Thunder SEO

Following is our analysis of SEO / SMO highlights for this past week. For some laughs — and a legitimate checklist for sizing-up a social media agency — be sure to check out “10 Questions to Evaluate a Social Media ‘Expert’”. In addition, if you haven’t read it already, check out Wired Magazine’s compelling article, “How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web.”

Every week we research and write-up our analysis of our favorite news from the week. It helps keep us “fresh” with our knowledge, and gives us a chance to share what we find interesting. We have a good time with Thunder Booms! We hope you enjoy them too!

• 10 Questions to Evaluate a Social Media ‘Expert’
  By Monique Pouget – People are often quick to call themselves a “social media expert,” but what does this really mean, and who really qualifies as an “expert” anyway? Ian Lurie’s post “10 Questions for a Social Media ‘Expert’” is a list of questions you can ask said expert when trying to determine if they really know their social media stuff. In addition to making all of us at Thunder laugh, this post addresses some key challenges of social media marketing campaigns including understanding the confusing social media “buzz words,” measuring social media’s impact on ROI, and building a legitimate community around your business through social networks. The post also emphasizes the importance of self education through blogs and industry tools, a mantra we pursue daily here at Thunder. Use this quiz to test your favorite social media guru, and let the results speak for themselves!

• Exclusive: How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web
  By Bekka Palmer – Wired magazine takes an in depth look at the struggles and evolution of the search giant’s algorithm. This article is a real eye-opener to the problems Google faces when trying to interpret queries. As an SEO and someone who is maniacal about spelling, I never gave much thought to how search engines deal with spelling errors in search queries. Wired takes a look at not only misspelled queries, but covers how Google deals with synonyms, names and personalized search results.

• What is SEO Web Content?
  By Mike Grant – I placed some keywords in Google and found this gem by ‘Rick’ at Blog Catalog. Although short, its directness delivers. ‘Rick’ echoes my feelings about good SEO content. You can have your content keyword rich but if the content isn’t at least engaging, you’ll most certainly lose your reader, and possible business, in about ten seconds.

• The Possibilities are Endless When It Comes to the Future of Social Media Operating Systems
  By Natalie Keshlear – This week I decided to focus on Social Media, its rapidly changing function as a tool for businesses and the question of how there may need to be an easier way to view all our Social Media pages. Jon Brodkin, a writer for Network World wrote an interesting article posing the question, “Do we need a social media operating system?” He writes about a new social media start up called Pip.io that promises to keep track of Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, RSS Feed and Youtube all on one site and operating system. Pip.io ’s CEO Leo Shimizu explains in the article that “Pip.io connects developers to social resources, with a platform letting them create apps that build upon or improve social sites like Facebook and Twitter.” Pip.io is comparable to Tweetdeck and is still only in a conceptual stage at this point. The name Pip.io comes from a Latin word for Roman carrier pigeons. Shimizu explains, “The bird itself had connotations of reliability and could get to where it needed to go from being launched anywhere.” There is no way to know where the future of social media networking is headed (the possibilities are endless), but operating systems like Pip.io seem like the next step to simplifying the process for users. Let me know what you think after reading the article.

• 5 Landing Page Tips To Boost Your Conversion Rate
  By Max Thomas – Christopher Wallace gives a great 5-point run down of must-do’s for on-page conversion optimization. If “conversion optimization” is still fuzzy, think of it like this: So your website has good traffic from its current SEO and SEM campaigns; rather than get more traffic, maximize your site’s current traffic by making changes to the site itself that result in a higher ratio of calls, online form submits or purchases. In testament to the importance of making the phone and form easy to find (and use), we had a client site that increased call volume by 20% simply by truncating the online lead form to 4 lines and placing it on the left-side of the page, close to the top, on every page of the site. It’s important to make it really really easy for prospects to call or contact a business. A quick and helpful read.

Following is our short-list of highlights for this past week. Be sure to check our the SEOmoz White Board Friday video regarding the impact of social networks and search, and how this trend makes branding (yes, “branding”) more important than ever for SEO. In addition, see the link to Royal Pingdom’s recent study on the age demographics of social network users – including average age for users of Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other social media networks.

From the continued impact of Google Buzz to the “Sex and The City” guide to blogging, it’s been a great week for SEO and SMO!

• The Renewed Value of Branding in Search
  By Max Thomas – Rand Fishkin explains how having a brand impact and being an effective “branding marketer” can impact a site’s rankings in the search engines. With the rise of personalized search and social search on Google (for example), branding becomes even more significant as all of these changes in search influence what kind of results the user sees when they search. In other words, if someone searches for your brand and belongs to networks that interact with your brand, they will see more results about your brand and related companies, products, content, etc. Very monumental changes to search and seo. View to learn more.

• How to Get Social Media ROI, Part One
  By Max Thomas – Excellent overview by Brian Carter of Social Media marketing and ROI; part one in a multi-part series. Brian starts with the concept of AIDA (Attention / Interest / Desire / Action) as the starting point for any marketing campaign, and then focuses on the basics of (i) defining what the goal for the social media campaign (e.g., leads/sales, branding, customer service, etc.) and (ii) defining the necessary steps of action for the prospect or customer. He offers an easy-to-follow step-by-step break down of how to approach setting up social media campaigns. I’m looking forward to the next post in the series.

• The Sex and the City Guide to Blogging
  By Mike Grant – Last week I was introduced to a blog site that nearly sang to me. This time Julie Roads takes a piece of pop culture, Sex and The City, and creates a terrific “Guide to Blogging.” I can’t say that I’ve sat and watched each episode, as a matter of fact there have been many times I will see the show on television, stop for a moment and quickly realize it’s an episode I’d seen before — Murphy’s Law and all that. The read is light, flowing, enjoyable, and spot on in so many ways. Great way to start my day!

• SEO 101 – Part 8: Everything You Need to Know About Keywords
  By Natalie Keshlear – This article by SEO expert Stoney deGeyter gives a quick overview of keyword research and strategy, including the use and importance of keywords, how people search, the buying cycle and what can be learned about visitors from their use of different keywords.

• Recent Study Shows Largest Users of Social Media Networks are 35 to 44, and Average User Age by Network
  By Max Thomas – As social media networks grow in popularity among marketers, it’s important to know the demographics of each network. This latest study shows the dominant age groups for social media networks overall is 35-44. However, user age varies tremendously by specific network, with Linkedin having the highest average user age of 44 and Bebo the lowest at 28.4. Interestingly, at present there appears to be no dominant social media network for the 18-24 age group. Study shows overall social media trends as well as average user age by network. Modeled by Pingdom.com using data from Google Ad Planner.

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/how-to-get-social-media-roi-part-one.html

Hello Everyone! It’s that time of the week again… Thunder Booms!!!

Following is our short-list of highlights for this past week. From the launch of Google Buzz to a current list of when’s (and how’s) for Twitter hashtags, it’s been a great week for SEO and SMO insights and information.

• Top 10 Google Buzz Kills: Privacy, Noise & Clutter
  From Monique Pouget – This post by Arnold Zafra from Search Engine Journal focuses on the drawbacks, or “Buzz Kills” of Google Buzz. Google launched the “Social Sharing” platform earlier this week. Google Buzz is a blend between RSS feeds and traditional Social Networks. It’s supposed to help users start conversations by allowing them to share links, photos, and thoughts. One can subscribe or “follow” friends, contacts, & strangers’ short communications, similar to the major Social Networks Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed. In the press conference, I heard an engineer refer to Google Buzz as a “Social Destination,” which seems to sum it up pretty well. This article talks about the drawbacks to the platform, including too much noise and clutter, thoughts of Google global domination, and spam and privacy concerns. It’s a great list of the reasons Buzz still needs some work, but Google definitely took a decent swing first time to bat.

• Google Analytics Tracking Code Basics and Time Saving Plugins
  From Bekka Palmer – This article may be titled “tracking code basics” but the tactics covered in the post are far from basic. Sam Niccolls of SEOmoz.org goes over some code snippets and plugins you can use to get more complete and more compelling Google Analytics Data.

• Five Areas to Focus On for Effective SEO Copywriting
  From Mike Grant – A co-worker sent me this blog! What a wonderful find because one of my goals here at Thunder SEO is to create unique content. Brian Clark, blogger and ’successful student of SEO since 2000,’ takes a page from Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz and offers some wonderful feedback. Each of his five elements of SEO Copywriting are in-depth, with great links. One of the great parts of SEO copywriting, at least for me, is the creative side of it. Just give me a keyword!

• Top 25 SEO Tips from SEO Consult (UK)
  From Natalie Keshlear – The SEO experts at seoconsult.co.uk put together a short, easy to read list of 25 tips for Search Engine Optimization. This list is great for people who are either just starting to get involved with SEO or are not quite sure how it can help their own search rankings. I found the list to be short and to the point and I have already shared it with a few of my non-seo savvy friends. Hope you enjoy!

• How (and Why) to Use Hashtags on Twitter
  From Max Thomas – Stephanie Weingart at 10e20 provides a short, concise run-down of Twitter hashtag usage, including examples of when to use hashtags for branding, social commentary and personal expression, as well as examples of when not to use them. While not definitive (Twitter and hashtags are, after all, ever changing and evolving) it’s a handy reference list.

Hello Everyone! It’s that time of the week again… Thunder Booms!!!

Following is our short-list of highlights for this past week. From using Linked in and Facebook to generate leads in the real estate market to mining Google Analytics to track keyword rankings and referrals, it’s been a great week for SEO and SMO insights and information.

• How To Take Keyword Research To The Next Level
  From Monique Pouget – This article focuses on taking your keyword research to the next level. A lot of times, businesses focus on ranking for keywords with high demand for services they don’t provide or can’t easily rank for. At Thunder, we’re fans of the SEO long tail, so this article struck a soft spot with us. Damien Bianchi shares some great tips about fine-tuning your keyword research by looking at internal searches on your website, and comparing the organic vs. ppc or paid traffic to your website. He even illustrates these points with a nice athletic club case study about grouping your keywords to be more effective.

• Track SEO Rankings With Google Analytics
  Tracking Referrals From Second Page Of Google In Google Analytics
  From Bekka Palmer – One way to increase traffic from keywords, is to boost certain terms that are ranking on page 2 to page 1. How can you tell which terms are already driving traffic AND on page 2 all at the same time? Setup filters in Google Analytics to show which page your keywords are on the in search engines. These filters won’t tell you an exact position in the search engine, but they will be able to tell you which page they are on. Use either of these two articles to setup the filters in Google Analytics, the first one is more advanced than the second, but also provides more advanced data.

• It’s A Feeding Frenzy For Keyword-Rich Domains
  From Mike Grant – I enjoyed this recent posting by Michael C on SEOMoz.com. Michael C makes great references to the ‘black hat,’ ‘gray hat,’ and ‘white hat’ behavior behind key-word rich domains. The post is well constructed, making no prejudicial statements; you can wear whatever color hat you’d like. Michael’s blog points out the potential ‘Google’ fallout with each. What I found truly enriched is the multiple blog posts that were generated. Be sure to check them out!

• Use Linked in And Facebook To Increase Conversions – Real Estate Market
  From Natalie Keshlear – I thought this was a really interesting article focused on Social Media in the Real Estate sector. It discusses the implementation and uses of Linked in and Facebook to increase conversions. It speaks a bit about lead generation and the way to reach a lead. I found it to be really helpful in my own understanding of SEO and Social Media and it was fun to read. Hope you enjoy it!