Stoney deGeyter will be speaking about “SEO Content” at SearchFest 2010, which will take place on March 9th at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Tickets are available now. To purchase, please click the following link.
1)Please give me your background and tell us what you do for a living.
I am SEO. I’ve been doing search engine optimization for 12 years through my company Pole Position Marketing. I’d like to think I’m pretty good, since my clients tell me as much. Places like SEMpdx ask me to speak every year so I guess I’m doing something right.
I write all kinds of stuff about SEO, Keyword Research, Website Architecture, Usability and running a small business at <strike>my</strike> the Search Engine Guide blog. I even won a SEMMY for it once. I wrote a few other things that people like to download a lot, like my Definitive Guide to Keyword Research, and Destination Search Engine Marketing.
I like implementing full-scale SEO campaigns for my clients so I can be a part of helping businesses grow, but I also enjoy simple consulting.
2)How can a person best balance “writing for people” and “writing for the search engines”?
If your writing makes peole gag and cough over your keywords then you’ve mastered the art of writing for search engines circa 1998. The key to writing for search engines circa 2010 is to write for people.
People like seeing that the keywords they searched are on the page they clicked into. If they don’t see that then they bolt thinking you don’t have what they were looking for. So when you write for people, use keywords. Search engines like that too. But don’t use so many keywords that you wind up beating that horse you already beat to death. Go natural. Just make sure you know what words people use when they search so you can use them in your content.
3)What are some important questions a prospective SEO Client should ask of every prospective SEO vendor?
I have a *coughsemmynominatedcough* article that outlines questions that need to be answered before choosing to do SEO in-ouse or to outsource. But I think the #1 question you need to know is, can the team you are hiring get results? Unfortunately you never know so you simply have to look to other places to find the answers. Talk to their clients, read testimonials, review results, etc.
The second most important question you need to ask any prospective SEO vendor is: If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be. If they answer "money tree" then run away. Unless, of course they mean they are YOUR money tree then, well, yeah, thats kinda what you want.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.