Posts on State of Search about ‘ProSEO’

So You Want to Run an SEO Conference? Lessons from ProSEO

Hi Everyone! My name is Sam Crocker, I am a Lead SEO at Distilled in London and I’m extremely excited to be writing my first post for State of Search (hopefully the first of many).  Today I’ve been asked to share some of the lessons we’ve learned from hosting this year’s ProSEO seminar.

It has been an exhausting few weeks for the team but I think there should definitely be some good lessons for anyone who has ever thought “this seems like an easy way to make some money”.

A very special thank you to our organiser Lynsey Little for sharing some of the things she learned and for everyone who filled out the feedback forms that helped me write this post. (more…)

Avoiding Link Devaluation -#ProSEO Seminar 2010

My last live blog of the excellent Distilled information-laden conference is on Patrick Altoft  of Branded 3′s presentation about his experience of Google link devaluation and how to avoid this. His focus is on link building efficiency, as he believes the majority of people just don’t realise how many links Google devalues.

Buying Links

Don’t buy links unless you are 100% sure it’s safe. Think about it: most text link brokers actually have Google Analytics on their site so Google knows exactly what they’re doing! (more…)

Link Building in Competitive Niches – #ProSEO Seminar 2010

As Ayima’s Jane Copland explains, her talk focuses on: “the biggest link building issues you can face in competitive markets, and their solutions”. She runs through some common problems and questions:

What sort of links do I need?

No two industries are alike, the rules change. It’s not necessarily about Google treating industries differently, it’s about who’s competing in them. You don’t need to understand what’s working for everyone else, you need to focus on what is going to work for what you want to rank for. (more…)

Working with designers and SEO – #ProSEO Seminar 2010

Now for Distilled’s Leonie Wharton’s simple tips on getting the best out of your relationship with your designers.

(Sorry guys, no time to cover Andy’s tips on technologies & SEO – watch out for his blog post on the Distilled blog soon.)

Firstly, learn to communicate better with designers – it’ll help everyone! (more…)

Top 10 tips for Conversion Rate Optimisation – #ProSEO Seminar 2010

Next up is Stephen Pavlovich, giving us a small insight into the world of conversion rate optimsation. His top tips?

1. Make a plan

Boring but essential, especially for CRO. Many people get tempted to jump straight into the test – that’s like going to the doctor’s and grabbing the first bucket of pills nearest to you. Think:
- Research and analysis (why aren’t visitors converting?)
- Solutions (how can we fix this?)
- Develop + test
- Review and expand (more…)

Top 10 Tips for Email Marketing – #ProSEO Seminar 2010

At Pro SEO, Tamara Gielen rattles through some top tips for how to take advantage of email marketing.

First up, some common SEO themes Tamara (as a non-SEO) noted from listening to the talks in yesterday’s seminar:

Social will kill SEO
SEO isn’t sexy
Quality content is key
Spam makes SEO look bad
Hiring good SEOs is hard
SEO isn’t rocket science
SEO is hard to explain to people
There are not enough women in our industry (here here!)

(more…)

Integrating SEO into Development – Pro SEO Seminar 2010

Alex Craven, MD of Bloom is talking about how ensure SEO is considered alongside development, working in an integrated fashion – a combination of winning a political battle and employing incentive-based tactics.

Winning the political battle

Crucial point: Know your enemy

SEO has a bad reputation with some. Understand who of the team you may be working with is not your fan. Work with their concerns, be aware you need to win them around. (more…)

How to Hire SEOs – Pro SEO Seminar 2010

In London at this moment the ProSEO seminar, organized by Distilled, is going on. There is a great line up with great content. Our blogger Annabel Hodges is there. She will be writing about several sessions there.

Tom Critchlow, Head of Search at Distilled keeps his message simple.

The Key: First who, then what

Time for a quick quote:

Leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with ‘where’ but with ‘who’.

From the book ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins.

(more…)

Advanced Link Building Techniques – Pro SEO Seminar2010

In London at this moment the ProSEO seminar, organized by Distilled, is going on. There is a great line up with great content. Our blogger Annabel Hodges is there. She will be writing about several sessions there.

Next up is a session on advanced link building by Wiep Knol, the Dutch link builder extraordinaire. Time for a quick quote:

“Links are still king. Not content. Content is just the king’s bitch.”

Mikkel deMib.

Wiep’s talk is all about specifically using content to get links, predominately through natural baiting rather than direct requests or ‘working’ the system. (more…)

How to avoid the Twitter link graph cannibalisation – Pro SEO Seminar 2010

In London at this moment the ProSEO seminar, organized by Distilled, is going on. There is a great line up with great content. Our blogger Annabel Hodges is there. She will be writing about several sessions there. Here’s the first one.

First up Rand looks at how to avoid losing all your links to twitter, instead of your own site.

Social sharing is gradually replacing traditional page linking. So are pages linking out less? Actually it doesn’t seem so. People aren’t linking out less, but good content isn’t getting links the way it used to.

How can we still earn traditional links? (more…)

Using Your Competitor’s Tactics to Gain a Competitive Edge – A4UExpo London 2010

It’s all about winning not losing

Sam Crocker from Distilled is my first presentation of the day, and it’s most definitely a winner. Sam is talking about focusing on going beyond just protecting your site, and thinking about getting on the offensive.

Some initial explanations of what this means. Think about looking at static vs dynamic. It’s not just about letting information come to you, go out and hunt down information that can help you and your site. e.g.

  • Patent applications
  • Scrape competition for 404s
  • Monitor job boards
  • Find ‘movers and shakers’ (more…)