Mozcon is one of the best online marketing and SEO conferences in the country and is held each summer in Seattle. It is run by the SEO software company SEOMoz and brings in some of the top speakers in the SEO and online marketing industry. This year was the biggest event yet with over 700 attendees and over 20 amazing speakers. I wanted to share some of my top takeaways that may be able to help you with your online marketing campaigns.
1. Find Amazon Wishlists of Influential Bloggers
One tip shared by Paddy Moogan of Distilled is to develop relationships with influential bloggers in your industry is to find their Amazon Wishlist and send them something on their list with a friendly note.
2. Mash up Interests for Content
Ian Lurie from Portent discussed using Facebook Ads to research things that your target market is interested in. When you enter an interest, Facebook shows related interests like Battlestar Gallactica when you enter the interest of computer programming. You can then mash the ideas together for an article about Programming Lessons from Battlestar Gallactica.
3. Choose Short Men
Rand Fishkin discussed data by a dating site that showed that short men received a disproportionately low number of requests and so the opportunity to find a good match is greater if you contact them. Similarly, there are a lot of marketing opportunities that receive less attention but provide significant rewards. One such opportunity may be in video marketing since a lot fewer people create video content compared to text content.
4. Do Real Company Stuff (#RCS)
Wil Reynolds made an excellent argument that many SEOs took advantage of Google’s algorithm to improve rankings by doing things like 3 way link exchanges and dofollow comment links. Google was embarrassed and are getting rid of a lot of the loopholes that were exploited for years. The solution is to do things that real companies do, like conducting a study or sponsoring a good cause.
5. Create Ebooks to Earn Links
Matt Cutts recently revealed in an interview with Eric Enge that Google may discount infographic links to some degree in the future. While infographic can still be effective in earning links, an alternative mentioned by Cyrus Shepard is to create Ebook instead. They are often less expensive to product and provide valuable content to people.
6. Google Plus is a Useful Tool
Much has been made in the media about Google+ being a ghost town, but as AJ Kohn points out, it is here to stay. There are several advantages of using Google+ as a tool for your online marketing. People who circle your brand will see a lot more of your listings in their search results. Additionally, links to your site in Google+ posts are helpful and are followed links.
7. Get in Front of Influential People on the Web
Tom Critchlow, who is leaving Distilled to work for Google, made a winning argument for how the SEO industry can respond to the changing tide of the search landscape. Instead of rewarding links alone, Google is moving toward rewarding things that advertising agencies are better at doing like creating remarkable content. To survive against the ad giants who have been doing creative for decades, the SEO industry must focus on what it does best which is to build partnerships with influencers on the Web like Tim Ferris.