Tag Archives: process

Heading for an SEO Interview? A few Ideas to Help You Along…

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Over at  Mediaedge:cia (recently rebranded as MEC), we’ve been in the great situation of recruiting a number of SEO’s over the last few months to join the MEC SEO team.  This has meant that I’ve been in the lucky situation to meet and interview so many great SEO’s from around the UK.  On the back of all these interviews, I thought what better chance to share a little empathy (considering how tough the interview process can be at times!) and a couple of observations that might help SEO folk prepare for the opportunity of their dreams!  So here goes; a few ideas to help get you SEO interview fit… Prepare and plan

Make Sense of Huge Keyword Lists with Keyword Niche Tools

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A few weeks ago I discovered a very cool tool that helped a lot with my keyword research (especially for finding really easy and cool long-tail keywords). So I decided to go ahead and share it with SEJ readers. The tool is called Keyword Niche Tools and it essentially helps you figure your keyword list out by streamlining the process of retrieving important data for each of your key terms. The huge value of the tool lies in: Running a large list quickly (giving me more time to dig deeper into keyword segments if needed) Quickly spotting open gaps or niches. This information that the tool helps to generate includes: Overall number of search results; InUrl: search results for each term; InTitle: search results for each term. All in all, the process the tool automates is very much like the one I described in this post on competitive research : but it helps make the process fast and smooth for a very affordable price ($19.95 per list). The service claims: Keyword Niche Tools delivers over 4 days* of professional search engine optimization efforts Up to 2,000 (*which stands for up to 500 of keyword terms plus SEO-relevant data retrieved for each of them) search results with one click One use. One Fee. One report. No memberships. No questions. So let’s see the whole process step by step. Step 1: Get a keyword list. This can be any: your current search referrals or the terms generated by your favorite keyword research tool. I am using the list downloaded from my Google Analytics Account. Step 2: Go to the keyword tool , click “Order now!” Step 3: Copy-paste your keyword list and provide some extra information (to create an account and pay) Only one thing that makes the process a bit longer. I wish there were PayPal option so that I didn’t have to provide my full billing information. Step 4: You are almost done! Just sit back and wait. Step 5: Once ready, the list will be sent to you via email: Why wait? The service has a very helpful (and sometimes funny) FAQ section that explains that question: Why email me later? Just let me see the report right now! We appreciate your business. Please appreciate we are running up to 2,000 search term queries for you as fast as we can. We could have created this to show you a small hour glass turning over and over for 15 minutes but decided to serve your order when it was done and not require you to watch the stove while it cooks. So here you go. Now just play with your Excel sorting options to find the best terms for you and start creating content! My verdict? A very simple but useful tool that does its job exactly as advertised. It may save you a bunch of time and help you find really cool key terms. Contest! The tool developers were awesome enough to offer some fun contest to our readers. Here are the details. Since the tool is great for finding cool keywords that are easy to rank for, give this tool a try and in the comments section share your best word you were able to find. Rules? You should be a customer (try the tool at least once); No porn or questionable terms Legitimate keyword terms. (no: sytwpx like terms) Top 10 customers of Keyword Niche Tools that submit the best, shortest, lowest competitive term (“keyword term in quotes”) win a Free 500 term run . There will also be Top Testimonials page created with winning keyword anchor text to the winners’ web site link. Free list and a high quality link. So let’s give it a try, shall we? Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Make Sense of Huge Keyword Lists with Keyword Niche

Qualifying SEO clients; keeping Pareto at bay

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For the longest time now I have wanted to write about this topic as it’s one that has legs when I am talking to my fellow search warriors. Deciding on which clients one takes on is paramount to not only keeping your sanity, but the success of your company in general. I’d even go as far to say the process has a lot to do with the success of an SEO program. But how does one get there? I have had great clients, not so great and bloody horrid ones over the years. How does it happen? Well, most of the time it is over before it begins. So today we’re going to talk about the process of qualifying clients. I have some of my own thoughts, also parts of this from recent group sessions I’ve held… and even some Tweeple chime in at the end. I hope you find some points of interest and feel free to add your own 2c in the comments What to look at While it can vary, we need to establish some of the parameters by which we can evaluate a client prospect. You can even cover some of these elements by creating a form for clients (RFP style). How you go about it, or how much weight you give to each point can be more personal, but here’s a list to get things rolling. Qualifying the project The first thing we want to do is look at the project parameters such as; Budget Control Profitability Resources (client side) Benchmarks These are fairly straight forward. Is there a realistic budget in place to compete in the space? Will you have enough control to be effective? Does the site have the potential for growth? Are the benchmarks realistic? If you aren’t scoring high on these ones, I doubt there is really a need to continue on with the process. The last thing you want is to be in a situation where success is all but impossible. You need to be realistic.

Should Clients Invest in an SEO Prenup?

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There have been a number of instances over the last year or two where I or people I know have taken on projects from another SEO consultant or agency.  In these cases, I’ve seen the transition of accounts from one party to another create their own spectrum; where the incumbent ranges from hugely helpful to less much than so. With this in mind, I wrote a couple of posts outlining the idea of an SEO honeymoon and what it might mean to inherit a site of that’s been on a SEO honeymoon .  I wanted to take these posts a little further and highlight a debate that I’ve been having in my head around whether an outgoing SEO agency should fully support the incoming agency or not, and if so, to what extent? The challenges to being