John will be speaking about “Universal Search Marketing Strategies and Tactics” at SearchFest 2011, which will take place on February 23rd at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Tickets are available now. To purchase, please click the following link.
1) Please give us your background and tell us what you do for a living.
Online marketing and visibility is a passion of mine not just a job. It all started with trying to rank my personal sites 11 years ago discovering this wonderful thing called SEO. Studying computer science and programming allowed me to view SEO from a technical angle that helped me a lot understanding how search engines work. Check my posts on SEO Site Audit and how to create SEO friendly widgets for more info on technical SEO.
I’ve worked in the search marketing space since 2000: I started as a web developer, then later moved to online marketing focusing on SEO. I currently work at Advance Internet Inc. as an SEO & Social Media Director, managing SEO and Social Media for 12 local news web sites. Advance Internet is a leading creator of local news and information web sites, created in alliance with over 25 newspapers affiliated with Advance Publications, Inc.
Prior to working at Advance Internet I worked at a marketing agency mainly focusing on optimizing Fortune 500 companies to develop successful SEO marketing strategies. My technical background allowed me to focus on optimizing and fixing technical SEO issues for large enterprise sites.
One of my main responsibilities at Advance Internet is training newspapers staff, newsrooms, writers, journalists, bloggers and editors on Search Engine Optimization and how to write news while keeping SEO top of mind.
In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the SEO/SMO team, I am also responsible for developing and implementing high-level strategies for news optimization, optimizing online classified content, including real estate, jobs and autos for Advance Internet’s 12 local news sites.
2) It’s hard enough to sell many businesses on SEO…how do you sell them on investing in Universal Search?
I speak in different SEO conferences like SES, SMX, wordCamp and in many local chamber of commerce seminars and many businesses express how difficult it is to compete with bigger and more popular brands in search, the simple answer is Universal Search. Small and Medium businesses have a great advantage in optimizing for images, videos, products, etc. and compete with bigger and stronger sites/brands online. Universal Search Optimization presents many opportunities for businesses to rank in Search Engines in other areas that may not require a highly optimized site but still it will require some work on their end to optimize Images, Videos, News, Products and to a certain extent Real-Time updates.
3) What can a small business with a limited budget do to attempt to implement of a Universal Search Strategy?
Search is no longer about just ranking in the “ten blue links.” It’s about maximizing the business visibility and exposure across many if not all of search engine verticals including Videos, Images, News, Products, and Local. Gaining more realestate in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) not only enables businesses to rank for a variety of content types in search engines but also gives them a better chance to handle their reputation management.
Many businesses complain that they have limited budget and resources and hardly have any content to rank in search engines. In the “Universal Search Marketing Strategies and Tactics” I will focus on the main strategy of “Turning everything into content” and how to utilize all different types of digital assets to optimize for Universal Search. Some content examples may include but not limited to interviews, conversations, product DVD’s, personal opinions, support emails, etc.
For more info please check Shehata’s SEO Blog, LinkedIn and Naymz profiles. You can also follow John Shehata’s Twitter account.
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.