[AMA] SEO and Digital Marketing in 2016

[JDawg]

Hey @JDawg, thanks for taking the time to host this AMA, we appreciate you sharing your wisdom on SEO with us.

I wanted to ask the basic, how much do you think SEO has changed from the old methods of "backlinking, on-page/off-page, social media links, link juice, Page Rank" etc terms we used to hear, do any of the old tactics (I'm talking like 2014 and before) have any strength in todays time, and in your view what are the 3 key ingredients to ranking keywords and websites in the modern age?

Long question, but I think this should help clear up a lot of general questions that you may get about SEO.

Absolutely, a great question to start things off!

I'll begin by answering your second question:

3 Key Ingredients to Ranking:

1) Quality Content
Content, content, content. I cannot stress this enough. Great content is in my opinion the most important ranking factor for a website. Now by great content, I do not mean "stuffing" as many keywords as possible onto a given page. I'm talking about quality content. Google's algorithms are becoming much more sophisticated, and they can determine whether or not a website's content comes across as spammy. A good example of this is as follows:

Two contracting businesses are trying to compete for the keyword "Siding" specifically targeting the Portland, Oregon area.

Contractor #1 has the following content on their website:

"Lifetime Exteriors is a local Portland siding contractor, and Portland siding company, that also specializes in LP (Louisiana Pacific) siding replacement, synthetic Stucco EIFS siding and DRYVIT siding removal and replacement, siding, roofing, decking, water damage restoration, and construction defect repair with comprehensive training in protecting the exterior envelope here in Portland, Oregon. As a specialty Portland Or, siding contractor and Portland windows company, we include our premium weatherization package that entails a special customized water membrane flashing system from moisture barrier to windows, doors, corners, along with the sealing and caulking of all framework."

*Notice how many times this company repeats the same keyword repetitively! It definitely doesn't read or flow well to a user.

In Contrast here is Contractor #2:

"If you need siding, windows or new doors for your home, you’ve come to the right place. Northwest Siding and Windows is based in Sherwood and services all of Northwest Oregon and the Portland Metropolitan area."

*This contractor incorporated all of the targeted keywords, but did so in a way that reads and flows well. The website obviously had much more content on their webpage, but hopefully this gives you an idea of how to incorporate keywords and still sound natural.

Which contractor ranks higher on Google? ...You guessed it. Contractor #2. In fact, they rank #1 for several keywords. Contractor #2 is found on the second page.

Optimizing content to include your keywords, yet flow naturally is huge. Another ranking factor regarding content is posting new and fresh content to your website on a regular basis. Google, among other search engines love new content. This is why you may see that many websites have a blog - so that new content is posted regularly. This fresh content also gives you more opportunities to rank for new keywords (if you optimize your blog post to include them).

One last thing about content - It has been proven that often times longer articles/content rank better than shorter ones. Quality still trumps quantity when it comes to content/articles, but at the same time if you can produce long, quality articles, then that is gold. 300-500 words is a great place to start when it comes to articles, but you'll notice that the articles that rank the best on Google (pick your topic) tend to be fairly in-depth (around 3000 words).

This also applies to website content & not just a blog. A big mistake that I notice with websites is the lack of content on the home page. If you want your homepage to rank on Google, then quality content is a huge factor.

2) Links

Are are two seperate catagorazations of links: Backlinks & Internal Links

#1 - Backlinks

This is still a significant ranking factor in 2016. However, gone are the days that low-quality and crappy backlinks take your website to the first page of Google. In fact, having bad links pointing to your website will often times result in a penalty. So just like content, quality backlinks are extremely important. It is better to have 2 or 3 solid backlinks coming from authoritative & legitimate websites than 1000 backlinks that come from spammy websites that could include forums, low-quality blogs, and potentially dangerous websites.

A solid backlink goes a long way. If a highly respected and authoritative business links to your website, then it tells Google that you are also respected and in turn improves your ranking on Google. In the same regards, you want to make sure that you are only linking out to credible websites.

#2 - Internal Linking

Internal linking is something that is often overlooked in SEO. Creating a solid internal linking structure will go a long way for a website. This means a few things:

- Making sure that you have a site map on your website. This allows search engines to crawl and index the pages of your website (so they show up on Google, etc.)
- Easy navigation flow. Users should be able to access pages on your website easily by adding links to guide them to the next page.
- Linking in-text keywords to their respective page. This is ultimately sharing "link juice" between your pages. Most of the time, your home page will hold the most authority. So if you put a link on your home page that takes a user to your "services" page. Then the services page in turn gains more authority or "link juice" from home page. A good example of this can be found in my original illustration:

"Lifetime Exteriors is a local Portland siding contractor" is found on the homepage of a website - the underlined portion of this text would be a link to the siding page (or services page). This shows search engines that this keyword "portland siding contractor" is pointing to the siding page. This in turn will help the siding page rank for the keyword. You definitely don't want to link every possible keyword on your website, but strategically linking internal content will go a long ways.

3) Authority

Website authority in my opinion would be a third factor in ranking online. Authority is determined in a few ways:

- Quality Backlinks
- Age of website/domain
- Social Media presence
- Amount of traffic

Now, can you rank with a brand new website with no social media follows? Yes you can. But it is much more difficult. Google and other search engines favor established websites that have a strong social media following. This is why it is important to engage on social media platforms, as it is an authority ranking factor on Google and other search engines.

There are several other factors that help with ranking, but these are in my opinion the three most important.

 

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[JDawg]

I learned the art of SEO for the first time over 10 years ago. Since then, I have spent significant time as a freelancer, and currently work for a local Digital Marketing Agency.

While there is an abundance of information on importing/starting a business, I have not come across much about SEO and Digital Marketing. Successful Search Engine Optimization is an excellent way to organically build your business presence & traffic online.

SEO and Digital Marketing strategies are always evolving and changing as search engines (Such as Google) change their algorithms, so I wanted to focus on what is specifically working right now in 2016.

I wanted to start this thread to give you all an opportunity to ask any questions you may have regarding SEO and Digital Marketing. I look forward to hearing from you all!

- Jdawg

 

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[JDawg]

@beatgoezon

how much do you think SEO has changed from the old methods of "backlinking, on-page/off-page, social media links, link juice, Page Rank" etc terms we used to hear, do any of the old tactics (I'm talking like 2014 and before) have any strength in todays time

Another great question! To answer this: I’ll go through each of the terms that you mentioned and show how I've seen the tactics change in the past few years:

Backlinking

Backlinking used to be all about quantity. Just a few years back, you could write up one article, spin it (create 1000s of variations of the same article), and have it posted all across the web. This would generate thousands of backlinks and push your website to the top page of Google.

This has since changed, as google cracks down on spam backlinks. If you use these methods, your website will not improve ranking, in fact, it will most likely be penalized by Google and drop in ranking.

Now, backlinks are still a very strong ranking factor for a website. You just need to do it the right way. It’s the simple idea of Quality > Quantity. Backlinks are great if they are coming from a great website.

Backlinking can be tough, but here are a few ways to build solid backlinks that can improve your search ranking:

-If you have an e-commerce website, then send samples to relevant, high-ranking review sites or blogs. There are so many options to pursue here.

-Offer to guest blog on other high-ranking websites. Most of the time, if you have great content to offer, a website is more than happy to allow you to link back to your website.

-Reach out to customers or places that have used/or currently use your product/service (If they have a website) and ask for a review or ask to exchange links. This really depends on what type of website or business you run. For example: If you sell workout equipment to gyms, ask a gym that uses your equipment if they would be interested in exchanging links. This looks natural and helps out both websites.

On-Page SEO

This is still a very relevant tactic for ranking online. There are dozens of ways to optimize your on-page SEO, and while most hold little weight on their own, the accumulation of optimizing each and every area of your website will go a long way. Here are a few areas of on-page SEO:

- Content
- Keywords
- Meta Titles/Descriptions (Meta keywords and descriptions do not impact your search rankings. Meta titles do impact search rankings, and although it does not impact rankings - writing good meta descriptions will help improve your organic click-through rate)
- Header Tags/Titles
- URL Slug/Structure
- Schema Markup
- Internal Linking Structure
- Blog Posts
- Website Speed
- Text/HTML Ratio
- Social Media Integration
- Image ALT Tags
- Sitemap
- Mobile Responsive Website

From my experience, these are the most significant on-page SEO ranking factors as of 2016.

Social Media Links

Social Media plays a role in ranking. It's used as a measure of website authority to search engines. Ranking factors include: Amount of followers, engagement, reviews, etc.

However, posting your website link or blog post link on a social media account will not help with ranking on Google. That link can help drive traffic to your website, but ultimately it is not considered a backlink.

Link Juice

"Link juice" is still very much a thing. Getting high-authority websites to link to your website is considered "link juice", as is linking content within your website. For those who don't know - "link juice" is essentially the idea of passing authority from one website or webpage to another through the means of a clickable link.

A few years ago, just about every website that linked to you would in turn give you "link juice". Today, only legitimate and authoritative websites give your website "link juice" - and this depends on how authoritative that website is. At the end of the day, the concept still exists.

Page Rank

Google Page rank used to be a way that Google determined the relevance or authority of a website. It was a scale between 0 - 9, with 9 being the most relevant. For instance, Google and Yahoo had a page rank of 9 & Bing had a page rank of 8. While your average website had a rank of around 0-3.

Today, however, Page rank no longer exists. For quite some time now, Google has decided to not update the Page Rank system. So, you can still find pre-existing Page Ranks for older websites, but they are meaningless. It does not effect your ranking, as it is an outdated system.


Hopefully this gives you a basic idea of the differences between a few major SEO tactics. If anyone has questions regarding specific areas of these tactics, ask away!

 

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[JDawg]

@JDawg , you work in a Digital marketing agency so you know how they work, delegate, structure processes etc. I know this is a big thing to ask but, can you briefly explain how it works ?

I'm most interested in the creative work is created and distributed, and what kind of employees are doing it, who's doing copy, who's doing blog content, who's choosing ad images, is there a guy just for design stuff, if there's one guy doing everything for 1 company or if the work is distributed by task.
Are/is these/this person also in charge of the Ad accounts (FB ads for instance), if not, how are they getting feedback to improve/pivot/change what they are making.

I'm asking this because as a small business owner that wants to scale, to scale fast and effectively I will need people working on this handson full time, and even tho at a lower "scale", I think understanding how it works inside a DM company will be of great benefit (to me, and to everyone else looking to hire out parts of the Marketing process).

Thanks in advance!

Sure! This should give you a basic understand of how roles are delegated:

SEO Manager (Myself) - Manages the overall campaign, sets SEO goals and expectations, and creates a gameplan for achieving those goals for a client. In charge of researching potential clients, creating keyword lists, etc. Generally the main contact for each client as well. Although I wear a lot of other hats as well.

SEO Specialist - Does the majority of the work to achieve those SEO goals for each client. As an SEO manager, I share a lot of this workload as well.

Paid Advertising Specialist - Runs PPC campaigns for clients. Also reports and adjusts a given campaign.

Social Media - Manages all social media accounts/ paid advertising on those social media accounts.

Content Writers - Do copywriting, blog posts, or anything content related

Salesman - Gets us the leads & clients!

Web Designer/Coder - Builds custom websites for clients

Although we have specific positions, there is quite a bit of overlap on the jobs/roles that we have. For instance - a content writer writes a blog post, then I will optimize that for specific keywords, etc. So there is quite a bit of collaboration in a successful SEO & digital marketing campaign.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Not to steal your thread but here's a post (quite recent) that has the mother of all SEO ranking factors, at least, potential factors.

http://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors

 

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[JDawg]

*Social Bookmarking
*Press Release
*RSS
*Blog Commenting

Do you think those strategy still works in 2016?

If not, then there must be a new strategy.. What is it?
If yes, why do you think so?

To be completely blunt & honest, none of the mentioned strategies are currently effective for SEO. Some can be beneficial in their own ways, but if we are talking about ranking your website on a search engine, then these are not the strategies you want to use.

Social Bookmarking - Using websites like Redit to direct traffic to your website do not directly effect your ranking. At best, they give you an extra boost of traffic, although that traffic comes with a bounce rate of 90%+. This means that the extra traffic is essentially just raising your bounce rate significant without much of a return.

Press Release - Unless you've found a cure for cancer, press releases tend to be very insignificant. It can be effective to promote awareness and gain traffic if what you have to release is game-changing, but it's something that I completely avoid & I know other marketers do as well.

RSS - This has no impact on ranking whatsoever. The only time I suggest using RSS is if you update your website content on a daily basis. An RSS feed allows Google to index your new content in seconds. This is definitely an advantage to get new content crawled immediately, but doesn't help with ranking.

Blog Commenting - I would avoid this. Blog commenting is regarded as spam if you are trying to link back to your website. There is software out there that posts these comments for you - do not use them. These links are generally no-follow (meaning they don't give you "link juice"), or they hurt your website's credibility.

I hate to be so blunt, but these simply don't work like they used to.

As far as tactics that do work in 2016, check out my earlier posts! And let me know if you have any other questions.

 

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[JDawg]

Happy to hear that the fundamentals of a good ol' fashioned, honest and quality focused business will flourish -- while spammers get nothing.

Exactly! Just as it should be.

If you were only to use 5 link building techniques that you know..
What would it be?

It ultimately depends on the type of website. An e-commerce website is going to go about building backlinks differently than a wedding planner. So I change my strategy to fit with the particular business. But in general, here are some techniques that have worked for me:

1) Link Exchange - This is a great way to build links, but you have to do it the right way. So many people are doing the "mass e-mail" approach by sending a link request e-mail to thousands of unrated websites. Even if you end up exchanging links, these tend to be sub-par links that may even hurt your website credibility. This can be incredible if your business is partnered with another business, or you sell products to another store, etc. I mentioned a bit more about this in a previous post:

-Reach out to customers or places that have used/or currently use your product/service (If they have a website) and ask for a review or ask to exchange links. This really depends on what type of website or business you run. For example: If you sell workout equipment to gyms, ask a gym that uses your equipment if they would be interested in exchanging links. This looks natural and helps out both websites.

2) Product Review

-If you have an e-commerce website, then send samples to relevant, high-ranking review sites or blogs. There are so many options to pursue here.

3) Guest Blogging

-Offer to guest blog on other high-ranking websites. Most of the time, if you have great content to offer, a website is more than happy to allow you to link back to your website

4) Directory Listings - If you have a local business, then this is a great technique. By listing your business details (Address, phone number, website, etc.) on 100s of online directories, you create credibility in your local area. As long as the information is consistent among the directory listings, you can help improve ranking on Google Maps and Google Local packs. Here is a great resource that lists the "top 50" directory or citation websites in each country: https://www.whitespark.ca/top-local-citation-sources-by-country

5) Create Amazing Content - This one is a given. If you create awesome content, then you will start to get links organically. This is why so many websites have blogs these days. It actually works.

 

[beatgoezon]

Hey @JDawg, thanks for taking the time to host this AMA, we appreciate you sharing your wisdom on SEO with us.

I wanted to ask the basic, how much do you think SEO has changed from the old methods of "backlinking, on-page/off-page, social media links, link juice, Page Rank" etc terms we used to hear, do any of the old tactics (I'm talking like 2014 and before) have any strength in todays time, and in your view what are the 3 key ingredients to ranking keywords and websites in the modern age?

Long question, but I think this should help clear up a lot of general questions that you may get about SEO.

 

[Daniel A]

I'm a college student majoring in business (marketing concentration) and I'd love to get an internship and/or job at a local digital marketing agency (slow lane, I know).

The responsibility I'd prefer would be managing paid advertising campaigns (Google AdWords, Bing / Yahoo Ads, Facebook Ads, etc). So junior media buyer?

There are certifications offered by the previously mentioned companies and a few others that I plan to get this year (which I hope would help me). Plus I'd learn more about each platform which is what counts.

What would your advice be for me and someone like me? A person wanting to get a job at a digital marketing agency, specifically as a junior media buyer.

Thank you!

edit: Re-reading that it's like a 'duh' answer to my question, haha. But I just want an 'INSIDERS' perspective on what would help me out with that.

 

[Phones]

@JDawg , you work in a Digital marketing agency so you know how they work, delegate, structure processes etc. I know this is a big thing to ask but, can you briefly explain how it works ?

I'm most interested in the creative work is created and distributed, and what kind of employees are doing it, who's doing copy, who's doing blog content, who's choosing ad images, is there a guy just for design stuff, if there's one guy doing everything for 1 company or if the work is distributed by task.
Are/is these/this person also in charge of the Ad accounts (FB ads for instance), if not, how are they getting feedback to improve/pivot/change what they are making.

I'm asking this because as a small business owner that wants to scale, to scale fast and effectively I will need people working on this handson full time, and even tho at a lower "scale", I think understanding how it works inside a DM company will be of great benefit (to me, and to everyone else looking to hire out parts of the Marketing process).

Thanks in advance!

 

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[JasonR]

Can you give us some credentials?

How many sales you have driven using SEO?

What do you do, exactly for your company in terms of digital marketing and SEO?

Can you back your claims up of being an expert in this field?

 

[devine]

Most of the info in this thread is outdated, as well as anything you find on the other barren internet marketing forums.

SEO can be a supplemental (long term) strategy, to your existing marketing efforts. Relying on it as your bread and butter, however, is a fools game. Over the past 3 years, Google has effectively squeezed out SEOs, and allowed old money to make its way online.

source: I've played the SEO game since black hat, through the SMB service era.

It's no longer "Internet Marketing"

It's "Marketing"

Always was.
Idiots fell for cheap tricks and have no businesses now, because while they were F*cking around with tricks and shortcuts, others were building serious businesses.

 

[Andy Black]

@ApparentHorizon

I understand what you are implying. I will get more into social media and "secondary search engines". Ill try to kind of reverse engineer from where the users are, and try to bring them back to my site.

I'd also like to thank everybody who has replied on this thread. Im new to this forum, and really appreciate how people are ready to help, jump-in and give advice. Thanks all.

Try thinking about it differently.

Instead of going where "users" are and trying to get them to your site, what if you didn't call them users but saw them as people you want to help?

How would you get in front of them?

How would you help them?

Would you help them better by linking back to your site, or by helping them where they are?

Which of these two ways of helping do you think would result in more people visiting your site?

Which way of thinking would Google want to reward with more eyeballs, and which would they want to punish?


You may want to read/listen to these:

• The bolded links in my signature.
• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/clarity-of-purpose.63337
• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/andytalks-with-tedm-about-blogging-authority-services-sitting-on-gold.69999

 

[DoctorNotADoctor]

@Andy Black

I get where you are coming from. Treat people as people, and not as "pageviews/visitors/clicks". I can understand how thinking along those lines would result in me being able to deliver better content, which would actually help people.

My purpose for creating the website was to help people, but the more and more I researched, the deeper I went into the rabbit hole of SEO, and my view point started shifting.

I am going through the links you have posted and realize that I need to recalibrate my mindset. Thanks for the push in that direction.

 

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[JDawg]

I'm a college student majoring in business (marketing concentration) and I'd love to get an internship and/or job at a local digital marketing agency (slow lane, I know).

The responsibility I'd prefer would be managing paid advertising campaigns (Google AdWords, Bing / Yahoo Ads, Facebook Ads, etc). So junior media buyer?

There are certifications offered by the previously mentioned companies and a few others that I plan to get this year (which I hope would help me). Plus I'd learn more about each platform which is what counts.

What would your advice be for me and someone like me? A person wanting to get a job at a digital marketing agency, specifically as a junior media buyer.

Thank you!

edit: Re-reading that it's like a 'duh' answer to my question, haha. But I just want an 'INSIDERS' perspective on what would help me out with that.

That's awesome! I think you'll really enjoy the job as well. It can be tough at times, but I enjoy the challenge.

Certifications are great. Personally, I've only gone through the Google Analytics Certification process. They do give you a bit credibility, but they wouldn't necessarily guarantee you a job. They aren't extremely tough to pass, and just about anyone can do it.

That being said, you are at a perfect age for a digital marketing job. All five full-time employees were hired right out of college or very soon after (besides myself - I was hired out of highschool). Digital marketing agencies are looking for young talent who can bring fresh ideas & excitement to the table.

Being aggressive can also help land you the job you want. I would suggest looking up the local digital marketing agencies in your area, and simply walk in the door (or give them a call). Find someone in charge and introduce yourself. Tell them that you are going to graduate in X amount of time and are looking to pursue a job in digital marketing after you graduate. This will give you a great opportunity to get a job or an internship, as you are personally connecting with your potential employers. A guy walked into our office 3 months before he was graduating, and my boss really liked the guy. He was hired immediately after he graduated. (He also got offers from several other agencies that he talk with, so it definitely works)

I cannot give advice specifically for Paid Advertising, as this is not my specialty, but I think the above advice would apply to any facet of digital marketing. Learn as much as you can, get your feet wet with some of your own projects, and be aggressive! You'll get that job for sure.

 

[JDawg]

Fair question. I'll try to answer these as best as possible:

Can you give us some credentials?

- As I mentioned in the original post, I have been studying SEO for over 10 years now.

- I have worked for 2 different digital marketing agencies over the past 4 years. The years in-between I worked free lance jobs from time to time while also juggling school.

* I have a lot of experience and knowledge in the field of SEO, but I do not have a college degree.

How many sales you have driven using SEO?

In SEO, sales (or profit) it not just determined by selling a physical product on an e-commerce store. It depends on the particular business. For instance, a general contractor wants to generate more leads from their website, a dentist is looking to draw in more patients, and a event planner is looking to do more event planning. My agency deals with almost all local companies, so we are looking to drive more customers and/or "sales" to their business.

That being said, I can give several examples of clients that have seen exponential growth through my SEO efforts.

While I cannot share specific client details on this forum for obvious reasons, I can still give the results. The most recent client that comes to mind is a general contractor. He came to us soon after he started his business. He was getting all his leads through referrals, and was losing profit in each and every job. We built him a brand new custom website and started an SEO campaign from scratch in a competitive local market.

- Within 3 months several high-competition keywords were ranking on the first page of Google.

- Organic traffic is growing month after month, which is directly impacting the amount of leads.

- Now 6 months into his campaign, he has been able to completely rely on website leads, and his business is growing each and every month.

I can give more specific case studies or results if need be. And if you are looking for more concrete evidence, feel free to PM me.

What do you do, exactly for your company in terms of digital marketing and SEO?

As I mentioned in a previous post, my "job title" is an SEO Manager. I evaluate a client's current website (if they have one), and create a plan & goals to achieve their desired results. Track progress, evaluate, and adjust those plans as need be. I manage the overall project and help create expectations for our clients. My expertise is in on-page and off-page SEO, although I am very knowledgeable with all other areas of Digital Marketing.

What I do specifically in SEO:
- Manage Campaigns/Other Employees
- On-page SEO - Optimize content for keywords, optimize meta data, page titles, url slugs, create internal linking structures, optimize code, and so on.
- Off-page SEO - Build backlinks, build directories & citations.

My job does not require me to do the following:
- Paid Advertising
- Content Writing
- Social Media

Although I have proficient knowledge in each, these are not a part of my day job.

Can you back your claims up of being an expert in this field?

I am younger than everyone else in the office, yet I manage and oversee all other employees (besides our CEO) and our campaigns. I have a key to our office and train new employees. I didn't just have this handed to me. I earned my way to that position by demonstrating that I could deliver results and keep clients happy. In the year that I have worked for my current agency, only 1 client (out of roughly 20 new clients that I managed) that started their SEO campaign while I was an employee have canceled. This wasn't the case with the previous SEO Manager. Clients were canceling left and right.


I hope this gives you a better understand of what I do, and the success the experience that I have in the field of SEO.

 

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[Carnage]

Thanks for the write ups

 

[Genester]

I have a question. With your expertise and SEO knowledge, why the hell are you working for an agency and not picking up your own clients? No disrespect man, but there's no limit to how much you can earn with your own clients and doing your own thing, that's not the case working for some agency...

Also, any tips on finding some good commission based SEO sales guys? lol.

 

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[JDawg]

I have a question. With your expertise and SEO knowledge, why the hell are you working for an agency and not picking up your own clients? No disrespect man, but there's no limit to how much you can earn with your own clients and doing your own thing, that's not the case working for some agency...

While I may not be making as much money working for an agency, I'm doing it for the experience.

I worked as a freelancer for quite some time, but struggled to obtain new clients and grow as a business.

I've never pursued doing SEO full-time on my own because 1) I honestly didn't know how to grow as a business, and 2) I don't particularly like working in SEO.

However, I took the job at an agency to learn and grow from the owner. He hired me knowing that I would only be there for 2 years, and has taken every opportunity to mentor me personally.

What I've learned has been invaluable. Whether I do end up starting my own agency after college, or pursuing other business ventures, I've learned first hand from another businessman what it takes to be successful.

Also, any tips on finding some good commission based SEO sales guys? lol.

We currently only have one salesman right now, and he makes an hourly wage (close to minimum wage) + commission on every sale he makes.

I know this was the case for previous salesmen as well. My boss hires almost all of his employees right out of a nearby college who graduate with a digital technology or marketing degree, and they all have been fantastic.

 

[whitworldwide]

Oh, I also hope you don;t mind me asking...

Your SEO company, what is the pricing structure? Do you charge a one-off fee, or do you charge a recurring fee every month ongoing (on the proviso the clients keywords rank well)?

Like others have said, I think you would 'kill it' if you started solo (once you started reeling in those clients)

 

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[JDawg]

Is marketing my thing then?

This is a question you need to answer for yourself. You may love it, you may not. You may be great at it, you may not. But you won't know until you give it a shot. Experiment, work on some of your own projects, and I think you'll have a good idea if it's something that you want to do.

Everybody around me (for example parents) are telling me that it's a horrible idea, because there's way more marketing guys than jobs for them. I know it doesn't mean that much, because I can be better than all of them if I commit to it. What would you tell those people if you were in my place?

There is definitely a need for good marketers. But it's the same with all fields of work - if you set yourself a part from everyone else, you'll get a good job. Work hard, always be learning, and be aggressive. If you want a job at a marketing agency, find some local agencies, find a time to meet, and tell them you will be graduating in X amount of time and you are looking for a job when you graduate. This is what one of my co-workers did, and he had offers from just about every local agency. The worst you can get is a "no".

The thing is, my main goal is not to work in a company, but to use all the knowledge to help developing my own.

I've learned so much working for an agency - what works & what doesn't, mistakes and failures, and a boss that has mentored me. I took the job with the intent to only stay for 2 years in order to experience and learn first hand from a successful businessman.

Regardless if I start a marketing agency of my own or pursue other business ventures, the experience of my marketing job has been invaluable.

So if you are thinking about pursuing marketing, working for an agency for a short period of time before starting your own company may help you in the long-run.

 

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[JDawg]

Not to steal your thread but here's a post (quite recent) that has the mother of all SEO ranking factors, at least, potential factors.

http://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors

Awesome stuff! That's definitely a great resource for SEO ranking factors. Backlinko.com is chock-full of relevant & resourceful information on SEO and digital marketing.

Another article they just published on SEO that is worth a read - "We Analyzed 1 Million Google Search Results. Here’s What We Learned About SEO":

http://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking

 

[DiFerro]

Excellent AMA. Digital Marketing, now you're talking my language . This is probably one of the most important AMA's someone with no seo experience can read because it's essential to your digital success.

Questions:

1). For those of us who don't follow the seo bible, I know it's simple to just type in "Google Algorithm Update". But is there a website you go to in order to get the latest news with Googles algorithm updates? It seems Google doesn't flat-out create a blog post saying "We updated today!". Do they post these type of updates on their twitter account? For example when I typed in "Google Algorithm Update" in Google, I found this article: http://searchengineland.com/google-...ing-algorithm-update-this-past-weekend-240067. So I didn't see any "google" site listed on the first page talking about any recent updates. Maybe I don't understand the logic behind this? I'm also on Google.ca website.

2). In regards to "Mobile SEO". I know most variables you listed apply to "Mobile SEO", but I know things like having a responsive website is crucial in the way your website is found via the Google mobile search. Any other variables you would say factor in for Mobile SEO apart from having a responsive website?

3). "Organic Traffic" is all good since it's quality and most importantly free! But are there any other techniques, methods you personally use to drive traffic to one of your properties without using Google AdWords, Facebook Ads or paying substantially for web/mobile traffic? Doing a guest post on a blog site is something most of us don't have the luxury to do since we have no "in" to these authoritative websites, and sites that offer guest blogging don't add a "do-follow" tag to your site. If they do, they quickly remove it from my experience. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated, without compromising your secret sauce .

4). Have you tried Google's Double Click? If so, do you find that it's only suitable for large enterprises due to the cost of using their DC? If your agency does us DC, does the agency see a real benefit to use this for their clients (even if the clients are small time) compared to using it for brands?

Thanks Jdawg. Not looking for a response right away so no rush on my end, whenever you have some spare time and it's convenient for you.

Hi @Georgy - I realize that your comment is 5 months old but I just recently read MFL and registered to FLF and since I came across it today, I thought I could shed some light on most of your questions.


1. There was a time looking for Google updates wasn't easy but just use the search term "algorithm updates" as a good starting point. Unfortunately, most sites list confirmed releases and if Google mentioned an upcoming release, it most likely won't be listed until it goes live. That being said, here are my go-to pages (BTW, I mostly use Google.ca too):

• MOZ Change History
• Search Engine Land Change History
• Search Engine Roundtable Google Updates
• Rank Ranger Algorithm Updates

Here are a few other sites to help keep on eye on changes:

• Google Webmaster Central - They don't post about every update but their posts are clear signals of what they expect from a best practice perspective
• Algoroo - A great tool to keep track of negative and positive SERP (search engine result page) movement (Google.com & .com.au)
• MozCast - Similar to Algoroo (Google.com)

Beyond that, its about testing, failing and trying again and again and again to see what works. There are some standard best practices but each industry and website has their own levers.

2. This is probably the most significant change coming. Google just announced on Oct 13/16 at Pubcon 2016, that in the coming months, they're going to split their index into mobile and desktop. Mobile will be the primary index with more frequent updates, whereas desktop will be secondary with less updates. Plus, on Jan 10/17 any inaccessible content from the transition of a mobile search results to a mobile page may not rank well. I loath self-promotion but I did a whole write-up about it here. Also, responsive is good but it's only the start. Ensure the following too:

• Load time - aka speed, huge factor!
• Content - don't hide it. Content is a clear signal about your website
• Structured Data - helps SEs understand your content better
• Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) - an open source initiative that prevents reading on mobile to be slow and frustrating

3. I will start by answering this with a small caveat, my realm of expertise lies within search marketing, specifically organic (primarily) & paid. I can list a few that I think are still valid (some obvious) but would hope others can chime in and add to the list, provide further insight or call it BS. I also think it all depends on your goal(s). Are you trying to build a brand? Make a quick buck and then get out quickly? Either way, here’s a start:

• Affiliate Marketing - get others to drive traffic and revenue. Not for everyone and not easy but half of something is better than a whole lot of nothing.
• Referral Program – leverage existing customers and incentivize them to share, review, or promote your product/service via their channels.
• Participate – build your authority and join relevant discussions within your niche; social, forums, blogs, etc. Sites like Quora, Reddit (even create subreddits). Don’t promote but help others.
• Content Aggregators – capitalize on sites with traffic to drive to your sweat-filled-mind-blowing-unique-1200-word-conversion-centric content. Don’t spam and provide useful information.
• Host Webinars – Again, this is about building your authority and trust. Peeps love to learn and trust those willing to share.
• Partnerships – Join forces with a complementary product/service and leverage each others traffic, customers and skills. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

4. DoubleClick, Kenshoo, Marin along with a few others are all in the same league in that they’re only beneficial if you’re spending hundreds of thousands monthly across multiple (lots) accounts or one big fish. That being said, I’ve worked with two major Canadian retailers with seven figure yearly budgets and we found it hard at times to justify the cost. Plus, working directly within Adwords or Bing Ads gets you access to tools sooner rather than wait months with some these companies. I’ve also used WordStream to help manage lots of smaller accounts and works well. But almost nothing beats working with the primary tools directly.

Hope I was able to shed some light and if you have any other questions, let me know.

Cheers!

 

[devine]

Sites with thin( with not so high quality content) still rank high in Google search results. I have seen a lot of coupon sites and gift stores ranking high in the search engines, even though content might be thin on their pages. What kind of SEO techniques go behind ranking such sites?

Also, do traditional ways like leaving blog comments work for such thin sites?

In 2016, relevancy is the only factor. All other factors just show Google how relevant the content is.

It doesn't matter if your content is 500 words long or 1500 words long, top quality 500-word-long article with high relevancy will slay any 1500-word-long article on any day. If your content is 150 words long and it's more relevant than anything else - it will rank #1.
If it has no images, but still has the highest relevancy score, it will outperform any image-rich article.

Leaving comments doesn't work. Neither link building in general is nearly as beneficial as it used to be.
Just create relevant content.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Most of the info in this thread is outdated, as well as anything you find on the other barren internet marketing forums.

SEO can be a supplemental (long term) strategy, to your existing marketing efforts. Relying on it as your bread and butter, however, is a fools game. Over the past 3 years, Google has effectively squeezed out SEOs, and allowed old money to make its way online.

source: I've played the SEO game since black hat, through the SMB service era.

It's no longer "Internet Marketing"

It's "Marketing"

 

[DoctorNotADoctor]

@ApparentHorizon

I understand what you are implying. I will get more into social media and "secondary search engines". Ill try to kind of reverse engineer from where the users are, and try to bring them back to my site.

I'd also like to thank everybody who has replied on this thread. Im new to this forum, and really appreciate how people are ready to help, jump-in and give advice. Thanks all.

 

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[Andy Black]

@Andy Black

I have briefly looked into it. I started a small Adwords campaign, which worked pretty well. In fact, I saw some keyword arbitrage opportunities. I will look into it more deeply.

Keyword arbitrage opportunities?

Uh-oh. You really are thinking of this wrong.

A keyword (search term) is what a *person* types into a search engine.

That person sat down and deliberately did that search.

What are they looking for?

Why are they looking for it?

Can you help them find it?

Can you get paid to help them find it?


That little search box they are typing into is like a letterbox into their home. You can peer through it and see a thin slice of what is happening inside.

Are they bored and looking for entertainment?

Are they upset and looking for hope?

Are they suffering and looking for a solution?



You can think of people as "clicks" and "traffic" if you want.

You can believe you're making money pushing electrons around if you want.

People make money doing that.

I just believe you can help more people if you thought of your "clicks" as "visitors", and if you're able to put yourself in their shoes.




You may want to read these threads:

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/are-you-only-buying-traffic.52527

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-biggest-landing-page-mistake.68353

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-biggest-benefit-of-adwords.52440

 

[HyperFocus]

How do you think one should use social media when building a consumer product brand?

Am anticipating your reply !

 

[edward222]

*Social Bookmarking
*Press Release
*RSS
*Blog Commenting

Do you think those strategy still works in 2016?

If not, then there must be a new strategy.. What is it?
If yes, why do you think so?

 

[ilrein]

One of the key things I got from this is that SEO is very much still a big deal, the difference is now you can't get away with low quality content/backlinks.

I imagine machine learning applied to natural language processing would be just one mechanism employed to determine content quality and congruency. Social media seems to count as backlinks as well, as another form of connection. Happy to hear that the fundamentals of a good ol' fashioned, honest and quality focused business will flourish -- while spammers get nothing.