@ckilgs Digital Marketing Blog

I had the pleasure of conducting an email interview with one of the younger but certainly successful link building experts in the industry, Jon Cooper. Jon is the man behind Point Blank SEO. Some of the work that has made him a go to name in the SEO community includes his link building technique post and The Content Marketer’s Guide to Visualizations.

If you are in the digital marketing industry with a passion for link building, Jon Cooper is a must follow.

Craig: Jon, for those that do not follow you or your work, explain how you became interested in SEO and more specifically, link building? What do you enjoy most about what most SEOs can’t stand or grasp (link building)?

Jon: I first started doing SEO for one of my friend’s parents, just because I needed a job & could type fast. I had no idea what I was doing or what SEO was even about for the first week or two. Luckily, I really started to like the idea behind it, and I managed to get myself a copy of SEO for Dummies. I read it in about 2 days. The one thing that caught my eye in the book was links, because links are really what makes or breaks an SEO campaign.

After I took the Web and tried hunting down every link building strategy out there, I noticed a huge gap between what SEOs were searching for and what blogs actually provided. We all wanted link building content, but there were very few, if any, blogs or websites dedicated solely to that.

Because it was something I really had a knack for, and because there was a very big need for it, I started Point Blank SEO. The rest is history :) 

But the thing about link building that has made me enjoy it so much is the opportunity for creativity. When you hear guys like Wil Reynolds talking about creating a national holiday to build links for one of his clients, it’s hard not to get excited about links. 

Craig: When did you start building links and at any point in your career, has your age been a factor in landing a client?

Jon: I started a little over 2 years ago, but I’ve focused solely on link building over that time period. Luckily my age hasn’t been a factor, because the only clients I have are ones that sought me out & contacted me on their own terms. They knew ahead of time of my age; if they didn’t, they were more impressed than discouraged (at least to my knowledge!).

Craig: Who inspires you to continue going forward with your link building/SEO career and if you could only follow ONE person on Twitter, who would it be?

Jon: The people who respond to me on Twitter & in the comments of my blog. If I ever even hint at questioning whether SEO is something I really enjoy doing, I quickly remember all the people I’ve met in this industry and how much they’ve taught me even beyond SEO. 

I’m going to cheat here: the Inbound account, because all of the best tips & content from the guys I love talking with & following usually makes it on to Inbound.org :).

Craig: Where do you see link building as a digital marketing strategy in 3 years? How about 10?

Jon: The way link building had changed in the past is figuring out different ways to go from Point A to Point B. Point B was always higher rankings, and the different paths we took were different SEO link building strategies.

The future is changing the way we change, because we’re no going from Point A to Point C. I think we’ll start to pursue an entirely different goal altogether; in the past it’s been higher SERP rankings, in the future it will be more direct KPIs like sales and targeted traffic.

The reason I believe this is because the rewards of ranking higher are diminishing, and the difficulty is always increasing as new businesses enter search marketing, but the term “link building” still perfectly fits the future criteria even though we’re not pursuing links for SEO as it was originally defined. For example, we’ll be targeting links in other website’s newsletters; they’re still links, so we’re still building them, but they aren’t meant for search engines.

Craig: What is one link building or SEO tool you absolutely can’t live without?

Jon: Check My Links. For those who don’t know, it’s an on page broken link checker for Chrome that’s by far the fastest out there (here’s my post on how I use it).

Some people regard broken link building as a strategy that’s one in a hundred, but I go so much further with it that it almost drives me insane. If 6% of the Web’s links were broken in 1998, then just imagine how many are broken today. If I remember correctly, Rand Fishkin even remarked at last year’s Mozcon that 20% of content disappears from the web each month. I doubt we’ll ever keep up with that pace, so I can guarantee you we will never run out of opportunity for this strategy.

Craig: What do you plan on studying at the University of Florida this fall and how do you feel it’s going to benefit you as a link builder/SEO?

Jon: I’m looking to dive straight into computer science so I can learn programming. This will allow me to create my own tools that I’ve been dying to see built.

Craig: Outside of your time spent link building (if it exists), what do you do for fun and/or what are some of your hobbies?

Jon:  An interesting hobby that might be brand new to some of you is a sport called disc golf. It’s like golf, but with frisbees, and instead of holes, they’re baskets with chains. Not many people play it, but there are 3-4 courses within an hour’s drive of where I live and I love going out there with anyone willing.

I would like to thank Jon for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions. If you are serious about link building, I highly recommend following Jon on Twitter. You can also connect with Jon and Point Blank SEO on Facebook.

About the Author: Craig Kilgore is a digital marketer with Mainstreethost and currently heads up their R&D department. Craig’s interests include SEO, paid search, content marketing, social media marketing and business development. You can find Craig on Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin.

Let me start this post by saying that it has nothing to do with your website being over optimized or how you can recover from Google’s newest Penguin (webspam / over optimization) algorithm update. If that’s what you are here for, and you most likely are, go check out Danny Sullivan’s post on Search Engine Land: Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice. 

For everyone else still reading, do Google’s updates and the fast paced nature of digital marketing have you feeling over optimized? This happens to me from time to time and I’m sure it happens to all of you. It’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed.

Why does it happen?

It happens because you care about your clients. It happens because you are always trying to stay one step ahead and it happens because you are probably good at what you do.

In one way or another, you have probably heard of a man named Cal Ripken Jr. (disclaimer: I am an Orioles fan). Cal Ripken Jr., now a hall of famer, is one of, if not the greatest shortstop to ever play the game of baseball. Ripken played 2,632 straight games spanning over 17 Major League Baseball seasons. Not one game missed. Would he have reached these milestones without constantly pushing himself? Probably not. 

My point here is that dedication, drive and sacrifice pays off. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a professional athlete or a business professional, if you aren’t dedicated, constantly pushing yourself and willing to sacrifice, you better be willing to just blend in.

With dedication comes stress, mental wear and that over optimization feeling.

To be considered a great SEO (or anything for that matter), you have to produce. You have to show results. You have to walk the walk. I have been doing SEO for about 6 years now and have personally worked on a countless number of websites in almost any industry imaginable. I love doing what I do. I can also admit that given my love and passion for the industry, I have been one to wear down mentally. 

To me, SEO isn’t a 9 – 5, it’s much more than that. Now before you tell me to get a life outside of work, understand that without this attitude (dedication, drive and sacrifice), I would be selling myself short. But why stay so dedicated if it wears you down and causes you stress? Simple answer – it’s life. My co-worker Peter Baio said it best – “we do this now so we don’t have to when we’re 50” (I don’t know who he’s fooling thinking about retiring at 50 though). It’s how you deal with and overcome this mental wear and stress that defines you as a person and a professional. If Cal Ripken Jr. were to cave in to his mental and physical wear and throw in the towel at any point during his career, you can bet that he would constantly look back and think about what he could have achieved. On a side note, I do find time to enjoy the finer things in life that do not involve SEO which brings me to my point – how can you recover from that over optimization feeling?

For many, myself included, it’s not easy to just “put down” something you are passionate about. SEOs don’t have an offseason or spring training; we are in regular season mode 365 days a year. Similar to how you budget time and resources with SEO clients, try to do this with your personal life. When you are feeling mentally fatigued, turn to something positive that you know will relieve tension and get your mind off of things. For me, I stay active with team sports (bar leagues of course) throughout the year. During my SEO career, not once have I thought about an algorithm update, clients’ traffic, Google, keywords, conversions, reports, meetings, etc. (you get the point) while on the field or court.

Find that something that completely takes your mind off of things and helps you relax. Find that balance.

Hard work does pay off.

Remember, in the end, you are doing everything for a reason. Take it from Cal Ripken Jr. and all of the successful SEOs, business professionals and entrepreneurs, hard work does pay off. When you are feeling like you can’t take another report or conduct any more research, sit back and think about why you are doing it and then look for that something that will help you, as my man Martin Lawrence says, woosah (sports, traveling, drinking a beer or 5, etc.).

About the Author: Craig Kilgore is a digital marketer with Mainstreethost and currently heads up their R&D department. Craig’s interests include SEO, paid search, content marketing, social media marketing and business development. You can find Craig on Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin.

Keeping on the interview kick I have been on over the past couple of months, I recently had the pleasure to conduct one with the CEO and President of Compendium, Frank Dale. Compendium is a content marketing platform for organizations and you can see exactly how it works here. I recently started following Frank and his work with Compendium and am very impressed thus far and look forward to learning more about Compendium and their platform.

Frank was more than willing to take the time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about content marketing, marketing tools and advice to fellow digital marketers. Enjoy!

Craig: Frank, for those that do not follow you or are unfamiliar with your work, when and why did you get into content marketing?

Frank: In some ways I’ve been in the content marketing business my whole career. Before receiving my MBA, I earned a masters degree in ethics. As a marketer, I was always looking for ways to impact my audience without using some of the gimmicks or tricks for which marketing is famous. I believe that marketing should be about understanding and solving customer needs and problems, and content marketing lives up to this promise.

Craig: What is it about content marketing that intrigues you?

Frank: Content marketing is what marketing should be about: it informs without manipulating. Really, the only way to do content marketing well is to focus on what the customer needs. It has to be done from their perspective, not yours. We’ve all read the business books that demonstrate how people respond to stimulus and how to use this to influence people to buy products or services. But marketers don’t need to do that to succeed and I don’t think they feel good about those tactics. In a sense, content marketing is the purest form of marketing, because it allows companies and their customers to tell stories that are true and to educate prospects so they can make a choice. This approach works for all kinds of marketing, including brand marketing, because it focuses on knowing the customer, understanding the pain points and developing good information that answers questions. I am especially intrigued by all the different ways to share content–blogs, videos, white papers, slide decks. The opportunity is unlimited.

Craig: It is my understanding that you implemented the “Pomodoro Technique” at Compendium. What exactly is the Pomodoro Technique and what made you want to implement it?

Frank: The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that takes the best processes in software development and marries them with how the brain works. There have been many studies that show most people cannot effectively multitask, and this technique allows me to focus on one thing at a time. It has a built-in feedback loop that helps me understand how I’m using my time and where I can improve. If I set out to accomplish six things in a day and only accomplish four of them, it’s important to understand why. Is it that I underestimated the time required to accomplish a task? Perhaps I am pulled into too many unnecessary meetings. Or maybe I didn’t get enough sleep. Knowing what’s preventing me from being as productive as possible helps me get better at planning my day, reduces unnecessary tasks and forces me to take good care of myself.

Craig: Many would agree that coming up with creative ideas is one of the more difficult parts of the content marketing process. How do you overcome creativity barriers when they arise personally or within your company?

Frank: Breaking it down into smaller steps can make it easier to tackle. The important thing is to get out of your comfort zone and get started. Once you do, you can see the next step or begin to identify options you didn’t know you had. Forward motion eliminates uncertainty. Another thing I believe is you have to talk to customers, spend time to get to know them. Learn about their challenges and observe how they work. Doing this provides a lot of content material.

Craig: What are some of your favorite content marketing tools?

Frank: Of course my favorite tool is Compendium, because it really makes it easy to create, capture and distribute stories online. I also like SlideShare, which allows marketers to turn just about any content into a slideshow presentation that can be shared with customers and prospects. Wistia is a great way to share video content. They have a tool that transcribes the video, so you can offer the content as a video or an article, which helps with SEO. 

Craig: I have asked this question in one of my past interviews but would be interested in hearing your take — How do you think small businesses / small budgets can incorporate something like Coca Cola’s “Content 2020” into their marketing campaign?

Frank: From a resource perspective, this isn’t a strategy that will translate well to small businesses. But what does translate is the importance of getting to know the customer. The lesson is that companies need to understand their customer well, communicate information through stories that are authentic and truthful, and use channels that the customer is receptive to. Small businesses often do talk to their customers, which gives them a chance to do this right.

Craig: Lastly, what is Compendium and how can it help content marketers/businesses?

Frank: Compendium is a content marketing platform that helps organizations capture and create original content in a branded hub for distribution to any marketing channel. Compendium’s software makes the process of content marketing easy–from inspiration through distribution–by helping marketers capture, create and organize stories to attract their audience. This is especially important today because buyers have changed the way they shop for products and services, looking for sources of information through social media and online peer sharing before ever searching on the brand’s website. Your organization’s content is a ticket to the conversation.

There you have it, my interview with Compendium’s CEO and President, Frank Dale. I would like to take the time to thank Frank for his time and willingness to share his advice, experiences and some useful tools with my readers. If you would like to connect with Frank, you can do so on Twitter, Linkedin and Google+.

About the Author: Craig Kilgore is a digital marketer with Mainstreethost and currently heads up their R&D department. Craig’s interests include SEO, paid search, content marketing, social media marketing and business development. You can find Craig on Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin.

I have been on an SEO interview spree as of late and have had the pleasure to interview a few SEOs that I look up to including Mike King and Mike Blumenthal. This has been an awesome experience.

Next up on my list of interviews and another SEO that I look up to is Jeremy Dearringer aka @PapaSlingshot who is the co-founder and Chief Research Officer at Slingshot SEO, an Indianapolis based agency.

I began following Jeremy and his work a few months back and consider him an expert in the field and a must follow for any emerging digital marketer. In my brief conversations with Jeremy leading up to this interview, I was impressed by how willing he was to participate and even more impressed by his great taste in music (further down the interview)…

You can find some of Jeremy’s blog posts here.

(photo above courtesy of Purdue University: Dearringer, left, meets with Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels)

Craig: For those that don’t follow you or your work, let’s kick this off by having you describe what your role as Slingshot SEO’s CRO entails:

Jeremy: With a fancy title like Chief Research Officer you may think I run a top secret lab with statisticians running correlation studies, regression analysis and unlocking the deepest secrets of SEO. In reality that’s the C level title I took to ensure we left the legitimate C level titles for key hires such as our new CEO, Jay Love, and our COO, Don Kane. I do have a passion for everything Internet marketing and originally I was the guru SEO of the three founders. Today we have individuals with SEO knowledge that surpasses my own. We actually do have a R&D team with a developer, statistician and thought leader that reports in to our Director of SEO Performance. I sit on the board of directors that our C levels report to. My partners and I focus a lot on vision. We’re actually on a vision charter mission right now and are not in the office on a daily basis. 

Craig: I know the answer but have to ask, SEO or inbound marketing, and why?

Jeremy: That’s easy, SEO. It’s all semantics really. Inbound Marketing is a term that’s been adopted and made popular by Hubspot. I have no problem with the term, but I bleed SEO. It defines me. Our organization witnesses the value of organic search traffic every single day. At the end of the day it’s our job to optimize any given clients’ ability to drive targeted, relevant organic search traffic that creates business impact. Anything and everything we consult on or produce that helps achieve that goal we do in the name of SEO. At Slingshot SEO we focus not only on site architecture recommendations and link building, but we also recommend and engage in social media, content production, topic modeling, ROI tracking, conversion rate optimization, public relations, content marketing and more. For us, today, that is SEO. 

Craig: What do you enjoy the most about the SEO industry?

Jeremy: I would have to say the fast paced nature of our industry. There is something new happening EVERY SINGLE DAY. Our SVP of sales, who previously worked for ExactTarget and Compendium, was shocked after working at Slingshot SEO for only a few weeks. He mentioned that “no one watches the grass grow around here.” It’s inspiring to watch everyone on our team work. We’re over 110 full-time employees large now. The people that work at Slingshot SEO thrive in this fast paced environment. The only constant at Slingshot SEO is change. I remember back to my college education at Purdue University. I had a class that covered change management. We brought in manager after manager from old-school organizations. Employees would get so use to the same old routine that it was a complete shock when the company would make almost any change. The team at Slingshot would laugh if they were forced to go through that class after experiencing what it’s like to work at Slingshot. In summary, the fast paced industry that is SEO keeps me feeling alive every single day. 

Craig: How do you think small businesses / small budgets can incorporate something like Coca Cola’s “Content 2020” into their marketing campaign?

Jeremy: The short answer is that I honestly don’t think 99% of small businesses can. They’d likely fail even if I spent three hours per week consulting with them for free. My father owns a small business, NewProContainers.com. I meet with him and his team for two to three hours every Friday. I try to bring the lessons I’ve learned working with mid-market and enterprise organizations to his company. We try to cover the basics like optimizing content, email marketing, retargeting, branding, blogging, conversion rate optimization, etc. They can’t afford the services my company offers, so I do my best to provide consulting on how to best use their limited resources. Don’t get me wrong, my father’s business is very successful and grows based on their SEO success. They still have a lot of work to do to be where I’d like to see them from an SEO perspective even. Most small businesses are lucky to have two or three people dedicated to marketing in general. You almost never see anyone with a high level of expertise in even one area, such as SEO or Social Media. Small businesses often can’t afford marketers that will grasp Coca Cola’s Content 2020 video, let alone be able to implement it with such limited resources and support staff. The most competent marketers often find their way into an agency, start their own businesses or become part of a large company’s in-house team. The only way I’ve seen this work is when the owner of a small business makes it personal. The owner dives in hard and studies marketing. They take on the role of CMO. With this level of involvement a small business owner will be confident enough to seriously invest in marketing, well beyond the 5% of revenue that’s typical with small businesses. I always laugh when my father tells me I need a better understanding of accounting now that I own a big company. I remind him that I set the curve in my cost accounting class at Purdue. I then proceed to tell him that he needs a better understanding of marketing.  

Craig: Where do you see this industry in 5 years? What about 10 years?

Jeremy: Search is forever. I may not be able to predict exactly what devices we may be using to search in the future or what the input/output may look like, but search will never die. Mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad will continue to evolve how we interact with the search process. Assistants like Apple’s Siri give us a taste of what the future of search may look like. Organic search traffic of some sort will always be valuable to organizations that have something to sell, so SEO won’t go anywhere. It will never die, no matter how many bloggers decide to write “SEO is dead” posts. If anything mobile devices will enable people to search anywhere and everywhere all the time. You see it every day. Your friends and family are searching for stuff mid-conversation or mid-TV commercial on their iPhones. 

I think we’ll start to see content marketing in the name of search continue to become a big deal. Creative agencies will be combined with technical SEO experts to craft content strategies around search. Big companies will spend big money to simply market amazing content to create long term search benefit. Right now a lot of companies are still creating entertaining mass advertising with the end goal of brand awareness associated with a few core benefits. Brands will learn to leverage those budgets to promote search ready media so they can experience lasting benefits beyond brand awareness. 

The industry will also continue to mature and consolidate. As SEO becomes more of a marketing household term larger agencies will either develop a competency or acquire companies with the “will to rank”. We’re already seeing most enterprises hiring in-house SEO talent to manage SEO agencies. 

Craig: What do you like to do or what are some of your hobbies when you aren’t busy marketing the interwebs?

Jeremy: I’m a movie and concert/show buff. My wife and I see most movies and attend most shows that come through town. Recently we’ve attended the Pink Floyd experience, a Puscifer concert (project by the lead singer of Tool), the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show and will be attending Roger Waters “The Wall” in June. They’re of the few ways I can actually shut my brain off and detach from work. I’m also a car nut so I spend time watching shows like Top Gear, reading car magazines, shopping for cars on the Internet and modifying the vehicles I have. I also like hanging out with a few close friends to play cards, video games, cookout, etc. I’m not really into big crowds and you’ll rarely find me at a bar or club. Finally if I have any time left over from that I’m likely to build another business. I run a couple eCommerce projects, blogs and a community forum.

I would like to thank Jeremy for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions and hopefully enlighten SEOs, both up and coming and the more experienced. Here is where you can connect with Jeremy: Google+ | Twitter | Linkedin.

Thank you for reading!

About the Author: Craig Kilgore is a digital marketer with Mainstreethost and currently heads up their R&D department. Craig’s interests include SEO, paid search, content marketing, social media marketing and business development. You can find Craig on Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin.

What are some of the ways small business owners can use social media marketing and mobile devices to bring in new customers? In addition, how can they implement a smart marketing plan that will take advantage of the many social networks available for drumming up business?

A good starting point is to tap into some of the popular social network sites in order to tie together your social media and mobile marketing strategies.

Facebook

After establishing a Facebook presence it’s important to make a habit of updating your page frequently and consistently. Bland Facebook pages are everywhere so you’ll want to create a unique page full of personality and fun whenever possible. Get creative and play around with ways to keep your fans coming back for more updates.

Twitter

Twitter can be a great way to help your company become more successful. First, you need to decide who you want to connect with and what specific outcome you’re hoping for, whether it relates to marketing, promotion or communication. When you have those answers in hand, dive in and start studying the wealth of tips and tactics available to you through this tool. 

Foursquare

With more than 750,000 businesses on Foursquare, it’s definitely worth your while to learn how this social media platform can work for you. Companies are using Foursquare to offer deals and loyalty rewards, forge partnerships with other businesses and create innovative viral campaigns.  Remember that Foursquare is not just for retail and restaurants but for companies of all shapes, sizes and types.

Yelp

This website is a great way for small business owners to market themselves free of charge. Yelp helps users find businesses and service providers in their specific location. It also categorizes businesses, making it easier for users to find a specific type of business.

Users can write reviews and businesses can send messages to customers.

Mobile Marketing

More consumers are using their mobile phones to search for coupons, compare prices, find retailers and read reviews. Increasingly, they are also using their mobile devices to make purchases.

Companies large and small are realizing it’s time to hop aboard this trend. As your mobile marketing strategy takes shape, look for ways to tie in the various social media sites with opportunities available through mobile phones.  

Planning is a major component in launching a social media and mobile marketing campaign. Know which channels to use to most effectively reach your market and help ensure your investment will be rewarded.

About the Author

This guest post was provided by University Alliance and submitted on behalf of University of San Francisco.  USF offers online marketing courses including SEO training, search engine marketing, social media training, mobile marketing and more.  To learn more about University of San Francisco’s certificate programs visit www.usanfranonline.com.