At PodCamp Nashville, I was part of an SEO expert panel that shared digital marketing tips.

Here’s the final slidedeck of the SEO Tips session:

From Ross Jones, 2 the Top Web Design
Perfect SEO Infographic: Keyword Research
Perfect SEO Infographic: Right Words in the Right Place
Nashville SEO Group
Most Successful SEO Meetup in the United States

From Jeremy Rivera, Raven Tools
28 SEO Metrics for Your Clients

From Anna Belle Leirserson, VU Cancer Center
How Search Works
Easy Checks for Web Accessibility
Sitemaps XML Format
Google Rich Snippet Guidelines
Pro HTML5 Accessibility

At WordCamp Nashville, we discussed the Best SEO Plugin For WordPress.

Belmont University is offering a phenomenal lineup of Digital Media experts as part of the New Century Journalism Speaker Series. The series is free and open to the public.

If you’re interested in Digital Marketing and Communication, this is a tremendous opportunity to learn from some of the top experts in their fields.

Speaker	Title	Date	Time	Room
Ross Jones	SEO 101: Just Google it Baby!	Friday, 3/22	10-11am	BSLC Beaman A & B
Marcus Whitney	Socially Speaking: Get Engaged without a Ring	Monday, 3/25	10-11am	Bunch Library Multimedia
Dave Delaney	Networking 101: Getting to Know You Virtually	Wednesday, 4/3	10-11am	BSLC Beaman B
Erik Qualman	My Digital Legacy	Friday, 4/5	10-11am	Inman Hall Frist Lecture Hall
Nancy VanReece	Building Trust: Why It's Time to Have a Social Media Strategy	Monday, 4/8	10-11am	Bunch Library Multimedia
Kate O'Neill	Meet the [meta]marketer: Leveraging Language, Tech & Time	Wednesday, 4/10	10-11am	BSLC Beaman A & B
Dr. Sybril Bennett	Search Me: Your Digital Future	Friday, 4/12	10-11am	McWhorter Hall #114
Clint Smith	Emma: Who is She?	Monday, 4/15	10-11am	Massey Boardroom

Download a Belmont Campus Map
 

Ross Jones, CEO 2 the Top Web Design & Promotion

Ross Jones is a recognized expert in Search Engine Optimization, having specialized in SEO since 1997.

As CEO of 2 the Top Web Design, Ross delivers results for businesses and organizations that need to improve their web presence and grow their bottom line.

You can regularly find Ross sharing best practices with business owners, web designers and students. An Adjunct Professor at Aii.edu, he is also the organizer of the Nashville SEO & Internet Marketing Special Interest Group which meets the last Thursday of each month at Belmont.

Twitter: @2theTopDesign
FB: 2theTopDesign
Linkedin: Ross Jones
Google+: Ross Jones
Google+: 2theTop Design

Marcus Whitney, Co-Founder, Moontoast

Marcus Whitney is the CTO and Co-Founder of Moontoast, the leader in Social Activation software. They build products & services that improve the quality, value and insight of brands’ relationships with people. To learn more, visit Moontoast.

He is a startup mentor and founder, speaker, music lover, social relevancy innovator, and responsible party. And also a Managing Director of Jumpstart Foundry, a TNInvestco microfund accelerator managed by Solidus and run out of the Entrepreneur Center.

Twitter: @marcuswhitney
Linkedin: Marcus Whitney
Google+: Marcus Whitney
Google+: Moon Toast

Dave Delaney, President of Delaney Digital Marketing Consulting

Dave Delaney is an author, consultant, speaker, and recognized leader in technology and marketing. His book, New Business Networking, teaches breakthrough techniques for integrating traditional business networking skills with the newest social media, making them both far more effective for students and business professionals.
Twitter: @davedelaney
Linkedin: Dave Delaney
Facebook: Dave Delaney
Google+: Dave Delaney

Erik Qualman, Author Digital Leader & Social Media Revolution

Erik Qualman is a leading speaker on the use of social media.

Often called a Digital Dale Carnegie, he is the author of Socialnomics which made Amazon’s #1 Best Selling List in 8 languages.

Erik’s book Digital Leader propelled him to be voted the 2nd Most Likeable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling.

His video company Equalman Productions produced the most watched social media video in “Social Media Revolution”.

Twitter: Erik Qualman
Linkedin: Erik Qualman
Youtube: Erik Qualman
Google+: Erik Qualman

Nancy VanReece, Owner of Carpe Diem Management

Nancy Van Reece is the owner of Carpe Diem Management. Her work allows her to help small businesses and nonprofits understand and use social media to reach, build and lead core audiences. She has worked for more than 25 years in the music business, served as the executive director of The Nashville Shakespeare Festival, senior director of partnership development at Cool People Care, Inc., strategist for GivingMatters.com, the Nashville Library Foundation, and the new media consultant on record for the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee. She is currently the social media strategist for Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
Twitter: @NVanReece
Linkedin: Nancy VanReece
Facebook: Nancy VanReece
Google+: Nancy VanReece

Kate O’Neill, CEO and Founder of [meta]marketer

Kate’s experience prior to [meta]marketer includes holding the first content management role at Netflix, leading cutting-edge online optimization work at Magazines.com, developing Toshiba America’s first intranet, building the first departmental website at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and holding leadership positions in a variety of start-ups. She speaks regularly at national conferences such as Online Marketing Summit and Conversion Conference on analytics and optimization as well as the role of empathy in driving profitable marketing, and is a contributor to top marketing publications such as CMO.com.

Locally, Kate serves on the board of the Nashville Technology Council, on the IT Workforce Recruitment Committee for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, on the advisory board for Startup Tennessee, on the Business Information Systems Technology Advisory Council for Tennessee State University, and as a mentor for Jumpstart Foundry, a local tech-oriented seed-stage microfund and business incubation program.
Twitter: Kate O’Neill
Facebook: KateO’Neill
Linkedin: Kate O’Neill
Google+: Kate O’Neill

Dr. Sybril Bennett, Professor of Journalism at Belmont University

Dr. Sybril Bennett, is a disruptive facilitator, mentor and speaker spreading the word about and through social media. She is Vanderbilt educated, Harvard trained, two-time Emmy award winning multimedia journalist. As Professor of Journalism at Belmont University she helped to establish the New Century Journalism Program in 2003.

With more than 20 years of experience in television news, she’s worked behind the scenes at ABC in Milwaukee and at CBS in Chicago. Her last television gig was at CBS in Nashville where she was a general assignment reporter, fill-in anchor and fill-in talk show host. She has been commissioned by the American Association of Colleges and Universities to participate in the Bridge to Theory and Practice monograph project focusing on civic engagement and social media.

Her book “Innovate: Lessons from the Underground Railroad” examines the UGRR and the Internet as among America’s most effective, innovative and disruptive networks.
Twitter: @drsyb
Linkedin: Dr. Sybril Bennett
Google+: Dr. Syb Bennett

Clint Smith, Co-founder and CEO of Emma®

Clint Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Emma®, the Web-based service that helps organizations manage their email campaigns and online surveys in style. Clint is a graduate of Vanderbilt University – a history major. He is a past president of the Nashville chapter of EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) and is a regular speaker in entrepreneurship and marketing classes at Belmont and Vanderbilt Universities.
Twitter: @emmaemail
Linkedin: Clint Smith
Facebook: Emma

Come out to hear some of the real thought leaders in Digital Marketing and Communication. The 1 hour sessions are free and open to the public, courtesy of Belmont University’s New Century Journalism Program.

Download a Belmont Campus Map

If your business is focused on a local area like Nashville, knowing How to Optimize for Local SEO can be an effective and inexpensive strategy to grow your business.

Join the Nashville Internet Marketing Group on 3/28 and learn how to optimize for Local SEO. We’ll be meeting on campus at Belmont University in McWhorter Hall, Room 114 at 6:30pm. It’s free to attend our monthly gathering.

Come to learn and network with us the last Thursday night of the month.
>> RSVP here: Meetup.com <<

If you’re are already familiar with traditional (or Organic) Search Engine Optimization, you may already know some of the factors that impact Local SEO.

Factors such as Onsite optimization, links, and social signals can play a role in Local SEO but there are other elements that can make all the difference in Local SEO rankings.

Local SEO Ranking Factors

#1 Claim Your Business Listings
Start by claiming the Google Local profile for your business. Google displays your business profile information in many search results so you want it to be accurate and up to date. This is one of the single most important Local SEO ranking factors. It’s free and it doesn’t take much time.

Pay close attention when you enter your company’s Name, Address, and Phone number. Known as your NAP, Google rewards businesses that have consistent NAP listings on many websites.

When Google finds your NAP on other websites, they consider that a citation. Besides rewarding consistency in citations, Google also rewards the quantity and quality of your citations.

It’s a good Local SEO strategy to find citation sources like relevant business directories and review sites. If you come across a citation or NAP that’s not exactly the same, edit it to match all your other citations.

Find a good quality citation site where you’re not listed? Signup and add your listing. It can make a difference in your Local SEO rankings.

#2 Get Consumer Reviews
Reviews are another strong signal for Local SEO.

Get as many reviews as you can (preferably positive ones), but be sure to follow Google’s policies for getting reviews.

Don’t pay for reviews. Don’t make up fake reviews. And don’t believe anyone who says they can remove bad reviews from Google for you.

When you have more than 10 reviews, your Google Local listing will display a score of 0-30 next to your business in search results.

Everybody gets bad reviews sometimes. If you get one, Google lets you respond to the negative comments. A prompt response that reasonably addresses the complaint will help your business’ online reputation. It’s your chance to show the world that your business is proactive and cares about your clients.

#3 Include Your City and State on Your Website
Finally, incorporate your city and state in your on-site SEO. For example, if you own a restaurant in Nashville, TN, then your title tag, meta description, and page content should include the phrase “Nashville, TN.”

Do not go overboard and spam your site with your city and state.

Only include your city and state in your site’s content where it makes sense and feels appropriate. You shouldn’t force it and “over-optimize” your site.

We’ll discuss these Local SEO tips and more at our next meeting.

Join us for the Meetup Thursday, 3/28 at 6:30pm to learn more about How to Optimize Local SEO to get your business found in your area.
RSVP here: Meetup.com.

Your social media presence has an impact on Google results. But how much of an impact does Social Media have on SEO? And what are the social signals that search engines look at?

On 3/20, join Ross Jones of 2 the Top Web Design for a joint meeting of the Nashville SEO Group and the Social Media Club of Nashville.

RSVP here:
http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/events/106926802/

You’ll learn answers to questions like:

What social media networks are most important for SEO?
What social actions impact Search Engine rankings?
Why is there so much disinformation about what works & what doesn’t work?
What the heck does “correlation does not equal causation” mean and why does it matter?

In December 2010, Google admitted for the 1st time that they do consider your social profile in their ranking algorithms. But they said they only considered it a tiny bit. In typical Google tradition, they won’t tell us any specific details but they do encourage website owners to produce great content and focus on users, not search engines.

Strong Correlation Between Social Signals and High Google Rankings

A 2012 study by Searchmetrics shows an extremely high correlation between Facebook shares and high ranking on Google. Does that mean that you’ll rank better if you get more shares on Facebook?

Some people say yes. One even went so far as to author an article titled: “Google favors Facebook shares, ‘likes,’ and comments more than keywords.”

That’s just baloney.

And it’s indicative of the difficulty for most people to understand the impact that social media has on SEO. There’s few hard facts and lots of the people claiming to be experts disagree.

Social: Direct Impact vs Indirect Impact on SEO?

There’s no denying that social media actions can have an indirect impact on SEO. If you create a great piece of content and it gets shared alot, someone will link to it. Bingo! Links help SEO.

But what about direct impact?

We know that personalization of search results is 1 place we see direct impact. Like something on Facebook and Bing will promote that content in your friend’s search results. Plus one a page on Google and your connections will see that page rank higher. Google also used social signals significantly in the short lived Real Time Search results.

What Should You Do?

By all means, have an active presence on social media. It can help you grow your brand by leveraging your existing relationship. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that more Facebook activity is the most important Google ranking factor.

If you want to rank well on Google, start with SEO best practices.

RSVP here for the free March 20 presentation:
http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/events/106926802/

If you’re a news outlet, you want to rank well on Google News. So I expect old, traditional media sources were ecstatic when Computerworld recently published “An inside look at Google’s news-ranking algorithm”.

The patent they looked at implies that Google gives favor to sources with a larger number of news bureaus, circulation stats and size of staff. That’s great news for big, old news sources!

The only problem is that they read the wrong patent.

The journalist was looking at a 2003 Google patent and they missed the fact that Google had significantly changed the patent in 2012. Google removed several items that did favor traditional print media.

Gone is the part about looking at the number of news bureaus. Google apparently doesn’t care.

Gone is the focus on circulation statistics and size of staff. Google thinks one person with a small number of readers can be just as valuable.

If Google thought those things should help a media source rank well, they would have kept them in the new, updated patent.

Even worse, other large media outlets picked up the story and ran it without consulting a patent expert.

In the world of Google Patent interpretation, there is nobody on par with Bill Slawski. Here’s what he said about this journalistic mistake:

Neither The Nation or Computerworld should write about patents. Period. Never. In the past couple of days Computerworld posted a “breaking news” story about the publication of a Google patent application from 9 months ago (not breaking news). The Nation wrote a followup story on Computerworld‘s story, and made the same mistake.

Both saw optimism when they should have instead felt fear.

They weren’t publishing information about a 9 month old patent, but rather a ten year old patent. They would have known that if they ever wrote about patents.

For a *much* more detailed version of this episode, read Bill’s post: The Traditional News Agency is Dead (On Google News).

If you’re not interested in the SEO-geeky details, here’s two takeaways:

• Print media is becoming less relevant in the Internet Age.
• Google seems to think they’re not worthy of a ranking boost vs smaller publishers just because the big, old media source is old and big.

• Be a little skeptical when someone claims they know what Google likes.
• Even respected journalists at major publications can get it wrong by taking 10 year old info as accurate. It’s best to find a Google expert like a full time SEO. It takes alot of time to keep up with what works and what doesn’t in the world of Search Engine Optimization.

The first step in SEO is keyword research. At 2 the Top Design, we describe onsite optimization as putting the Right Words in the Right Places. This SEO Infographic can help you with finding those Right Words as you get started with keyword research.

Why is Keyword Research Important?

One of the main things Google looks for is relevancy. Ever since Al Gore invented the Internet, Search Engines have always focused on the words that you use on your website to help determine relevancy. Pick the Right Words and you’re more likely to get targeted traffic from the search engines.

How do you do Keyword Research? Our infographic breaks down the kw research process into 4 areas:

Brainstorm
Research
Analyze
SEO Tools

Get the PDF of the Keyword Research infographic here.

Want to embed this Keyword Research Infographic on your blog or website?

Just copy the code and paste it into your website.

<p><a href="http://2thetopdesign.com/perfect-seo-infographic-keyword-research/"><img src="http://2thetopdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/Perfect-SEO-Keyword-Research-infographic-640.jpg" border="0" alt="Keyword Research Infographic" /></a></p><p><a href="http://2thetopdesign.com/perfect-seo-infographic-keyword-research/>Keyword Research Infographic</a> by <a href="http://2thetopdesign.com/">2theTop Web Design</a></p>

SEO can be very time intensive. At 2theTop Design, we use several SEO tools to increase efficiency and deliver results for our clients. Join the Nashville SEO Group on Feb 28 to learn about 4 tools that can help improve your web presence.

While there are many, many tools that can help you to manage an Internet Marketing Campaign, there are a small number that we use regularly and can recommend.

These tools are simple enough to help a beginner and they’re powerful enough that most professional SEO’s use them.

Join the Nashville Internet Marketing Group on February 28 and learn how these SEO Tools can help you. We’ll be meeting on campus at Belmont University in McWhorter Hall, Room 114 at 6:30pm. It’s free to attend our monthly gathering. Come to learn and to network with us on the last Thursday night of the month.

RSVP Here: http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/events/91493792/

The right SEO tools can help you identify SEO problems, find new opportunities, and even keep an eye on your competition. These tools can help you answer questions like:

• Why doesn’t my website show up in Google?
• How can I improve my SEO?
• Where can I link my blog?
• Why does another website come up #1 on Google?

While these tools alone can’t take the place of a qualified Inbound Marketing Consultant, they can help any website improve their SEO.

At this month’s Meetup, we will discuss these four SEO tools and how they can help your website’s visibility.

Raven Tools

Raven (based in Nashville) is a paid service that pulls together over 30 online marketing tools to help you with SEO, PPC, social media, and content.

Raven is capable of linking with Google Analytics and creating customized reports to give you a truly unique view into what is happening with your web presence.

Jeremy Rivera of Raven will be a guest presenter at the Feb 28 Nashville SEO Group meeting. You’ll get to hear more about Raven direct from the source!

SEOmoz

SEOmoz provides a free service as well as paid SEO tools that can analyze important SEO metrics for a website. Even if you don’t use their tools, check out their fantastic blog. They also maintain the best Beginners Guide to SEO online. If you’re just starting to understand SEO, this Guide is required reading.

SEMRush

SEMRush is a paid service used by tens of thousands of SEO/SEM/PPC professionals. Even if you’re not a professional SEO, SEMRush can quickly give you insight that’s just about impossible to find with free SEO tools.  SEMRush collect SERP data for over 95 million keywords and 45 million domains. This massive amount of data gives you a valuable persepctive when targeting organic SEO or building your PPC campaigns.

Screaming Frog

The Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool is a free desktop program that you can you use to spider (or crawl) a website to see its links, images, CSS, script, and apps from an SEO perspective. All of this data is presented in a spreadsheet format which can be easily exported into Excel. For larger websites, this tool will save you hours of looking through pages upon pages for titles, descriptions, headings, redirects, duplicate content, etc.

The free Screaming Frog spider tool lets you investigate up to 500 pages on a site. For larger sites, it’s worth the price to pay for a full version that removes the limit and gives you a few extra options.

Just like you wouldn’t use only a hammer to build an entire house, there is no single SEO tool to handle all tasks. Each of these tools stands out in its own right and should become part of your arsenal for improving your website.

Join us for the Meetup Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 at 6:30pm to take a deeper look at these SEO tools and how they can improve your SEO.

RSVP here: Meetup.com.

Facebook, SEO, Email Marketing, Video, Text Message Ads, PPC, Daily Deals… With so many digital marketing options, how do you find the right mix?

Join the Nashville Internet Marketing Group 1/31 and learn how to Find the Right Digital Marketing Mix. We’ll be meeting on campus at Belmont University in McWhorter Room 114 at 6:30pm. It’s free to attend our monthly gathering. Come to learn and network with us the last Thursday night of the month.

>> RSVP here: Meetup.com <<

Talk About Digital Marketing Confusion…

A recent survey of small business owners said they use Facebook *primarily* for customer acquisition.

Another survey shows that consumers would almost never start a search for a professional service (in this case, a lawyer) on social media.

Social media sites, by definition, are about social interaction. Direct customer acquisition is a business interaction and almost never purely social. If you don’t understand the difference, you’re at risk of alienating potential and existing clients.

Recently, the good folks over at getlisted.org presented the following infographic to help illustrate what digital marking tool to use and when:

• Targeting new vs. existing customers
• Building your brand vs. making sales

As you read this list of 22 digital marketing options, take note of which activities you are currently using and how you are using them.

So, how does your digital marketing strategy line up with the illustration?

The chart shows that social media tools, such as Facebook Pages, should be targeted mostly at existing customers. And the primary purpose should be building your brand.

Facebook is a great marketing resource, but you need to know when and how to use it. Its primary purpose is not to make sales. How often have you bought something because of a Facebook post? Unfortunately, business owners often lose sight of the fact that social media was originally created to cultivate relationships. Social media is most powerful when used to build awareness and loyalty among existing customers.

Digital Marketing Can Drive New Business

If you want to focus on getting new business, try Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. Showing up well on Google and Bing are much more effective strategies to reach new customers than making your pitch on social media.

Do not use your social media as a coupon dispenser or cheap ad space. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus are meant to build real and lasting relationships with existing customers. People love knowing that they are doing business with real people.

In this age, we have dozens of digital marketing options. Just make sure you’re using them the right way at the right time.

Do you think Facebook is a good place for businesses to reach new customers? As a consumer, have you ever bought a product or service that your found on social media?

Join us for the Meetup Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 at 6:30pm to learn more about how and when to use different digital marketing options to maximize benefit to your business. RSVP here: Meetup.com

Want to increase your Google visibility for free? Authorship is how to make your picture appear in Google search.

It’s not some SEO trick. Google really wants you to use Author Highlighting and they’ll reward you with listings that really stand out. Some studies show that you can get 30% more visitors. Maybe even more!

Back in the day, Google results used to all look the same: text listing for #1, text listing for #2, text listing for #3….

In 2009, Google introduced the Rich Snippet, mostly showing stars next to pages that contained reviews.

This was a big deal because if your listing on Google looks different, it stands out from the others that just have the boring poor snippets and more people will likely click on your link. Inbound marketing geeks (like me) refer to the Click Thru Rate (CTR) increase that comes from optimizing your listings on Google. Add rich snippets and you could get more free traffic from Google. Nice.

In June 2011, Google started showing the mother of all rich snippets. Author highlighting allows search results to show an author’s headshot next to a results on a Google page. Google says authorship markup is a great way to help people find high quality content.

How do Authorship Rich Snippets work?

Behind the scenes, authorship is just adding a little code to your webpages and then updating your Google + profile to link to your websites. It’s fairly simple to implement in your site and can really help you get noticed.

On the search engine result page, you can get your picture next to your name, denoting you as the author with additional links to more articles written by you.

Join us for the Meetup Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 6:30 to learn more about this powerful tool, how to implement it into your site, and how to optimize this to your benefit.

We’ll be meeting on campus at Belmont University in McWhorter Hall, Room 114. There is ample, free parking in the Inman Center/North Garage under McWhorter.

Full details and RSVP here: http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-SEO-Group/events/84824842/