Lee Odden Lee Odden. http://www.seocentro.com/seo-archives/author/Lee+Odden.html Lee Odden http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=71222 According to a CMI and MarketingProfs study, 91% of B2B Marketers are using content marketing and that means a few things: First, it means content marketing has gained critical mass within the popular marketing mix and any company in a competitive industry would be hard pressed to attract business without it. Second, Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 16 May 2013 14:49:40 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=71109 Fast changing trends and serious competition has digital marketers chasing the latest and greatest tactics like hamsters on exercise wheels. Good advice is both hard and too easy to come by. Search "social media marketing" on Google and there are over 1 billion results. All the scrambling often means core skills are overlooked. In fact, one of the easiest things a company can do to improve online marketing performance is to stop sucking at the basics. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 13 May 2013 12:34:54 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=71016 Today I'm giving a keynote at the sold-out Communicator's Conference in Portland, Oregon to 270 or so PR and Communications professionals. The colliding or collaborating (depending on your situation) worlds of digital marketing and PR have left a lot of ambiguity about roles, goals and responsibilities between these 2 very important groups. In this presentation I outline why PR should care about marketing, Lee Odden Lee Odden Wed, 08 May 2013 17:14:24 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70931 There are quite a few studies showing that companies publishing more blog posts and more content in general equates to generating more business than those that don't. I suppose if you're starting from scratch, adding any kind of content has the potential to improve a company's ability to attract people seeking to buy. Since content creation is one of the biggest obstacles to companies realizing gains with content marketing, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 06 May 2013 12:51:39 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70758 Inbound, content, social, mobile, converged, omni-channel, transmedia. The list of marketing channels and strategies vying for our budgetary attention goes on and on. Where should companies invest to attract more attention and engage those that would influence or act on buying? To answer that question, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:33:00 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70661 While I've been in New York this week for the B2B Content2Conversion conference, I've been reflecting on some of the most common issues I see with companies trying to leverage content for increasing leads and sales. Many companies new to content marketing miss important steps and without checklists or processes, content marketing contribution to leads and sales can be unimpressive. Of course, not all content needs to "sell" in terms of inquiries or transactions, Lee Odden Lee Odden Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:34:34 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70590 With 9 out of 10 B2B marketers using content marketing, competition for attention is more fierce than ever. The constant battle with Google algorithm and indexing updates and the masking of useful data against which to optimize has caused many ambiguities when it comes to implementing traditional SEO advice. That doesn't mean search doesn't warrant top priority. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:36:16 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70462 Danger! Don't Optimize Presentations to Suck. Image via Shutterstock Over the past 5 years I've given a few hundred presentations in front of crowds from 10 to 1,000. I also make sure to attend other speakers' presentations, sometimes to delight and sometimes to horror. Despite that experience, I'm far from a perfect speaker. But I am passionate, knowledgeable and continuously trying to optimize my speaking skills. Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:17:36 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70428 Future of Content - Retro image from Shutterstock It's a pretty compelling question: What is the Future of Content? With the growing adoption of brand publishing and convergence of paid, owned, earned and shared media, many companies are looking forward to what's next. In retail, Multi Channel is now Omni-Channel and single format storytelling has evolved into Transmedia Storytelling . Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:29:13 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70357 Awesome audience at SMMW13 for "Integrating Blogging with Content Marketing to Inspire Action" This week was the start of a 6 speaking event extravaganza over the next 30 days or so and what a kickoff. The inaugural Social Media Marketing World in San Diego put on by Mike Stelzner and the team at Social Media Examiner was nothing less than impressive. When Mike told me about the event last year, I had no hesitation about saying yes. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:13:10 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70257 Businesses of all sizes often struggle to find high impact, low cost methods of attracting and engaging customers. While some say social media and SEO have leveled the playing field, blogging by far is one of the most effective ways for small businesses to achieve numerous business objectives. What can you achieve with a blog? As a content management system that can be optimized for search and social shares, blogs with great content can help a company attract new customers, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:42:32 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70145 When there's a good story to tell, it doesn't matter what else is going on. You have to tell it. That's where I'm at with the intersection of search, social and content marketing. For the past few years I've been giving presentations all over the world to educate marketers on the importance of an attract, engage and convert approach to content marketing. During an upcoming stretch of 30 days or so, Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:51:48 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=70119 April 1st is prime time for jokes from brands seeking to capitalize on the holiday. One trend that's no joke for brands is the importance of content in the digital marketing mix. According to a study from Econsultancy and Adobe , content ties as the number one digital marketing priority along with conversion rate optimization for 2013. That confidence and focus on content has companies responding with investments. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:33:32 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69996 As new businesses are started every day across the U.S., many of those entrepreneurs are grappling with the realities of how to market their ideas, products and services. Limited resources and an overabundance of options requires filtering and prioritization when it comes to where marketing investments are made, whether it's content, blogging, social media, or SEO. Common questions include: What to measure? What if it fails? What should we outsource? Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:31:22 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69856 Companies all over the social web are confronted with the need for ROI in corporate blogging . Despite b logs being named as more influential than social networks in shaping consumers' opinions and purchase decisions, many marketers and communicators are falling short. Why? A focus on self-promotion has many brands running out of content ideas and time to show a return on their blog content investment. Lee Odden Lee Odden Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:05:15 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69785 With all of today's hype about content marketing, taking a step back and looking at what content is in the first place might bring some signal to all the noise. Defining a thing as broad as "content" is a bigger task than you might think. You're probably thinking of a definition of content now and it's likely a bit different than mine. Content is many to different people and situations due to context. Fundamentally, content = information. Content = experience. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:52:26 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69717 In a recent study by Content Marketing Institute, it was reported that 54% of B2B marketers will increase their spend on content marketing over the next 12 months. Pouring more money into content doesn't automatically result in success. As with wise investing for financial success, marketers need to back up their content investments with a plan, resources, goals, measurement and many other answers to questions their competition aren't bothering with. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:57:52 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69636 About today's guest post: As companies mature their online presence though more robust social engagement, individuals within those companies are advancing use of social technologies to communicate and collaborate publicly. At the same time, consumers' evolving use of social platforms has lead to increased expectations for brand information discovery, consumption and engagement . Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:34:15 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69601 The increasing popularity of the visual web as evidenced by the popularity of sites like Pinterest and Instagram and the recent updates to the Facebook News Feed and Google+ cover images have moved companies to be more creative with their content. Not long ago, it was progressive just to create blog posts and a few social shares every day. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:20:47 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69445 SES New York is coming up in just a few weeks and I really can't wait. New York is easily one of my favorite cities in the world and I'm looking forward to joining thousands of marketers who feel the same March 25-28. Today's online marketing draws us in many directions and with the ever changing landscape of search, social media and technology, the demands on marketers to view their world from 360 degrees is more important now than ever. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:20:10 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69401 Companies of all sizes are in search of answers towards better social media strategy and at TopRank Marketing we're helping to make that happen. This week Jolina Pettice and I completed giving a 2 day social media and content marketing workshop for a $400 million company and a few weeks ago I gave a presentation to executives at a $22 billion company on how social media could advance some of their objectives. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:28:30 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=69134 With millions of blogs and other social content to compete against, the challenge of standing out can seem overwhelming for business and personal bloggers alike. But it doesn't have to be a mystery to find your blog. If you have interesting and useful things to say, there is an audience seeking for that very information. The connection between social media and blog promotion is logical: Publish a blog post and then tweet it out or post a link to Facebook, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:05:53 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68988 Within the blogging community there's a substantial number of bloggers that are independent business people and even more that run a personal blog. With the rise and fall and rise again of blogging as an online communications channel there are the expected debates about best practices and such. One of the debates is around writing content as a stream of consciousness with the assumption that it will attract the audience that it deserves, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:22:33 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68930 In just a few weeks, I'll be making the pilgrimage to London where I will be speaking at the SES London conference about integrated marketing and content, two very hot topics right now. As the internet marketing industry evolves with innovations in platform technologies and consumer behaviors changing right along, marketers and brands are trying their best to keep up. This is as true in London as it is here in Minneapolis or New York or San Francisco. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:52:39 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68818 Mari Smith exemplifies personal brand through social content Building personal brand online is easier than ever. It's also underrated and misunderstood by many companies trying make sense of where personal and brand social media engagement fit in the marketing and communications mix. For myself, blogging, speaking and becoming an author have been less about becoming a "brandividual" than to serve as a proxy to the consulting that TopRank Online Marketing offers. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:29:16 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68679 Whether it was at SES London or one of the many other search marketing conferences in the U.S., I've always been able to count on Dixon Jones for great advice on link building. Dixon was recently recognized for his content contributions to the online marketing world in our Top UK Online Marketing Influencers and Bloggers list. Working with Majestic SEO as their Director of Marketing, Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:49:07 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68655 Since 2001 our "practice what we preach", digital marketing and PR agency at TopRank has experienced growth every year. Like many frugal and efficiency focused businesses, we've been conservative about business operations, taking on zero debt and running pretty lean. All of our marketing (and most PR) is inbound. We do not employ dedicated sales people or spend on advertising. This approach has kept us small but extremely efficient with exceptional project management, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:16:20 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68584 For the past 2 years we've been publishing a list of the top UK focused internet marketing blogs in advance of speaking at events. This year I'll be presenting on Creative Content Marketing at SES London February 19th. Since bloggers do more than just write blog posts to create value, I've shifted the focus from blogs to individuals. With the increasing importance of authorship and personal brands, Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 24 Jan 2013 09:22:27 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68510 As companies evolve their appreciation and understanding of the opportunities to connect with prospects, customers, employees and the industry at large through online content and social media, interest in scaling such efforts has increased significantly. It's understandable why: A recent study reported on by eMarketer indicates that 67% of BtoC marketers and 44% of B2B marketers saw leads generated through social media channels. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:02:28 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68373 For every social media, SEO or content marketing "expert" there are hundreds, if not thousands of smart business people that do not possess advanced knowledge in those areas. That's not unreasonable, since running a business involves more than keeping up with the latest internet marketing best practices. On this blog we often include the basics of search, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:30:29 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68137 Happy New Year and Welcome 2013! Also, Happy Birthday to TopRank's Online Marketing Blog! A little over 9 years ago I started this blog as a way to save and share links to industry news. Over the years it has evolved in many ways thanks to our community and our team at TopRank. Since 2003 Online Marketing Blog has generously shared thousands of posts, reaching millions of online marketers all over the world. Every time I speak at a conference , Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:33:07 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68098 In last week's post about myth-busting social media , I asked what other marketing tactic or channel has attracted as much conjecture, blind advocacy and malarkey. Only SEO can compare to social media when it comes to the volume of misperceptions and out-dated information posing as "best practices" online. They say that the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes. Also, that search engines will change. Google runs over 20, Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:19:54 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68076 It's customary to share a year in review post listing the top blog entries over the previous 12 months. When you publish 5 times a week, every week, there's no way everyone that periodically reads your blog will see the best posts. In 2012 we had a little more of a mix of contributors from TopRank staff and a few more guest blog posts than in years post. That's a great thing, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:19:58 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=68031 One of the most common issues companies seem to grapple with as they get pulled, kicking and screaming, into a content focused world of digital marketing is content creation. Of course, anyone with half a brain can create information, but "content" implies usefulness or utility. Content has purpose and content marketing is meaningful information designed to be useful for a certain audience with the intention of inspiring an outcome or action. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:15:58 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67978 Marketing trends come and go, but what other "shiny object" topic has caused more debate than social media? On the one hand, recent studies cited by eMarketer show that two thirds of the U.S. internet population will belong to a social network by 2013. On the other hand, a study by Harvard Business Review showed that 29% of the 2,100 organizations surveyed felt it was difficult to see the benefit of social media for their business purposes. Lee Odden Lee Odden Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:22:41 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67941 Dave Cynkin & Rick Calvert Photo Credit: New Media Expo (NMX) In college I had a diverse group of friends, people that represented different interests and common experiences which made my time during those years a lot more fulfilling. Even better was that these different groups all came together fairly regularly for a themed event at a local watering hole. Connecting with diverse interests in a meaningful way has been a tremendous business advantage to this day. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:47:35 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67864 With 9 out of 10 B2B marketers counting on content marketing tactics in their mix, it's no wonder content marketing is getting so much attention on blogs, in traditional media and on the social web. Along with the increased popularity of content, opportunists have begun aligning themselves with the topic of "content marketing", even though their offering is only remotely related. As it was with with websites in the 1990′s, SEO in the early 2000′s, Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:52:17 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67720 There are insightful, smart and good people you "meet" online that you really look forward to meeting in real life and Ekaterina Walter is one of those people who I finally met at a BlogWorld conference 4 years ago. Since then "E" has really made her mark as a social innovator at Intel. When I presented at Intel's first global social media conference a few years ago, Ekaterina had everyone leaning forward and focused on her approach to enterprise social media. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:33:48 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67539 In a few weeks this business blog will be 9 years old. That's 3,145 posts overall, of which I have written 2,537 myself. If someone would have suggested to me 9 years ago that I should write 1.2 million words as a key component of my agency's online marketing strategy, I would have dismissed them as crazy. And yet here we are. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:49:45 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67455 Who doesn't love a contest or a raffle? Nothing gets people excited like the possibility of winning a prize. In this economy, you can't blame the enthusiasm. Just look at the recent Powerball frenzy: $550 million are a lot of reasons to participate. Contests and social media are two seemingly unrelated topics, yet when combined can be a powerful catalyst for spreading a brand's message where it matters most. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:47:42 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67416 Today's post is like a virtual reunion with two people I have known in the search marketing industry for a long time that are also authors: Vanessa Fox formerly of Google wrote Marketing in the Age of Google, and Mel Carson formerly of Microsoft has co-authored a new book, Pioneers of Digital . When writing this book about success stories from leaders in advertising, marketing, search and social media, Lee Odden Lee Odden Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:57:37 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67349 Long before an army goes into battle, intelligence organizations have been busy collecting and analyzing information about the opposing threat. The right information and insight could lead to a much more advantageous outcome. Inaccurate information or an absence of competitive research can lead to disaster. In the competitive world of content marketing and optimization , Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:43:20 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67276 Thousands of new businesses are started in the U.S. every month. Budding entrepreneurs with minds full of ambition and great ideas turn their understanding of a consumer or business problem within a market into a new product or service solution. But there's more to starting a business or launching a new product than a great idea and a market in need of a solution. Many new businesses score well with the solution they've created including the logistics of suppliers, Lee Odden Lee Odden Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:03:56 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67215 Companies large and small, in industries from retail to manufacturing, publish content online with an expectation that a certain audience of people will find, read and act on that content. While most Search Engine Optimization efforts are rightly focused on marketing goals like acquiring more customers and increasing revenue, making purchases is not the only reason consumers use search or ask for referrals through social networks. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:21:32 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=67029 We've always considered our online marketing agency "search plus" and by that I mean search is central and important, but accomplishing client marketing objectives requires a broader view than just optimizing web pages and digital assets. Of course if you follow us here or you've read Optimize , you know that. As social and search technologies evolve along with changes in consumer behaviors, there's a trend towards a convergence of disciplines. Mature, Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:37:49 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=66958 As the popularity of content marketing increses, companies are getting more creative to stand out. The notion of infotainment has begun to enter the realm of otherwise boring and routine marketing communications. I recently received a heads up on a very clever content marketing object called "The Stalking Dead: A Zombified Infographic-Novel on Cyber Security" from a company called Hostway. This infographic presents a story of internet security. And zombies. Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:43:11 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=66866 Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs have partnered with Brightcove to research and produce a very useful report for North American marketers: B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends As with most joint venture reports from CMI and MarketingProfs , this report has been shared and written about pretty enthusiastically in the media and blogosphere. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:39:32 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=66802 On occasion we connect with smart people and ideas we think are worth sharing as a guest post here at Online Marketing Blog . Today, I'd like to introduce you to Heidi Ambler, Director of Social Business at IBM. Heidi has over 20 years with IBM where she leads a team responsible for their enterprise social software business. In a digital world where technology and consumer behaviors are changing rapidly, Lee Odden Lee Odden Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:15:40 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=66698 A great opportunity that comes with a marketing blog that has over 50,000 subscribers is to recognize people who are doing great and interesting things. We do that in several different ways and one of the most popular is the list of 25 Women Who Rock Social Media. Check out the 2010 list for the back-story on the origination and for the initial 25 honorees. Here's the 2011 list who nominated the amazing women below. Lee Odden Lee Odden Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:50:07 GMT http://www.seocentro.com/cgi-bin/rss/go.pl?uid=66610 Imagine this: you're a marketing manager tasked with increasing sales through digital channels. Your customer segments vary from VPs to mid-level managers. You have minimal resources for content creation and social media, but management expects a 30 percent increase in traffic and leads each quarter. Doing more with less is the "MO" for most marketing departments, and with the increasing complexity of the search, social, and mobile web, Lee Odden Lee Odden Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:08:08 GMT