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If you’re in the Tri-Cities area, Spokane, Seattle, or even Portland, I hope you’re making plans to come out to Learn About Web next week in Kennewick. It’s happening on February 18th, and you can use code LAW0208 to register for only $89 through Friday.

I’ll be giving a presentation on my SEO Success Pyramid and then doing a session on SEO and Local Search later in the day. Craig Sutton and Doug Waltman are speaking, too, on topics such as User-Friendly Web Design, Blogging, and Social Media. Oh, and all registrants will get a free copy of my How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes e-book.

We’re also offering detailed site reviews for no more than 3-4 attendees, and that only costs an extra $50 — a fraction of the regular consulting rate you’d pay.

If you live in the Tri-Cities area, you may see our TV commercial on-air this week. Here’s how it looks:

Hope to see you next week. Visit www.learnaboutweb.com for more details.

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This is a post from Matt McGee’s blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

SEO & Social Media Workshop – Next Week in Tri-Cities

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SEO & Social Media Workshop – Next Week in Tri-Cities

Free business listings are available again on Citysearch. That’s just one of the announcements Citysearch is making tonight, but it’s the one that’s drawn the most discussion and interest among readers of this blog. (You may recall the blog posts this summer about the disappearance of the “Add A Business” page, and Citysearch’s promise to bring it back.)

How to Add a Business to Citysearch

The best way to start is to go to Citysearch and search for your business. If it’s not already in their database, you’ll get a “We found no results message” with a link to add your business. It looks like this:

That link points to this URL, the default page for adding a business to Citysearch: http://national.citysearch.com/profile/add_business. Note that if you’re in a larger city/metro than I am, your URL may be customized to your location, like this URL for Seattle businesses to add a listing: http://seattle.citysearch.com/profile/add_business.

The Add A Business page requires very basic business information and offers a fairly limited set of categories to choose from. You also have the option of rating or writing a review at the same time as you submit your business, but I don’t recommend reviewing yourself. (It looks spammy.)

Adding a basic listing to Citysearch is free.

How to Claim Your Citysearch Listing

If your business is already in Citysearch’s database, you can use the business profile page to claim the listing. Look for the “Own this Business?” link below your business information to get started on claiming your listing.

Claiming an existing listing on Citysearch is also free.

New: Twitter & Tweets on Citysearch Business Profile Pages

Also announced tonight is the addition of Twitter data and messages (”tweets”) to Citysearch business profile pages. Here’s what all is involved:

1.) Create Twitter accounts via Citysearch. When signing up for a business listing, or when claiming/editing an existing listing, businesses will be invited to create a Twitter account (or provide a Twitter username if they already have one). This is the first time any site has offered Twitter account creation without going through Twitter.com. Citysearch is using Twitter’s API for this, as well as these other features on business profile pages.

2.) Twitter data as core business information. Citysearch is making a push on the social side of local business search. Businesses that provide their Twitter or Facebook account information will see that data elevated with the core business data, like this:

During a call on Friday, Citysearch told me that they are moving in the direction of becoming a directory of businesses on Twitter and Facebook.

3.) Tweets as business reviews. The Twitter partnership also includes the inclusion of tweets about a business right on the business profile page, along with a tool to post to Twitter right from the business listing. It looks like this:

(see the Apothecary Cafe and Wine Bar listing for a live look)

The obvious concern here is that not every tweet about a business is positive. And yes, if Twitter users are saying bad things about a business on Twitter, those may appear on the business listing page. Citysearch says tweets are a type of review, and just as reviews posted on the site may be negative, tweets might, too. However, in extreme cases where a Twitter user seems to be targeting a certain business, that business owner can use Twitter’s own “block” function to prevent the tweets from appearing on its business listing page.

Citysearch says the addition of other social media information to business profile pages, such as Facebook status updates, is “on our radar.” They’re also planning an “extensive FAQ” about Twitter’s integration into Citysearch, and plan to educate business owners about the bigger issue of social media and reputation management.

Your turn: What are your thoughts on the inclusion of Twitter and tweets on Citysearch business profile pages? What about the Add A Business feature coming back? Comments are open.

(more about Citysearch and Twitter on Techmeme)

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This is a post from Matt McGee’s blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Citysearch Brings Back Free Business Listings, Adds Twitter

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Citysearch Brings Back Free Business Listings, Adds Twitter

Since the very first blog, written around an ancient campfire somewhere in the moist foothills of Seattle, content has been crowned the undisputed king.

The king ruled over all that was written, be they blogs, articles, ads, fiction, or a killer love letter. All that was copy sat at the feet of the king.

Nothing succeeded without content. Writing without it was cast from the kingdom, banished as self-serving junk mail and the much-loathed “interruption marketing.”

But the king is dead.

Okay, not exactly dead, just appointed Prime Minister. Content still rules, but it’s from a more evolved perspective.

Long live the new king: context.

Because nothing sells, nothing works, without it.

The inherent power that is context

At the center of every effective piece of content is an agenda, an implied pitch residing at the heart of the content.

Content is the license, if you will, to move forward with the pitch. Valuable content gives you the right to go on to sell or promote something. It’s the embodiment of a noble premise — to receive you must first give.

You give with the hope that the prospect will stick around and finally buy something. And that is the context behind content marketing.

A commercial context doesn’t diminish the value of strong content. In fact, acknowledging your agenda can be a very smart strategy. It’s like saying, Here, I have a gift for you. Stick around. Because there’s even more where that came from.

Content creates value, and value builds trust. From trust springs the willingness to part with dollars in return for even more value.

The universal nature of context

Of course, context isn’t something we only find in commercial transactions. It’s the empowering juice of fiction, as well.

In the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s current flick, Inglorious Basterds, we see what would otherwise be an overly long, annoyingly irrelevant conversation between a Nazi officer and a terrified farmer.

Why is the farmer terrified? Why is the viewer hooked? Because of the context of the scene. Beneath every seemingly innocent line is a foreboding sense of dread.

Idle chit-chat about milk and neighbors form the content. Fear and unthinkable consequences form the context. Without the context, all you have is a rather dull conversation.

We know something really dramatic and truly horrifying is about to happen. Right after Tarantino teases and torments us into a frenzy of anticipation.

How does he do that? He has mastered the art of context in his scenes.

We copywriters should take note.

Context as strategy

Effective context doesn’t happen by accident. We need to consciously create it.

Context comes from the writer’s clarity about her goals, juxtaposed against the expectations and tolerances of the audience.

In the context of content marketing, first we deliver valuable content, free and clear. As a gift. As a solution. As narrative bricks and mortar. And in doing so we earn the reader’s trust.

Once we’re trusted, we are now able to expand on our own agenda. We get to talk more about the intended outcome of the piece. That outcome might be a sale, a subscription, or even conversion to a new idea.

In a blog, we set out to deliver value. In an ad, we pitch solutions and overcome objections. In fiction, we infuse scenes with anticipation and emotion.

And in each case, when we understand the context we’re working in, we achieve our goal.

And so, too, does the reader. Because their context isn’t what you’re selling, but what they’re seeking to take away from what you’ve written.

Long live the new king.

About the Author: Larry Brooks is a bestselling novelist and the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional site for fiction writers and those who love them.

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Why Content is No Longer King (And Who’s Taking His Place)

So last week I was at SES San Jose and thought I’d share a few thoughts …

I’ve got no idea what the actual attendance for the show was, but it seemed a little bit lighter than previous shows, which I would mostly attribute to to the weakened US economy, but the show was well attended. The keynote from Clay Shirky was awesome, and really enjoyed it. As I’ve been to a few shows over the years, I tend to avoid the beginner and introductory panels, and stay with some of the more advanced panels, such as “igniting viral campaigns” and the “Advanced SEO Roundtable”. However my favorite panels are the site clinics. The thing I really like about site clinics, are how it separates the “men from the boys”, you can tell who has some idea what they are talking about and who can think on their feet. The best site clinic panel I attended had Matt Cutts, Tiffany Lane, Greg Boser, Vanessa Fox with Elisabeth Osmeloski moderating. This clinic had an excellent variety of sites ranging from adult toys, RV’s, cheap airport parking and hookah’s, it was that awesome.

There were two parts of the show that didn’t live up to expectation, the Charlene Li keynote and “social media black hat vs white hat”. I’m not sure Charlene Li had a grasp on “who the audience was”, and I felt her material was below everyone, except the first time conference attendees. The social media panel was a great idea but IMHO opinion the moderator kept putting the brakes on it every time it got interesting. For most sessions you don’t want panelists arguing back and forth, but for a “black hat vs white hat” you want to encourage, foster, and nurture an atmosphere for healthy debate. When thst moment of conflict occurs let it happen and play out.

This was also the first year without the Googledance, but  the folks at Webmaster Radio stepped up and threw and excellent party at search bash, and the IM charity party was a success as well. However for me the most fun was shooting a PSA with Matt Cutts about hacking for links.

More WebProNews Videos

To conclude, conferences like SES provide a really great opportunity for new and intermediate level marketers to grow their skill set. For advanced attendees it provides an opportunity to get face time with your collegues and peers, talk about issues, problems, theories or things you are seeing. However as my friend Everett remarked the most important thing you get from a conference is a renewed sense of motivation:

So long SES San Jose thanks for a great show looking forward to San Francisco next year.
photo credit: toprankonlinemarketing

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

SES San Jose 2009 Recap

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SES San Jose 2009 Recap

Photo by SMN via Creative Commons

Even after this abbreviated week, Friday couldn’t have come too soon. I mean, is it just me or are the search engines getting ruthless, pulling out all the stops to get to the top? Cutthroat innovation and increasingly frequent rebranding efforts signaled Yahoo and Microsoft’s escalating desperation to gain market share and Google’s refusal to back down.

Yahoo’s announcement came first this week, as we watched CEO Carol Bartz map a new direction for the company. In an interview, Bartz outlined a strategy for enhancing video, social and mobile Web experiences and said that Yahoo is not a search company.

Then Microsoft came out swinging, announcing that its new search engine, Bing, would be launched next week. CEO Steve Ballmer called Bing a “decision engine” specializing in information on commerce-related topics like shopping, travel and local business. One humorous offset of Microsoft’s announcement is a developing feud between author/columnist Stanley Bing and Bing the search engine.

By the end of the week, Google had elbowed its way into the fight, capturing any wandering attention with a preview of Google Wave. Announced during Google’s I/O Developer Conference this week, Wave promises to revolutionize Internet communication by combining email, chat and instant messaging in one instant utility. Developers are being encouraged to create extensions for the platform so that applications are available when Wave is released later this year.

It was around that time when an unexpected player entered the ring. Topsy, a tweet-powered search engine, is poised to become a real-time search leader for online news. Results are ranked based on the number of times a tweet containing the story has been retweeted as well as the number of people following the person who tweeted it.

Okay, enough of the search engine soap opera already. Get to the fun stuff! Like cookie cake pie! You may ask, “Can such high levels of deliciousness coexist in one form?” Just witness the arrival of the baked goods triple threat. If anyone’s thinking of making one, please know that I wouldn’t waste a crumb and I’m not above licking the plate clean. While I’m on a food kick, check out this beautiful and practical table of condiments that periodically go bad. Who knew garlic sauce was so finicky?

Also in danger of spoiling is Twitter after announcing that a Twitter television show is in the works. The concept is still in the development stage, but users from celebrities to technophiles alike are protesting the project. As Michael Arrington points out, there are hundreds of other ways Twitter could be using its time and resources more wisely — like providing a stable platform, for starters.

At the Cartoon Barry Blog, proud new papa Barry Schwartz alerted us to a silly spoof of what life would be like if all the world was a client-vendor relationship. Life is negotiable, right?

SMX Advanced kicks off in Seattle next week. Bruce is speaking on the SEO track during Mega Session: SEO Vets Take All Comers. While there won’t be a Bruce Clay blogger recording the action, Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media has posted her SMX Advanced liveblogging schedule. I also expect to see session coverage on the aimClear Search Marketing Blog. If you know of anywhere else offering SMX Advanced coverage, be sure to share in the comments.

Before I leave you with your weekly dose of Boing Boing-inspired brain bites, I’ve got to shout out to my counterparts Down Under who are starting a new tradition on the Bruce Clay Australasia blog. Every other week, the SEO roundup will compile some of the most interesting stories, stats and developments related to Internet marketing. Keep those ace finds coming, mates!

Things I learned from Boing Boing this week:

• I played piano as a kid. Maybe if I had a room-sized keyboard I would have stuck with the thing, purely for the cool factor of doing this.
• No longer content with merely creating food from thin air, honey bees are exploring their artistic sides.
• Lightning may never strike twice, but it can cause vivid and disturbing visual hallucinations.
• These gummi bears have been saved from a life-threatening heart condition. And I’ll probably still eat them.

Excerpt from:
Friday Recap - The Gloves Come Off Edition

As a full-time media junkie, I like to keep up with the news in the search industry. One resource I rely on is the Search Engine Marketing Journal. SEMJ.org is a quarterly academic journal with papers on just about every aspect of doing business online. Topics like conversion and landing page optimization, SEO, analytics, international search, paid search, Web development, social media and mobile marketing are all there.

SEMJ.org was founded by Sean Golliher in 2007 and quickly became an industry authority, attracting renowned experts like Tim Ash, Avinash Kaushik and Eric Enge as editors. [Ahem? --Susan] Oh yes, Bruce and Susan too! Recently Google’s Maile Ohye joined SEMJ.org’s advisory board. Considering the blue blood and sweat running through the pages of the journal, you can understand why I pay attention to what Sean and the SEMJ.org crew are doing.

Well, today my antennae perked up when I saw that SEMJ.org was promoting and planning to attend the Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose mid-June.

I talked to Sean and he helped me see why semantic search education is such an important investment today:

“As a company that does search marketing research we try to look forward as much as possible, and we follow papers by researchers and conferences very closely. There has been a large movement developing with internet researchers over the last couple years regarding the semantic web. Microformats, linked data, resource description framework (RDFa), etc. Like Tim Berners-Lee has been preaching, web documents that link to each other through hyperlinks are ‘just the tip of the iceberg.’ There are an estimated 25 billion triplets (RDF descriptions) of data on the web now and this is supposedly a 50 x increase from the previous year. Multiply this again by 50 and you can see where this may be going.”

Sean’s aim has always been to advocate research and education in the search marketing industry and to give SEMJ.org readers an edge in the marketing environment of the future. Partnering with the SemTech Conference serves both those goals.

The five-day conference will take place June 14-18 at the Fairmont in San Jose. In its fifth year, the annual conference boasts that it’s the most extensive event on semantic technologies, spanning from business to government to consumer activity. With semantic technologies and linked data promising to hold a prominent place in the future of search and the Web, software developers and marketers would be well served to learn about semantic Web technologies.

Sure, I don’t yet understand what makes the semantic Web tick. Like most, I’ve heard the term bandied about a lot in the past few years, but listening and understanding are two different beasts. Luckily, it’s still early in the life of semantic Web technology, and getting in on the SemTech Conference couldn’t be easier or less expensive than it is now. SEMJ.org is offering registration for Semantic Search Day, June 17, at a cost of $95 when you register with the code SEMJ. While semantic search technology is still emerging, we can do ourselves a favor and give our understanding a jump-start.

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SEMJ.org Promotes Semantic Search Education

Todd Malicoat from Stuntdubl.com was today’s guest.

On today’s episode of SEM Synergy — the can’t-miss WebmasterRadio show featuring Bruce Clay, Susan Esparza and a new expert guest each week — we devoted the program to link development. Link development specialist Todd Malicoat of Stuntdubl.com was our guest, sharing juicy tactics and recommendations for link building. Todd explains his process for training link developers, tracking link solicitation efforts, setting guidelines for staff, creating profiles for link building, and why he believes link building is considered mysterious.

That last topic was kind of what inspired me to put together a show about link building secrets. After reading a post on Link Spiel by link development authority Debra Mastaler, I started to get the feeling that members of the Internet marketing industry are on a quest for link development’s hidden treasures. But as Debra points out, the only link building secrets out there are the ones you don’t listen to. Years of speaking at conferences and frequent discussions with SEO professionals has highlighted the fact that no matter how comprehensive the presentation or how inventive the suggestions, Internet marketers still think of link building as a black box of mystery.

So to help dispel one of SEO’s greatest myths, I thought I’d do a little snooping to see what link building recommendations are really at our disposal. As predicted, there are more than a few resources available to link builders looking to better their craft.

Link Development Tools

BuzzStream: I wrote about BuzzStream a few months ago here on the blog, and I’m still willing to put money on this tool’s ability to streamline and manage link building campaigns. With this CRM for link building, you can research potential link partners, keep track of past discussions, and easily maintain backlinks. My 50 private beta invites disappeared faster than you can say “link building made easy.” Now that the product is open to the public, there’s no reason not to use it.

Wiep.net’s List of Link Building Tools: You can find lists of tools all over the Web and, of course, some are better than others. But when tools are shared by a trusted source, there’s a good chance that there’s something worth checking out. Wiep’s list of indispensable link building tools are divided into categories of one-click analysis, in-depth analysis and link targeting. LinkDiagnosis, Link Sleuth and Link Harvester are among the link building tools listed.

Link Development Techniques

Link Baiting with Fake Web Sites: At SEOSmarty.com, Ann Smarty presents a creative and unexpected link bait concept — the fake Web site. With a sticky concept, a sensational domain and an influencer willing to promote your site, you’re on your way to attracting natural links. Whatever link equity is gathered there can be pointed toward the site of your choosing.

Link Baiting with Must-Click Headlines: Notorious link developer Lyndon Antcliff writes about link building, among other topics, at Cornwallseo.com. In a post last week he wrote that, on average, content must grab the reader’s attention in less than three seconds. Crafting a headline that reads like a brick to the face is his suggestion for getting and keeping reader attention in an info-overload environment.

Tips for Evaluating Link Opportunities

Know What Google Looks For: Buying links is a legitimate advertising opportunity on the Web, however as we all know, Google has said that buying links for the purpose of increasing PageRank is a manipulation of the system that will be penalized. At the SEOUnique Blog, Matthew Ridout looks at the ways which Google identifies paid links, such as unrelated content, unnaturally ideal anchor text and a too-rapid increase of links. With knowledge comes the opportunity to act.

Identify Nofollow Links: Also detrimental to link development efforts are links that don’t pass link equity. Paul Teitelman outlines 10 ways to identify whether or not a link is passing juice. Links with nofollow tags, links on robots.txt disallowed pages, links with redirects or refreshes, and Flash or JavaScript links are all low-value when it comes to link equity. Again, knowing what to look for or avoid is half the battle.

So there are a handful of resources I found after a quick stroll through my feed reader and the SEO Geeks Newsletter. Imagine what a little digging could do.

It might be nice to hold out hope for a link building easy button, but there just aren’t any link building secrets. You might ask, “If link development is so competitive and so important to search marketing, why did people give it all away in the first place?” No mystery there. They want links, of course!

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Link Development Tips and Tricks - SEM Synergy Extras