Tag Archives: tools

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

Winner of the Search & Social Spring Summit Grand Prize

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With the conference being a little over a week away, we are stoked about the 80 degree weather that we foresee for the 2010 Search & Social Spring Summit .  While listening to Todd Malicoat from Market Motive speak, you might even get a chance to see Loren Baker jumping for joy as he sees dolphins swimming by our conference hall. On April 15, 2010, we closed our VIP Contest and have finally gotten a winner. Congratulations to David Alecock for winning the Grand Prize to the 2010 Search & Social Spring Summit! David has won a complimentary pass to attend the conference, complimentary airfare, a free hotel stay at the Doubletree Guest Suites and $500 in cold hard cash! David will be able to leave with business connections in affiliate marketing, social media marketing, online reputation management, paid search and search engine optimization. He will learn outsourcing secrets on how to grow his business and spend the rest of his life on the beach. For the speaker lineup and the schedule of the two-day event, please go here . Also remember to book your stay at the Doubletree Guest Suites for a special rate of $109/night valid until Friday, April 23, 2010. The 2010 Search & Social Awards will be coming soon. We will let you know when you can vote for your favorite blog and hear the winners announced at the 2010 Search & Social Spring Summit. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Winner of the Search & Social Spring Summit Grand

Surprise! Facebook Rolls out News Features at F8 Event!

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In San Francisco today, a great even called “F8″ took place. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced a few new key features that will help improve our social experience internally to Facebook as well as externally to the web. You know, I always joke about how Facebook is going to take over the world. Little did I know that my prediction may be true. So, to recap a little for you: New Social Plugins Social bar plugin: something that can be added, which includes Facebook chat, the “like” button, as well as a list of friends who “like” the same site you do. Recommendation plugin: This uses an algorithm which will pretty much analyze all your favorite things, as well as the interests of your friends, to recommend things that you might “like”. Activity stream plugin: this filters out all the rest of the stuff in your newsfeed to only show you your “liked” website’s updates. I like this, because normally I have to sift through all my friend’s updates to find something a fanpage or whatever posted for me to see. Facebook login plugin: They plan on doing away with Facebook Connect (which was an awesome idea in the first place) and making the Facebook login plugin essentially the same thing, however, you’ll also be able to see pictures showing what friends of yours have joined the site. The “like” button: Running in an iFrame with no login required, this is probably the simplest of all the plugins. The beautiful thing about the “like” feature on websites is that it doesn’t need to know anything about you to congregate a list of friends that have recently liked or engaged the website. It will also automatically add this into your Facebook profile. Now, those goodies are pretty much for the general public. The following things have also been added that are a little more complex. Open Graph Protocols This has been a tricky subject to grasp for me, but here it goes. Websites will now have semantic markup, and Facebook will now be able to reads tags from external websites, to see, categorize and understand what kind of things you’re liking. There are 30 partner sites that are going to be involved with this, so you’ll have no shortage of websites to play on. It’s going to be fluid, so if you have something liked in your profile from the CNN website, you can hover over the link and it will give you information. Inside Facebook gave the example of “like”ing Toby Gerhardt on the ESPN website and being able to receive updates strictly about him in your Facebook activity stream. He will also show up in your profile, and when you hover over him it will probably say “ESPN” etc.  It’s all integrated. Instead of just connecting links to static pages, they want to connect people, interests and encourage social-ness in the web. This is what I’ve gathered from reading about open graph protocols, but until it’s actually physically usable, there could be more involved that I’m not understanding right away. “We think connections between people and things they care about will define internet experiences. Our goal is to accelerate.” Graph API Every object in Facebook is going to have a unique ID. Developers can then download this object from graph.facebook.com/userid. To see your friends for instance, you can go to /yourusername/friends/.You will no longer need SDK and tons and tons of documentation. Breathe a sigh of relief, developers! Because it’s in real-time, you can also use web hooks that will allow you to ping whenever users update their walls as well as register call backs. So… in closing Sites like Microsoft Docs, Pandora etc will be using all of these features. Once they are fully done and I get my hands in to it, I will probably be able to write a better article. Until then, this was just a glimpse of what was said today at the conference icon smile Surprise! Facebook Rolls out News Features at F8 Event! Also, from an SEO perspective… when things are getting moved into real-time search and sites are now connected in these ways… are “likes” going to be something that will be incorporated in SEO and social media marketing in the near future? Since the industry is always moving and changing, should this be something we should be aware of now, and possibly looking to implement? Sorry- crazy brain thinking ahead to the future. I’ll slow my roll here just a little. Part of me thinks this is amazing, and part of me thinks that it’s scary. I absolutely love the innovation, but there’s always the concern for privacy and what it means when we’re so used to getting information tailored to our liking. If you think about it this way, once the algorithms start picking up your interests, and start influencing your web results and whatever else it will eventually come to, it’s almost as if you’re living in a sheltered world. You’re going to get so used to having information given to you, that you may be blind to whatever other information out there that doesn’t fit into your “likes”. What do you guys think? Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Surprise! Facebook Rolls out News Features at F8

Jessica Bowman, Mike Gray & Greg Boser Added to Search & Social Summit Lineup

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Search & Social has secured three new premier speakers to be covering SEO tactics and in-house SEO strategies at the Search & Social Spring Summit 2010 in Tampa, FL on May 3rd and 4th. Search & Social Spring Summit is one of the most cost effective conferences in the search & social media marketing space with a ticket cost of only $525 for the two day event. Only 26 seats are left for the event, so if you are planing on attending, REGISTER NOW . Search & Social Spring Summit Speakers include : Greg Boser Founder, WebGuerrilla, LLC Todd Malicoat (StuntDubl) Internet Marketing Consultant Rae Hoffman, CEO of Outspoken Media Neal Rodriguez, SEO for the Nielsen Company Chris Winfield, President of 10e20 Brent Csutoras, Social Media Marketing Expert Dave Szetela, SEO of Clix Marketing More Search & Social Summit Speakers Search & Social Spring Summit will of course be moderated by the founders of Search & Social and Search Engine Journal : Loren Baker Jordan Kasteler Dave Snyder Attendees can expect to learn, at this affordable conference, the latest trends and successful marketing approaches by speakers who are headliners at other conferences costing a thousand dollars or more. Complete Schedule for Search & Social Spring Summit Day One of Search & Social Spring Summit Breakfast & Registration Monday 8 am – 9 am Search & Social Spring Summit kicks off with a breakfast buffet & registration for all of its attendees. This is the perfect time to come down by the pool, register, grab some swag along with your bagels, fruit and coffee and start your morning networking before our first set of presentations. Social Media News & Content Chris Winfield, Chris Bennett, Neal Rodriguez, Brent Csutoras moderated by Jordan Kasteler of Search & Social Monday 9am – 10:15 am Social Media is generally split into two categories, social networking and social news sharing/bookmarking. This panel features three of the foremost experts on Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Fark and some of the more well known (and lesser known yet more targeted) social news sharing/bookmarking websites that do not only build proven links to the posts and stories which become popular on them, but also TRAFFIC! Chris Winfield, Chris Bennett, Neal Rodriguez & Brent Csutoras, three social media experts, will discuss tactics and strategies for building a successful social media campaign across the world of Digg and beyond. Social Media Biz : Doing Business on Twitter & Facebook Rae Hoffman, Julia Gorzka, Joe Hall & Brian Chappell moderated by Jordan Kasteler of Search & Social Monday 10:45am – 12 pm Social Networking is more than just connecting with friends and clients on Fanpages. Rae Hoffman, Joe Hall, Julia Gorzka & Brian Chappell will discuss real life situations and case studies that the small business or the Fortune 500 executive can use for utilizing social media as a reputation management tool, money making application and/or widget generation and branding device. This panel will cover how to get people talking about your brand on social media channels, and how to monetize or motivate using social media. LUNCH : Sponsored by Second Step Search 12 pm – 1 pm Monday’s Lunch is a full on buffet ( we know food and love food ) sponsored by Second Step Search . CASH BAR Opens 12 pm to 5 pm On-Site SEO Tactics Greg Boser, Michael Gray & Todd Malicoat moderated by Dave Snyder of Search & Social Monday 1pm – 2:15pm Three SEO professionals, Greg Boser, Chris Bennett, Michael Gray and Todd Malicoat will offer their SEO expertise to review overlooked SEO campaign tactics, tips on getting SEO changes made to corporate sites, webmaster tools tactics & specifically linking site analytics, site speed and spiderability to your SEO campaign. All three of these men charge over $500 an hour for their SEO consultation services, and this session will be one to remember. In-House SEO : Tactics for Managing Multiple Sites & Headaches Jessica Bowman of SEOinhouse.com, Tony Adam of Myspace! & Kathryn Katz of Consolidated Credit moderated by Dave Snyder of Search & Social Monday 3:45pm – 5pm In-house SEO is a whole different ballgame than SEO consultation or agency work but at the end of the day, we all have to understand the life of the in-house SEO and the challenges they face to not only learn how to work with them, but also understand that the issues they face aren’t just challenges, but opportunity for the little guy and those willing to bend. Are you an “In-house” looking for tips and tricks to boost your productivity and career? Then this session is a can’t miss for you. Jessica Bowman is the premier authority on In-House SEO management strategies. Tony Adam recommends buying the IT team a six pack of beer to get the job done quicker. Any other great tips? Learn them on this panel. CASINO NIGHT! Happy Hour & Dinner : Sponsored by Search Engine Journal Monday 5pm – 11pm * Open Bar Happy Hour from 5 pm to 6 pm. * Gourmet Buffet Style Dinner for Attendees. * Full CASINO and Dealers with Roulette, Poker & Black Jack. DAY TWO of Search & Social Spring Summit Hearty “Morning After” Breakfast Tuesday 8 am – 9 am After partying all night at the Search & Social Casino Night and Open Bar, you’re going to want to stock up on the protein, carbs and coffee to get through this day of advanced sessions. This Hearty “Morning After” Breakfast right in the conference area is the best way to shake off the night before, and kick off the day right! Advanced Paid Search Tactics Dave Szetela, Ryan Sammy, Janel Landis Laravie moderated by Loren Baker of Search & Social Tuesday 9am – 10:15 am Google Adwords can take a few minutes to set up, but a lifetime to master. And now with the integration of shopping feeds, International campaigns, the restrictions of the Google Content Network, and more and more opportunities in paid search, we need experts to light the path and show us the way. Dave Szetela of Clix Marketing & Janel Landis Laravie of Chacka Marketing will discuss paid search & conversion optimization tactics AND Ryan Sammy of Search & Social will show you ways to integrate price points and sale inventory into your Google AdWords campaign. Advanced Link Building Tactics Chris Bennett, Brian Chappell & Todd Malicoat moderated by Loren Baker of Search & Social Tuesday 10:45am – 12 pm Quite frankly link building is not what it used to be and with more and more opportunities in link development opening up with the expansion of social media and self publishing, building a link is much more labor intensive and challenging than just renting a link on a sidebar. Professional blogger and link builder Loren Baker will run through the world of blogging and link building, to show how blogs and social metrics can be used in a successful linking campaign. Todd Malicoat is one of the premier experts on link building and link baiting. Brian Chappell has built links with the best of them and will discuss link development using a multi-tiered approach. All three of these panelists build links in some of the most difficult verticals online and this should prove to be an incredible session. LUNCH : Sponsored by Raven SEO Tools 12 pm – 1 pm Load up on this buffet Italian lunch sponsored by Raven SEO Tools. CASH BAR Opens 12 pm to 5 pm SEO Site Clinic Greg Boser, Chris Boggs, Rae Hoffman & Michael Gray moderated by Dave Snyder of Search & Social Tuesday 1pm – 2:15pm Over an hour with three SEO badasses. Need we say more. Greg, Chris & Michael will take advanced SEO questions from the room AND via our online chat. Outsourcing Secrets, Grow Your Business and Spend the Rest of Your Life on a Beach Kevin Henrikson, Aaron Chronister (Mad Hat) & Dave Snyder w/ Open Forum Tuesday 3:45pm – 5pm We’ll cover tips and tricks of outsourcing so you don’t have to learn the hard way. Find out how to identify the tasks that CAN and CANNOT be outsourced. Finally, learn how to breakdown and create an assembly-line work process in order to lower costs. Help is a lot cheaper than you think, if you know where to look and how to manage them. In addition, learn how to use your social media and SEO skills to build a business from scratch, that all started with one BACON EXPLOSION! CALYPSO NIGHT! Poolside Happy Hour & Dinner w/ Live Music!! Sponsored by Affiliate Summit & Best of the Web Tuesday 5pm – 11pm We have two main goals with our events. First, to be the best value in Internet Marketing conferences and events. Second, to provide the best education and networking mix available in an Internet Marketing conference. Together, you will confidently walk away with valuable information and resources. Business Networking