Dream Systems Media Blog

I’m back!

Yes, it’s been too long since I blogged at DSM, and I’m honest when I say “I’ve missed it…”

I’m re-motivated to share ideas, ask questions, and even call people (and companies) out on their online business stupidity.

I’ll start, though, with a sincere SEO question:

Is reading a BOOK really helpful to an SEO Firm (or freelancer or wanna be)?

To make sure I’ve clarified – a BOOK is just that: paper back, hard-bound, library issued or purchased on Amazon. I’m not referring to an eBook, a list of blog articles or your habitual RSS Reader.

Books – you know – the things that Borders can’t seem to sell anymore. Do real books even exist these days?

Questions about Reading Books

• What’s the last real book you read?
• What real book(s) are you currently reading?

Business, SEO SEO

This is gonna be a quick post of some of the most common site errors I still see to date.  Crazy thing to think about IMO is that it’s the middle of the year in 2011, and we are STILL seeing some of these.  Now I know SEO died many years ago, but its just crazy to think these basic onsite SEO issues are not being handled like they should be with business owners.  Heh, maybe we still ARE needed.  What gets me is that even some of the most basic changes can bring about huge differences in traffic and rankings – and of course, sales and making money … which is why you are doing this right?  To make money?

As I ran quickly through a few sites last week (for potential new clients) these were the common problems found:

SEO common seo mistakes, SEO

Have you ever had this problem?

In your head you’re saying “No, No, No!!!” But then you say “Yes” anyway? Me too, me too…

I’ve been self-employed now for almost six full months.

I’ve found some “Golden Clients”, and I’ve dealt with some that have come close to making we want to go back to “Corporate America” (not really).

I’ve come to the conclusion that some clients are just not worth it. Sure, they may be paying you pretty good money to work for them. Sure, they may have respect for what you’re doing (sort of). But at the end of the day, due to their unrealistic expectations and/or their lack of understanding about what they purchased, they demand more and more for less and less, and they will probably not end up being one of those clients who refers you to all their contacts.

Sales and Marketing, SEO

A Thanks To SEO

SEO has been GOOD to me.  SEO has been GOOD to my clients. I have been doing this since the late 90s, and still no complaints…from anyone, not one.

Don’t compare us to lawyers, don’t try to tell us we are selling snake oil, and especially – I mean especially, don’t try to tell us our industry is dead (have you heard of Google?). We have heard it all before, and to be quite honest, we are getting bored of it. Seriously figure out something else to talk about in 2010. Please? Go link bait your agenda in some other industry.

SEO online marketing, SEO, SEO is dead, SEO is not dead

My approach to press releases is different than traditional PR. Most of the press releases I write are less about getting press coverage for my news, and more about getting quality backlinks to my site. However, it is possible to do both. It starts with a good story and added to that, online distribution.

Many people believe it’s enough to blog about their news. For some high traffic blogs (thought leaders) this might be true. For most blogs there isn’t the distribution. You want to reach outside of your community for greater exposure.

Here’s an IM conversation I had recently about the importance of press release distribution:

Clogon: i guess i just put my “press releases” in the form of blog posts

Me: yes and your reach is pretty limited compared to a distribution site that sends it to thousands of people

Sales and Marketing, Search Marketing, SEO online PR, press releases

About a month ago I had a conversation with an old school mate that found me via Facebook. It has been about 14 – 15 years since I last spoke/saw/did anything with this guy. We mostly just talked about what I do for a living, but it was interesting for me to hear his thoughts and ideas about our industry (and how he thought he did the same thing for a living). I have to admit the conversation was a bit irritating, and I ended up having to tell my old friend I had to .  I  can’t remember the reason I gave him, but the real reason was I was two seconds away from losing it and really giving him a piece of my mind!

SEO Internet Marketing, Marketing, online marketing, SEO

Brandon Buttars

A long time friend of mine, who also happens to be a web developer recently took some time to answer some questions for me.  He and I have noticed there is a huge communication gap between most web developers and SEOs/Internet marketers.  We feel that the web developer thinks that they know how to build the site “good enough” without talking to an SEO, and the SEOs assume the developers don’t have a clue about marketing online.  Both are wrong. You each bring something amazing to the table and need each other.  I think we need to have some better communication from the very start and to kick things off, and get you thinking differently – here is my interview of Brandon Buttars, web developer.

SEO Brandon Buttars, Internet Marketing, SEO, web developer

Do It Yourself Site Review

I complete a lot of site reviews. Often times, I give the same exact advice to each customer. Therefore, I thought I would just go ahead and share the 12 most common things that are wrong or need fixed with most sites – from an SEO/marketing standpoint.  I usually conduct these site reviews during my initial site audit for client or potential client.  I know I posted about the 5 Minute SEO Audit Checklist a while back on Search Engine People, but I wanted to expand on that article with a few other things to look for:

1. URL canonicalization and 301s need to be set in place because on 100% of the sites I review they are not.
2. Custom 404s – I have seen catchy ones, crazy ones, ones that let you search, but at this point having anything is better then an ugly “this page does not exist” result that takes customers away from your site itself, thereby giving you less credibility.

SEO SEO, seo audit, site audits, site reviews

Last weekend I built a fancy chicken coop called a chicken ark. Sadly, many of my friends and family members were actually surprised that I could turn out this custom home. I guess they didn’t know I was a super star in my high school wood shop.

OK, so your not impressed and would like to know what SEO campaigns have to do with building chicken coops. The correlation has to do with being able to work both inside and outside of the blue prints.

So, let me tell you a little bit more about my weekend project. The chicken coop blueprint I was following called for both 3″ and 4″ wide pieces of lumber, however Lowes didn’t have any of either. I had to use 3.5″ and 4.5″ wide lumber and that meant that I ran into a snag when it came time to put on the doors. My doors were too big! I had been using 4.5″ pieces when the plan called for 4″. So, I had to improvise and leave the comfort zone of simply following the plan. I realized that a good chicken coop engineer (yes, I like that title) had to be able to work both inside and outside of the blueprint.

David Mink, SEO chicken coop, SEO campaigning

Local Search Marketing Tactics – Local search doesn’t only happen in relation what’s on a map. This

Local Search Marketing Panel

session looks at a variety of local search tactics that are not necessarily tied to your physical location’s listing.

Moderator: Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence

Speakers:
Scott Dunlap, CEO, NearbyNow, Inc.
Matt McGee, Assignment Editor, Search Engine Land
William Scott, President, Search Influence
Dennis Yu, CEO, BlitzLocal LLC

NOTES

Scott Dunlap, CEO, NearbyNow, Inc.
Topic: Tracking and Measuring Online/In-Store Shoppers

Local search is by def: a multi-channel opp.  Search online and buy in store.  There is a 9 to 1 ratio of people wanting to buy in store due to urgency.  So the questions is how do you track traffic to convertion when they are finding you online, yet buying in your store.

Solutions:

General, Local Marketing, SEO, SMX SMX, SMX West