I project manage training for the web and media industries, but I’m not a trainer myself. I’m also being made redundant in a couple of weeks, so the topic of jobhunting, freelancing and career development has been on my mind whilst attending this training. You’d be surprised what you can do with search to get hired:

My plan is a little less audacious but already getting results: my blog visits are more consistent where before they spiked and flatlined too erratically, and I’m monitoring profile views from new individuals on LinkedIn whom I’m then able to contact directly.

Here are some of the items on my current to-do list, with an explanation in SEO and Social Media terms as to why it’s worthwhile, and where I’m up to on it:

1. Get Blogging!

Why? Search engine algorithms are keen on sites that renew their content on a regular basis, including blogs. For a freelancer or jobhunter with few resources other than a web connection and a PC, blogging platforms such as WordPress, Blogger, Posterous or Livejournal are a great way to manage an online presence. By adding regular, relevant, well-structured posts, even an individual can build a self-marketing advantage by following good SEO practice.

Progress: 50%. My WordPress blog (mothertown.wordpress.com) has been live since last Autumn, but I’m only managing 1 post per month when I should be updating weekly. One problem has been that I’m blogging on multiple topics in one post, which isn’t great from an SEO point of view. 1 topic per post makes it easier to target keywords, and simpler to create relevant H1 and H2 headers. Another error: all of my old, pre-training posts link out to sites where in some cases I need to go back and add nofollow attributes to certain links to prevent “leakage” of my PageRank. A further omission has been not “claiming” my blog on Technorati and other blog directories. Even though their outbound links carry nofollow attributes, it’s part of a larger strategy to build links with other, more established bloggers in the community.

2. Optimise my blog’s “About” page

Why? The static “About” page is more important than my blog posts in a lot of ways: it’s essentially a landing page and my opportunity to present my skills in a way that will draw relevant search traffic. Running any of the free SEO tools on the front page of the blog – where all the posts sit – demonstrates that it only serves WordPress’ own ends, where I have far more control over the content of the static About page.

Progress: 80%. I need a H2 tag! At the moment there’s a big “About” sitting there – no use to the crawler bots. This page will never be 100% complete, because I’ll always be assessing what keywords and phrases should be included to attract potential employers. Running the url through Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool, some of the suggested keywords aren’t the business or activity areas I actually want to target, so I’ll be delving deeper into this over the coming weeks. I also ran the tool on a potential competitors’ site, which gives me a new set of keywords to target via the About page, plus topics to consider blogging about.

3. Optimise my social profiles, and start thinking strategically

Why? Facebook’s user graph continues to grow, especially in terms of visit length, and in the diversity of use: businesses are not only “checking you out” on Facebook but pro-actively hiring using the platform’s unique features, sometimes stealthily, as German digital marketing agency Jung von Matt/Neckar demonstrated last autumn. Critically, Google have now admitted that they’re measuring social media signals for PageRank, which for individuals means that connections and proactive, positive discussions on any flavour of social platform increases their visibility, just as it would for businesses.

Progress: 75%. My LinkedIn profile page has had a radical rebuild to feature keywords in terms of skills, industries and partner businesses I’ve worked with, and like the blog, this will be an ongoinge process. I’ve staked my claim for online real estate with a LinkedIn vanity url (www.linkedin.com/in/simonpaulknight) – which creates a contextual link to influence search results should someone be searching for me by name.

There’s less jobhunting power with my Facebook profile compared to LinkedIn (but again with a custom, contextual url: www.facebook.com/simonpaulknight), but that may change over time – they may even attempt to acquire or conquer LinkedIn over time. But Facebook (and Twitter) are all about conversations in realtime, and so I’ve made a more committed effort to update frequently and engage in relevant conversations, made a little easier when using a multiple-channel desktop client such as Tweetdeck, which lets me add the same update to Twitter and other social networks in one go.

Why should we measure Social Media ROI?

Companies need to be able to measure the cost of Social Media, for better or worse, in order for it to have an impact. But many companies don’t have the faintest idea about where to begin when it comes to measuring social media metrics and the Return on Investment (ROI).

A recent report by Emarketing published by NIBS Spectrum (a solution provider for small businesses) indicated that 86% of business who attended their workshops on social media strategies had adopted some social technologies, most said they were using the tools for marketing (57%) and internal collaboration (39%), while almost 30% reported using social technologies for customer service and support.

However, the debate in measuring Social Media ROI has confirmed some executives still prevent any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed in calculating the Return on Investment with real-world business performance metrics.

Despite the broad adoption of Social Media tools such as Facebook & Twitter, measuring its effectiveness lags behind. Only 16% of those polled said they used social media measuring tools for their programs. Additionally, more than 40% of respondents didn’t even know whether the social tools they were using were capable of measuring ROI. This means that companies are jumping into social media without actually accounting for how it will impact their business and what, if any, value it will add.

Around 25% of this survey suggested they had reached the “strategic” phase of their social media policy. Those in the strategic phase are considerably more likely than those in earlier phases of the process to measure their success. Generally, the number one goal targeted and measured by marketers is an increase in web traffic.

There’s an fascinating blog post called “measuring Social Media”, written by Jim Estill who’s on the board of BlackBerry makers RIM. It suggests that brand awareness is the new measuring stick of a successful marketing campaign, and that only the first set of eyeballs are the ones you pay for — everything after that is word of mouth. This follows on from an earlier piece Jim wrote suggesting that ROI in marketing is a false term.
While they’re both interesting reads, the idea that ROI and metrics are difficult to measure isn’t quite true; In fact, social media can offer some of the best metrics for ROI around. All you need to do is set what you want to achieve and how long you want to spend achieving it — and then measure your results against that.

Twitter – One of the darlings for any product launch, service or business, Twitter not only offers instant eyeballs but great returns as well. Again, measuring your impact is relatively simple:
• What was your retweet value?
• How often was your hashtag used?
• How many times was your vanity URL used?
• If you used something like Sponsored Tweets, what was the cost versus click-through and conversion?

Facebook – Fast becoming the key destination for many businesses and their products, Facebook offers some great built-in tools as well as demographic options to help gauge a campaign:
• How many new fans did you make over how many you targeted?
• How many times was your promotion message liked?
• If you built a Facebook application, how many times was it installed/shared?
• Were you successful reaching your target demographic (Facebook Insights can help you here)?

YouTube – More than just a fun place to see kids hurt themselves on bikes, YouTube is a key tool in any marketing campaign now
• How many views did you get?
• How many Likes and Favourites did you receive?
• How many downloads did you get (on video sites that allow downloads)?
• How many embeds has your video seen elsewhere on the web?
• How many subscribers did your channel attract?

Do you measure your ROI in your Social Media campaigns?, if so, please let us know your thoughts….

The debate continues…………..

My name is Tim Guest, @TimTheGuest on Twitter, and I’ve been invited to write this Blog post based on my recent presentation – “How and why to get a job in SEO and Social Media” – at the Search & Social Media Marketing open day, organised by the University of Salford, on 20th January 2011. I run a Digital recruitment business called Quantica Technology, @QuanticaTech Quantica Technology on Twitter, and Digital Marketing is one of our specialisms:

Stats on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) employment in Manchester:

Four years ago 3% of ALL IT jobs advertised contained the term “SEO”, today over 10% of ALL IT jobs contain the term “SEO” – This shows how important SEO is becoming in all areas of technology.

There are currently 90 jobs containing the term “SEO” advertised within a 30 mile radius of Manchester here are some of the main themes and average salaries:

• 30 of these jobs are SEO Executive, SEO Consultant, SEO Account Exec. Average salaries are £23,000 – £25,000 and up to £28,000 dependent on experience.
• 9 are SEO Manager, SEO Account Manager, Senior SEO Consultant. Average salaries are £30,000 – £40,000 dependent on experience.
• 14 are Head of SEO, Head of e-Commerce, Head of Digital. Average salaries are £45,000 – £60,000 dependent on experience but could even be higher for top people.

The remainder are a mixture of front & back end web development jobs & general marketing roles.

These figures are from: Jobserve.com, Totaljobs.co.uk, CWjobs.co.uk, Creativepool.co.uk, ITJobswatch.co.uk

What skills do employers look for in an SEO or Social Media employee?

The generic SEO skills are a mix of social and technical and you need to see the specifics of a job. Dependent upon the company, your role can be more focused and be primarily based on optimised content development or on the technical implementation of the content: 

• Knowledge of Google Analytics / Webtrends
• Ability to speak “non technical” to sell to board members
• Knowledge of White, Grey & Black hat SEO techniques
• Knowledge and experience of Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
• SEO link building
• Creating monitoring & improving Google Adwords campaigns
• An online presence, minimum Twitter / Facebook / Tumbler / Posterous
• A portfolio of work even if done for “free” to show interest and ability
• Knowledge of Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML)
• Knowledge of Content Management Systems (CMS) like Drupal / WordPress
• Understanding of server software and technical elements of websites
• Involvement in out of work groups like SMC Mcr, SEO Manchester etc

How to get a job in SEO / Social Media?

Have a strong Social Media presence; let people know WHO you are and WHAT you do. What to post / not to post on Twitter & Facebook is a debate for another time but a good mix of industry stuff and personal (not too personal) posts works best!

Get to know who’s who in top agencies and end clients by doing research on LinkedIn etc. Follow them on Twitter, interact with them so when they are looking to hire they already know you.

Keep an eye on job boards Jobserve.com, jobsite.co.uk, totaljobs.co.uk

Register with SPECIALIST agencies like Quantica Technology

I’m happy to speak impartially to anyone if you want more advice on this

Tim Guest
@TimTheGuest
@QuanticaTech
Quantica Technology
07798 634538
www.quantica-technology.co.uk  

Whilst the Search and Social Media Marketing (SSMM) skills and techniques we’ve learnt, discussed and explored through the course have been vital, I’m really interested in how to take this back to my colleagues and clients I work with on the Plings project. How can we move SSMM away from an afternoon in a spreadsheet, through to something we *all* discuss and understand? How can SSMM be at the core of project planning, rather than a bolt on from the side?

Gimme the Social Media Marketing Headlines!

Whilst this may sound negative, I think it is often the reality. We like to think we have the capacity to dwell upon and scrutinize Google Analytics, but we are often pressed for time and resources to only take a cursory glance, or just use the top level figures. Equally, whilst Twitter is well documented as a channel for feedback, discussion and listening – the stream can quickly and easily be lost, with a sense of swimming against the tide. The challenge therefore is how we can best present these as opportunities rather than chores.

Five Ways to Sell SSMM to Your Team!

In thinking this through, I picked out some of the actions we have been taking in relation to Plings and SSMM. For those that don’t know, Plings is a project that aggregates and publishes information on "places to go, things to do" for young people in England. Whilst these beneficiaries of our toils are important, our key focus for SSMM is in fact the people who are responsible for the data – those in local and national government. Without their input, the project would falter. Therefore, our SSMM strategy needs to deliver enough carrots and sticks to keep them engaged.

I’ve picked out five examples:

1 – Scare them

OK, don’t *literally* scare them off, but make it clear that social media is here, and is in use, right now. We use a combination of Twitter Search and Social Mention to track the key phrase "youth club". This gives people a flavour of how people are talking. I might be over playing it with the scary term, but you get my gist.

2 – Delight them

I underestimated how much people enjoy a seeing our listing on a search engine results page (SERP)! With Google Webmaster tools, Meta Descriptions and XML Sitemaps, we’ve managed to get a nicely formatted listing for Plings. This is a very visible before/after SSMM action – people get it!

3 – Impress them

A good SSMM story is only as good as the time and effort you put in. With the help of PushON, we recently set up filters and contexts in Google Analytics to illustrate the volume of long-tail non-branded search terms we get to Plings. We also discovered that these people were more engaged on the site, spending more time there. These are not default reports or figures – but make impressive SSMM tools.

4 – Save them Money

With Plings we are not "selling" products or widgets, but we are keen to stress how it can deliver savings. Through a Facebook Ad Campaign we undertook recently, we were able to use Facebook Insights to get to a cost of around about 89pence for the install of our app. This detail isn’t easily available for Return on Investment (ROI) for printed marketing, for example, so our SSMM detail starts to get people hooked.

5 – Entertain them

OK, this doesn’t *actually* involve any of the tools we’ve used, but is a vital ingredient. If we can imagine that our goal is to get everyone on board our mythical SSMM bus, then we need to get out and cajole people. With Plings, we hold regular events for our stakeholders. We even give people cakes! Our point here is that whilst we may have published our SSMM related findings in a blog or white paper, finding the time and space to talk it thru with a cuppa, is vital

Setting the Right Metrics and Building the Relevant Matrix

Once you’ve decided on the ways to gather your SSMM tribe, then the related task is to establish the metrics and matrix to assist you all. How do you chart a successful "conversion"? How do you agree on that KPI? Is there a clear pathway for your audience? With Plings, we’ve been inspired by some of the work of Matt Locke and Ewan McIntosh, who in turn drew on the seminal ‘Metrics for Pirates (AARRR!)‘ work of Dave McClure. We think we can work with this as a matrix to underpin all our work. It is vital to establish this, otherwise the whole SSMM effort could just be a series of nice stories, but no plot.

So – Five Ways to Get the Right People on the Relevant #SSMM Bus, Just as it Leaves…

I think that is our task. To build an effective SSMM campaign you need many eyes, ears and arms. These people will be around, but the trick is to engage them through the relevant stories, and make sure you all have access to a timetable.

I put these thoughts together with some pictures for the end-of-course presentation:

– please let me know your thoughts: Steven works for Substance as the Technology Enabler, mostly focused on the Plings project. He tries very hard not to use metaphors and analogies when explaining stuff, to varying degrees of succes. 

Women in SEO

Do you know what got me thinking lately? Are women not as interested in search engine optimisation (SEO) as men? Being the only women doing the Search and Social Media Marketing course, I started to wonder why there are few women in SEO despite the fact that it’s not really that technical as women think it is. I mean there has certainly been a rise in women SEOs but women are still taking a back seat.

I find it quite surprising that most of the SEO firms are male dominated furthermore even when I attended the SAScon conference held in Manchester on 29th October 2010 the ratio between men to women was quite significant. While reviewing the SAScon Manchester delegate list I was quite amazed with the difference. Out of approximately 157 people in the conference 125 were male and only 32 females.  In addition looking at the 30 most influential people in UK SEO – The Results show only 3 women out of 30 that are most influential, now as a women I feel there need to be more SEO women in that list and more and more women in SEO need to come forward and take a lead!

However, on a positive note, I am proud to say that the most influential and popular SEO business, SEOmoz is owned by a women. Also SEO Chicks play a big role as top Women in SEO. The most popular women in SEO industry that are at the top of the field are Judith Lewis, Dana Lookadoo, Ann Smarty, Donna Fontenot, Lisa Myers and Nichola Stott.  I am sure you have heard some of these names before and the list will expand further as more women join SEO like social media or search engine marketing.

Reasons for fewer SEO women

Here are two opinions from Mindy Gofton and Ben McKay about the reason behind fewer women in SEO:

“People either don’t understand what SEO is or feel it’s primarily a technical role – it’s not yet seen as an arm of marketing – and for whatever reason, women don’t tend to gravitate towards technical careers”. Head of SEO at I-COM Mindy Gofton

Ben McKay, Justmeandmy.com “I say sadly, as I think it’s a real shame that it seems like a techy, male-orientated industry…there are too many niches that are male / female orientated. So what can we do to sell the idea to get more women SEOs? Do we need to sell the idea to women some more? After all, SEO does rock! The women that I know in Search tend to be PPC / Display / Business Dev / PR / Social Media…not many in SEO though. From the people that I know, maybe 1 in 10 might describe their responsibilities to include SEO”

How to encourage women to join SEO?

“I think including SEO into marketing curricula and treating it as a marketing discipline while working basic web development into digital marketing courses would probably encourage women. I also think more women being vocal and involved in more high profile positions within the industry and even in local networking groups and events would help too. Or maybe grants/internships directed at women might encourage women who would maybe gravitate towards advertising or more traditional marketing to get into SEO”. Mindy Gofton, I-COM

I certainly hope that more women take the Search and Social Media Marketing course starting again in February 2011; it has allowed me to enhance my SEO knowledge and skills and with SEO you never have enough, there is always something new to learn every day. Furthermore, I believe it is a great field to work in for men or women I would recommend and encourage everyone to take this course if you are interested and enthusiastic about online marketing, it’s an exciting world to be in!

@lailanaqvi

As an experienced copywriter and media enthusiast, I’ve long been aware of how search and social marketing are changing online journalism. In my day job I see first hand how each serve clients looking to improve their web presence, but I was keen to know more about the mechanics of both.

While strengthening my knowledge in this area would undoubtedly give me more to offer in my role as an SEO copywriter, I would also have the perfect playground to test out the things I would be learning. As the person in charge of online marketing for the Grimm Up North movie weekender in Manchester, I was already using social networks for film marketing and festival promotion – but now I had the chance to see if I was doing it right.

Firstly, I addressed the ‘conversion versus branding’ debate, deciding that our event would be better using an optimised website to sell tickets, with social media creating a brand identity and greater awareness. Starting with Google’s AdWords, Analytics and Webmaster tools, I began a process of keyword research and site monitoring. In turn, this led restructuring the site to improve navigation and revising all on-site content to reflect a more search-friendly approach. Off-site, I began targeting some of the industry’s most influential bloggers and building a relationship that would trade ‘exclusive’ information and festival access in exchange for content and links on their pages.

Naturally, this external content began to feed into the existing Facebook and Twitter campaigns, allowing us to grow our list of followers and create a #GrimmUpNorth hashtag that would be monitored using Social Mention. Visitors to the main site could see – thanks to an integrated widget – the level of engagement we were having and join the conversation, which in itself became an incredibly useful tool for feedback during the weekend itself. Finally, an event listing was set up on Foursquare to reward users for checking in, with a special prize awarded to the Grimm Up North ‘Mayor’ at the closing night ceremony.

Once the film festival was done, I turned my attention to my own website FilmRant.co.uk, which would be where I would continue to publish my own film writing, but would document my adventures in film marketing, festival promotion and social media. Once again, I redesigned, restructured and optimised the site, using guest blog posts for linkbuilding and revitalising the existing Film Rant social networking channels. 

If there’s one thing I’ll take as a hard lesson learned is that online film festival marketing – like any other search and social media campaign – requires careful planning. With this knowledge and much more, I will now approach future tasks with confidence, but with the readyness to adapt and grow in a field that changes every day.

The SSMM, or Search & Social Media Marketing, course commenced in September 2010. The course took place each Wednesday evening from 16.00 hrs to approximately 20.00 hrs for ten weeks, providing classroom tuition and access to SEMPO Institute accreditation via online course work and exams.

Search Engine Optimisation for Dummies gave me a headache!

Prior to joining the SSMM course I was self-taught in the wonders of the web. I spent many nights staring at a computer screen reading and absorbing all Google had to offer. After the euphoria of uploading a site and finding that it doesn’t works in a fashion. I was asked the question “where, is my site, I can’t find it“.

Trying to find the answer brought me into the world of search engine optimisation. Back to wearing my Google specs to find some answers, reading “Search Engine Optimisation for Dummies” gave me a headache, but provided answers to some of the questions I was being asked. Joining the Search Social Media Marketing course has made me less anti-social and reduced the headaches!

Salford University removes the veil of mystery surrounding Search and Social Media Marketing

Dr Aleksej Heinze, the Seach & Socail Media Marketing programme leader and numerous guest speakers have taken the delegates of the course from keyword searching to site structure content placement and from on page optimisation to off page optimisation best practices. The course also taught us how to use analytics and various other measurements to track and adjust progress of a website. Making use of Web 2.0 or social media networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to protect and promote your business.

SSMM results

During the course I have applied the techniques we have learned, to a website I have been working on. I have got to state that this might not work for everybody but it did for me! The site I have produced has reached page one on Google for one of the competitive search terms I have used, despite the opposition that provides “About 198,000 results” via Google. My client has allowed me to quote the success we have achieved, but has requested that I don’t quote the site in this blog. A link to my company’s site is below.

Keith Hobson

• www.cortelmedia.net
• Keith Hobson on LinkedIn
• @KHobson123

Applications on mobile devices – are they turning us into anti-social individuals? How many applications are there now? There is no point in counting, as more will be created before the day is out. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare are many of the current forms of social networking mobile applications turning us into a group of anti-social individuals, lacking the proper social skills; similar to “hoodies” for the 21st Century. Head down, feverishly tapping away on your device, not paying careful attention to what you are doing, or what is around you, for the need to be kept up-to-date with the latest information. Companies, in particular, now see the benefit of being able to do business within the mobile marketplace in a blog written by Raam Thakrar, the CEO of Touchnote He raised a number of key areas of benefit for the SME marketplace in "Taking advantage of mobile phone technology" with one being M-Commerce. He believes it will only be a matter of time for customers to make safe transactions on their mobile phone as the mobile phone is the only form of technology they have close to them at all times. However the issue of security is raised as mobile phones does not offer the same level of protection as a computer when buying online is concerned, plus it needs individuals to be confident of making these purchases in this manner, despite high levels of physical theft or misuse.

The invention of Smart phones and variations of iPads means a new big juicy screen, clarity to write what you want when you want, turning individuals into mobile businesses, able to have the power of a PC in their hand. From a social networking aspect, people are able to interact through recording, uploading and updating information or content to view and receive vital information then comment on without the need of powering up a computer. However, with the ability to update details, are we missing out on vital information in the real world? Lets have a look at some o the drawbacks of the "social mobile devices":

Windows 7 Phone Ad

With innovations like FourSquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places people are eager to “check in” on a mobile device to a variety of places and venues to gain badges and rewards for unlocking new venues and places of interest. This could be a great thing until you start adding “friends” or worse the person in your “relationship” as they will be able to track you easily, especially when you have to “work late” on that “important brief for the boss by the end of the week”!

Spelling anyone?

Here’s a great test. How badly has your hand writing suffered over time since you have been using a computer? What about spelling? Do you find that you use more in the way of “text language” when talking to people instead of full sentences? (Cheers m8! C U l8r! ) ) Is this attributed to the amount of characters Twitter allows per tweet, or just a convenient way to get a long message across in abbreviations.

The “Cheers” Factor

Remember Cheers? The Boston bar where “Everybody knows your name”? Like any local, the idea of interacting with people from long-standing relationships has been replaced with requests from total strangers just because they frequent the same establishment. The idea of being socially accepted using this means your circle of friends has grown immensely, even though there is nothing in common with that person apart from frequenting the same venue.

So, what about the future?

Virtua Friends or “iM8s” may be a great acquisition in the short-term through these various applications, however there is nothing like leaving new mobile phone technology alone for a while to gain a sense of reality in the “real world”. Meeting someone in person provides a different set of emotions, a real relationship through having some kind of history or background:

Window 7 Phone

T-Mobile advert

Overcoming any stress-related mobile phone abuse

The number of mobile phone and hand related injuries will continue to rise from the extension of texting, so here are some exercises to overcome any pains that may surface

• Tap each finger with the thumb of the same hand. Repeat five times.
• Pull your thumb firmly with the other hand. Repeat five times.
• Wrap an elastic band around the tips of fingers and thumb and open your hand against the resistance. Repeat 20 times.
• Palms down wrap an elastic band around each thumb and force apart. Repeat 20 times.
• Tap the palm and back of your hand on your thigh as quickly as you can. Repeat 20 times.
• Massage thumb web, back of forearm and front of forearm. Two minutes.
• Press and rub in a circular motion the painful nodules in those muscles. Thirty seconds for each nodule.
• Reach up high with both arms and shake your hands. Reach down low with both arms and shake. Repeat three times.
• Arms at 45 degrees, squeeze them behind you.
• If it still hurts after a week of doing exercises, wrap an ice pack on sore hand and arm parts. Do not put ice directly on the skin but wrap in a thin cloth or piece of kitchen roll. Ten minutes on, 10 minutes off. Repeat three times.

More and more businesses are looking towards new technology to keep people informed of the latest news and information, possibly due to these devices being readily available for mass consumption. Most noticeably, the BBC wanted to close a number of their websites, and instead channel it through iPhone applications, in a blog created by Rory Cellan-Jones entitled “Governement apps: a case for the axe?” So, just as we are getting our heads out of the sand like ostriches, there seems to be a movement to get us looking down again to interact with the world.

With that in mind, I’m going to call my mate and arrange to meet up in the pub… then log in to Foursquare to “check in” to the venue we’re going to meet up in, and do the same on Facebook and Twitter. If I need people to know how popular I am…

Make sure you check in here when on the Search Social Media Marketing course

SEO for Developers…

‘SEO for All’ will explain why web pages – all online material, in fact – should be optimised to make them findable and that – much like web accessibility – this optimisation will not be too great a burden. Online material that has been optimised for findability has a great deal in common with accessible material: it tends to feature tightly focused content built on well-structured foundations. Findable and accessible sites tend to feature appropriate and focused architecture, supported by logical navigation and rich links. Findability works for the standardista and for the consumer.

…and the Rest of Us

Why all? Why not just web developers? The world of Web 2.0 is a world in which audience is author, the wisdom of the crowd authoritative. ‘SEO for All’ has it that anyone who writes for the web – do you tweet on a a particular subject or interest? have you reviewed Call of Duty online? – can apply simple guidelines to focus their message; focused messages are good for Google, reach readers and….well, you get the point.

‘SEO for All’ then, not just all webbies, all designers or all developers. Why ‘the missing link’, though? What’s missing?

The Missing Link: Me!

Or what I learned from Salford Business School’s course in Search & Social Media Marketing

What was missing was a personal awareness of the reality of SEO. I’m writing this at the back end of a 10 week, 4 hours a pop, ‘study when you’re bushed and the kids have gone to bed’ course in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Social Media Marketing run by Salford Business School just down the road from Manchester City Centre. From the general to the particular. Background and details. Beginner to professional. Well, not really. No one gets to be professional in anything after a mere 40 hours.

Principles, Real Professionals & Sandwiches

What you do get though, is a thorough grounding in the principles behind SEO and SMM (the course is acronymed as SSMM – Search and Social Media Marketing), the detailed techniques used in increasing findability and encouraging buzz and exposure to the various tools of the trade. You also get exposure to the real professionals, in the form of a weekly guest lecture by some of the most influential commercial SEO/SSMM organisations in Manchester. The likes of Latitude, MEC Manchester, PushOn and MediaVest. You also get access to SEMPO (international search engine marketing professional organisation) material and certification; the course fee includes 3 separate SEMPO Institute courses and awards. And sandwiches.

SEO: Corporate Fascism?

For me – and, I suspect, a great many experienced web professionals – my interests and professional development over the last 10 years have included CSS, XHTML, PHP & MySQL, JavaScript, design patterns with a smattering of Apache and other server technologies. SEO was mentioned in hushed tones, if at all: text hidden by CSS, Google queries producing pages of link farms, source code which is 90% keyword tag…SEO was, like, working for the man, man, while we worked with flowers in our hair. SEO, then, was the blackest of black hat. Don’t sell the roses, smell them…

SEO: Absolutely Ethical

So what’s changed? Well, other than the stunning insight that the vast majority of SEO techniques – and practitioners – are absolutely ethical, the last 10 weeks have shown me that optimising web material so that it is easily findable (or, as appropriate, rises to the top of a search engine results page, or SERP as they are known in the trade) involves processes that, quite simply, complement the whole gamut of web standards.

Why SEO Matters or Here Come the Numbers

Earlier in the year Royal Pingdom reported that in 2009 there were 234 million websites, of which 47 million had been created in that year.

Here are some numbers from Blogpulse a couple of days ago:

• Total identified blogs: 150,389,988
• New blogs in last 24 hours: 45,126
• Blog posts indexed in last 24 hours: 778,260

Almost a MILLION new blog posts today. Clearly it’s not the material that’s not there. Sure, the numbers are at best a rough guide. A blog post can be a single line. There’s no quality control. And no one reads it.

Ah…no one reads it.

Does that matter? Well, yes, it does if what you’ve got to say is relevant, reasoned, reasonable and just plain right! Without going down philosophical back-alleys, common sense tells me that most of us write for an audience. Most of us work for organisations that seek to promote themselves. This is not simply a matter of persuasion; in many (most?) cases, our organisations have an audience that are actually looking for the material we publish.

Let’s be clear about this: ‘our stuff’ is better than ‘their stuff’ (if you dont’ feel that, do it again) and we owe it to the public to make sure that when they want information, they get it from us! When statistics show that almost three-quarters of searchers click on a result from the first page of results, you’d better make sure that’s where your stuff sits.

Just as separation of style, content and behaviour are elements of standards-based, scalable, future-proof websites, findability achieved by Search Engine Optimisation is a vital ingredient in the toolbox of anyone who writes or develops for the web.

SEO for All: What to Do Next

Surf: 10 SEO Techniques All Top Websites Should Use (blog: 2008);

Study: Do the Course – Salford Business School’s Search and Social Media Marketing, designed and taught by University of Salford academics and industry professionals;

Read: Building Findable Websites (it’s a book by Aarron Walter – New Riders, 2008). The website also features a Findability Checklist.

Play: 10 free tools for Web and SEO Analytics.

Thanks for reading…

mark

Mark Sanders

Twitter: @mark_l_sanders
LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/markislinkedin
FB: facebook.com/markspages
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/chorltonweb

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING; `SHOW ME THE MONEY’

No matter how much of a `feel good’ factor any business has about social media, in the end, hard-headed marketing managers only really ask one question; `How can we make money from using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the rest of these time-consuming networks?’

The answer lies in identifying particular `tribes’ of users who are potentially your customers, your brand champions, your harshest critics when things go wrong, and born communicators – yes, some people are going to do your marketing for you. How cheap is that?

THE FIRST FACEBOOK UPDATE WAS A CAVE PAINTING

As the well known Twitterer @lesanto noted recently, Facebook 40,000 years ago was a cave painting. The update was `We hunted and killed today, it was good.’

This highlights what Robin Wight of the Engine Group spoke about at Like Minds in Exeter 2010. Human beings evolved in tribes of around 150-180 people. Our brains cannot truly `know’ more people than this, plus the number gives us a range of skills which helps group survival. So human communication is irrevocably tied to our evolution. That means Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and every other social network is underpinned by this same DNA-mapped reality.

Those who think they have 2000 `friends’ on Facebook are wrong. You don’t know these people. Those who simply broadcast on Twitter, without using Retweets, hash tags or @ replies to have a conversation, are on an ego trip. That isn’t social, it isn’t a conversation.

Any business can head down a digital one way street by simply broadcasting messages, but in the long run, they risk hitting a dead end in marketing terms. You have to listen.

CASE STUDIES; SEO IS CHAPTER ONE, SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE BOOK

I chose two small-medium sized companies as case studies; Frution Broadcast based in Manchester and London, plus MCi Tours, based in Altrincham to test the knowledge acquired on this course.

Fruition’s search ranking is low ( see more background at my Posterous blog ) and the site is heavy with slick flash player media. But the company doesn’t really want public visitors, they want relatively few music industry players to visit the site, be impressed, then hire them. But the SEO site audit did highlight one benefit.

One thing we all know is that people in the UK are looking for jobs right now. I found `event planning jobs’ were the top rising search UK term, up 190% in the last year. `Event co-ordinator’ was up 50%.

I refined it geographically and seasonally in Google trends;

Searches in England showed a spike in August 2010 and London, then Manchester, were top cities last summer.

So Fruition could place a house ad on their site in August, maybe blog and Twitter it too, plus run a PPC ad in the Manchester area during August, leading to a specific job application landing page.

The response could be huge, if so, people could be held on file by Fruition – a talent pool basically, full-time or freelance. All that would save a large amount currently spent on recruitment agency fees or local media advertising. Crucially, it also saves hundreds of man-hours phoning around for staff each year at peak times.

So in terms of using SEO research, we are showing the client the money trail – recruitment gets quicker and cheaper. Result.

THINKING LIKE A CUSTOMER

MCi Tours wanted more people on their motorcycle holidays for 2011, winter is their peak booking season, kicking off with the UK motorcycle show.

Working with MCi Tours’ boss Al McFarlane, we identified three things that could be done over winter to improve things.

1. Audit and tweak the website layout and content to make it more `SEO-friendly.’

2. Try and capitalise on the link traffic that’s coming MCi Tours way. Make it relevant, as well as increase it.

3. Use social media to drive more potential motorcycle touring customers towards MCi Tours – especially those interested in Route 66 US tours, as there seems to be healthy demand at present.

SEO X-Ray revealed just one external link to the site. One of things I’ve suggested to MCi Tours is that they try to get a link from the FSA, because MCi are authorised agents for motorcycle travel and breakdown insurance. Having a link from a government site would be gold dust – we can but try.

SEM Rush found 288 searchers went to MCi Tours site looking for `Motorcycle breakdown insurance.’ Interesting, as it isn’t a core part of the business, but it shows a healthy demand in the market. The fact is many UK insurers do NOT recover your motorcycle from across the English Channel – there’s an opportunity here.

We made a tweak to the site and put `Travel Insurance’ in as a H2 sub-heading and flagged it on the home page separately. MCi Tours didn’t want to commit to a full social media campaign, building Facebook conetent and a fan base of Twitter followers, but they did send a customer database email out announcing their presence at the UK bike show and the FSA-authorised travel insurance.

The result was seven holiday bookings prior to the show, whereas the previous best was two bookings in early November.

SEO works. Good news. The better news for me is that MCi Tours have retained North Point for a six week social media campaign, with live blogging, video clips from the show, posted on a new MCi wordpress blog, also on You Tube. Plus we are building a base of Twitter and Facebook followers running up to the show which opens on the 27th November – see you all there!

THE FUTURE IS MOBILE

One of the things that emerged from TruManchester was that mobile recruitment is growing fast. According to Jobsite UK it still only accounts for around 6% of all traffic, but mobile use was up 390% from Jan 2009 – April 2010. ( source; Jobsite Whitepaper ).

What does it mean in broader terms?

Social media is time consuming, so in the near future, when perhaps 50% of mobile phone users are comfortable using Smartphone browsing, stripped down, graphics heavy interfaces will become the norm. Time spent magnifying screens to tap in passwords painfully slowly, or enter a whole stack of personal data won’t be popular. Smartphone software developers are going to have create social network tools that can be used quickly, easily and intuitively.

Humans are lazy, we like the familiar. Those who insist on bombarding their Facebook `likers’ with spam updates that don’t prompt any conversation, any meaningful interaction, will fall by the wayside. Those companies who already infest Twitter with irritating 140 character PR messages, repeated twice a day and autopost replies to followers just don’t get it. You can’t automate every conversation, people are different, even if they want the same things.

The companies that develop QR code digital `fingerprints,’ which a user can access as their default gateway to the company, a kind of Polaroid snapshot `app,’ will find more business heading their way.

Mobile apps that shortcut the time involved in searching for insurance, jobs via LinkedIn, or buying gig tickets on Facebook, will make small fortunes for those who do it right, and lose large fortunes for those who back the wrong horses. Software which tracks people’s eye/mouse movements and detects their body language via webcams has incredible potential. Where our attention goes, our money follows…

Companies who use social media stripped to its essentials, the basics of human communication will always find a market. If you sell your Facebook Farmville crops to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant and get paid in real money off vouchers, people will buy into that. It is human nature.

SMALL BUSINESS, BIG VALUES

`Brands must be useful and confer status on the user.’

Robin Wight again. It takes an adman to sum up the psychology of why we buy.

So small businesses; there are 500 million people on Facebook, find your `tribe’ within that global nation. Some 300,000 new users open a Twitter account each day, joining 105m already on the network and there are 600m Twitter searches by trend, name or topic each day. Mine that gold dust, it is worth digging deep for it. Social media allows you to set your own algorithms; location, interests, age, occupation, circle of friends, Facebook apps used etc. People buy from people, so show a human face to your company. Be a friend first, a salesperson second.

Do you sell to the trade only, not the public? Use LinkedIn.

Mark Williams, known as @Mr_LinkedIn on Twitter recently noted that this network has probably halved the amount of B2B PR and trade shows that anyone does in the UK. You can join relevant discussion groups and announce conferences, webinars, invite potential buyers to look at your new product video on Vimeo or You Tube. You control it, it’s your online business media – not a big publisher’s trade show or magazine.

If you want to start a conversation, that leads to conversion. Go social.

Alastair Walker

North Point