If you're wondering, "Who's Brian Larson?", you're not alone. Before I jump into the details of some of the can't miss sessions at the upcoming SES Toronto conference, I'll borrow a line from Austin Powers: "Please allow myself to introduce'myself." I'm a SEO Account Manager at TopRank Online Marketing - which means I have the enviable job of developing and managing SEO programs for several TopRank clients.

As Google puts the squeeze on traditional ranking signals and subsequently, Search Engine Optimization tactics, the growing emphasis on social signals has many SEO practitioners getting more serious about social engagement. While search marketing has been a key part of our consulting practice since 2001,

Inspired by the recent " 29 Content Marketing Tactics to Attract, Engage and Persuade Customers " post, I'll be starting a new weekly series of practical tips on tactics that marketers can use to complement their content-focused online marketing efforts. The idea of content marketing seems to vary with different people, so to start, my definition of content marketing is: "Aligning business and consumer information needs with content.

I have great news this Friday morning, not only is Online Marketing Summit coming to Minneapolis next week June 6-8, offering a range of training and presentations from brands and expert consultants, but TopRank Online Marketing is giving away TWO free passes! OMS Minneapolis is focused on practical advice for marketing practitioners with a promising agenda covering: best practices community management from Best Buy plus hot tips & tactics on mobile, display, re-marketing,

Guides about internet marketing tactics like Search Engine Optimization can be very useful tools; not only for practitioners to gain insight into what's working and what's not, but also for the agency/client side people working on the business side of things to understand where a particular tactic fits within an overall online marketing program. While there are many, many credible SEO bloggers ,

Photo Credit: ISD 191 Performing Arts Programs Most of the people that I know who are really making an impact for companies in the social media space see themselves as marketers, vs. singling themselves out as specific to social media. Obviously the demand for social media specific expertise is high, so one must self-identify with that area of focus. But when it comes down to providing social media consulting,

At BlogWorld Expo in New York this week I presented a session about Dominating Your Niche with Social Content and SEO. It was crammed with information and I know there are many online marketers looking for practical advice on business blogging and blog marketing that didn't attend. Based on the blog marketing we do here at Online Marketing Blog and in the consulting that I do, here are 7 practical steps online marketers can take for social media and SEO success with a blog.

While initially sitting in a SEO session, I quickly switched once I saw that Jason Falls was presenting. Jason is one of those speakers that gives great advice and he's funny. The lowdown on this session: How bloggers can better understand the world of advertising, marketing and PR to avoid common mistakes. How can we learn from the crappy behavior of the bloggers before us. There's a low cost of entry to become a blogger . Basically,

Attending and speaking at conferences can be a goldmine for content , networking, publicity and lead generation. While many companies might rate a "B" on achieving these outcomes, the speakers could do a lot better by effectively promoting their presentations. The more people that attend a presentation,

BlogWorld Expo is holding it's first conference in New York this week and I'll be presenting "Dominate Your Niche with Social SEO & Blogging" on Tuesday at 10:15am as part of the Social Business Track. This post is a light preview of that session and I hope to see you there. Is blogging dead?

On a sunny, warm day in Minneapolis, marketers gathered near one of the city's best attractions - LakeCalhoun - to learn about "Search and the Connected Consumer", a view of how people retrieve information online and what that means for the future online and search engine marketing. Hosted by MIMA, the event featured Mike Grehan , Global VP Content, Search Engine Watch, ClickZ & Search Engine Strategies.

Infographics are a hit with online marketers this year and as more companies hire designers to artfully represent data in creative and engaging ways, many fall short when it comes to infographic promotion. It's the old "great content will attract it's own audience" scenario. As I've always said, "Content isn't great until someone shares it." While there are many other smart posts about creating compelling infographics to attract attention, links and traffic,

It's funny when you work in an industry for a long time that the basic things you create to make life a little easier can save others who are new to the field, a lot of time. I've done a few webinars and speaking events in the past few months where one of the tools suggested was a Keyword Glossary )spreadsheet( for managing category and page level optimization, keyword mapping and competitor keyword mapping.

The disciplines of search, social media, content marketing and online PR continue to intersect and often combine to create a powerful mix. Besides leveling the playing field, companies and individuals are creating competitive advantages as they adapt to shifts in technology and consumer behavior. Learning and mastering the ability to integrate should be top of the personal development list for marketing and communications professionals.

There are many reasons companies invest in Search Engine Optimization ranging from a desire to attract new customers through online marketing channels to diversifying customer acquisition to ego. That's right, ego. Not every marketer makes SEO investment decisions based on a mix of customer-centric keywords that do the best job of pulling in prospects and customers to brand content for engagement and conversions. Often times,

If you're looking for one of the most influential and "wicked smart" voices in online marketing, Ann Handley is an easy conclusion. Add a sense of humor and brilliant writing skills and she's easily #1 in my book. A journalist and co-founder of ClickZ, you're more likely to know Ann as the Chief Content Officer for the wildly popular MarketingProfs which boasts over 388,000 subscribers. Ann is also co-author with C. C. Chapman of one of my favorite marketing books,

Search Google for " social media consultant " or " social media expert " and you'll find millions of search results. I've been in the online marketing game since 1997 and I don't think I've ever seen such an emergence of expertise out of the blue. Web design in the late nineties and SEO in early 2000′s was close, but social media as a career choice of field of expertise is as pervasive as anything.

One of the most compelling challenges for companies entering the world of social business is measurement . The ability to attribute cause and effect directly can be elusive when it comes to measuring business outcomes like increased sales, improved customer retention and lowered support costs. But that's only because this is new territory.

"Build it and they will come". It's a well-known and often over-used quote from the movie, "Field of Dreams", used to describe the fallacy of great content as a marketing tool. In my opinion, great content isn't great until someone shares it. And they share it with their friends, and so on and so on. With content marketing , great content is the beginning not the end objective.

Many would call the age we're in, " Information Overload ". Consider: Facebook is approaching 700 million users and Google handles over 11 billion queries per month. World-wide there are over 5 billion mobile subscribers )9 out of 10 in the U.S.( and every two days there is more information created than between the dawn of civilization and 2003. The age of communications and digital relationships between brands,