Asset Optimization

A couple of weeks ago I attended SearchFest here in Portland. There were a ton of great sessions on search engine marketing and social media. I learned a lot over the course of the day but my favorite session was the closing keynote that I talked about in a previous post.

Wil Reynolds spoke on the difference between what Google tells us will work for search and what actually works. Unfortunately, white hat SEO tactics don't always work the best and there are a lot of black hat SEO folks that are doing quite well with their rankings.

For me the most valuable tips that Wil shared were surrounding asset building. Working in-house as the only web person I don't have nearly as much time to spend on SEO as I would like. Typically the only way I am able to spend any time on SEO is if I can fit it into my existing workflow. This makes building on existing assets very important. Following are some thoughts on Wil's presentation, combined with my own input.

Written Content

For content this typically means optimizing for keywords. Keyword research (which can be as simple as looking at search terms that are bringing traffic to your site) and organizational goals can help identify where your focus should be. Typically you won't need to rewrite all of your content, just make sure that you're using keywords appropriately in the content and within the <h> tags as appropriate.

A great additional resource can be your offline content. Do you send out printed newsletters or do you have brochures content that could be added to your site? Since the content is already written it will require a lot less effort than creating new content from scratch.

Images

• Hopefully we've all got photos and other images on our site. Make sure that your alt text is appropriate to the image and uses your target keywords whenever possible.
• Use the same principles as above in the file names of your images.
• Use the Save for Web and Devices option in Photoshop when saving your web images. Google is placing increased emphasis on site load time in their rankings so optimizing images is more important than ever.

Video

Videos can be optimized in much the same way as images. Keywords should be used in the video titles, descriptions and tags. You can also add additional search value by placing a transcript of the video on the page. This can be helpful for people who may not watch the video but it's also a great way of making the content of the video indexable by the search engines.

You're probably already uploading your videos to YouTube so the optimization discussed above will be helpful for those searching on YouTube (the second most trafficked search engine).

It would be great if we could all hire SEO consultants or spend the time to optimize ourselves but that's not a reality for many people. By capitalizing on existing opportunities and working small amounts of SEO into our workflow those with limited resources can start to see a difference in search rankings.

Ask not what your community can do for you...

Last week I attended SearchFest here in Portland. There were a ton of great sessions on search engine marketing and social media. I learned a lot over the course of the day but my favorite session was the closing keynote.

Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive in Philadelphia spoke on the difference between what Google tells us will work for search and what actually works. His final point, and the one that really stuck with me was to make a point of helping someone out every single day.

He was speaking specifically about those in your online community but this of course could apply offline as well. He gave examples of help he's received from others and benefits that come back to him when he does something to help those in his community.

There are great benefits to helping people out online. It can help strengthen your position as a community manager, it can encourage others to return the favor and it can make it clear to others that you're a good resource for the community. 

However, I don't think that any of those things were the main point to Wil's presentation. I think the main point was that we should be doing this because it's good for the overall health of the community. When we answer someone's questions or give them advice on a problem it can come back to help that individual but it echos throughout the community. Others may be looking for the same information later and it will serve to aid them as well. Other community members will also be encouraged to pitch in when they see that it's needed. Eventually the group as a whole will be stronger, more vibrant and a better experience for all involved.

This is true if it's a community of SEO professionals as Wil was talking about or if it's on your favorite local forum. I've seen it many times on forums where I've been active. Those that put the most into the discussion boards and helping others out are the ones that reap the most benefits. Those benefits can be visitors to their businesses or in connecting with like-minded people offline. 

But again, the main point isn't about the individual benefits. The best reason to help those around you is to strengthen the overall community. That will come back to help you and everyone else involved.

I'll post a follow-up about a few ways to find people that need help in the next few days.

Great roundup of tools for search and social marketers (not my list)

Last week I attended SearchFest from SEMpdx. It was an awesome day crammed full of all the search engine marketing and social media information my mind could handle. 

One of my favorite presentations of the day was from Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz. He ran through a list of 50 tools to help solve your marketing problems. He's been generous enough to post the presentation, check it out on the SEOmoz website. Check it out, you'll find a ton of great information.

Settling in to Vancouver, WA

Well, I'm getting settled in here in Vancouver, WA. Work is going well and I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on my new day job. As things settle out I've been looking for ways to get involved locally and further expand my skills. It's important to constantly be learning and growing professionally and some of the best ways to do that are to get involved with local organizations.

I'll soon be attending chamber events in Portland. It will be good to network with local businesses and hopefully help with some marketing efforts at the chamber. I have already attended a one chamber meeting and had a great time networking and meeting new people.

One of my goals at my new job is to increase the search engine optimization of our website. Although I know a fair amount about the basics of search engine optimization I have more to learn. Search engine optimization/marketing is a field that is constantly evolving and growing and it takes a lot of effort to stay on top of things. There's a search engine marketing group in Portland called SEMPDX. I look forward to becoming a member there and honing some of my SEO skills.

Finally, I'd like to start attending some Social Media Club PDX meetings. I hear that they host some great events, including a recent presentation from Bryan Rhoads of Intel.

What do you for continuing education? If you're in the Vancouver or Portland area do you have any other suggestions for me? What am I missing?