Posted by Mike Volpe on Mon, Nov 23, 2009
What is the future of Search Engine Optimization?
How can you be successful in SEO in 2010 and beyond? How does social media affect search? Will Facebook replace Google? What about video? What about other social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter, will they affect search? This SEO in 2010 video covers the basics of SEO, and then goes onto more advanced topics to set the stage for you to be successful in search engine optimization in 201.
Video Agenda:
- SEO's role in Inbound Marketing
- The basics of SEO
- More advanced SEO tips and link strategies
- Where is SEO going and how to be successful in SEO in 2010 and beyond
FYI, this webinar is in support of my Movember campaign to raise money and awareness for men's cancers. The webinar is completely free, but I will ask you if you like the webinar to make a donation to support my Movember campaign.
<-- Download Webinar Slides --> <-- Donate to fight cancer in Movember -->
<-- Download Webinar Slides --> <-- Donate to fight cancer in Movember -->
Download video for iPod and iPhone.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Tue, Nov 17, 2009
Have you heard of Movember? It is an international foundation that raises money and awareness for men's cancers (prostate and testicular cancers).
Why the name Movember? Well, they ask volunteers to grow a moustache during November and then ask their friends to donate a little something in support. Sort of like a walk-a-thon, except you get less exercise, more insults, and it lasts a heck of a lot longer.
And, most importanly, you have this crazy new thing on your face every day for a whole month. Which is why it is great viral marketing. A cause you can't help but care about, paired with a trigger that gets people to ask you "are you growing a moustache" and then you explain to them why. I have explained Movember and Team Boston about 100 times already.
Below is a slideshow below of my current "growth". (Yes, I am currently growing more of a beard than a moustache, but honestly, I can't pull off the moustache and am also worried what the in-laws will think when I see them for Thanksgiving :) I will do only the moustache before the end of the month, at least for a day.
And, I will blog more about this later this week, but I am going to do a special webinar on SEO in 2010 to support Movember, you can pre-register here.
Again, don't forget to register for the webinar or donate.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Tue, Aug 18, 2009
Yes.
But first, let's talk about why people buy paid links. Links are really important for ranking higher in the search engines. Because of this, some website started selling links because people would buy them to increase their search engine rankings.
Google's Paid Links Policy (from http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66736)
"Google and most other search engines use links to determine reputation. A site's ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site's value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating."
"However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results."
More relevant discussions I found:
Do you think you are smarter than Google? If so, go ahead and buy all the paid links you want. But I will bet $1 every time that Google is smarter than you are. And if you buy enough paid links to have a big effect on your marketing, then Google will find out and you will be penalized.
Download video for iPod and iPhone.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Thu, Aug 06, 2009
If you are launching a new inbound marketing program for a website, there are a number of variables that determine how long it might be until you see measurable results.
- The age of your website. The older your website is, the sooner you might see results.
- The amount of content you have. If you have more content, you have a better chance of seeing results sooner.
- The number of inbound links you have. If you have more links into your website, you have a better level of authority with the search engines, and you might see results sooner.
- The competition in your market. If you have competitors that are well established online, it will take longer for you to
- The amount of effort you put in. The results you see from inbound marketing are completely based on how much time and effort you put into it. If you blog once a week and spend a bit of time in social media you'll see results, but you'll get a lot more a lot faster if you blog 3-5 times a week and spend a lot of time making friends in your industry online.
For a well established company that has a lot of inbound links and has been around for years, but never did an effective optimization of their website, they could start to see results in a matter of weeks. If on the other hand you are launching a brand new website in a competitive market, it could take 6 months to see any significant results for getting found in inbound marketing. To size up your website and your competitors' websites, use the free tool http://website.grader.com/
Download video for iPod and iPhone.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Tue, Jul 07, 2009
One possible technique for online marketing is to take your articles and copy and paste them onto ezine websites around the web to get more links into your website. Does the increased inbound links to your website balance out the negative effects of having duplicate content?
Probably not. The links will not be that valuable because the search engines do not give a lot of authority to websites that consist of mostly duplicate content.
Download video for iPod or iPhone
Posted by Mike Volpe on Wed, May 27, 2009
Here is my SEO presentation from the Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas, including all the search engine optimization tips and tricks I covered, and information about how social media impacts search engine optimization. There is still one more IMS in Boston - September 30 to October 1, 2009 - www.InboundMarketingSummit.com.
Download full PPT here or view the slideshow below.
But... How do I get started with Inbound Marketing?
In addition to my presentation, there were a lot of questions about "Where can I learn this stuff? Where is the "101" content?" Well, a big part of what we do for marketing at HubSpot is basic education on inbound marketing. So here are links to some intro or 101 presentations on the basics:
Finally, if you want to learn more, register for the Inbound Marketing University, a free series of online classes to train you on all the basics, there is even certification available (if you can pass the exam).
Posted by Mike Volpe on Tue, May 19, 2009
I am friends with a guy named John Wall, who blogs and podcasts at The M Show and on Marketing Over Coffee. John is "slightly famous", because he is known in the marketing world. I am sure that at marketing industry events people come up to him and introduce themselves (I have experienced this sometimes because of HubSpot and HubSpot TV). But in the real world he is completely anonymous. However, according to Google he was the most famous John Wall since he usually ranked toward the top of search results for his name.
But, there is another "John Wall". He is a basketball player. I found him since he was a trending topic today on Twitter for having decided to go to University of Kentucky.
I wonder how this will affect John's personal brand and SEO. Today I noticed a lot of news articles and videos ranking above John's blog for a search on "John Wall". If this new John Wall goes on to the NBA, it will probably be super difficult for the first John to rank on the first page of Google for his name.
Ideas & Thoughts:
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Make sure you have the domain that matches the online moniker you use (like I have http://www.mikevolpe.com/) - though even then spelling matters, there is a Mike Volpi (CEO of Joost the online video company) that sometimes people confuse with me
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If you have a potentially common name (like John Wall) you can start using your middle name, like
David Meerman Scott
- Everyone is vulnerable to a potential personal branding issue from someone becoming famous with the same name (remember the movie Office Space and the guy named "Mike Bolton"...ouch!)
- Publish lots of content and build lots of authority on ONE domain for your personal brand
- John should include "John Wall" in the page title of homepage of The M Show website - he now has to optimize for this term because of a new competitor
What other ideas do you have?
Posted by Mike Volpe on Thu, May 07, 2009
Continuing the long week of presentations, I spoke to the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA) about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Download the slides or view the full presentation below.
Download PPT slides
Additional useful links related to the NEDMA SEO presentation:
Posted by Mike Volpe on Wed, Mar 25, 2009
There are really just two basic things you need to do to most LinkedIn profiles to get the most out of them from an SEO standpoint.
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Customize your URL. My LinkedIn profile URL is http://linkedin.com/in/mikevolpe - and you can have one just like it with your name in the URL making it more likely for your profile to rank for searches for your name.
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Add Custom Anchor Text to Links. You can have up to 3 links on your profile to other websites, and these links pass SEO authority. If you customize the anchor text on the links, you can get the most out of them.
Download video for iPod.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Mon, Feb 09, 2009