Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit Case Study
November 16, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · 2 Comments
I wanted to pass on a quick recap. I posted on my participation in IES this past weekend where I streamed my talk on Interactive Marketing. I told the participants in my session to Google “Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit” in 30 days and see where my post was in the results. The net result is that…
My content (both the post and the ustream.tv recordings of my chat) appears on the first page of results and did so within 24 hours of me hitting “publish”.
Here are the reasons that I see for this result…most of which we talked about in our session.
- I have used the 3 key words that define the event. I used “Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit” in my title and it’s sprinkled throughout naturally. I haven’t forced the issue or “tried to pack in more instances that the post deserved.” I’ve also used IES multiple times but there are a lot of organizations and groups out there with that acronym so that will be harder to get on page 1.
- I have embedded video that I streamed live and recorded into the post. This is another “content outpost”. Why not stream something live and get the recording with almost no effort? Sure it’s not the best recording but I told my participants as I always do that “I don’t use handouts” but how would you like to replay this entire chat again anytime you’d like to extract the key points? They thought that wasn’t a bad idea. Notice that this recording is ALSO on the first page of results.
- I am probably the only person using a WordPress based / blog based site to talk about this conference. The conference doesn’t have its own site yet and anyone with information about the conference has a fairly static site. My blog post was done before I left the conference on Saturday. Was this a lot of effort? No. It took about 15 minutes to write and post.
Summary: I have the platform that lets met rapidly put out fresh content (WordPress). Google loves fresh content and since I’ve been doing this a while…the magic Google engine gives my site a little respect. I used the exact keywords that people will probably search for if they’re trying to get information on this event. I’ve used multiple forms of content (video, written word) and I’ve pushed that content into additional outposts (ustream.tv). This blog post will be part of an automated newsletter that goes out occasionally to my email marketing subscribers too. When I get 5 new posts…the newsletter is “magically created” with no effort on my part thanks to (aweber email marketing). Remember that setting up your infrastructure NOW means you don’t have to think about it later. I also linked out to many other sites in my post so perhaps these folks know this and are now aware of me…increasing my chances of getting inbound links back from them.
BONUS: During the conference, I ended up meeting 3 people that I have known and follow only through Twitter. During the day, they told other people that we’d met and that we were having lunch, attending my session, etc. 10 new people have followed me since the conference and if we consider that they’re ALL Des Moines based…I have just added to my local network in town, solidified some FACE TO FACE relationships that were purely and casually online until now, and created some case study results to share with my audience.
Not a bad 48 hours I’d say. Now anyone who knows me understands that I’m not your typical, “SEO guru”. I don’t know the ins and outs that some companies practice to “back door sites to the top” using buried meta information (did I lose you? me too). Like a good business person, I worry about that which I can do something about…and I pay to have the rest taken care of. I let the tools and systems do their job for me like having a WordPress site with the best plugins to say “Hi Google…I’m here”. Then, I write and create video with rich content with an eye for key words. See…simple.
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The Myth of The SEO “Magic Bullet”
April 20, 2009 by paulgratton · Leave a Comment
At CreateWOWmedia we’ve found solid success in helping our customers become more findable and engaging on the web through organic search results. We don’t use trickery, black magic, or under-the-table dealings – just solid, repeatable, AND PROVEN processes and techniques.
Not everyone in the search engine optimization is so forthcoming; there are a lot of slicksters out there who will use razzle-dazzle to confuse and abuse their customers. Don’t believe them!
Don’t play the fool; learn Five Tips for Avoiding Deceptive SEO Companies. Your brand depends on it.
Entrefest wrap up
March 16, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment
I was priveleged to speak at Entrefest a couple weeks back and I had the time of my life. Entrefest is a 2-day conference that delivers training, information, assistance…and awareness to businesses new and old.
My sessions were on Search Engine Optimization and Social Media and they were very well received. The bottom line is that most businesses and government (state or otherwise) sponsored business programs are not talking about the Internet as marketing platform. If they are, it’s most likely in the context of a “brochure site”.
I think I can walk away from this conference proud that we made a difference. Our team hopes to continue the conversation with all of the individuals and agencies that we met…both online and offline.
Thank you so much UNI, Maureen, and Amy for making us feel so welcome.
Entrefest Conference Live Stream
March 4, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment
Entrefest Conference
I’m getting ready to head off to the Entrefest Conference in Coralville, Iowa this afternoon. I’m unbelievably excited to immerse myself in throngs of entrepreneurs…some of which are budding “yet to take the plunge” folks while others are probably much more experienced than myself. The speaking panel alone comprises vast resources that I can’t wait to connect with. Word is that attendance is WAY up and there will likely be close to 300 “Uber-preneurs” providing positive energy. Can you feel it too?
I’m giving two breakout sessions:
- Search Engine Optimization: The Basics
- Social Media Marketing: New Name. Same Stuff
I hope to bring a unique approach to each session and can’t wait to field the QA portion of the show. We’ll be capturing my talks and others on video AND:
We’ll be live streaming my sessions and others, providing real time chat, and the twitter stream at http://createwowmedia.com/entrefest so tune in at your convenience and see what we’re cookin’ up.
Managing the Edge Internet Business Podcast
February 16, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment
Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve had the great pleasure of recording and streaming a powerful new internet business podcast called, Managing the Edge. Managing the Edge is a collaboration between me (Doug Mitchell) and Andy Brudtkuhl (Brood-Cool) of 48 Web.
The show’s tag line really says it all in that,
“We’d like to help you become more findable and engaging on the web.”
Simple. Effective. Straightforward.
Andy and I discuss web strategy, software platforms, analytics, search engine optimization (SEO), content generation and distribution, and a ton of other great web topics. But here’s what you MUST know. The Managing the Edge Internet Business Podcast does NOT forget the word BUSINESS! We always bring technology back to the realm of “Why should I care as a real business person with real issues?” Technology is great but who cares if no one is buying, reading, consuming your product right?
Our recent episodes are all about getting “Back to Business” where we reconnect some of the more in depth tech talk with real business people. In fact, in our upcoming episode that will hit later today, we had on a guest who has exploded his business online by building community around his content. Pretty cool stuff?
I’d encourage you to visit Managing the Edge and subscribe using the iTunes link. Listen to as many past episodes as you can and just see what we’ve got cooking.
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Inaugural episode of new weekly podcast – “Managing the Edge” is now live
January 12, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
I’m blessed to have an amazing sphere of friends and talent orbiting the create WOW media mothership. One such uber dude is Andy Brudtkuhl (that’s BROOD-COOL). You won’t hear him correct me on that during the podcast…due to the magic of editing software! Look at how that name is spelled for goodness sake. Huh???
Andy runs 48Web, a Web Strategy consultancy in town. Among the zillions of things Andy does, one is to lay out excellent-tangible-actionable web strategy plans. Andy’s services are very complimentary to createWOWmedia’s and we often collaborate heavily on projects.
createWOWmedia focuses on deploying infrastructure, coaching the reasons why we need to organically grow our findability, and amplifying online brands through rich multimedia (walk on video + green screen video + podcasts + custom music). While 48Web lays out what we need to do each week to be successful, what technologies need to be deployed, and how much time we can expect to devote to each per week. (SEO + analytics + budgeting + hosting) etc.
Bottom line, this Podcast called Managing the Edge will be a weekly MEGA value informational powerhouse for the premium price of ZERO bucks.
I’d recommend subscribing to the Managing the Edge Podcast Feed so you’re in the know. As always, your comments, feedback, suggestions, and mojo are welcome. I’ve embedded the podcast below but please, subscribe to the Podcast feed to ensure delivery every time.
Thanks for listening.
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Video SEO Presentation by ReelSEO
December 11, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Again, unbelievably relevant information on Video SEO from Mark Robertson at ReelSEO.com. This slideshow will give you some great tips and strategies for making your video more findable on the web.
Small Business Tip: Some of the tips and information in this presentation will probably be more than you’d like to handle on your own and that’s fine. Maybe you haven’t filmed a single video yet. Just try to extract a few key tidbits that you CAN use and leave the rest for later, or ask someone you trust to help you out. Keep up the unbelievable work Mark/ReelSEO.
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Politics and Web Video SEO: Evening the playing field
October 31, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment
There’s a great article over at ReelSEO called, “Video SEO and Local Politics – How the Little Guy Stands Out”. The main point of the article is to show how putting out web video can increase exposure and trump the big guys. If you’re involved politically or not this article is worth reading and digesting.
Back to our world, remember that:
Not all video traffic comes from people searching for “Joe Political Candidate.” Much video traffic comes from showing up under related searches and hits from being contextually linked together. (Think search for “Iowa Democrats” producing results for Republican opponents)
Grant Crowell, the author of this article says it best near the end of the piece.
As a video SEO expert knows, you need to put out lots of content, not just one clip. However, one unique video clip can still perform a lot better than a competitor with no unique clips. Especially when you can have each single clips of all of the party candidates show up in a playlist, which builds link popularity for everybody in the list.
It’s probably a bit late in the 2008 election cycle to start thinking about this…but come November 5, I’d suggest a plan that involves lots of web video and Internet Findability mediums.
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Google search produces video results at bottom of page
October 1, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
The guys at Reel SEO continue to be on the cutting edge of researching the changing face of video search out there. They put this post together that describes the direction “The Google” is taking with regarding to displaying videos at the bottom of the results page when doing a typical google search.
I talked about this a couple days ago when I noticed that out of the blue…I had a video show up in the results for searches on my name. Check out the results when using Google’s video search on my name. Wow. I’ve been busy!
Let’s bring this back to the bottom line for small businesses.
Why do you care about this? Internet Findability is your friend. If you’re a Pest Control business in Des Moines, Iowa and you don’t show up when people search for “pest control Des Moines Iowa”…you’re “hosed” as they say. As more of your business depends on being “findable” you need to increase your reach. Video serves this purpose quite well. Video let’s you connect with your potential audience in a way that most businesses simply aren’t leveraging. Now is the time.
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US News and World Report Blogging for Business article right on target
September 29, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment
Image via Wikipedia
Matthew Bandyk wrote a great piece in US News and World Report called How to Blog Your Way to Small Business Success.
The article includes quotes from some key blogging, social media, and marketing guys in practice today including:
- John Jantsch of Ducttape Marketing
- Chris Brogen of just about everything social media
- Joel Libava of “The Franchise King”. (Thanks to Rush Nigut for introducing me to Joel’s blog a while ago)
I think the main punch of the piece is that it summarizes the 5 key reasons why small businesses should blog. I’d like to highlight number 5
5) Keep it simple with search engine optimization. That’s the term for getting the most out of Google searches for your site. There are countless ways to figure out how to make your blog more search-engine friendly. But trying to know everything about it is almost a second job.
Yes! Most of us are really too busy to understand the inner workings of why search engines love us or hate us. We coach that you should ONLY consider building your corporate website platform on a blogging software platform like WordPress or Typepad. The bottom line is that with templates and other “plugins” and “widgets” there’s nothing you can’t do to give your blog the FULL treatment from the corporate brochure ware stuff…to the keyword/link/meta data rich blog stuff. Just give yourself the best chance to be more findable. Or…as we say,
“Raise your Internet Findability Factor.”
As a small business here in the Des Moines metro area, in Corona, California, or New Philadelphia, Ohio…you need to focus on high return activities. Although small business blogging may be a long term investment, it will pay dividends far greater than the norm over time.
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