Training, training, training. It’s something that we love to do (unfortunately, I don’t get to do much of it myself anymore.)

In our own fair city of Pittsburgh, we’ll be doing Seminars for Success (that would be Google Analytics) training on January 23, 24 and 25. The first day is the 101 — very basic, for beginners or those who just want to start at a beginner level. The second day is the 201, a much more advanced level, but still for marketers and analysts. And the third day is the 301, which is for techies. Or as one of the people who designed the training says, it is like a car: The first day is Driver’s Ed, the second day is Learning to Drive a Race Car, the third day is Learning to be a Mechanic.

We’ll follow the three days of GA training in Pittsburgh with two days of AdWords training — a basic day, followed by a more intermediate day. All the training days (Analytics and AdWords) come with lunch, jump drives with the slides, and WIFI  for all (in fact, we encourage everyone to bring their laptops).  And let’s not forget about time to ask and get answers to questions. We are pretty big on this last topic.  The cost per day (for any of the Pittsburgh training described here) is $499/day, and there are volume discounts. You can learn more about the Google Analytics Training (and the AdWords training, too) here, where you can register as well.

In San Francisco, we are doing a single day of SEO training ($199/person), in partnership with the Non-Profit Technology NetWork’s (NTEN) annual conference. Their summit is in SF on April 3-5, and our full day of SEO training is on April 2.  You can read about the day on the NTEN website and you can register in their shopping cart, when you choose to go to their event. Or, if you just want to attend our SEO day, you can register right here on our site.

OK.  Back to our regularly scheduled educational blogging.

Robbin

GA, AdWords & SEO Training in Pittsburgh, San Francisco is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

This past Wednesday, we had WAW here in Pittsburgh. Many thanks to Mike Ross, the head of WA at Dick’s Sporting Goods, who pushed me to do it, and Brian Collery, late of American Eagle and now at Omniture Adobe who convinced me to help with it.

The crowd was just large enough to be fun and just small enough to hear a lot of great stories. For example, one of the people who attended told me that his own sense of morality is ‘creative.’ But, he pointed out, even his creative morality was offended by the practices of his former employer, a company now being sued for fraud. (Drink and learn, it appears.)

Many thanks to Monetate, who sponsored. I listened to the speaker show how he didn’t get any lift from any of his tests, but saved his employer tens of thousands of dollars by showing them that a new home page was not the answer. And how about that awesome food!

So to Pittsburgh web analysts and would-be Pittsburgh analysts — we’ll be doing another WAW in January.

Robbin

Creative Morality and Web Analytics Wednesday is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

We will be taking our Google Analytics Training (Seminar for Success) on the road to Midtown Manhattan, New York on September 14-16th for a one to three day long training event:

Day 1: Google Analytics 101 for marketers and analysts just getting started with GA.

Day 2: Google Analytics 201 for intermediate and advanced marketers/analysts

Day 3: Google Analytics 301 for techies, webmasters and IT Guru’s

Each day is $499, with discounts given for multiple days. Training will be interactive, so please bring your questions and specific problems. Problem solving is a great way for everyone to learn more about GA capabilities.

The day begins with a continental breakfast at 8:00am and classes starting at 8:30am. Lunch will be provided and there will also be a few short breaks throughout the day. Handouts, jump drives with the slides from the training and WiFi will be accessible on site (we encourage attendees to bring their laptops).

You can learn more about the courses here or register for training here.

See you soon!

New York, NY: Google Analytics Seminars for Success Training is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

Right now Google+ is in what they call the “field trial” phase. As you know, they have sent out invitations to a limited number of people to test out this new social media platform. But while this is a considered a testing period it is also technically a launch. And this launch has to be successful otherwise Google+ will go the way of other ineffective social networking sites like Friendster and Google Orkut.

Almost no information regarding how Google selected invitees has been released, but we do know that Google randomly selected a group of testers, all of which have Gmail accounts. And we can guess that Google looked for accounts that had extensive contact lists. Instead of using a random group of people, Google should have selected a controlled group, specifically a controlled group of college students.

Free Time Changes Everything

To have a social networking site perform well, people have to spend time on it. Google should have taken into account how much time their invitees have for online social interactions. An ordinary adult with a full-time job doesn’t have lots of extra time for social networking. So if their social networking time is limited, they want to focus their social energy on only one site, namely Facebook, where all of their friends already play.

On the other hand, college students have a considerable amount more time to spend online than those with full-time jobs. To say that college students are constantly on social networking sites would be an understatement. As LunaMetrics’ copywriter/social media intern, I’m a college student myself. In my experience there is no time in which college students aren’t using Facebook (this unfortunately includes class). So if they have more time to spare, they are more likely to check out new social networking tools.

Follow Facebook’s Lead

When Facebook first started out it was for college students only and like Google+, by invitation only. Now it is available for anyone to use, but if Facebook had not been originally devoted to college students (a demographic that has an extensive amount of free time and in general, cares a great deal about the social networking) it might not have become the incredibly widespread success that it is today. With lots of free time on their side, the invited college students were able to discover all of Facebook’s cool features. From there, the invitees’ other friends wanted to jump on the Facebook bandwagon as well.

In order to properly compete with Facebook and Twitter, Google should have sent its Google+ invitations solely to college students if they wanted to increase the chance of Google+ becoming a social media success. As a company that has been socially unsuccessful in the past (ex: Google Buzz and Orkut) Google should have taken a cue from Facebook and controlled the demographics that received invitations to Google+.

Who Google+ Should Have Invited to the “Field Trial” is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

Just a quick post to update people on our upcoming Google Analytics training (Seminars for Success, sponsored by Google.) We will be training in Philadelphia (July 12-14) and in Baltimore (August 9-11). The Philadelphia training will be at Temple Center City, and Baltimore will be at Johns Hopkins. Both cities will include three days of optional training:

• Google Analytics 101 for beginning marketers/analysts
• Google Analytics 201 for intermediate and advanced marketers/analysts
• Google Analytics 301 for techies

Trainees typically walk away with a strong understanding of GA for their level. Note: many people take more than one day of training, but you are welcome to pick and choose your days. There are discounts for one person taking more than one day of training. ($50 for two days, $100 for three days)

The day starts at 8:00 for continental breakfast, includes lunch, and goes to the end of the business day. We also include jump drives with all the slides on them and a hard copy of the material, so that you can review and ask questions later, too.

Robbin

Google Analytics Training in Philadephia, Baltimore is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

Just a quick reminder that our Google Analytics Seminars for Success will be in Boston, May 18-20.  You can do one, two or three days, depending on your level:

• May 18, 2011  — Google Analytics 101– for beginner analysts and marketers
• May 19, 2011  — Google Analytics 201 — for analysts and marketers who want to “take it to the next level”
• May 20, 2011 — Google Analytics 301 — Google Analytics for Techies.

Jonathan Weber says that GA 101 is like driver’s ed. GA 201 is like learning to drive a race car. And GA 301 is like learning to be a mechanic.

Each day is $499, with discounts for multiple days, breakfast and lunch, handouts and jumpdrives, plus wifi for all (so bring your laptop if you can.) It will be at the John Hancock in downtown Boston.  Most important of all, bring questions, We go out of our way to answer questions about your special problems, so that by the time you leave, you can really do  a lot with your new-found knowledge.

You can get more information about the courses, see the FAQs wrt the Boston Google Analytics training, or just register now.

Robbin

Google Analytics Training in Boston: Seminars for Success is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

We’ll be taking our Google Analytics Training (Seminars for Success) to Columbus, OH,  on April 11-13, 2011.  It’s three days long:

1. Day 1: Google Analytics 101 for marketers and analysts just getting started with GA
2. Day 2: GA 201 for intermediate and advanced marketers/analysts
3. Day 3: GA 301 for techies

Sometimes people ask me if they should go to the GA 101 or the GA 201.  So many people choose to go to both (without ever asking) that I usually reference the eval forms of those people (the ones who go to both.) They usually say that the 101 was a little easy for them, but that they needed the refresher and picked up some valuable things — so I hope that helps those of you who are deciding.

The day starts at 8:00 with continental breakfast, 8:30 for classes. In addition to a couple of breaks throughout the day, we also have a break for lunch (which we serve.) There are handouts and jumpdrives with the data and wifi for all (so we always encourage people to bring their laptops.)

You can learn more about the courses here, or register for the training here.

Robbin

Columbus, OH: Google Analytics Seminars for Success is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

Since I spend my days looking at resumes and cover letters (I had four open positions, but am finally starting to figure some of them out), I wanted to write what the job search looks like from the other side, especially when it comes to our field, Internet Marketing.

Now, some of you have it great. You’ve got amazing credentials and can write your own ticket.  But there is a big group of people who just want to get into the field.

IMO, the hardest part is getting to the interview. Once you are there, you have the opportunity to wow the company with how great you are. But until you get into the door, you are just another piece of paper. So here are some ideas:

Network. Not an exceptionally exciting or new idea, but it is surprising how well it works and how few people take advantage of it. The first person I ever hired at LunaMetrics came to me through an intermediary whom I trusted.  Note, I had already chosen (in my mind) the “successful candidate” and I threw all that thinking out the door when my friend suggested this potential.  And how about going to all those Web Analytics Wednesdays, or attending local SEMPO events? In our fair city alone, there are three competitive SEO groups where you can network.

Research. If you are really interested in a job, go read that company’s website. Follow their employees on Twitter — after all, you are an Internet person, right?. They would probably love to hear from you on their FB page.  Understand who they are before you approach them for a job, because otherwise, you are just another piece of paper.

Get experience. Yes I know, it is hard to get experience without experience. On the other hand, there are a lot of websites that need your tender loving care, go get experience with them. Look into summer internships.  What about accreditation – the AdWords badge requires that you manage a certain amount of money over a certain amount of time, but anyone who has fifty bucks and can study can take the GAIQ test.  Without experience, your piece of paper is too easy to screen out.

Decide what you want to do.  I see so many resumes where people say, I am the webmaster and I do SEM and then SEO and GA and social media and and and. It is lovely to be flexible (and very necessary in a small company like ours), but when I am looking for an SEO expert, I probably don’t look to someone who does a little bit of everything. (Go ahead and disagree.)

Stop blathering about how great you are and start showing how great you are. I must get one resume every day that says, “I am uniquely qualified for this job.”  I’d love to get a cover letter that says, “I’m interested in your company and the job, I think I have the right experience and qualifications, but I do have a number of questions.”  After all, in this most interactive of all worlds, why should the job search be so one way?

Be creative. Although we don’t do graphic design, I did find this great graphic design resume in the Creative Commons part of Flickr, at the top of the page.  How cool is that?

Robbin

Great ways to get an interview in SEM, SEO and/or Analytics is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

Everyone seems to be scrambling to utilize social media in any way they can. High levels of engagement are what it takes to successfully market your company’s presence within the various social media platforms. However, engagement can’t happen without having fans and followers to engage with. One extremely popular method of encouraging engagement is hosting giveaways. Brands of all sizes have been participating in giveaways and contests to increase their audiences and in most cases do so quite successfully. Primarily brands have stuck with Twitter and Facebook for these promotions, while others have experimented with foursquare, YouTube and other channels ready to feature promotions.

What are the different types of social media giveaways and what conversions are the marketers behind these sweepstakes trying to achieve? Today I’ll try my darnedest to explore both questions.

Types of Giveaways

1. Everyone Gets Free Stuff
The is the most common form of social media giveaway seen on Facebook and Twitter. Many brands host a deal where fans simply like a Facebook Page or follow a specific Twitter account and are given something for free after doing so. Not every company can afford to give every person who begins following their account something in return, but when you’re a big name brand it’s certainly the way to go. Facebook promotion guidelines changed as of December 2010, so it’s against their terms of service now to have a giveaway where the user only has to like the page to be entered. The guidelines now require users to enter more information as official entrance into the contest through a third party application.

Example: Bruegger’s Facebook Promotion

Bruegger’s Bagels is currently running a promotion of this nature on Facebook, giving all fans that like their page access to a coupon worth 3 free bagels on February 8th. What a great idea to encourage word of mouth about the Bruegger’s brand and not to mention an awesome chance to snag some free bagels! Currently 123,245 people like this page but that is bound to go up with the quick spread of content on Facebook and the option right below the coupon to share this with family and friends.

The conversion for Bruegger’s with this promotion is getting more likes on Facebook. By making the offer extremely easy to complete, announcing the offer throughout their marketing channels (on their website, on Twitter and elsewhere) and giving something of value to the consumer, Bruegger’s is utilizing this form of giveaway very successfully. More likes on Facebook equals higher levels of engagement, which will hopefully bring heightened brand awareness and profit for Bruegger’s.

2. Many Enter, But Not Everyone Wins
Some giveaways are more costly than others, requiring an organization to offer prizes to only a select group of winners. This type of giveaway is also used when running longer promotions. If the Bruegger’s giveaway were running until June instead of February, they might not have had the ability to offer the coupon to everyone for that extended period of time without incurring major costs (possibly outweighing the benefits of gaining larger social networks). Giving away products to a limited amount of contestants over a longer period of time adds an element of surprise that often excites the winning user to discuss their prize and astonishment on their social network.

Example: Troy Polamalu’s Facebook/Twitter Promotion

By requiring users to follow @twitchange, @OOIAL and @tpolamalu and tweet this specific message: I might win #TroyTickets to the AFC Title game because I follow @tpolamalu @ooial and @twitchange Details at http://bit.ly/gF66N7 users must join his network, while also sharing the information with other users within their network. This sends awareness of the giveaway much further than if it merely required users to follow Polamalu’s account on Twitter without tweeting about it. The AFC Championship tickets are not a cheap or easy to come by commodity, which makes the promotion limited to a few recipients and seem more high stakes.

This promotion also features a Facebook component which helps extends the audience it can reach, while making it consistent on all marketing channels. It’s hard to get users to copy and paste specific text for posting because let’s face it, people are lazy. This is one reason why giveaways that have simple instructions tend to have higher conversion rates overall. Because of the high profile prize and the fact that this contest benefits charity, many users have and will go the extra mile to enter the contest. Would people go the extra step for free bagels or free ice cream, maybe?

3. Free Content, Once You Connect
Many companies run a sweepstakes once a quarter or once a year due to the fact that contests lose their edge if they are continually running year-round, not to mention the constant flow of money a never-ending contest requires. Instead of running a giveaway many Facebook pages choose to run fan-exclusive content, which is obviously only available to existing fans of the Facebook Page. Whether it be exclusive industry tips, articles, access to coupons or any other content limited to fans who connect with your channel, it’s another way to encourage engagement and do so with limited or no cost to your company.

Example: LunaMetrics’ Fan-only Facebook Content

Here at LunaMetrics we utilize our Facebook page to a variety of audiences within our industry. In an effort to encourage engagement and increase our connections within the industry, we’ve developed a fan-only content tab that is exclusive to fans who like our page. Once a fan likes our page we provide weekly tips and tricks related to Search Engine Optimization and Google Analytics on our fan-only tab. These helpful insights allow us to share our expertise in our industry, while receiving more fans and expanding our network within this particular platform.

What other types of social media contests, giveaways & sweepstakes have you implemented? Have they been a helpful way of encouraging engagement in your social media niches? Share your feedback below.

Social Media Strategy: Contests, Giveaways & Sweepstakes is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog

Opinions are like…well we all know what they’re like. Everyone has one. Here is my opinion about the link anchor text debate that has been going on since Pubcon ’10. (At least that’s when the debate popped up on my radar. Apparently Greg Boser’s been talking about this since 2009)

In one corner of the ring, we have those who obsessively build anchor text-rich links with exact phrase anchor text that looks unnatural as all get-out but adds boatloads of relevancy to whatever page the link points to. In the other corner, we have those who seem to have forsaken the building of purposefully keyword rich anchor text links in favor of pursuing any kind of link from high authority, relevant pages.

And then there’s the rest of us who have been patiently working on a nice well-rounded backlink portfolio that includes both anchor text-rich links and domain name links from powerful pages and some directory links and some blog comments and all the lovely natural links that are generated by a nice, good quality link bait generation campaign.

See, in my opinion, anchor text is still really important. It’s hard to get (quality, organic-looking, contextual) keyword-rich links. If it’s hard, it’s not easily controllable, and in my experience, the search engines tend to place a lot of emphasis on elements that webmasters and we evil system-gaming SEOs can’t easily influence.

That being said, I was there when Matt Cutts said that they were going to start taking notice when a website’s link profile contains only keyword optimized links. The thing is, if you’re doing a good job creating link bait, this is never going to be a problem. You’ll have people linking to the site naturally — probably using the domain name, brand name or the word “here” or somesuch.

Those links will far outnumber the ones you spend your precious time on generating. But let me tell you something, if I spend the hour or two (on average) of building a relationship with someone so that they’ll link to a site from a nice, juicy page, you bet your ass I’m going to ask for a link with relevant anchor text.

And I bet, given the option of having a link with good anchor text from an authoritative but non-related page vs. having a non keyword rich link from a page with similar authority, most SEOs will still choose the keyword rich link. I would.

The Great Anchor Text Debate is a post from: Google Analytics, SEO, Social Media and PPC blog