how to run seo campaigns on a shoestring budget & still win big

Post on 26-Jan-2015

112 Views

Category:

Marketing

2 Downloads

Preview:

Click to see full reader

DESCRIPTION

I spoke at the Search London meetup today on how to convince SME clients to move-away from tired, old fashioned SEO techniques and take the plunge into Creative Content, even if they have a limited budgets. I gave examples and the process behind Content Curation, News-Jacking & Buzzfeed-style list campaigns that cost less than £100 to make but still won links from sites like HuffPost, Lifehacker. & Inc.

TRANSCRIPT

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CONTENT MARKETING:WHAT WE’RE ALL SUPPOSE TO DO

Audience & Competitor Research

Decide Key Topics & Themes

Pitch Cat-Themed Infographic

Design & Build

Signoff

Launch

Journalist Outreach

Native Advertising

???

Profit / Most Viral Thing Ever

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS - ROADBLOCKS

Audience & Competitor Research

Decide Key Topics & Themes

Pitch Cat-Themed Infographic

Design & Build

Signoff

Launch

Journalist Outreach

Social & Content Advertising

???

Profit / Most Viral Thing Ever

“Why do we need creative content?”

“How is this relevant to our brand?”

“How will Cat pictures help our rankings”

“We don’t have the budget for this”

“Make the Logo bigger, needs to be brand colors”

“How many links will this get us?”

“That’s the PR teams Job”

“Never heard of it”

???

Awesome Work! Can we try Zombies next time?

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

Running SEO Campaigns on a Shoestring Budget & Still Winning Big

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

PETE CAMPBELL/ KAIZEN

• Founder / Director• Won “Rising Star of the Year 2013”

(Travolution)• 5+ years SEO experience agency-side & in-

house• Built first website at 11 • Ran several high-traffic video gaming sites

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

MAIN COMPETITOR

CLIENT

http://www.semrush.com/ - Organic Competitor Report

CLIENT: “WHY DO WE NEED CREATIVE CONTENT?”YOUR ANSWER: “BECAUSE YOUR MAIN COMPETITOR

IS KICKING YOUR ASS WITH IT”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/

CLIENT: “WHY DO WE NEED CREATIVE CONTENT?”YOUR ANSWER: “BECAUSE YOUR MAIN COMPETITOR

IS KICKING YOUR ASS WITH IT”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CLIENT: “WHY DO WE NEED CREATIVE CONTENT?”

http://www.semrush.com/ - Domain vs Domain Report

YOUR ANSWER: “BECAUSE YOUR MAIN COMPETITOR IS KICKING YOUR ASS WITH IT”

CLIENT

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CLIENT: “WE DON’T HAVE THE BUDGET”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

4 TYPES OF CURATED CONTENT

List-iclesAKA

“Buzzfeed”

‘The Ultimate Guide to’Mindmaps

Video PlaylistsMini-

Infographicshttp://

ww.piktochart.com

1. Curate the most relevant information about a topic into one single location.

2. Add your own unique spin e.g. design, opinion, interactivity

3. Do it right and you’ll end up creating something of real added value

YOUR SOLUTION – CONTENT CURATION

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

BUILD COST: £100 OR LESS

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

https://www.choice-loans.co.uk/bitcoin/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

http://www.traveloutthere.com/books/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

http://www.twolittlefleas.co.uk/soap-stars/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

http://bit.ly/1o93bBU

DA 88 / PR6

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CONTENT RESEARCH ON THE CHEAP

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

5 SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CLIENT

Tell me about a typical customer?

What’s their age/sex/location? (lol hai! a/s/l?)

What’s their job?

What are they interested in?

What magazines & websites do they read?

Fact Finding

Tone of Voice

Net Worth

Define Initial Content Themes

Audit the Websites for Topic Ideas

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

USE THE DATA IN BUZZSUMO TO FIND MOST-SHARED / VIRAL TOPICS

http://www.buzzsumo.com/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

DETERMINE KEY TOPICS & THEMES

Product Focused

New Technology

Security

Hackers

Brand Building

Money Saving

Personal Finance

Startups

Travel

Music

Technology

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CLIENT “HOW IS THIS CONTENT RELEVANT?”YOUR ANSWER: “BECAUSE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT RELATED TOPICS THAT YOUR CUSTOMERS LOVE”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

Credit Cards

Technology

“25 Reasons Why the iPhone 6 will Fail”

CLIENT “HOW IS THIS CONTENT RELEVANT?”YOUR ANSWER: “…AND WE’RE MUCH MORE LIKELY

TO EARN BIG LINKS THIS WAY”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

HOW WILL THIS HELP OUR RANKINGS?YOUR ANSWER: “BECAUSE BIG LINKS = DOMAIN AUTHORITY & IF COMBINED WITH AWESOME ON-PAGE/TECH SEO, WE WIN”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

HOW WILL THIS HELP OUR RANKINGS?YOUR ANSWER: “BECAUSE BIG, BRANDED LINKS = DOMAIN

AUTHORITY & IF COMBINED WITH ON-PAGE/TECH SEO, WE WIN”

TONS OF NON-KEYWORD RICH ANCHOR TEXT

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CONTENT BUILD & DESIGN

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

HIRE THE A-TEAM ON A B-TEAM BUDGET

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

6 DESIGN RULES TO FOLLOW

1. HTML5, Responsive Design or Go Home2. Host the Content on a Seperate Micro-Site3. Unique Look & Feel, No Corporate Brand

Colours/Typography 4. Below The Fold Client Logo5. Break Content into Digestible Chunks –

Lists, Sub-Headings, Paragraph Breaks6. Visualise Every Detail (GIFs, Photos, Data

Viz)

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CLIENT: HOLD RIGHT THERE!

• This needs to have our top & bottom navigation

• Our logo needs to be added top-left• Needs our brand colors• Our customers don’t use capital letters – get

rid

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

YOUR ANSWERS:

1. Bloggers & Journalists don’t link to Advertising for free (unless it’s truly amazing e.g. John Lewis Xmas ads)

2. We’ll earn more coverage this way, and still make more people love your brand

3. If it’s about your product & services, we’ll house it in the main site

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

USE OPEN GRAPH TAGS TO INCREASE CTR

• Open Graph Tags let you pre-populate text & rich media on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn

– OG:Type– OG:Locale– OG:Title– OG:Publisher– OG:Description– OG:Image (1200px by 630px ideal for Facebook)

• Twitter Card Tags– Twitter:card (summary_large_image)– Twitter:site– Twitter:domain– Twitter:creator– Twitter:title– Validator: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/cards/validation/

validator/

http://ogp.me/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

ALWAYS HAVE AN EMBED CODEEVEN IF IT’S JUST AN IFRAME OR EMBEDDABLE THUMBNAIL

http://builtvisible.com/embed-code-generator/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

THE ART OF THE HEADLINE

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

THE ART OF THE HEADLINE

John Caples, US School of Music (1926)

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

10 HEADLINE FORMATS YOU NEED TO TRY

“How To” “Why” “Which” “Who Else”

“Wanted” “This” “Becaus

e” “If”

“Advice” 5/10/25/50/100 (Use Numbers)

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

FIVESECONDTEST.COM – A/B TEST HEADLINES

http://simitator.com/generator/twitter

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

OUTREACH ON A BUDGET

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

MY 3 SECRET WEAPONS

NATIVE ADVERTISING

MEDIA DATABASES

PROSPECTING

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

“Native Advertising let’s you

promote your branded content

to people who will instantly

love it, as they are targeted based on their interests”

WHAT IS NATIVE ADVERTISING?

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

ADVERTISE ON RELEVANT NEWS SITES

CONTENT ADVERTISING

SOCIAL ADVERTISING

TARGET USER INTERESTS

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CONTENT ADVERTISING PLATFORMS TO TRY

• Average Cost Per Link = £8• Minimum Cost = £1 to £300• Self-Managed Online or Account Managed

CASE STUDIES & TESTS:KAIZENSEARCH.CO.UK

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

FIND THOUSANDS OF JOURNALISTS CONTACT DETAILS VIA MEDIA DATABASES

http://www.featuresexec.com/

http://www.cision.com

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

PROSPECT ADDITIONAL CONTACTS VIA BUZZSTREAM

http://www.buzzstream.com

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

THE PITCH EMAIL FORMAT I USE TO WIN LINKS

SUBJECT: Soap Awards Story?

Hey Caroline,

Just wanted to run a idea by you,

We’ve just launched a brilliant list of British Soap Stars When They Were Young featuring all the classics like Peggy Mitchell and new favorites like Rosie Webster

Link: http://www.twolittlefleas.co.uk/soap-stars/

I think this would go down a storm on The Metro if you’d like to share it in some form, especially as it’s the ITV Soap Awards this Sunday.

It’s had over 300 social media mentions to date!

Two Little Fleas is an online bingo community with a passion for creating cute and quirky apps, lists and tools.

Our stuff has been recently featured in the Radio Times, HuffPost Comedy & Lifehacker. 

Thanks Caroline let me know what you think,Pete

CASUAL OPEN

THE SELL

THE HOOK

CREDIBILITY

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

CLIENT: “JOURNALISTS? OUTREACH?! THAT’S THE PR TEAMS JOB”

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

YOUR SOLUTIONS:

1. Demonstrate Missed SEO Opportunities by the PR Team(Fresh Web Explorer/Buzzsumo)

2. Share the Outreach Plan with the PR Team/Agency

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

LIFT-OFF

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

https://www.choice-loans.co.uk/bitcoin/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

ZOMBIETIME

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

Thank You!

Get in Touch:@petecampbellpete@kaizensearch.co.ukhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

PRESENTATION LINK:KAIZENSEARCH.CO.UK/SEARCHLONDON/

@petecampbell KAIZENhttp://www.kaizensearch.co.uk/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Educate the client at each step to clear out any roadblocks2. Use content curation to produce awesome content on a

low budget3. Be clever with formatting, make the content easily

digestible4. Use EMBED Codes & Open Graph Tags5. A/B Test Multiple Headlines 6. Streamline outreach using Native Advertising & Media

Databases

top related