It’s that time of year again. The time when Portland State University’s Center for Executive and Professional Education and SEMpdx partner up to offer a Spring scholarship for the Search Engine Marketing Course (within the Digital Marketing Strategies Certificate Program). This really is an amazing opportunity for one lucky person. This course begins on March 7th, 2014, and will run for three consecutive weeks (classes are 10am – 4pm on Fridays only), ending on March 21st, 2014. The current scholarship covers the entire course fee ($675)! For your chance to take advantage of this incredible opportunity, please complete the scholarship application by the deadline, which is 5pm on February 21st, 2014. The winner will be selected and notified on or before February 28th, 2014.

Note: Please apply only if you are able to attend all three classes. If you are employed, we’d recommend discussing the opportunity with your employer to ensure you’re able to take off work for three consecutive Fridays.

After you’ve completed the Digital Marketing Strategies certificate, you can explore the Advanced Digital Strategiescourse next (Note: the program would be out of pocket for the student and is not included in the scholarship). This is a brand new program, and an excellent opportunity to continue your education in the digital marketing world. Don’t miss your opportunity to advance your knowledge and skills.

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My introvert nature does not prepare me for situations like getting a scholarship to take a search engine marketing class. You’d think that it wouldn’t require a lot of prep, but I’m a worrier, and I have to have a plan. So I was ready. I had paper and extra pens. I charged my laptop and brought the cord. I packed a lunch brought work to do while I ate. I had it all planned out.
I managed to extract myself from the East side and found my way downtown. I got to my first day of class and there are lots of different kinds of students. Marketing and advertising students. Professionals seeking a reboot to their current careers. Former professionals looking to change their career paths. Business owners who want to make the most out of their online presences. And me. I work for a small business. And I want to do my job better. I want to make a difference in our online revenue. I want to lead us into the future of online marketing. That line is pretty cheesy, but the sentiment is true. I want to make things better for my company. So there I was. Ready for it all. And I had no idea how amazing it was really going to be.

Here are the the 10 most amazing things I learned in SEM class:

1. At last year’s SearchFest, several credible sources said to leave Google+ alone – keep posting, but it’s broken, so don’t do much with it. And now it’s part of the Google algorithm and contributes to my page’s search rankings and is becoming increasingly important when it comes to authorship and attribution. I guess I had better figure out how it works.
2. If you don’t have any text, the crawlers have nothing to read. So if it’s all images with no tags and no text, there is essentially nothing there. So…
3. Each page of our website should be optimized for a unique keyword. Seriously. They should all be different. And…
4. Changing title tags and metadescriptions to reflect these keywords is the first step to making my page readable and indexable. And I can’t forget about the ALT tags for my images.
5. And then I need to write compelling, keyword optimized, easy to read product descriptions so that not only will my customer have all the information about the product, these descriptions will also help my pages come up in searches.
6. My business name, address, and phone number must match in ALL of the places it’s listed. Yes, I mean “all”. And boy, is it difficult to figure out how to correct it is it’s wrong somewhere, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.
7. Getting Google Analytics certified is a huge resume booster! Apparently, the test is not easy.
8. Video is next big thing. Actually, video is already a big thing, but it’s just going to get bigger. Product videos, instructional videos, funny videos. Anything you can do to make an interesting – properly optimized with descriptions and tags, of course – relevant video of your product or service will be well worth the time it takes. We got a statistic that video can increase items sales by 144%. Woah.
9. Put people in your videos. People like watching other people.
10. Take this SEM class. You will want to make a marketing plan for the next year at least just based on the information you get in those three days. I already started my plan, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone at SEMpdx and the PSU CEPE for granting my this opportunity. The class was pretty amazing, and I so excited about getting to implement all that I’ve learned. Thank you again!

-Erin Wilson

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Erin works for a small Portland business called Portland Store Fixtures. Erin is seeking to gain knowledge in search engine marketing to “step up their game in the online world.” Upon completion of the course, Erin will take all of the knowledge she’s learned and apply it to Portland Store Fixtures to help increase the company’s online visibility. Currently Erin handles a wide variety of tasks on a daily basis, which include social media, managing a website redesign, content creation for print and online, assists the owner on a large number of tasks and the list goes on and on. Erin is really excited that she can learn from some of the best in the industry and won’t have to sift through articles and books working to understand how the complex world of digital marketing works.

Congrats again, Erin. SEMpdx and PSU are very excited to offer you this opportunity, and best of luck!

SEMpdx would also like to thank PSU’s Center for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) for partnering with us in order to give opportunities to individuals in our community. If you are interested, here is more info about PSU’s CEPE courses.

The post PSU Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Winner (2013 Fall Term) Announced appeared first on SEMpdx.

Note: Please apply only if you are able to attend all three classes. If you are employed, we’d recommend discussing the opportunity with your employer to ensure you’re able to take off work for three consecutive Fridays.

Portland State’s Fall term of digital learning is fast approaching. These courses/certificates are designed for working professionals and career changers updating traditional media skills in print design, content development, marketing/PR and related fields.  Explore the fall term digital media courses.

These programs are offered through the Center for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) at Portland State University, with classes taught by top Portland interactive developers, designers, and executives.  Classes are structured to meet the needs of current business professionals and may be taken as individual courses or as part of a certificate. Day and evening classes are held at the Crown Plaza Building, located on 1st Avenue, between SW Market St. and SW Clay St.

Complete Scholarship Application Now

After you’ve completed the Digital Marketing Strategies certificate, you can explore the Advanced Digital Strategies course next (Note: the program would be out of pocket for the student and is not included in the scholarship). This is a brand new program, and an excellent opportunity to continue your education in the digital marketing world. This program will start in the winter term. Registration opens August 13^th, 2013. Don’t miss your opportunity to advance your knowledge and skills.

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If you’re following the search marketing masses to Seattle for this year’s SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle, you may want to consider joining us at Captain Blacks, located in Capitol Hill, for a bit of pre-conference networking.

You won’t regret it as you stand on the outdoor deck overlooking the beautiful Seattle skyline. Many Northwest (and beyond, of course) search engine marketing professionals will be on hand, giving you a prime opportunity to rub shoulders with the best and brightest in the industry.

This is a FREE event, so bring a friend, or two, even if you’re not a member yet. If you plan to attend, please register below.

Please note that this is *NOT* a sanctioned, approved or in any way “affiliated” SMX Event.

Location: Captain Blacks
129 Belmont Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102
Date: Monday, June 10, starting at 8:00 pm
Cost: Free! Please register below so we can get an idea of the head count

Hosted by

               

Sponsored by

Linkdex is the SaaS marketing platform that answers the right questions. Our software is used by brands and agencies growing revenues from SEO, PR, Social and Content Marketing.

If your focus is on SEO or creative content and production, Linkdex will help you create the right content, get it discovered and shared and maximize your market impact. Linkdex will also show you the value of that content.

If your focus is on PR or social, Linkdex will show you the best path to the most influential authors and publications in your market.

PPC Associates is an integrated digital marketing agency with offices in San Francisco, San Diego, downtown Chicago, and Silicon Valley. The company made its mark with disruptive, innovative search engine management and has built a diverse client portfolio across B2B, ecommerce, lead gen, and EDU with its blend of channels and ROI-driven methodology.

PPC Associates’ focus on best-in-class client service, combined with its proprietary methods and technology in search, social, and display, has helped build cutting-edge companies including GoPro, Survey Monkey, Square, Eventbrite, and OpenTable. The company is hiring in all locations and always happy to talk to clients looking for growth and innovation.

Monday night’s party is not affiliated, organized or sponsored by SMX Advanced or its organizers.

About SMX Advanced Seattle

SMX Advanced is the only search marketing conference designed exclusively for experienced internet marketers. Sessions are fast-paced, Q&A-packed, frequently controversial, always informative…and don’t stop to cover the basics. Fluent in search engine marketing? Come to SMX Advanced and engage with others who speak your native language.

Missed getting a pass? Here are some alternatives:

• SMX Workshop passes are still available. Check them out here.
• Network passes are $139 for those who register online before June 10 ($159 on-site). Take a look at the pass benefits.

Location: Bell Harbor Int’l Conference Center
2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66, Seattle, WA 98121
Date: Tuesday, June 11 – Wednesday, June 12

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I think my head might still spinning from everything I learned during the Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Course offered by SEMPDX & Portland State this spring. And that’s coming from someone who has a *decent grounding in the web and digital field. (*being a relative term)

Sure, there was mention of buzz terms, currently flying around today’s blogosphere, like “big data”, “content is king”, and the usual avalanche of industry acronyms. But what stood out as the biggest takeaways from the 3-class course were the details of fundamental skills and tools as well as an understanding of the big picture of SEO & SEM efforts.  Yes, you can go in and set up an Adwords account and make some ads or fiddle around with Facebooks advertising but you can very quickly waste a lot of money and time trying to just “figure it out”.

Industry veteran, Kent Lewis, and several outstanding guest lecturers led the classes over the 3 week session. The team mixed up the course with practical assignments, real world case studies, lectures, and in-context reviews of student’s current application of digital marketing strategies.  Topics included:

• Industry resources for analyzing websites and campaigns
• Metrics, history, and trends for SEO & SEM
• The should & should-nots of website navigation and layout
• Why speed and content are crucial
• The importance of social activity as a ranking factor
• Drill down on PPC and CPM campaigns and the systems that run them
• Local search, why it matters, and how to do it
• Keywords and ad copy development
• Components of a quality landing page
• Content Marketing & Link Development
• Online Reputation Management

The scholarship was a great opportunity to refine my skills and learn just how much I have to learn in this area. Fortunately for the Portland area, we’ve got great resources like SEMPDX and Portland State to bolster our growing community of tech-savvy weirdos. For me, I’ve got my work cut out for me implementing all that big data and creating content for the apparel and accessories brand I work for, LOOPTWORKS.

– Claire McEachern

The post What I Learned from the PSU Search Engine Marketing Course appeared first on SEMpdx.

April 3rd UPDATE: Congratulations to Claire McEachern! She is the recipient of the PSU Digital Marketing Strategies scholarship. Best of luck Claire!

Portland State’s Winter term of digital learning has already kicked off, with some Spring term classes to start shortly.  Three certificates, Digital Marketing Strategies, Designing and Developing for Mobile
and Introduction to Web Development, are designed for working professionals and career changers updating traditional media skills in print design, content development, marketing/PR and related fields.  Explore the Winter and Spring digital media courses.

These programs are offered through the Professional Development Center at Portland State University, with classes taught by top Portland interactive developers, designers, and executives.  Classes are structured to meet the needs of current business professionals and may be taken as individual courses or as part of a certificate. Day and evening classes are held at the Market Square Building, located on 5th Avenue, between SW Market St. and SW Clay St.

Complete Scholarship Application Now

The post PSU Search Engine Marketing Scholarship – Spring 2013 appeared first on SEMpdx.

Up-to-date strategies for achieving prominence within Local Search listings.

Speakers:

Mary Bowling – SEOverflow
Matt McGee – Small Business SEM
Chris Silver Smith –KeyRelevance

Moderator:

David Mihm

Liveblogger:

John McPhee of Anvil Media, a Portland SEM agency

Session Details

David Mihm has taken the stage to discuss the important stuff, cocktails after the session. OK, now the real introductions…

Mary Bowling starts first. Local search is a “big ‘ol jumbled mess”. There are a number of places to search for local results, but 65%+ are still using Google, similar to natural search. Google has moved to a 7 pack, and has begun identifying users by IP to server the appropriate results.

There are 3 different algorithms: organic search, Maps & local 7 pack

When comparing Google organic to Maps results, there is very little correlation. They are vastly different. There is also no correlation to the 7 pack to Google organic as well. Now, Mary is comparing 7 pack and Maps results, and the similarities are very strong here.

How to get listed in the 7 pack:

• Must be in the Maps database in order to rank

• Claiming your local listing

• Address must be in city being searched

• Choose the most appropriate categories

• Keywords in business names

• Reviews
• Info in major data providers (Axciom, InfoUSA & Localeze

Negative Ranking Factors

• Multiple listings with different info
• Not using completed address
• Not using local phone number
• Different signals from data providers
• Getting rid of confusion

Getting citations (web mentions without links) is one of the most important aspects of ranking in local search. Citations are to local rankings what inbound links are to organic rankings. Where to get citations? Look at sites like IYP (Internet Yellow Pages, Convention & Visitors Bureaus, directories, etc…

Mary also dove into the Google Local Business Listing (LBL) Guidelines. Check out the new listing guidelines checklist.

When researching local, Mary uses Google Insights to see trends over the last 12 months. She uses this for keyword research to determine how to optimize a local listing.

Chris Silver Smith is now taking the mic…warm it up Chris

Google is now using IP to determine what the SERPs will look like for local. In order to help rank locally, think about your website, not just your LBL. City and state names are very important on your website so the engines can more easily determine that you are a local business.

Getting keyword rich inbound links is very important in the local ranking factor (different from citations). Do a link:www.site.com command to find where competitors are getting links from, which can then be sought by you/your client to obtain local links.

Rich snippets may play a bigger role in the future as Google is now able to parse out event and location information. Google is using this data to show additional links in the organic results (looks like sitelinks, sort of), which then pushes competitor results further down the page and increases your chances for increased CTRs. Microformats available are hCard, hCalendar, hReview, hProduct and Geo (longitude and latitude).

Contact Us and Location pages should not be neglected on your website. Include a Google map (might help Google identify long/lat coordinates), street address, phone, driving directions and hCard format (may generate a plus box, which can be expanded on the SERPs).

Don’t completely neglect User/Custom Maps. These have potential to drive long-tail traffic and can show up on the Place Pages. These are user-friendly for folks traveling to your location and want to find new things to do (i.e. restaurants, shopping, dancing, etc….).  When creating a Map, you’ll want to add a description that is useful for the end user as these can drive traffic to site.

If you have multiple locations you may consider creating a KML sitemap and upload this to Google Webmaster Tools or include it In your robots.txt file so Google can easily find it and understand where all of your locations exist.

Tips for creating good Custom Maps:

• Provide a useful service
• Customize Google profile
• Provide links to your site
• Include name, address for custom map markers to appear
• Promote the map outside of Google maps (site, Twitter, etc.)
• Use KML files for larger sites with multiple locations

Chris ended with this super tactic…Another advanced tactic for local is optimizing your business via Wikipedia. Determine if Wikipedia has a page for your business. If not, create a page on Wikipedia using geo-location from Google Maps. This may be a difficult tactic as many Wikipedia pages don’t stick.

Matt McGee has now taken the mic….

Matt is going to focus on reviews, the human element to local search.

Why Reviews Matter

• 90% of people trust recommendations (word of mouth)
• 70% rely on recommendations from online reviews, total strangers
• Engines rely on reviews/ratings as a signal of trust/credibility

4 Things About Positive/Negative Reviews

• Most reviews are positive
• 85% of reviews on Yelp are 3 stars (out of 5) or better
• Bad reviews are OK
• Negative reviews can actually help increase trust

Prevent bad reviews when possible

• Customer service is now more important now than ever
• Make reviewing easy
• Ask for reviews and encourage them through your website

How to Get Reviews

• Online

• Invite reviews on your website through badges/links
• Outgoing emails (order confirmations)
• Email signature to invite reviews (include links)
• Target reviews wisely
• Maps, Yahoo, Bing, Citysearch, Insider Pages, Yelp, industry review sites (TripAdvisor, Urban Spoon)

• Offline

• Signs in storefront
• Include laptop in lobby/office
• Include review links on business cards (or review us cards)
• Incentives/contests

The post Up-to-date strategies for achieving prominence within Local Search listings appeared first on SEMpdx.

Learn how to create content to drive search traffic . . . and, motivate visitors.

Speakers:

Heather Lloyd Martin – SuccessWorks

Stoney DeGeyter – Pole Position Marketing

Moderator:

Todd Mintz

Liveblogger:

John McPhee of Anvil Media, a Portland SEM agency

Session Details

Todd just introduced Stoney…there’s some confusion on which microphone to use at first, but looks like we’ve got it figured out now. And away we go…

Stoney’s presentation will focus on both content and the Princess Bride (with accents and everything). Good content is text + SEO = sales. As you write content, it must be done with keywords and SEO in mind. Rewriting and optimizing content is a must. If there isn’t any content on your site/page, it won’t rank. It’s that simple, sorry.

“Perfect content has to change.” It might be the layout, content, headlines or keywords, whatever it is, you’ll need to test your content to determine how the search engines react to it, with the end goal of ranking on the 1st page.

Don’t mask content, such as hidden text. You’lll lose credibility. Do publish negative reviews, to help establish credibility. You might want to be selective of which reviews, but be sure to provide a fair comparison.

Good content cannot be rushed. Use an experienced copywriter who understands SEO, it will make your life a lot easier when it’s time to launch your site. Make sure copywriter works in top keywords in all of the important page elements.

When writing new content, start with keyword research. Ask the following questions when doing kewyord research:

• who is target audience, what are they looking for
• what areas of interest am I focusing on

User intent is a big piece of the pie. Keywords don’t always mean what you think. The following phrases can mean two totally different things, you must understand intent and write your content accordingly. “cordless telephone headset?” and “cordless telephone headset” can mean two totally different things (see the “?” in the first).

Know who your visitors are…researchers, shoppers, buyers. Understanding the buying cycle is key, and you must provide specific content for each stage. Capturing users at each stage builds credibility and encourages trust.

When considering keywords, use a number of different modifiers and create content for each. For example: exotic widgets, vintage widgets & classic widgets all work together, however, quality widgets, discount widgets and red widgets don’t really fit together.

Ignore “old school” content. Keyword density isn’t the way it works anymore. It doesn’t matter how many keywords you use on the page, you must place keywords in the appropriate page elements. Write for your visitors!

They keywords you choose may not end up being the best fit. If you’re an agency, the client should play a role in this stage as they know their business and will have some insight as well. Keyword research is an ongoing tactic and should always be reviewed.

Write content that no one else has. Find niche areas of interest for easier ranking possibilities. The phrases will be easier to rank for due to less competition.

Write for your audience first. Content must be read naturally. If you read it, and it sounds awkward, then it is. Rewrite it now. It will turn visitors away. Need persuasive content for call to action follow through.

Don’t destroy the conversion process. Each page should direct users to the next course of action. Lead them to the sale/lead form. They want to get there, but it’s up to you and the content to direct them there. Engage them throughout the process

Sum Up:

• No magical amount of text
• Keep it brief and to the point
• Use no more content than what is needed to convert visitors
• Write for skimmers and scanners (paragraph headings, keyword rich links, bullet points & bolded text)
• Use action words, calls to action & textual links
• Keep content up-to-date, redirect deleted pages & re-purpose content for new mediums

Stoney’s phone went off to signal his time was up, and he was right on target. Nice job Stoney.

Todd now introduces Heather Lloyd Martin…

Heather states that she has been in SEO content since the very beginning and focuses on training, which she loves. We can tell Heather, great enthusisasm. Not to be outdone by Stoney’s Princess Bride-themed presentation, Heather went with The Family Guy – great choice.

What is content marketing?

• articles, news releases, blogs, product pages, FAQs, white papers, Facebook pages & Twitter

Why do we care about “freakin sweet” content?

Finding the sweet spot of keyword research, quality content and quality incoming links is the sweet spot and holy grail of achieving rankings. We all want “control” of the rankings, so focusing on great content is when we can actually realize these results

Think like a newscaster. Figure out the following questions: who is target audience, typical reader, level of education, etc. You then need to write content geared towards the personas that you create.

You must show WIIFM (What’s In It For Me), or people will bail on your site. People are looking for reasons to leave or not to purchase anything from you, so don’t fall into that trap. Provide quality content that speaks to their needs.

Heather gave an example of what Quicken did on a landing page, which OK. Minimal copy, decent headlines, call to action and nice benefits. Now comparing to Mint.com. They did an excellent job by overcoming objections and security concerns. Used headlines and calls to action wisely. They spoke to issues that customers were concerned about, which most likely led to higher conversions.

Always be looking for new content opportunities. Use Google’s keyword tool to help with this. Identify keywords that have high search potential. Consider using Twitter for new content marketing ideas. It’s a good idea to search on Twitter to get ideas for what others are discussing. It helps keep you current about specific industries.

Know when you can break the rules. Heather is discussing the “old school” tactic of keyword density. Back in the day, you needed a 5.5% keyword density to rank on Alta Vista. It doesn’t matter today!

If you remember anything from this presentation/blog post, make your titles HOT. This is the low hanging fruit of SEO. The first opportunity for conversion starts at the SERPs. You must use compelling and informative headlines (title tag) to get folks to your site in the first place. You should always be testing title tags & meta tags.

Tips for strong headlines:

• Write like a headline. Think clickability
• Keep titles around 70 characters
• Include main keywords in Title
• Clearly explain what is on the landing page
• Include benefit statements (free shipping)

Make old content new again. Search for your outdated content (i.e. press pages, conference/event pages, etc) and update it. Make it relevant or redirect it to appropriate pages. If you can’t easily update your content due to technical/site structure issues, create a blog, build articles or engage people on social media. These are great ways to help increase rankings, little by little.

Know the 5 W’s and 1 H of SEO Copywriting

• WHO does the writing (new SEO copywriters need training)
• WHAT pages need to be rewritten (create an editorial calendar)
• WHERE does the budget/time come from (good writing costs time/money)
• WHY don’t look at other opportunities (Twitter, blogs…)
• WHEN are you uploading new pages (set deadlines)
• HOW will you know if it works (conversion testing, traffic monitoring)

The final slide of Heather’s presentation is Stewie with arms raised in the air! Great presentation.

Q&A:

Q: What are the best ways for keyword research (i.e. focus groups)? Also, do you still get penalized for using too many keywords?

A: Stoney goes first: There are a lot of tools to use, which all have good data. Be comprehensive and use a number of tools. Google tools, WordTracker, WordStream, Keyword Discovery. Focus groups shouldn’t be sole point of keyword research, but could be used with other tools. In order to avoid penalties you must use natural copy and keyword overlap.

Q: Thoughts of the free Google keyword tool?

A: Stoney uses the tool, but this isn’t a keyword research track, so we didn’t delve into that. Heather prefers to use tools that are search engine neutral, then uses tools like WordStream, Keyword Discovery, etc.

Q: How do you motivate people to write content for SEO (if they are the only ones writing content)?

A: You must work to take little pieces and show them conversion rates. If your copy converts better, they may start to give you a little more leeway.

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