Posts About ‘how to’

10 Key Tips to Include in a Technical SEO Audit – For Non-Techies

Tech-keyboard

In order to do a fully comprehensive SEO technical audit, it helps to have a developer background.  Many SEOs in the industry have such a background, which helps in being able to spot some of the more complex technical errors for a site.

However, for those that have come from a marketing background, it may be difficult to decide what the most important elements are to include in an initial technical SEO audit.  When working with clients it may not be possible to fix all of the errors on a client’s site, therefore for the non technical SEO, these are the key areas that should be included in the audit:

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Organising an Event: It is Not Easy

Brighton-SEO-stage

All week we have been talking about events: which are the good ones, how to be a great speaker, how to be a great attendee and how to blog about it.

At the end of the week we are again looking at actually organising an event: how hard is that really? In a special Google Hangout today we talk to Gemma Birch, who organises the International Search Summit, Laura Roth, who is part of the organising team of SES and Kelvin Newman, the man behind Brighton SEO.

Apart from the hangout we already talked to Gemma and Kelvin (who are also State of Search bloggers) and asked them what the hardest part was of organising an event. Based on that we listed a couple of things you need to be aware about when organising your own event. (more…)

How to build that Killer Presentation Slide Deck

slidedeck-2

As you may have noticed it is event week here on State of Search. We have already looked at different aspects of the event business and especially also the speaking part. In the last two days we’ve learned how to recognise a quality speaker and how to become one.

A big aspect of a successful speaker seems to be the presentation format: the slides. Some have even made an entire profession out of it: creating the perfect slides. Now I am not a design king so I decided to again ask some experts for their opinions to showcase next to the pointers I myself want to give. So with the help of Eric Enge, Illiya Vjestica, Simon Penson and Anders Hjorth: let’s get started :) . (more…)

Top Tips To Becoming that Quality Speaker

sesny-davidmeermanscott

Yesterday we discussed what makes a quality speaker at conferences. The conclusion can be that becoming a quality speaker is hard work. And it will be even harder staying a quality speaker.

Today we are going to get into ways of becoming that top speaker you always dreamed you could be. With the help of Kevin Gibbons, Andrew Girdwood, Sri Sharma, Lee Odden, Bryan Eisenberg and Anders Hjorth you’ll get some top secret tips to becoming that quality speaker. (more…)

Lessons Learned from Doing Live Google+ Hangouts

hangouts-on-air-lessons

When we talk about events you immediately start thinking about a conference room full of people listening to different speakers, tweeting, blogging and networking. But events can also take place on a different level. Yes, bigger and smaller events with one or multiple tracks, but think about an event anyone can attend, from any place in the world, at anytime they want:through the web.

Webinars have been around for many years already and there are many different suppliers who have learned to perfectionise these types of event where you can register for a webinar and follow what speakers have to say. Take a look for example at how Distilled organises their webinars, very professional and I presume very profitable as well.

But also very time consuming and in some cases costly. After all, you need webinar software, video software and you need to host your video somewhere afterwards as well. Since Google launched Google+ however a whole new way of doing events online: cheap and quick, and sometimes dirty. But very useful as well. A combination between a home video, a radio or tv show and a webinar. Here at State of Search we have done a few live Hangouts already. With success. Today it is time to share some of our lessons learned about Live Google Hangouts with you. (more…)

In-house and Bored? 3 Causes and Cures of In-house SEO Syndrome

Bored teenage computer nerd

A few weeks ago I met up with some old colleagues of mine. Three years before, we had all worked for the same search agency, but had since moved on to in-house roles. Typically we talked about what we’re doing now and how it used to be, but this little meeting took an interesting turn. One of my friends was now working at a well-known High Street retailer, another for one of ‘the big’ portals. They had both been in SEO roles for the past five years, but both appeared incontrovertibly fed up. I wouldn’t say I’ve really felt like this recently, but all jobs have ups and downs and I could relate to it. I thought of it as some sort of career condition – a general malaise that probably affects a good proportion of in-house SEO workers. (more…)

Rel=’Publisher’ for Brand-Savvy Marketers

relpublisher_benholbrook

I’ve been banging on about Rel=Author and Rich Snippets for a while now. Partly because I like the idea of associating content with people, and partly because I think it’s a good insight into Google’s future plans.

It totally makes sense, to me at least, that the worlds of SEO and Social Media should be run in unison – complementing each other. Rel=Publisher, however, often gets left by the wayside; I view it as Rel=Author’s ugly twin, the one that no-one really talks about, or wants to get to know. But I’m going to tell you why you should! (more…)

SWOT Analysis for SEO

Sometimes I find my failure to remember things very upsetting.

Back when dinosaurs still walked the earth  I did a marketing qualification in Direct & Interactive Marketing. Whilst the course was definitely really useful most of the stuff I learned back then I don’t use very much and as a result it languishes half-forgotten somewhere in the recesses of my brain.

The SWOT Analysis was one such technique I’d forgotten I knew until Phil Nottingham (who works with me at Distilled) was asked to complete one for a client… and it all came flooding back. (more…)

3 Ways To Confirm YouTube Is Actually Working For You

YouTube Playback

After you put the effort in to upload your corporate or client videos to YouTube and optimised/promoted then accordingly, it’s vital that you are able to track and measure how each individual video (plus the channel as a whole) is working for you. Luckily, YouTube provides users with statistical and analytical tools help you measure the reach and engagement of your videos very easily.  Utilising these free tools will provide you with the information you need to understand how your video strategy is working and how it can be further leveraged.

Many people rely on view count stats alone, and while it’s hugely important to know how many people have watched a video, it’s equally important to know how just long viewers watched for and what action they took after. (more…)

How to Secure Budget for your Content Strategy

Money

“Any good marketer can come up with a great content idea for their niche, the difficult part is selling the idea to your company and getting the budget. “

This was the challenge laid down via the comments of a post I wrote back in June for SEOmoz highlighting companies in “boring” niches creating great content. It’s something I’ve been meaning to write for ages – as it’s something I know many face whether their in-house or agency-side.

The way in which you pitch likely depends on whoever you’re pitching to – if you can get a meeting with them, then great – however this might not always be possible. If you’re relying on your documentation to do the talking then keeping it short and sweet is best; backed up with a comprehensive appendix which can be cross-referenced.

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The Optimal Website User Experience (Part 2)

Buy-Key

Last month I wrote about my experiences on how I recently for the first time had been involved with website re-design and creating valuable on-site directions for site visitors to improve the user’s online experience. In my first post I talked about the ‘Flow’ Notion, Identifying Your Visitors Online Persona, The 4 Online Personas, Trust and a Community and Social User Experience.

This is part two of my learnings in which I will be talking about looking at your competitors, mobile and devices, perceived affordance and the differences between offline and online customer experience management. (more…)

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