This document provides an overview of content strategy and search engine optimization (SEO). It discusses focusing on inbound vs outbound marketing based on available resources. Key aspects of content strategy covered include choosing keywords, using keywords on pages, and building links to improve link popularity. Specific tools are recommended for researching topics, keywords, and measuring results. The overall message is that creating helpful content and promoting it through various channels can drive traffic over time.

1. Content Strategy
Andy Crestodina
@crestodina

2. If you have more MONEY than brains, you
should focus on outbound marketing.
If you have more BRAINS than money,
you should focus on inbound marketing.
- Guy Kawasaki

3. Advertising Content Marketing
Interrupt, Distract Attract
Outbound Inbound
Paid (Budget) Owned, Earned (Brains)
Hype Help

4. How
content
works…

5. Search + Social + Email = Content Marketing

6. Traffic: Social, Email, Search

7. Source: Website Traffic Sources

8. do they want to read?
What

9. Help your audience
make a buying decision.

10. Obvious, right?

11. Your website is the mousetrap,
Your content is the cheese…
- Barry Feldman

12. 1. Keywords
2. Q&A Sites
3. Listening
Sources of Topics

13. Finding Topics: Google Suggest

14. Finding Topics: Ubersuggest
Source: Ubersuggest.org

15. Finding Topics: Google Keyword Tool

16. Finding Topics: Competitors’ Rank
Source: iSpionage

17. Finding Topics: Analytics

18. Finding Topics: Yahoo! Answers
Source: Yahoo! Answers

19. Finding Topics: Quora.com
Source: Quora.com

20. Finding Topics: Listening
1. Sales Team
2. Customer Service Team
3. Client Stories

21. Source: Deana Goldasich

22. Source: Periodic Table of Content

23. “Don’t think OF the market
….think AS the market”
Derek Halpern

26. …carefully
Choose Your
Words

27. Source

28. • More formal
• Longer (polysyllabic)
• Fancy, proper
Examples
acquire, transmit,
construct, resist,
deposit, imitate,
determined
Latinate Words

29. Anglo-Saxon
Words
• Less formal
• Short (often
monosyllabic)
• Forceful, direct
Examples
get, send, build, stop,
put, mock, set

30. Choose your words

31. Choose your words

32. …but don’t dumb it down
Write like an 8th grader!
Source: NN Group

34. HOW GOOGLE
WORKS
It’s simpler than you think.

35. Source: Moz, Search Engine Ranking Factors
How Search Engines Work

36. Links = How trustworthy your site is
On-Page = How relevant the page is
Keyphrases = What the page is relevant to
SEO (over) simplified

37. 1. Choosing
Keywords

38. Keyphrases: 3 Criteria

39. Keywords and Trends
Resource: Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends
Google
Keyword Planner
Google
Trends
Suggests phrases 100+ 10
Search volume
displayed as
Specific numbers Relative Trending
Geography Filter by location Map view

40. Search Volume

41. Search Trending
Resource: Google Trends

42. Regional
Interest
Resource: Google Trends

43. • Top Ranking sites are famous (wikipedia, etc.)
• Lots of AdWords ads
• Have title tags that begin with the keyphrase
Competition is high if…

44. What’s a <title> tag?
…and it’s the link in Google search results!
It appears above the address bar in your browser…

45. <title>Home</title>

46. Check Link Popularity
Resource: Open Site Explorer

47. Shortcut!
If your
Domain Authority is…
Target keyphrases
with monthly searches of…
less than 30 fewer than 100
less than 50 fewer than 1000
less than 70 fewer than 3000

48. • Local (change tactics/choose another phrase)
• Videos (opportunity?)
• Images
• Products
• News
Check for Universal Search Results

49. Text
Relevance

50. 2. Using
Keywords

51. On-Page SEO: 4 Parts
1. Once at the beginning of the title <title>
2. Once in the first header <h1>
3. Four to six times in the body of the page
4. Links to the page from other pages on your
site. Use the keyphrase in the links.
Indicate the relevance!

52. Internal Linking
Opportunities!

53. Rank!

54. 3. Link
Popularity

55. Inbound Links, Backlinks
A link from any website to your site.
Definitions
Link Popularity, Domain Authority,
PageRank
A measurement of credibility of a website, based on
the number and credibility of sites that link to it.
Link Building
The act of improving the link popularity of a website
to improve search engine rankings.

56. links are credibility

57. more links = more credibility

58. links from credible sites =
much more credibility

59. many outgoing links =
less credibility per link

60. It’s good when the link text
Includes the target keyword.

61. but if all the links include the
target keyword, that’s bad.

62. Link Popularity and Domain Authority
Resource: Open Site Explorer

63. Domain Authority over time…
“Predicts a domain's ranking potential in search engines
based on an algorithmic combination of all link metrics.”
Source: Moz

64. EXAMPLES
Rank is relevance!

71. SEO is slow…and powerful

72. Email List Growth
Grow your list fast

73. Before…
After…

74. 1900% increase. Not bad!

75. Why it works
1.Prominence
2.Promise
3.Proof

76. GOOD

77. BAD

78. Numbers: Sent, Delivered, Opens and Clicks

79. Rates: Sent, Delivered, Opens and Clicks

80. Social Promotion
Targeted sharing…

82. Targeted Sharing
Source: FollowerWonk

84. Schedule, Automate

85. Stats of a Social Hustler

86. The Spike and the Long Tail
Initial spike from
email marketing
and social promotion
(one week)
20 to 40 visits per day
from organic search
(months or years)

87. Where there’s traffic, there’s hope...

88. Ready?
Let’s make some content!

89. Source: Headline Hacks

90. More here: Headline Hacks
52 Headline Hacks

91. Do this tomorrow…
1. Find a relevant topic
2. Research keyphrases, pick a phrase that
aligns with the topic
3. Write 500 words, use on-page SEO
4. Share it through social media
5. Send it as a newsletter
…then watch your Analytics jump!

92. Template &
Tools

93. Thank you!
Andy Crestodina
@crestodina