TopRank Internet Marketing News

When should you start with Content Marketing?  Today’s online marketing is a race where the stakes are high, competition is tough and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to create a sustainable, competitive advantage. Consider these questions to help you answer, “When Content Marketing is right?” for you:

• What’s the right time to understand who your best customers are? Who are your “worst” customers?
• When is it a good time to know what your prospects and customers care about and why they buy?
• What triggers your prospects to discover, consume and engage with content that inspires sales, social shares and referrals?

The culmination of a deal signed just over a year ago is that Microsoft’s Bing now powers Yahoo! search. The actual search impact remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that the two search engines together (Yahoo! and Bing) account for only about 30% of U.S. searches – with Google at 65%.

MarketingProfs University

In an ever-evolving age of interactive media, search marketers walk a tight rope.  Between paid and organic search, social media, optimization, search rankings and measuring success, it’s no surprise that this balancing act presents challenges.

MarketingProfs University is offering a 13-class course addressing popular questions on these topics to help search marketers find the perfect balance and be more effective in their careers.

Event details:
MarketingProfs University Search Marketing School
Modern SEO Strategy: Adapt or Die
Monday, Sept. 19, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Register and attend online classes live or access recordings

Marketo Social Media & SEO for B2B marketing webinar with Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing and Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.

Mobile Marketing Spend to reach $56.5 billion by 2015. That’s 6 times the spend in 2010. Mobile is obviously hitting its stride this year with the proliferation of smartphones. The ATT & Verizon plus iPhone and Droid competitive spirit hasn’t hurt growth either. Via MarketingCharts.

The 7 Stages of News in a Twitter and Facebook Era. Insightful observations about social group behavior when it comes to news. Social sites like Twitter have eclipsed mainstream media when it comes to breaking news. Via GigaOM.

How Engaged Is Traffic from Social Sites? Web users who follow links from social sites are less interested in their content. According to data from Outbrain, just over 10% of external referrals are from social media sites, compared with approximately 41% from search and nearly a third from other content sites. Via eMarketer.

Facebook Launches ‘Send’ Button For More Selective Sharing, Announces 50 Million ‘Groups’. Via TechCrunch.

Content Marketing Optimization — Digital assets, rich media, web pages, consumer opportunities. Interview with TopRank CEO Lee Odden at SES London.

Best Practices for Engaging With Consumers Through Social Media. Via WSJ.

Timeline of major Google algorithm updates 2003 – 2011. Via Level 343.

Three Steps to Generating Higher ROI From Content Marketing. Via MarketingProfs.

If you use Majestic SEO for link tracking and research, then get ready to get more out of Majestic with this Advanced Reports Tutorial. Via Majestic SEO.

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:

TopRank Online Marketing is in search of a talented web developer to join its high-performing team. The ideal candidate seeks an opportunity for challenge, innovation and reward with an opportunity to do world-class work in a fun, growing and collaborative environment.

We are looking for a design savvy Web Developer that also understands the technical side of SEO. This role requires proficiency in web publishing applications, web design and their impact on search engine visibility.  It also offers a chance to learn and grow as web technologies and search optimization continue to evolve.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

A common misperception in regards to a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program is that its value is derived solely from traffic generated from Google.  Traffic from smaller search engines, such as Yahoo! and Bing, holds so little value that it may as well not exist.

Just as no upstanding SEO professional would ever state that Yahoo! and Bing traffic is the primary objective of an SEO program, no upstanding SEO professional would ever state that Google traffic is the only objective of an SEO program.

In reality, traffic from all sources can bring measurable SEO value.

By design, software and technology companies exist to solve long-held problems in new and innovative ways.  And because technology can be so readily customized, by factors ranging from vertical industry focus to specific problems addressed, no two software or technology companies will ever be the same.

In much the same way, no two successful search marketing programs will ever be exactly alike.  Each program will need to customized based on factors ranging from the type of prospects being targeted to specific objectives being achieved.

The three companies below, each having developed a unique software or technology offering, recently launched customized search marketing programs with TopRank® Online Marketing: