Posts on State of Search about ‘PR’

Bloggabase: Bringing the Right Marketers to the Right Bloggers

bloggabase

When Google decided it was going to look a lot more at authorship and consequently look more closely at people instead of just links, something interesting happened in my inbox. It got fuller, a lot fuller.

The e-mails I am since getting are very much focussed on trying to get a spot on State of Search, not being one of the bloggers, but being a guest poster. Just for once, to get that article out there. And to be honest, the e-mails didn’t get any better. I got targeted for the weirdest things. From search marketing to financial products.

It is a sign of times changing. Because they are after the links, but they are after something else as well: influence. The more your name gets around, the better it is for your status as blogger. Are bloggers the “new” influentials? Maybe they already were and they just got a reboots from Google?

For this reason I was interested in seeing the launch of “Bloggabase” a new initiative of PR guru Andy Barr and his partner in crime Rich Leigh. They are trying to get a grip on the enormous amounts of “shoddy pitching” to bloggers as they put it. (more…)

We’re Not Ninjas, We’re Mutants

SEO/PR Mutants

There’s always a real sense of ‘change’ and ‘urgency’ in our industry, and there’s nothing we love more than predicting the next advancements. But as we move forward, it seems the rules are becoming increasingly familiar; they’re not new rules at all.

This blog post is a response to a very interesting, timely post that my friend, Clarissa Sajbl, wrote here on State of Search recently, called PR + SEO When Two Worlds Collide.

In this post she cleverly discusses how SEO agencies are beginning to team up with PR agencies to create content that’s good enough to generate online brand awareness, as well as high quality links. Funny that, don’t you think? We’re no-longer happy just with the link; now we want the content of the article to actively promote our clients’ brands. (more…)

PR + SEO When Two Worlds Collide

PR + SEO-WorkingTogether

Until recently SEO and PR were regarded as two separate industries – but the scene has changed and we are now witnessing the coalition of the two. So what has led to this trend? What is it that those 2 professions are each missing – leading to the fact that they are now converging? In this post I would like to give you an understanding of these colliding worlds as well as some early adopter examples and their motivations for adopting this trend – and how that is affecting their overall digital efforts. (more…)

Finding Forward Features

media

So you want to know what the media are going to be writing about to try and gain inclusion for your client. Where do you look for information about features that are going to be written? This is a short, and by no means exhaustive guide based on my own experience. (more…)

5 Key Indicators to Measure your Press Release Effectiveness

press-keyboard

This is a guest post by Aleh Barysevich, Marketing Director at Link-Assistant.Com.

Press release distribution is something each site owner has at times considered for promotion. Some of us want more search traffic as a result of press release distribution; others seek media outreach. Some opt for free distribution, others use paid services. Few are aware that services vary depending on how they’re used and make their choice accordingly.

But at the end of the day, the question is: how do I evaluate if a press release really did the job?

Apparently, the outcome should depend on the goals, so let’s start with a list of goals site owners usually set for press releases. (more…)

Fifty Shades of Negative

50-shades-of-negative

It’s a conversation I’ve had repeatedly. Should you ever use negative PR to generate SEO results?

A while back I’d have been horrified – any smear on reputation would be bad. But we live in a noisy World where news and Twitter storms from an hour ago have become old news, and my attitude has softened somewhat. But that doesn’t mean a lack of concern. There are fifty shades of negative!

As my colleague at SEO PR Training, Nichola Stott points out, search engines deliver results based on relevancy, and being newsworthy for controversy or ineptitude doesn’t mean a brand or product is less relevant to the search engines. If it’s done in a managed way, with an understanding of where you’re going, it needn’t be harmful.

But it’s crucial to understand is what an organization or product’s brand values are, before we go there. (more…)

Reputation management – Shady business or just great SEM?

8 months ago by Agnete Tøien Pedersen 2 Comments
reputation

Reputation management. A part of SEM that few want to admit that they do. Looked upon as shady business. Many thinks it is about removing search results or creating black-hat`ish spam to dominate the SERPs. But is it really shady business? N-O, not if you do it for the right reasons.

Reputation management is all about controlling the top 10 for brand related searches. Because your online reputation = your top 10 in Google. It is almost that simple.

In my opinion, reputation management is smart SEM that most companies (and also all people if you ask me) need to do, bad reputation or not. It is SEM with the goal of avoiding bad search results if, or when, the shit hits the fan. Reputation management is also the work to increase your overall online presence, aka. “traditional SEM”. It is controlling the SERPS for brand related searches, before someone else does it. Reputation management is all about a broad presence of great online content, content so strong and relevant that negative news stories, blog posts or forum threads can`t outrank them for brand related searches. It is what SEO and paid search should be all about; relevance and great content.

With that in mind, here`s my 8 most basic tips for reputation management, that anybody can do. No shady business, just relevant content! (more…)

The Case for Specialisations

Newton's pendulum containing five metal balls

In many of the SEO consultancies I’ve worked alongside, little silos are appearing. One person or team does the link building. One does the onsite. One does the editorial. And some poor soul gets to write the monthly report.

This reflects what happened with some PR consultancies years ago – someone doing the ‘telesales’ to journalists, someone doing the writing. Many who took that approach didn’t last long – the focus moves away from creating rounded ‘consultants’ organised around clients’ needs for someone who understands their business and market, and a single point of contact.

With Google starting to focus on the ‘who’ as well as the ‘what’ of online content, with author credence beginning to matter, has SEO matured to a level where SEO consultancies are beginning to specialise around industry specialisms? (more…)

What’s the Price of a Link?

ATM

With a title like ‘What’s the price of a link?’ this is probably the article you’re burning to read, but don’t want to get caught reading!

In reality, unless you’re doing your own SEO with no budget for anything vaguely marketing related, there’s a cost to any link created, whether paid for or not. The cost of time and resources for starters.

But there are three hidden costs that are often overlooked: the costs of buying links (beyond the cash transaction); the costs of free press release distribution services; and the costs of untrained staff. (more…)

Tailor that Press Release Distribution

press-release

Even experienced PR people fumble, on occasion, with press release distribution services.

The humble press release was once a factual information sheet, and trainee PRs would be stood by the photocopier and licking and sticking envelopes as part of their apprenticeship.

Today it’s a much more contentious piece of literature, treading a fine line between spam, content and useful information sheet. And if the release itself requires a lot of thought, so too does the distribution method. Probably more, in reality, than the release itself, since the average blogger or journalist is more than capable of lifting the information appropriate to them and building on it. (more…)

Local Media Love

calling-phone

Many SMEs will only have an SEO resource – the money for PR just isn’t there. If they’ve given you free reign to use linkworthy stories, the local media could become your new best friend. I love working with them.

Most local papers have a Toolbar PageRank of between 5 and 6. Given the hours spent working up links from less valuable spaces, it’s an obvious place to branch out. (more…)