Presentation by the VP of Buiness Development of BlueGlass Interactive, Loren Baker given at the SES Conference in San Francisco on August 15, 2012.

2. Guess What?
• Links existed before the
invention of the PageRank!

3. In the Beginning....
• Links were acquired because of their potential
to drive traffic
• Links had to be earned naturally, as they were
human curated based on inherent value

4. The Perception of LINKS
• When links became algorithmically
important, the paradigm shifted:
High Rankings = $$$
Many Links = High Rankings
Ergo;
Links = $$

5. Losing the Way
• Link acquisition efforts became mainly driven
for SEO purposes
• This lead towards manipulative linking
schemes

6. Things Get Crazy
To compete, many enterprises
engage in:
– Link buying
– Automated link generation
– Affiliate manipulation
– Content farms
– Link networks
– And on & on....

8. Enter the Penguin
• An update aimed at penalizing websites with
unnatural link profiles
• The diversity and composition of your link
profile becomes increasingly important

9. Enter the Penguin
• Penguin is a “behavior modification”algo
update
• Shot across the bow against manipulative
linking practices

10. The Post-Penguin Shift
• It was completely
devastating for some
businesses...

11. The
Post-Penguin
Shift

12. The Post-Penguin Shift
• Most businesses have changed the way they
do link-building

13. The Post-Penguin Shift
• PP (Post-Penguin), we’re called to remember
the original impetus for building links: traffic &
engagement...

14. The Post-Penguin Shift
• Major market shift
towards content-
strategies

15. The Post-Penguin Shift
• Return to evaluating links based on potential
to send traffic and build audiences

16. The Post-Penguin Shift
• Abandonment of
manipulative linking
strategies

19. View Links the Way Google (Ideally) View Them
Great links:
– Can drive targeted traffic
– Are earned naturally based on merit
– Are helpful to the user/reader
– Help make the web a better resource

20. Evaluate links from multiple angles
• Would your Director of SEO like this link?
• Would your PR team like this link?
• Would a Google Quality Rater like this link?
• Would you show this link to the audience here at SES?
• Would your CEO like this link?
• Would Matt Cutts like this link?

21. If you answered NO to any of these questions…
...you probably don’t want that link, and you
may need reconsider your link building strategy.

23. Good Links Are Earned:
• Providing true value
with content

24. Good Links Are Earned:
• By leveraging existing
[and creating new]
relationships

25. Good Links Are Earned:
• By being different and noteworthy

27. Enterprises Can Best Leverage:
• Your People
• Your Relationships
• Your Brand Recognition & Trust
• Your Knowledge Base and Experience

28. But Don’t Forget…
The Bigger they are, the harder they fall
Larger and more well known brands are
more likely to be under the the web’s
“microscope”

30. The Goals of Content Marketing
• Create a defensible link-profile
• Drive traffic
• Increase brand exposure
• Create immediate conversion events

31. Methods for Effective Content Marketing
• Strategy: A plan of action for creating and
marketing content
• Production: Creating Differentiated content
• Promotion: Getting exposure for the content you
create

32. Content Strategies
• 6-12+ month plans are typical
• Involve deep niche research
– Content opportunities in the marketplace
– Competitive analysis

33. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different
scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics

34. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics
– Motion Graphics

35. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics
– Motion Graphics
– In-Depth Articles

36. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics
– Motion Graphics
– In-Depth Articles
– Videos

37. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics
– Motion Graphics
– In-Depth Articles
– Videos
– Blog posts

38. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics
– Motion Graphics
– In-Depth Articles
– Videos
– Blog posts
– Kinetic Typography

39. Content Production
Different content mediums are better in different scenarios, depending on goals
• Content types include:
– Infographics
– Motion Graphics
– In-Depth Articles
– Videos
– Blog posts
– Kinetic Typography
– Interactive Infographics
– HTML5 content

40. Content Promotion
Two Major Targets for promoting content
– Social, distributed audiences
– Established, large, centralized audiences

41. Content Promotion
There are two primary methods utilized for
gaining exposure for content:
– Blogger Outreach and Online PR
– Social Media Promotion

42. Content Promotion
Great Content Can be Forgotten, This is Not a
Field of Dreams
– Leverage Relationships and Get Content Hosted
on Influential 3rd Party Sites
– Expand Your Messaging to Audiences and
Transition them into Brand Advocates

52. We produced powerful
infographics under tight
deadlines for the Christmas
holiday season

53. – IG content featured on Mashable.com
– Secured strategic content syndication
relationships with major pet related
sites Dogster.com and
TheDogFiles.com

54. – Achieved placement of IG’s
multiple times on major Yahoo!
Content properties such as
Yahoo! Shine
– Content shared by a number of
celebrities on Twitter including
Alyssa Milano & Guy Kawasaki

56. Begin With a Strategy of Differentiation
The key is finding ways to demonstrate value
over the competition.

57. Find Ways to be Different
What can your business offer that
your competition can’t?
Create remarkable content based
on that

58. Find Ways to be Different
What information, stats or data does your
business have that is not well known in the
marketplace?
Create remarkable content based on that

60. Leverage your people
Bigger businesses have untapped power in their
human element
Great content comes from experts with a
passion for your business and industry.
Use this to your advantage

61. Leverage your marketing materials
• Digital content can often serve a dual
purpose, and be used as sales/marketing
collateral offline
• Use this to your advantage

63. Ditch the Silos
Great content strategies rely on a strategic
intersection of sales, marketing, PR, and SEO

64. Ditch the Silos
Sales, Marketing & PR need to work together
Bring these teams together and work
symbiotically

65. Leverage Relationships
Links and exposure are more easily earned
through existing relationships.
This is one of the biggest advantage enterprises
have over their smaller competitors

66. You Have a Deep Well of
Knowledge & Experience
• Enterprises can leverage their more
entrenched and intimate knowledge of their
industry to create differentiated content

67. Get Buy In:
(Wow your internal audience)
• Proving the value of content
initiatives is essential to secure
commitment of long-term
strategies.

68. Get Buy In:
(Wow your internal audience)
• Promote your content internally and find
ways to create content that will be popular
internally to create buy-in from all
stakeholders

69. Putting Theory into Action
• Great content strategies
rely on symbiotic agency-
client partnerships

70. The Client-Agency Relationship
• Agencies must prove they
are invested in
understanding AND
championing your brand.

71. The Client-Agency Relationship
• True partnerships are structured in a way
where you win or lose together.

72. The Client-Agency Relationship
• Everything starts with fostering education and
education for the agency about the client’s
needs and position in the marketplace

73. Takeaways
• There’s a return towards evaluating links
based on their inherent ability to drive traffic
• Manipulative linking should be avoided at all
costs.

74. Takeaways
• Content is the driving force behind high-
quality, natural link acquisition
• Content marketing has the primary goal of
helping a client achieve recognition through
differentiated content

75. Takeaways
• Enterprises have an advantage in their
knowledge, people and relationships
• Content marketing is the solution for long-
term growth, and relies on the creation and
promotion of high quality content.

76. Takeaways
• Quick wins and internal promotional
strategies help create intra-company buy-in
• Agency relationships need to be
“partnerships” based on deep understanding
of mutual goals