90 content marketing takeaways from BlueGlassX

I spent last week in Tampa at the BlueGlassX conference. Upon returning from BlueGlass LA earlier this year, I said it was the best conference I’d ever been to, so I knew what to expect this time. BlueGlass LA was not only a great learning experience, but also was a pivotal point for me in deciding to join BlueGlass.

It  was great to see things from the other side by presenting at the event, and now being a part of BlueGlass. I really appreciate all of the hard work and planning that goes on behind the scenes.

I learned a lot during the event. There were some truly great actionable takeaways. Although there are already great recapposts, I wanted to share some of the most useful tips and soundbites I found tweetable during the event. Here are my 90 takeaway tips from BlueGlassX in the form of tweets:

Strategy

• There’s no longer a debate whether or not content works. Google has made it the only way to go. @GregBoser
• Chase quality not money. Quality, method, and patience pay off. @GregBoser
• I ask potential clients more questions than they ask me – it’s an equal interview @GregBoser
• @lauralippay: I love hearing @GregBoser talk about agency structure and processes and especially *thinking ahead.*
• Radio ads that tell people to ‘google you’ are genius. Not only do you show up #1, but you give Google signals that matter. @GregBoser
• Brand queries associate your business with your industry/keywords with Google. @GregBoser
• 85% of @copyblogger‘s sales process is done through content marketing. It’s the invisible sales process.
• Main problem with SEO industry is people just look two weeks ahead! @GregBoser
• Agile Marketing is more tactic-driven than strategy, be prepared to adapt – don’t just throw stuff against the wall! @GregBoser

Business

• ‘Create an asset that pays you over and over instead of once.’ @copyblogger
• Follow up with human relationships – this whole business has always been about that! @GregBoser
• If you wait for everything to be perfect to launch, it’s not going to happen.’ @MissyWard
• ‘Change, for better or worse, is the only constant.’ @tolles
• I don’t even know if I’m doing marketing or PR – the lines are so blurry. @MissyWard
• Find clients that have buy-in and want to win – just paying the bills doesn’t grow your business, success stories do. @GregBoser
• Understand persuasion and influence – get them in the sales process without them knowing they’re in a sales process. @copyblogger

Content Marketing

• BlueGlass grammar goofs infographicutilising five-year-old content is the most popular post on @copyblogger
• We had to convince clients to reallocate link budget into content-driven strategy – it was hard work until April! @GregBoser
• It’s not content that is king, its context. If you don’t have context it doesn’t matter how much content you have. @Rzwicky
• We’re going to see more CEOs with ghost-writing teams – building up author profiles behind content. @GregBoser
• The execution of the content production is the hardest part. @GregBoser
• Re: comments: people like facts; like to see votes (likes, tweets, etc.); like badges, don’t like super users. @SimonHeseltine
• 70% of @huffingtonpost comments are replies to other people – great community!  @SimonHeseltine
• Focus + Consistency = Win for @seomoz – building up posts, tweets etc. @jennita
• At SEOmoz, we train people that if you comment, we respond. @jennita
• Don’t be eager, be exclusive. @copyblogger
• Deciding when to publish content should be based on your audience. @kevgibbo

SEO

• Geo-trust rank makes so much sense to improve relevancy and trust for Google. @GregBoser
• @copyblogger: ‘You couldn’t pay me enough money to link to you, but if you get me to like you’ @GregBoser ’that’s why you’re here!’
• We’re very big on data-driven stuff, so the same tools used for SEO can help with content strategy. @GregBoser
• Google’s organic search has become so localized that companies who don’t have brick and mortar struggle. @GregBoser
• Don’t give money to Google. Give money to your SEO. @chiropractic

Blogger Outreach

• Be good, build relationships & share good stuff – message echoed by@copyblogger @oilman & @GregBoser
• Educating your PR team is one of the most undervalued link building tactics. @copyblogger
• It’s heartwarming to hear that once upon a time, even @copyblogger didn’t have connections and quality links.
• If you don’t have a large audience, leverage someone else’s while you build your own. @kevgibbo
• Comments are an underrated KPI by SEOs. @kevgibbo
• Hire writers who focus on a niche. They not only bring their expertise, but also networks in that industry. @kevgibbo

Google Authorship

• Authorship – It’s not just about TOPICS writers will focus on. Let’s talk about GEOGRAPHIC RELEVANCE. @GregBoser
• Authorship is the best signal Google has to show trust in who is responsible for a piece of content. @oilman
• Google Authorship will bring the demise of anonymous writers. @GregBoser
• Q: What’s Google most committed to moving forward? A: Authorship @GregBoser
• Google Authorship is the strongest signal of Google moving forward – get links from trust agents. @GregBoser

Paid Search

• PPC sitelinks don’t get high volume of clicks – but it lifts overall CTR which is vital for improving quality score.
• Top three paid spots account for 41.1% of clicks on a search! @janellaravie

Social Promotion

• Foursquare does nothing – don’t give money to them, give it back to customers. $1 off beer if you check in @chiropractic
• Rather than spending time creating more content, try promoting existing content to people who haven’t seen it yet! @derekhalpern
• Send your audience to a landing page, not your Facebook page! @GregBoser
• Tap into audience psychology to better leverage your content. @kevgibbo
• What types of people share: 1) Altruists 2) Careerists 3) Hipsters 4) Boomerangs 5) Connectors 6) Selectives @kevgibbo
• Why do people share content? Interesting, Insightful, Brand they love, Social Validation, Entertaining or Incentive @kevgibbo
• “Altruists will share your content because they are being charitable or helpful to their friends.” @kevgibbo
• “Careerists will share your content to look knowledgeable and build a reputation.” @kevgibbo

Local Search

• Great tips from @chiropractic for using historic info to create unique online content in city centroid for local search!
• ‘Every one of your images in local listing should be GEO tagged and have relevant file names.’@chiropractic
• Photography is huge in local – minimum of six high-quality photos and one high-res logo. @chiropractic
• Nearest location is important – if you’re looking for pizza you don’t want to travel 25 miles. @chiropractic
• Local algorithm: 2000 = title tags+links, 2008 = citations+location data, 2011 = reviews, 2012 = blended links. @davidmihm
• Magnitude of reviews = helps outrank competition big time. The more reviews the better…even if they’re three stars. @chiropractic
• Mobile search results are becoming more related to your actual location – as opposed to central in a city. @davidmihm
• Get to know ‘power reviewers‘ as a business, be on their radar screen; build a softer relationship, no black hat tactics. @davidmihm
• Quantity of links from locally-relevant domains and links to local pages = strong Google Local factor. @davidmihm
• Use Google Map Maker to add locations and change local info @davidmihm
• Whitespark recommended by@davidmihm to find local citation sources.
• The two schemas to pay attention to for local search are the local business schema and rich snippet reviews. @davidmihm
• Strong citations for local search = mentions of business, address or phone number on the Web. @davidmihm
• GeoSitemapGenerator.com – a tool that helps associate your website with a physical place. @davidmihm
• Multi-location businesses – submit individual location pages to G+ @davidmihm
• ‘You need a landing page that has local scent.’ Include your biz title in the title tag of your landing page. @davidmihm
• 40-50% of mobile search now has local intent. @johnhdenny

Link Building

• Reverse image search – 50%+ success rate in follow-up to get link citations – ideally email using client address. @RossHudgens
• Guest post with your payroll – contact your software service providers for blogging opportunities. @RossHudgens
• Evaluate link growth of 3rd to 5th page sites using ahrefs – offer to buy when site value has receded. @RossHudgens
• Officesnapshots.com – nice way of getting strong links for great office space – might help justify the rent! @RossHudgens
• Post links between text – it looks less automated = higher CTR, @randfish does this. @RossHudgens
• LaunchRock.com – great way of setting up a landing page to capture email addresses. @RossHudgens
• ‘If everyone meets their goals, we’re buying breakfast.’ Incentivize your link building team. @JulieJoyce
• If you’re going to buy links – here’s @JulieJoyce‘s warning:httpss://twitter.com/kevgibbo/status/275715207190441985/photo/1
• Links should be the byproduct of everything else going right. @GregBoser

Technical SEO

• First thing to ask for is the client’s PPC data. Let’s see what’s working and build a strategy around that. @GregBoser
• gtmetrix.com recommended by @selenavidyaas a site performance analysis tool.
• Find similar keyword diversifications by using ~ query in Google. @selenavidya
• Technical SEO isn’t dead – Google has pushed a lot of the problems back on us and they’ve upped the stakes. @dr_pete
• ‘Make a bullet list of every issue you’ve had w/ a ‘bad client’ & use it to create a client interview questionnaire.’ @selenavidya
• Giving a client an audit list of problems isn’t important. Building and prioritising that list into a clear plan is! @GregBoser

Content Strategy

• Learn from your analytics – look at which content worked and which didn’t. @kevgibbo
• Superuseful analytics trick from @kevgibbo – filter for KW’s HOW WHAT WHY WHEN WHO – answer questions w/content!
• Keyword research tools lack the creativity your content needs. @kevgibbo
• Navigational and branded searches are your top-converting keywords – prioritize them! @kevgibbo
• Three content pillars – Do. Know. Go. Consumers use search engines to do or know something, or go somewhere. @kevgibbo
• Answer common questions with content & rankings in search engines will naturally generate links. @kevgibbo

Look forward to seeing you all at BlueGlass LA next year!