TopRank Internet Marketing News

Chicago is known for many things including the arts and being the home of the most well known mob boss of all time. This November we are excited to attend  SES Chicago with guns a’ blazing. This conference is flush with everything from expert advice on PPC, keyword research, SEO, social media, local marketing, mobile marketing, link building, content, optimization, usability, and so much more. With over 70 sessions at November’s conference there is a plethora of information for online marketers eager to learn more about present and future trends in the industry.

If you’re an internet marketing professional looking for the latest in industry trends, practical tools, and tips for executing on your own PPC or SEO strategy, then ad:tech New York is an event that you should not miss.  We are pleased to announce that TopRank CEO Lee Odden will be following in the footsteps of Melanie Mitchell, SVP of Search at Digitas, and serving as the Marketing Master for three sessions at the next ad:tech conference.

The future of public relations relies heavily on interacting with individuals and companies online.  Building awareness and  brand recognition is only the first step.   What are you doing to make your news content and brand story easily found and talked about online?  In order to reach journalists, analysts, bloggers and influentials on the web, it’s essential that Public Relations and Communications professionals understand the role search and social media play with influencing information discovery, consumption and sharing.

Content Marketing World 2011

While it’s important for business website content to be optimized for search engines, don’t forget that your customers are communicating and making purchasing decisions every day on social media and networking sites.  Unfortunately, few companies excel at incorporating both Search and Social Media Optimization in their content strategies.

On Sept. 6 – 9, Content Marketing World is hosting a lineup of over 50 presenters including elite B2B, B2C, small business and non-profit marketers and thought leaders speaking on using content marketing to drive and retain business.  One session will take a deep dive into content marketing for search and social.  This presentation is designed to equip content marketers with an effective process for any organization, large or small.

TopRank Online Marketing has worked with PRWeb for many years and helped to launch their first Twitter Chat #prwebchat late in 2010 by having TopRank CEO Lee Odden as the first host. PRWeb’s parent company, Vocus, tapped Odden for the first #vocuschat this week. Below is an archive of the correspondence on SEO and Public Relations between Cassie Pean from Vocus and Odden during this social conversation.

Vocus will be publishing a roundup post from the inaugural Twitter Chat on their blog that will include the dialog between participating members.

Q1: Why is #SEO for #PR important? #vocuschat

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media are no longer distinct channels. They are forever intertwined, each affecting the other in terms of how digital information is discovered, consumed and shared. The subsequent impact on reach and engagement means the integration of these channels is as relevant for Public Relations as it is for Marketing.

I was asked by Melanie Mitchell, SVP of Search Marketing at Digitas to give a presentation on holistic SEO at ad:tech San Francisco where I caught up with another amazingly smart friend, Susan Bratton. She recorded an interview with me on the Social & SEO for Public Relations topic for her popular DishyMix podcast and shared the transcript with me to repost.

John Jantsch & Lee Odden at BlogWorld New York 2011 - Photo thx to @ducttape

Blogs are perfectly suited as social media information hubs for companies or individuals that want to dominate their niche online. TopRank Online Marketing has been an active proponent and pioneer of blog marketing as the centerpiece of social content strategy for many years. We’ve been working with companies ranging from B2C retailers like J&O Fabrics to Fortune 15 company, McKesson on blogging, social media and SEO with impressive results.

Search Engine Optimization as an online marketing discipline has been in effect for over 10 years and at the speed the internet changes, that’s multiple lifetimes of change.  The ad:tech conference in San Francisco this week is featuring a series of Marketing Masters sessions, one of which is focused on modern search engine optimization.  What are current best practices and where does SEO fit in today’s social media world?  These questions and more will be answered Tuesday 4/11 by a super panel of SEO experts including TopRank Online Marketing CEO, Lee Odden.

Here’s the official session description:

Are your social media and search marketing teams talking to each other? They should be.

In an upcoming webcast, Rand Fishkin and Lee Odden will explain why, plus share practical tips on how to boost your SEO results through blogging, online PR, and smart coordination between social media and search. We’ll look at:

• How brands are coordinating Search Optimization and Social Media efforts
• A content marketing model for implementing a coordinated Social SEO program
• Why Google & Bing’s Love Affair w/ Twitter & Facebook is Just Beginning
• What Signals Matter in a Tweet / Share

Part adage, part cliché – ‘if a tree falls in the forest with no one there to hear it, will it make a sound?’ The answer is – ‘of course.’  But because no one is there to hear the sound, the sound doesn’t matter.

In much the same way, if content is published to your website with no one able to find it, your online content doesn’t matter.  This applies to everything from an exhaustively researched white paper to an opinion heavy blog post.