Content Marketing and SEO, a Relationship of Evolution

Hi, and welcome to today's Biznology Digital Marketing Webinar. I'm Mike Moran, founder of Biznology and a senior strategist at Converseon Revealed Context and Solo Segment. I'm the co-author of Search Engine Marketing Inc. and Outside-In Marketing and sole author of Do It Wrong Quickly. I'm a veteran of IBM, managing groups on IBM.com for 8 years. retiring from IBM in 2008 as a distinguished engineer. Today you'll be hearing from Tyler Bain, who will present Content Marketing and SEO: A Relationship of Evolution. But before we start, we need to recognize our sponsors. BarnRaisers, a full-service digital and social media solutions company that builds brands using proven relationship principles and ROI. GagaAmp empowers companies to amplify their social media content by leveraging employees, partners, and resellers. Try GagaAmp for free today. A full-service digital strategy firm that reaches deeper into the conversation than any other agency anywhere. Is your site getting the links it deserves? We're the link builders you've been looking for. As we wait for more attendees to join, let me review the format of our webinar. Our Biznology webinars last just 30 minutes, so you can easily fit them into your busy schedule. We record each webinar and we'll email you that link later this week. During our speaker's presentation, you can use GoToWebinar to ask a question. The orange arrow opens and closes your controls. If you have a question, simply type it into the box labeled Questions at any time during the event and press the Send button. I'll select a few questions at the end of our webinar and pose them to Tyler. In the Handouts section of your control panel, you can find a PDF of today's presentation. Today we'll be using the Twitter hashtag #BizKnowWebinar in case you'd like to share information during the webinar. While we're waiting for the last few attendees to join, I'd like to remind you that the Biznology monthly newsletter and daily articles are available for free at biznology.com. So if you're not already a subscriber, we hope you'll sign up now. Thanks again to all of you for spending 30 minutes with us. We know how valuable your time is, so let's introduce today's speaker. Tyler Bain is a multifaceted SEO expert currently leading a team of link builders at Page One Power as a project manager. While maintaining the progress and success of multiple concurrent campaigns, Tyler oversees the strategies, execution, and overall quality of the resulting backlinks generated on behalf of a variety of clients. So if you've ever struggled with optimizing your content, this is the webinar for you. Tyler, take it away.

Awesome, thank you, Mike. So welcome everybody to this webinar. Today we'll be talking about how Content Marketing and SEO: A Relationship of Evolution. Content marketing and SEO have changed and developed over time. In this webinar, I will be providing you with a quick history lesson on content marketing, what makes great content, and how your content strategy can evolve with the help of SEO. A form of content marketing has been around for a very long time. People have informed— have information that they want to convey or pass down, and what's the best way to do that? Cave paintings, or at least at the time. They had information that they wanted to convey, and this is how we used to do it. This is an ancient form of content marketing. But here are some more older and modern examples of how content marketing has been used. So Benjamin Franklin used his printing press to develop this Poor Richard's Almanac. It had information like calendars, poems, financial advice, weather information, a variety of other information that was provided. But ultimately, it was also to market his printing press. Printing press that he had. If you needed something printed, he was available. So he provided this free information, or he provided this information for individuals to know that this service is also available. We also have the Jell-O marketing campaign. They gave away free recipes in order to endorse Jell-O. So it had the Jell-O label on it, it had now almost creepy picture, but a pleasant image. It was information that people either wanted or didn't know they wanted that was sponsored by Jell-O. It got that name recognition in their head, and they already provided information from a kind of a feeling perspective, like this will help your family and things like that. And they provided this free information that was also a form of content marketing. Hasbro and Marvel did this with G.I. Joe. You know, now we're used to comics intertwining and utilizing each other for marketing purposes. It was no different back in the early '80s. They used G.I. Joe and Marvel to further their cartoon, and their merchandising, and things like that just by partnering up. And I'll have other examples of that later on in the webinar. We also have— here is a free eBook. Again, this is another example of that free content that also is used in advertising or content marketing in this example of Seth Godin's book. We also have Blendtec. They had the web series, Will It Blend, providing entertaining and free content to their viewers, and it increased their web presence and their brand recognition. So people who had no idea that they needed or wanted a Blendtec blender thought that it was cool from the videos, fun, Even though a lot of the videos ended with, you know, don't try this at home, it provided that information that really helped them as far as their content marketing goes. And then finally, the most recent example is Pokémon Go. We have individuals utilizing this most recent web app to get people aware of their store, their brand, or come in for, you know, a discount or free services if they are associated with Pokémon Go. There are tons of ways that they do this that we won't really go into right now, but it's just another form of content marketing that has been happening recently. So unfortunately, not all content will become legendary. We have content that just because it's created doesn't mean that it's going to get a million views and shared all over the place. You know, it's very easy to jump on bandwagons without really a plan in place. But using SEO helps kind of focus that content and make it what it actually should be. So, what does SEO have to do with all of this? Well, SEO provides a great foundation to your content. It gets you to the audience that you're targeting. It provides, again, it provides that foundation where it targets your audience specifically. It gets your audience to the content that you are putting out there, that you are providing. Content marketing compared to SEO, content marketing is more emotional. It's appealing to a specific audience. It connects to your audience. It's typically useful information provided in either a fun or, again, an emotional way. It's entertaining. It also needs to be worth sharing, so it needs to be information that your audience or the audience that you are going for cares about. It needs to be helpful. I already mentioned humorous and purposeful. So it needs to have a point to it. It's not just Again, putting up an image of Pokémon Go because that's what is hip and current, and yeah, that doesn't have— it won't have as much impact just kind of jumping on a bandwagon and utilizing that information. SEO, it builds the foundation that I mentioned a little bit earlier. It provides the technical aspect, the index and crawlability of that content. It speaks to the Google algorithms that are out there that are incredibly important in your business. And then again, it's purposeful. So already, just in and of themselves, they're some go-between already. So it's not that they are always completely separate, but I think a lot of the times people look at them as there's content marketing and then there's SEO. Because it is sometimes easier to focus on one or the other. Content creation, it is a human process. So you have to discover who is your audience? Who are you trying to gain or get to look at your content or your site? What do they need? Are they individuals who read a lot of content online? Or if they are, what are they looking at? Is it more image-based? Is it more Is it a combination of both? Where, when, and how do they engage with content? Are they night owls? Are they early risers? Kind of going into how they engage with the content, are they more text-based or image-based or a combination of the two? So, here's an example of some content that I found really interesting. So, Orkin is a well-known pest control provider. They've been around for quite a while, and I feel like it would be hard to meet someone who didn't really know who they were, or at least what they did. They provide some fantastic pest and spider-related and insect-related content that, as you can see here, up there with Wikipedia. They do this because it's useful, and they know that their audience is looking up What is this crazy, you know, maybe not spiny black orb weave spider, but they're looking up white-spotted scary spider or something like that, and they're providing this information to their consumers while also they are— their brand is all over their webpage, but they're providing this information in a way that is useful to their audience and conveys Great information that their audience wants to read and provides that name recognition so that maybe the person who's reading this information doesn't necessarily need pest control at this very moment. They now know that, oh, Orkin helped me with my kids' insect project, or they kept me safe, and/or the feeling of safety because they informed me of this spider that I thought was incredibly deadly actually isn't. So maybe I'll use them when I actually do need their services. With content creation, you also need to stay true to your voice. So you need to make sure that your content isn't just, again, getting on a bandwagon or being put out there just to be put out there. You need to know who your audience is, what type of voice that you are trying to convey, And when I say voice, I mean the tone, the, you know, is it more professional or casual, things like that that you almost need to figure out before you start creating this content, and SEO can help in that. And so, content creation and SEO work together to, again, build that foundation to find out who your audience is, what information they're looking up, Things like that. And it's also, you know, SEO in its perfect form is marketed by or optimized by humans. And, you know, who's searching for this or who's searching for this information? Humans are. So, when SEO comes in, it's looking at all this, you know, base information that is— that's kind of the same or very analytical, and that's I think that's the perception of SEO, as opposed to it's thinking of the person and who's searching for it, while also considering Google's algorithms and things like that. So, here are some of the ways that SEO empowers content marketing. Through keywords, searching keywords that you're trying to rank for, your competitors are ranking for, what are people searching for? In relation to the content that you are creating. What kind of headlines are out there? What are people already using as, in their headlines, talking about similar subjects? What's eye-catching? What makes the most sense for, to convey the most information the quickest way possible? Phrases, is there a group of phrases? Is there almost like a catchphrase to what you are talking about, or the information that you are trying to provide? Competition, again, going back to looking at what your competitors are doing. What competition is out there? Is this content going to be butting heads with a million other articles, or is this something that hasn't really been talked about, and SEO can help you find that information through your content? Traffic sources, who is already linking to this? What makes the most sense as far as the content that you're providing? Who is already talking about it? What are they talking about? Relevancy is kind of the same thing. Does this make sense for you to create this content for your audience? Are they looking for these things already, or is it something that they should be looking for, but the content isn't there? These go into, is it internally linking? Are there— do they make sense as far as getting viewers to not just the content that you created, but other content that you've created in the in the past, or have associations with, or whatnot. With content creation, you also need to prevent burnout. You can create content on the same thing. Using Pokémon Go as an example, you can create content piece after content piece after content piece about that subject, and people will not care. You know, a lot of the time, even on episodes of shows, or even popular movies. You'll have a lot of people who go in for that first episode, but then the next episode will have a little bit less, and a little bit less. So it's about understanding when you've written too much about a piece of content or a subject, and kind of when to step back and understand that you need to switch it up a little bit. And that goes into looking outside your own universe. So it's easy to be the expert in your particular niche and understand who your audience should be or who you want to go after. But sometimes you need to understand that with your content, you need to be thinking outside the box, or in this case, again, outside your own universe. So, you have guest posting opportunities, looking what's already out there. It's one of the best things about SEO and content is looking at what has been done and how you can make it better. Thinking about influencer interviews, so if you are the subject, or if you have other friends, or know individuals within your niche or industry that have something to say about a particular topic, interview them. Utilize their information and their clout to be able to use and create content around them. Industry expert roundups, same thing just with multiple people. Collaborative surveys, you know, getting your audience involved, seeing what they're talking about, what information that they want to see. And sometimes it's funny to do the opposite of that, you know, if it seems like a lot of people want the same thing, you know, they don't want to see that sequel to the movie, or they want to see a sequel to the movie that they loved, but they basically want to see the same movie again. Thinking about how you can utilize that information from your audience to make a good piece of content or multiple pieces. Vendor and affiliate spotlights, who are you sponsored by? How can you partner up with them to sponsor some kind of post to get your name out there and get their name out there as well and share it on their social media and it just kind of compounds from there. Client stories and successes, people love seeing reviews, good or bad. Seeing some success stories and how your customers or your viewers can relate to those stories is a perfect way to create that content. And actually, here's an example of how Page One Power has done this. So, we had Nicholas Chamonix. He collaborated with Moz, who I don't think there's anyone in the industry who doesn't know or utilize Moz, and John Dougherty with Credo. And they created a state of link building survey, and they used analytical data. It was published on Moz's blog. They collected survey data. They just created this huge, huge database of information to kind of talk on the state of link building. And because we utilized Moz and Credo, we also used our blog, Linkarati. We created this— we expanded our viewership and utilized the viewership of Moz and Credo to gain more eyes on this particular topic and subject, as opposed to just putting it on our blog and saying that we did work with Moz in kind of a small way or what have you. But this is just an example of how thinking outside the box or outside of your own universe can really help you in your content marketing efforts. Here you'll see that we also created podcasts, and we did a webinar on it, and it helped us increase our brand awareness and our site traffic, because again, we utilized these partnerships or the clout of these other websites to be able to really push our content out there and get it seen by a lot more people than if we just put Put it out there and let it do its own thing. So one of the last things I'll cover with content creation is don't be afraid to reboot and reuse. So you might have some old content out there that you know did really well. Maybe it was timely. Maybe you had everything SEO-related up to snuff on it. Maybe all the stars aligned to make it a great piece of content. There's nothing wrong with taking that piece of content, updating it either with the newest information or rebooting it with more graphics or something like that to make it new again. That's one of the relatively easier ways to get content out there, especially something that did really, really well for yourself. And that— and with that, I think my presentation, I wanted to provide that history of content marketing, how SEO plays into that and builds that foundation for your content to get it viewed that much more and get it out there to the audience that you provide. And I hope this helped you understand how SEO and content can work together to evolve your overall marketing strategy to better serve yourself and your audience. So thank you for your time.

Thank you, Tyler. I'm sure our attendees have a much stronger idea of how to marry your content to your SEO, but you didn't answer every question. I've got several good questions teed up for you, and I'd like to remind our audience that it's not too late to ask your own question by typing it into the questions box in your GoToWebinar controls. But before we get to your questions, I'd like to let you know about my video course on content marketing. The internet has now reduced distribution costs to nearly zero, so content marketing is within the reach of even the most budget-challenged companies. All you need to do is to understand how to identify your audience, learn their content needs, and meet them, which is actually what this course on content marketing will do for you. Learn how to reach your audience with quality content that won't break the bank. Go to courses.mikemoran.com for more info and try the first unit out for free. We're about to start firing questions at Tyler, but we need to thank our sponsors once again. BarnRaisers, A full-service digital and social media solutions company that builds brands using proven relationship principles and ROI. GaggleAmp empowers companies to amplify their social media content by leveraging employees, partners, and resellers. Try GaggleAmp for free today. Garrus Corp, a full-service digital strategy firm that reaches deeper into the conversation than any other agency anywhere. And Page One Power. Is your site getting the links it deserves? We are the link builders you've been looking for. Now on to your questions. Our first question, Tyler, which I think was provoked by the slide you had early in the presentation, does Pokémon Go have any lessons for typical brands?

Any lessons for particular brands? I think that Pokémon Go is very unique because it's utilizing nostalgia while also utilizing its own Yeah, I think that's exactly it. It's utilizing its own nostalgia to be able to get people in on this. Even if you were 110 years old or 13 when Pokémon first came out back in the early '90s, you were aware of it. It was a big thing, some controversy, some not. And I think that they're really utilizing that nostalgia to get people to try it out. It's inherent that it's creating some kind of community focus by getting people out and going to places that they might not have. So I think the biggest takeaway is looking if you have any kind of nostalgia-like content, or you have a brand or product that can utilize that, and really kind of push that or create content for that. Or again, use that kind of community aspect and get people out there in your community, more so maybe on a local basis as opposed to if you're a huge national brand. But yeah, I think that's how you can use it.

Next question, is the best way to start blogging to use LinkedIn? I assume they mean LinkedIn Pulse.

Yeah, I think using LinkedIn is— I think that there are tons of different ways to start blogging. LinkedIn is great. Starting your own WordPress, just getting information out there is what is key. If you already have a brand established and you have somewhat of a company presence, You know, utilizing— starting your own company blog makes the most sense. But if you're an individual who just wants to get your information out there, starting a WordPress, LinkedIn, anything like that will kind of get you out there and get people to start recognizing you. Almost like in this webinar, utilizing ORCID as an example of how they're providing information. with their brand all over the place so that you at least recognize it. So a lot of our meetings now involve conversations over the phone and not really in person, so it is a face to a name and/or looking at someone's LinkedIn real quick before you have a conversation with them. So I think that's a good place to start, but there are multitudes of different ways.

That sounds right, Tyler. My guess is that B2B companies might really benefit from LinkedIn Pulse, but as you say, there's plenty of other places places to blog, and B2C companies might find other places too. So I have a couple questions here on tools. First one is, what's your favorite tool or technique to find influencers?

Twitter for me is huge. It's quick, fast information. There are tons of groups out there that you can join just by searching for them. We're here in the Boise, Idaho area. I know we have business resources available. That's one of my favorite places to find influencers, and again, kind of the quickest way to find those individuals. You can also just do an old-fashioned Google search and see who is prominent in an industry. Some LinkedIn profiles might pull up, and you can see what they've written about. But again, to answer the question more specifically, Twitter is Fantastic.

That's great, Tyler. I have to say that I feel really old to find out both that Google is old-fashioned and that Pokémon is tapping into nostalgia, but we'll move on anyway. I have another tools question, which is, what tools do you use to optimize your content?

Hmm, so you can use— to optimize your content, I think that Already looking through— there's a program called Screaming Frog that will crawl all of your existing content. And you can, from there, you can start to kind of build a general idea of what you're already linking to and what kind of— where your content is kind of going or where you're already internally sending that content or those signals out to— for that content in particular. But yeah, I think that there's a tool like that. There's also tools like SEMrush where you can see keywords that are ranking for yourself or other competitors, and from those keywords you can do a search or specifically search those keywords to figure out what content is related to them already. And in turn kind of start building a foundation of who and what— who is looking at your content and what kind of content that you should be creating and/or how you should optimize your content. One of my favorite things is that there are a huge variety of different tools, and I think that our industry would be incredibly simple if it was just use Google and use this particular program. But unfortunately, that's not how it is, but fortunately, that's not how it is. It's great that there are tons of different ways. You blink your eye and it's completely different.

Terrific, Tyler. Last question: we've been doing content marketing a long time. We have a lot of content, but we're not seeing the sales we were hoping for. What are some things we might be doing wrong?

As far as seeing sales from your content in particular, I think that that might be a— I don't want to say— I hesitate to say wrong, but maybe not the right way to look at it. The idea of thinking that you create this content to immediately and/or in a short period of time get conversions on those money pages that you're going after, I think, is not necessarily the right way to look at it. To utilize your content strategy. Your content should be getting your name out there, and that's kind of how the focus should be, is getting your name out there, getting that awareness. And from that awareness, studying what content does the best. Why is it doing really well? Either looking at, you know, is it topically relevant? Is it timely? Things like that. And from that information, create that content and maybe make it a little more focused so that it can create conversions. But again, content marketing isn't just about those sales. It's about getting people to be aware of your brand and almost trust your brand by providing this information. You know, we trust each other as people by having conversations and telling stories, and that's a good way to think about your content. And I wish it created conversions immediately, but unfortunately, to say you're doing something wrong, I don't think is right. I think saying that maybe you're not doing something in particular and/or the research isn't there to really help with that sales side of things.

Terrific. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you, Tyler, for these great ideas, and thanks especially to our audience for your participation and your questions. If any of you had questions For questions we did not have time to answer, you can email your questions to eileen@mikemoran.com and she'll be sure to get them to Tyler for the answer. Later this week, we'll send you all a link to the recording of this webinar to listen to again and to share with others. We also invite you to mark your calendar for our next Biz— Biznology webinar, How to Go Beyond Brand Awareness and Actually Drive Revenues Using LinkedIn. With Christina Jaramillo scheduled for 11 AM US Eastern Time on September 13th. Enjoy the rest of your summer. Bye everybody.