In order to be the best you have to first learn from the best. Especially today, as the media landscape changes at light speed. This past week I had a chance to attend a business conference where I got to learn from the best.
Boston Celtics Interactive Media Director Peter Stringer made the statement that “the press release is dead” during his SES Chicago presentation this week. He was one of four panelists for the “Social Media and Sports” presentation at the Search Engine Strategies 2011 conference here in The Chi.
He was joined on the panel by San Francisco Giants Social Media Director Bryan Srabian and Chicago White Sox VP of Communications Scott Reifert. It was moderated by Jamie Trecker, Senior Writer, Fox Sports and Fox Soccer Channel.
The discussion on what will become of the press release is expanded and detailed here
Back to SES. Here are few nuggets and tidbits I picked up:
Twitter is the new AP. By that I mean Associated Press, not Adrian Peterson. Everything breaks there first; because it’s so easy.
-However, 93% of major mainstream media don’t use hash tags. So beat them at their own game by using hash tags to get found, and build up a vast number of followers on Twitter. Make sure your RSS feed is uploaded to Twitter so your followers see your site updating in real time as it happens.
-Page Rank doesn’t matter as much as it once did. More links doesn’t always equal higher page rank, and higher page rank doesn’t always equal higher SERP (Search Engine Results Page) ranking.
-Anchor text in linking is overrated, reciprocal linking is good, as long as you link with someone who’s at your level. Don’t emulate the coupling pattern you see on so many sitcoms (the woman is a million times out of the guy’s league) find a link partner in your ballpark.
-94% of buyers click on organic links, instead of just 6% for paid links. 86% of searches conducted are non-branded queries. Which only reaffirms what I think of buying links and keywords on Google.
-This next item, I picked up through my own experience, not from SES.
Both Google Ad Sense and Ad Words are TERRIBLE programs that force you to play by a very distinct, narrow set of rules, and if you’re found in violation of those rules (rightfully or wrongly, Google is judge, jury, and executioner in this case) you will be punished.
Always remember that SEO is not an exact science. Don’t trust anyone who promises you the top rankings on Google; it doesn’t mean you’ll stay there. And many of the SEOs out there trying to hustle you are charlatans!
Think about how powerful Google is, and how off-the-charts intelligent their engineers are. Why would their search algorithm be common knowledge? If there were ways to 100% manipulate the engine, how could Google let that secret out? Remember that the next time you can get a spam email from some fly-by-night agency asking you for money in order to get you at the top of the SERPs.
My tips are ways to HELP your chances, not GUARANTEE results. So what guarantees results? Study, hard work, and then updating the hard work and studying you’ve done; over and over again. The proper methods come through experimentation, trial-and-error, hypothesis, and networking. Ask the right questions, get the right answers and then use your own logic and reasoning to find your own path to success. Don’t rely on what I, or anyone else, tells you.
That said, I leave with you the SEO term I myself created, the “Jenn Brown Effect;” describing a certain search pattern/phenomenon I discovered. I even made a chart/graph for it (not joking, I really did chart/graph this), and I’ve seen the Jenn Brown Effect in numerous other sideline princesses, but with her the effect/pattern is most recognizable, so I named it after her.
Mostly because college football is my game, and she’s the ESPN Thursday night college football game sideline reporter. Therefore, I’ve noticed the search generated traffic spikes related to her television appearances in her most specifically.
Or at least in the most nailed down, predictable instances.
The Jenn Brown Effect works like this:
1. Find a keyword falling within the upper half of the tail term set, with lower keyword competition. The JB Effect won’t work for head terms.
2. Make sure there’s an outside stimulus for search traffic. Hopefully, it’s a consistent stimulus, in this case, Brown being on television, a bunch of guys noticing she’s hot and wanting to go find more pictures of her.
3. SEO patterns and practices activated by cross platform multimedia appearances, i.e. Brown is on TV all the time, meaning there will be a consistent impetus for guys (or girls, that works too. Actually, that’s even better) to search for her.
4. Rinse and repeat. It’s as simple as that.
The JB Effect was of course inspired by “Erin Pageviews.” Erin Andrews is the #1 most popular sideline reporter on the internet, and Brown could just be the heir to the throne someday.
For more of my tips, theories and case studies using hottie sideline reporters to increase the site’s SEO go here.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports.
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; he’s also a member of the FWAA, USBWA and SPJ. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.
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