shop Direct Group: Love Label for Very.co.uk’s personalised video ad campaign.
  • Wunderman London for Sabin Vaccine Institute: END7 – How to shock a celebrity.

Search marketing

  • Fast Web Media for Bravissimo & Pepperberry: FWM weatherFIT.
  • Greenlight for RS Components: Improving SEO campaign.
  • Greenlight for Legal & General: Moving beyond bid management .
  • Havas Media for National Express: Optimising SEO project.
  • iCrossing UK for Boden: Delivering revenue through non-brand search.
  • iProspect Manchester for Go Outdoors: Driving multichannel growth through smart PPC.
  • Net Media Planet for Cotswold Outdoor: Improving performance – no matter what the weather.
  • STEAK for John Lewis Insurance: 2012 paid search test plan.
  • Stickyeyes for Dreams.co.uk: Organic Search Domination

Social media

  • ASOS: ASOSInteractive Twitter. 
  • Blonde for AG Barr: How IRN-BRU made a million.
  • Carat for SCA Bodyform: Bodyform Responds: The Truth.
  • M2M for Paddy Power: Sky Tweets, Ryder Cup 2012.
  • M4C, MEC & Channel Flip for Department of Health: The Awkward Conversations Project.
  • OgilvyOne for Kern & Sohn Precision Scales: The Gnome Experiment .
  • OgilvyOne for British Airways: Social Symphony.
  • R/GA London for Getty Images: The Feed by Getty Images.
  • RS Components: Open-source Arduino new starter kit launch.
  • Samsung: We are David Bailey.

Web analytics and optimisation

  • 4Ps Marketing for Kaplan Law School: The Prospect Interaction Insight Project | Post Graduate Visitor Performance.
  • DC Storm for Play.com: Embrace “Because?” using attribution to drive incremental sales from marketing.
  • Greenlight for RS Components: Reinventing web analytics project.
  • Greenlight for Legal & General: Optimising and customer segmentation analytics project.
  • IgnitionOne for Oreca Store: Optimising campaign performance project.
  • Infinity Tracking for TUI Mainstream: Identifying best ongoing strategy project.
  • Qubit Group for Arcadia Group: User experience improvements across the UK’s leading high street fashion brands.

Innovative new technology

  • Fast Web Media for Bravissimo & Pepperberry: FWM weatherFIT. 
  • ITV: Ad Sync.
  • McCann New York for IKEA: The 2013 IKEA Catalog App.
  • myThings for Shop Direct Group: Love Label for Very.co.uk’s personalised video ad campaign.
  • Specific Media: Householding.
  • Stickyeyes: Roadmap: Smarter SEO.
  • VoxPopMe: VoxPopMe.

Rising star

  • Charlotte McMurray
  • Giovana Ruaro-Lane
  • James Barber
  • Matt Sutherland
  • Scott Taylor
  • Tom Wright