The post The 3 Most Powerful Things You Can Do Online Right Now! appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

We discussed what makes good content marketing. We also looked at examples of how other companies are doing content marketing. And then we wrap up with different kinds of content marketing you can do.

The complete session is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2TxEAVLQD4

The post Content Marketing – What it is appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

Did you know today is Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday?

As most of you know, this is the second biggest holiday for Christians after Christmas.

Because of that I thought we might look at organizations that give back to the community. Non-profits and that sort of thing.

If you are a non-profit this month’s session is dedicated to you: for being really great to your community.

We can look at any kind of Web marketing to help you with your mission of awesomeness.

Digital Akron is the last Thursday of every month… which is today.

It’s from 4:00-5:30 pm.

We provide snacks and drinks.

Just come to:

15 Broad St.
Akron Ohio

We’d love to see you here.

You are welcome to show up. But if you would register that would be great. You can register here:

Digital Akron Monthly Event

Also, I might attempt to live stream the show on my USTREAM channel here:

Sage Lewis on USTREAM

I’ll put out a notification on Twitter if it’s going to happen here: http://www.twitter.com/sagerock

The post Digital Akron This Afternoon at 4:00 appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

I’m really psyched about that because:

1. I’ve never spoken at Pubcon before.
2. I went to the first Pubcon where it was at a bar and we drank all day.
3. There are two people I attribute most of my base learning of SEO to. One of them is Brett Tabke the founder and CEO of Pubcon.
   

   Brett Tabke

   He has always been a major supporter of the SEO community. His WebmasterWorld was instrumental in getting a good, solid foundation of SEO principles.

Video is my bailiwick. I do a lot of video. And have done so since 2006. I joined Youtube
Feb 1, 2006, 

These are some of my top level stats of my Youtube Channel:

• Videos: 903
• Created: Feb 1, 2006
• Lifetime views: 451,882

I’m definitely not a “top Youtuber.” But I’m pretty happy with my presence in the Web marketing niche.

At any rate, I’m putting my list of topics I want to cover in a new tool I’m trying: List.ly. This tool lets you create lists that other people can add to and engage with and also embed it directly on your site.

So, as you look through the list below, if you see something I’m missing you can add it to the list.

You can also share the list as well, if you think it’s worth sharing.

There are still many areas that aren’t being crowdsourced… which is probably a missed opportunity. But now we can crowdsource our lists.

So, here’s the list I’ve been working on. Let me know what you think and let me know if you have any other items I should include on the list as I pull my data together.

The post Using List.ly for my Pubcon Video SEO Presentation Planning appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

I did! I did get to stream it!

If you didn’t make it to the Hudson Library and need an SEO refresher, you might give these videos a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yvnEnjTaO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHKu4cUlNds

I’m speaking as part of the Hudson Library speaker series they do.

This has become a very well regarded series in our region. They always have really cool people speaking.

I’ve been lucky to be part of the series 3 times now.

Tonight, I’m doing a presentation on: The top 10 things you should know about SEO for your small business.

I’m seriously considering doing a live stream of the session from my phone on my Ustream channel. The biggest issue with that is what kind of Verizon service they have there. If I can get a solid 4G signal I might just try it.

If I stream it live I’ll post the link to the live session at the top of this blog post and I’ll tweet it out.

This is a two hour session. So getting to 10 points in two hours makes for a bit of a whirlwind. But it should also make it pretty fun.

I thought I’d wet your whistle for the event by listing the top 10 of these points.

I’m pretty much just going to bullet point them here. But we’ll go into more detail of each at the event.

OK. Here you go the top 10 things your small business should know about about SEO:

1.  SEO has never, in the history of SEO, been harder for small businesses. Google would rather rank a large brand or a big publisher. Just type in your major key phrases and see if this isn’t true for you. But there are things you can do. Read on…
2. For your first line of key phrase research defense: Use the Google and YouTube suggested search listings. And also use Google’s Related searches at the bottom of the search results page. Like these:
   

   Youtube suggested search

   

   Google Suggested Search

   

   Google Related Searches

3. Use YouTube! This is the absolute best way to break into the search results at Google and YouTube. Google loves Youtube and still loves the small guy for video.
4. Don’t give up on optimizing your content. Use your targeted key phrase in 3 primary places:
   * Your page title.
   * Your body content.
   * Link text (anchor text) from other pages back to the page you are optimizing.
   If you do those things you are ahead of the vast majority of people.
5. Create content people want to talk about. Content that people share in social media, comment on and link to is going to be content that ranks well. You just have to be brilliant, that’s all
6. Claim and optimize your Local Listing on Google Places for Business
   

   Google Places for Business

   This is the most important thing you can do in local search.

7. Claim and optimize your Yelp listing. These listings appear in Bing Local search results.
   

   Claim Your Business Listing On Yelp

   Bing uses Yelp for its local listings. So having a good local listing at Yelp is going to help you on Bing.

8. Understand why people buy things. If you understand why they buy, you can understand what will motivate people to think you have compelling content. Read this article: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2118094/makes-people-reasons

9. Use Slideshare to get ideas for content. There’s a ton of great content over there… probably in your industry. You can use those presentations as inspiration for content for your site.

10. Write in-depth, long, thoughtful articles. Google is looking for the most relevant content. That is usually the most thorough article. “How to” articles are great. You probably will have better luck creating one great article a month versus 20 quick articles.

So there you have it: The Top 10 Things You Should Know About SEO For Your Small Business.

The post The Top 10 Things You Should Know About SEO For Your Small Business appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

To kick things off, I present the You Do You Mug.

Here is the image for the mug:

I took this picture in Toronto on a business trip.

This guy was part of a “Naked Bike” club. (I’ve got some pretty crazy shots from this group that may be good for that extra snarky item in the future.)

But I really liked this guy. He’s totally naked. But he did an amazing full body paint job.

He reminds me that we can’t worry about what others think of us. It’s simply too exhausting.

I see people constantly worried about what people will think of them on social media. But in truth you have no idea what people are going to think of you. It’s impossible to ever really know.

Just: You do you. Forget about other people. You’ll never be the greatest person you can be if you spend all your energy worrying about other people.

And believe me: This message is as much for me as it is for anyone else.

So without further ado: here is my first official product:

The You Do You Mug.

Get the mug so you don’t forget.

Click the picture below to buy it:

You Do You Mug on Zazzle

The post The You Do You Mug appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

I’ve been yelling about businesses needing to become publishers.

Unless you’re a big brand, it’s going to be the only way to get into Google’s organic results.

Please read this and check out the example businesses:

How Ecommerce Startups Are Marrying Content & Commerce

The post How Ecommerce Startups Are Marrying Content & Commerce appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

For an agency, this article is just terrifying.

Is it just price people care about? Does quality really have no bearing? Is quality actually a deficit?

And if it’s not price is it just because you are the biggest or fanciest?

A Spy in the Agency-Review Process

This kind of realization actually makes me sick to my stomach.

The post A Spy in the Agency-Review Process | Small Agency Diary – Advertising Age appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

I’m not certain what to say here. I’m sorry this death is happening like I’m sorry a 97 year old person is dying.

Death is unfortunate.

But it’s inevitable. Time had its time. But now the time has come for a new time.

It didn’t have to be this way. But I see this refusal to face reality all the time. The old publishing model with bloated advertising costs, bloated infrastructure and bloated reader costs is over.

You only need to look at Google to see how the new advertising world is a very plausible model.

I look forward to seeing the old guard get out of the way so everyone can move on.

The post Time spinoff highlights risks facing magazines - appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.

Adding social features was made possible in the U.S. by changes to the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, which barred movie-rental companies from sharing people’s viewing records.

via Netflix Finally Introduces Facebook Sharing in the U.S. | Media – Advertising Age.

This is going to be a huge opportunity for Netflix.

I wrote about what Netflix needed to do to help their online presence: 4 Free Web Marketing Tips To Netflix.

Social was crucial.

But they still have many other issues… primarily content. While social sharing is going to help them, they still are going to be miles away from IMDB and Amazon because those two site kill them in the content arena.

The post Netflix Finally Introduces Facebook Sharing in the U.S. | Media – Advertising Age appeared first on SageRock Digital Marketing Blog.