In a previous post, my coworker Lauren outlined what Pinterest is, how to use it, and why it’s important. As part 2 in a 3 part series, I want to outline how Pinterest is now becoming an important element to any SEM strategy.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is not just about words, it’s about anything and everything that conveys a message to your customer. This includes images, videos, other rich media, and obviously the actual words on your website. Because of Pinterest’s appeal to aesthetics, it is now necessary for websites to seriously consider the images they use. This means stock photography is a thing of the past.

An Example

An important thing to remember about Pinterest is that images are the “hook” to your content. For example, say you have a great recipe for rice pilaf and you have just blogged about it on your food blog. Then a subscriber of yours sees it, and thinks the recipe is rice-tastic and then proceeds to Facebook it, Tweet it and Pin it. But let’s also say that you only included one image with your recipe and it’s a stock photo you found on Google images that’s pixilated and grainy. Well, when your awesome subscriber goes to pin this wonderful recipe and hits their “Pin It” bookmark (to be discussed later), the only image they can pin, to share your recipe, is the pixilated and grainy stock photo. Now, at first you may not see a huge problem with this. Well friends, here’s the issue… take a look at this example of the Food and Drink Pinterest feed.

Look how pretty! You’re pixilated grainy image will get lost in all the amazingness of other, good quality images. You won’t get any repins, or more importantly visits, because your photo doesn’t look appetizing compared to all of these great food shots. This is why images are now crucial to your content strategy.

Pinterest Share Tools

The “Pin It” Bookmark

The “Pin It” bookmark is something Pinterest has developed to make pinning new content easy. You install it by dragging and dropping it to your bookmark tool bar on your browser.

When you want to pin something you see on a page (lets continue with the recipe motif since I love food and I love to cook), you click the “Pin It” bookmark and it gives you options of images it found on the page for you to pin. For example, if I find this delectable recipe for garlic cheese rolls on RaptorToe.com and want to pin it, this is what I see:

Then I hit the “Pin It” bookmark, it gives me several image options based on how many image files were found on the particular page.

I can choose what image I want to pin, then add a description, and choose which board I want to pin it to. From there I can share it to other social networks if I wish.

Give pinners only GREAT options for images.

“Pin It” Share Button

You don’t want to leave it up to chance that pinners will choose the best image that conveys your content. Good news! You can install the Pinterest share button on every post/page of your site to give YOU more control of how your content is shared. You can specify the description to keep messaging consistent and in-brand along with specifying the image shared. Pinterest also provides an advanced code for multiple Pin buttons per page (used mainly for Ecommerce websites). How great are they?!

Pinterest “Follow Button”

If you have created a company or brand profile (if you haven’t already, you should) you can add a follow button to your website. This way, users can keep up with YOUR pins on Pinterest.

Consider This

Here are a few things to consider when implementing images:

• WHY are you using the image? Are you using an image just because? Does it have a purpose?
• What is the message you’re trying to convey and what message does it support?
• Can the image “stand alone”? Can the image convey the message by itself?
• Is the image compelling enough to draw a click?

Because Pinterest is like crack for ADD-ers, you probably have about .05 seconds to catch the eye of a Pinner. Asking all the above questions will help focus your images so Pinners will be anxious to share your content.

Search Engine Optimization

It’s well known that social media is playing a big role in Google’s ranking factors. Pinterest is now the next big social thing, and brands need to jump on the bandwagon if they are doing SEO.

Pinterest SEO Benefit

Yes, there is SEO benefit.

Pinterest recently updated their look and functionality so some of the SEO benefit has been lost. Previously with every pin, your website received one branded, do-follow, anchor text link. This is no longer that case. You now get one no-follow, image link. Some might argue the benefit is lost. I say, along with others, a link is a link is a link. You want your back link portfolio to look natural, what’s more natural than image links? And guess what, Pinterest links don’t go away.

Tracking Pinterest

One great thing about Pinterest is that is drives traffic. With most analytics packages it tracks under referral traffic. If you use Google Analytics, like me, it’s pretty simple to gather information.

To find referral traffic in GA (Google Analytics):

• Go to the left sidebar navigation. Click “Traffic Sources,” “Sources” and then “Referrals.”
• This will give you a list of all the sites that drive traffic to your website. In that list you will find “Pinterest.com” if you are receiving traffic from pins.
• Click “Pinterest.com” in the list, it will pull open the list of all the individual pins that send visitors. If you have goals or ecommerce tracking set up, you can then see which pins actually drove leads and sales. Very cool.

Affiliate Marketing

How Pinterest Makes Its Money

It has recently come to light that Pinterest has been attaching their affiliate code to URL’s when a pinner clicks through to a website. They have been using a program call Skimlinks to achieve this. According to Adrianne Jefferies’s blog post, Skimlinks crawls through all Pinterest links and checks if the URL points to a merchant store with an affiliate program (like Amazon). When they find one, the program automatically changes the URL to include the Pinterest affiliate code.

The Controversy

The controversy has been over Pinterest’s neglect in disclosing their affiliate program. I personally don’t take offense, and honestly don’t care. But I can see how not being forthcoming can rub some the wrong way. Those that are most perturbed are other affiliate marketers that have been making money off Pinterest by tagging URL’s with their code.

So for those of you who already have or are planning on implementing an affiliate program, Pinterest beat you to the punch.

To Wrap It Up

Pinterest appeals to a very specific demographic, and that requires change in your current online strategies. Don’t miss the boat on this, Pinterest is sticking around. Part 3 of the series will address branding, and how Pinterest can benefit your brand.

And in case you missed the first post, take a look at Pinterest… What Is The Big Deal? – Part 1 as well as Part 3: Brand It: Four Ways to Brand Your Business via Pinterest

How To Leverage Pinterest In Your SEM Strategy – Part 2 is a post by SEO expert Suzanne Sanchez. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

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SEO and PPC should be considered children of the same parent: search marketing. Their strategies should be considered together for best results.

There is some debate in the industry if running PPC and SEO can cause cannibalization of traffic; and there have been studies suggest both a positive and a negative result. You should, therefore, monitor both initiatives closely to prevent cannibalization if present.

There are some great benefits however, including:

• Shared keyword data. Data from your PPC campaigns can help you identify your best converting keywords which can be applied to your overall strategy.
• Informed content strategy. As with keyword data, converting content from PPC may also convert well for your SEO campaign.
• More comprehensive ecommerce data. Ecommerce landing pages can also be used in your PPC campaign to move visitors directly the page where they can purchase a product.

Again, if you do run PPC and SEO programs together, monitor them closely to assure positive results from both. Using both programs can enable you to share data between campaigns making both more effective.

Should You Do SEO and PPC Together? [Video FAQ Series] is a post by SEO expert Suzanne Sanchez. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Many companies decide on a whim to jump on the SEO bandwagon without really understanding the ramifications. While SEO is becoming more and more vital to a successful business model, there are many things that need to be considered before moving forward. Below are a few points to get the juices flowing.

Marketing objectives

Seems like a simple thing, but you need to know how SEO will fit into the overall marketing objectives of your company. What will it accomplish? What do you want it to accomplish? Don’t just do SEO because everyone else is doing it. Do it for a specific reason.

Timing is everything

Don’t rush into an SEO campaign because you are feeling pressure to get results. Here are some timing considerations to think about before you move forward:

Seasonality. Does your industry have a high and low season? If so, then you probably want to start your SEO in the low season. This way, you are in prime positions during your high season to capture key traffic.

Website redesign. A new site launch is a big deal, and yes, it DEFINITELY affects SEO. If you want to start an SEO campaign, but you know in your gut (and have known for a while) that your website desperately needs an update, take care of the site FIRST. New site launches during an SEO campaign are a huge hindrance and can delay results significantly.

SEO is not a quick fix

Search engine optimization is a long term marketing strategy. No, let me rephrase, EFFECTIVE SEO is a long term strategy. If you are looking to jump into an SEO campaign in October because you need to finish out Q4 well, you’re a day late and dollar short. There are no “special contacts at Google,” no magic buttons, and no amount of guarantees that can change this. Depending on your situation, SEO can take anywhere from 6-18 months to see top results.

Access to a Web developer

Chances are that if you have a website, you have a developer you work with that manages that website. SEO campaigns require many time sensitive website adjustments. Having a reliable and available Web developer that can implement recommendations made by your SEO firm is vital to success. Make sure you have a developer and he or she is ready and willing to make changes before embarking on your SEO campaign.

Content generation capabilities

It is no secret that content is king. Relevant content on your site is a huge aspect of SEO. Be aware that some sites require more website content then others, depending on your current layout. Assure that you have content creation capabilities, and if not talk about your limitations with your potential agency upfront.

“I only need you for…”

SEO companies can be partners in your marketing efforts. They have the ability to provide expertise in Internet marketing, not just SEO, that can benefit your overall marketing vision. Let them do what they do best. Don’t tie the hands of your SEO company because you only want link building from them. Mostly likely their approach is more holistic, and not allowing them to utilize all the aspects of SEO will underhand their efforts and sabotage success. Listen to the expertise of you SEO firm. Allow them to perform their work, because after all, you hired them for a reason.

The full Monty

Full exposure. Complete transparency. SEO companies cannot be your partner if you treat them like a vendor. Be open, honest and transparent with your goals and the current state of your business. Explain your business model, your industry, past experiences with search marketing, and most importantly what it is you are trying to accomplish with your website. Give your SEO company the data to prove their value to you, in dollars.

If your SEO company only sees a small piece of the pie, they will do their work based on that information. This can cause frustration and a communication breakdown as bits and pieces of information can be taken out of context and misconstrued. Prevent this through open and honest communication. If you don’t feel comfortable exposing yourself just yet, you may want to hold off on an SEO campaign until you can.

ROI

Everyone knows that it’s about the bottom line, so what return are you getting on this investment? Do you know? Can you know? Have you put the appropriate metrics in place that will tell you? Ask these vital questions first. If you don’t know the answer, don’t hesitate to consult a trusted SEO company to find out.

When you do hire a SEO company, make sure you communicate the importance of evaluating ROI, if they don’t already, and your willingness to cooperate in that effort.

It takes two to Tango

If you haven’t noticed already, an underlying theme throughout this post has been cooperation and partnership. To execute and effective and successful SEO campaign you have to be involved. SEO is an active marketing effort, requiring constant communication and adjustment. The best SEO firms will always be in communication, and wanting to work together as an active partner. If you lack the time to attend such an effort, find someone who can.

Try to eliminate red tape as much as possible so things can get done. Again, SEO can be time sensitive. The quicker recommendations are implemented, the quicker you see results. It’s that simple.

Hopefully now, you will be better prepared to ask the right questions before beginning your SEO campaign.

Search Engine Optimization: Know Before You Go is a post by SEO expert Suzanne Sanchez. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

I am an Account Executive at SEO.com which is a fancy title for project manager. I’m not an expert in anything, but I know about 80% of everything. As I have worked with clients and SEO experts, I have seen many things get lost in translation. This can result in frustration for both parties, misunderstandings, finger pointing, and severed beneficial relationships.

Here are seven points to help bridge the gap:

1. Change your vocabulary

Industry jargon is not client friendly. Learn the concepts behind the acronyms and big words, explain them in terms the client understands. This involves understanding your client, their industry and business model.

2. Put things in context

You: “You need to add a 301 redirect here.”

Client: “Why?”

You: “Cause it’s good for your SEO.”

The answer to every client “Why?” is not, “because it’s good for your SEO.” This means nothing to clients. It sounds more like, “I don’t really know why, but everyone is doing it so I guess we will too.” Clients need to see the big picture. Explain how a change will ultimately affect their bottom line. Once clients can see it all in context, they will be happy to do whatever you suggest.

3. Educate

It’s to your benefit to educate your clients on proper SEO tactics. As you educate them, you are building trust. Your clients want, and need, to know you are the best at what you do. But most clients have control issues. They may believe you are the best, but will still have trouble letting go and allowing you to do your job.

Some SEO professionals believe that because the industry is ultra competitive, we have to keep our most precious SEO secrets to ourselves; otherwise all our clients will quit and do SEO themselves. Not so. Most clients want to partner with someone to do their SEO. They don’t really want to worry about it. But they will if they are not educated about what you are doing. It will take time to build that level of trust. Be patient.

4. Use analogies

The best teachers use analogies to explain difficult concepts. As mentioned above, educate your clients on SEO and use analogies that put things in context.

Explaining SEO to a client without analogies is like telling a Kansas farmer how to program a spaceship in Greek. See how well analogies work?

5. Tell your clients where to go

The fact is they hired you for a reason: to drive the SEO strategy. The client expects you to tell them what to do, because they really don’t know what they are doing. This means if a client comes up with a bad idea, say so, but nicely. Don’t be afraid to push back and fight for suggestions that you know will work. When you do, and they work, clients will trust you and be less inclined to fight back in the future.

6. Be realistic

Don’t try and “BS” anyone. We can all tell when someone doesn’t know what they are talking about. Be upfront and honest about everything. If you don’t know the answer, say so. Then go find it. If a client wants you to meet a ridiculous deadline, tell them it’s impossible and tell them why. They may be angry you can’t do it, but they will be far less angry if you said you could, and then missed the deadline.

7. Fix your reporting

Most SEO reporting is complicated and doesn’t tell the client the big picture. All reports should tell a story. They should all come together to communicate one or more main point. It’s not about the numbers; it’s about the story behind those numbers, how they relate to each other, and what that will mean for the future.

By implementing some of these points you will see a definite improved relationship with your clients.

A quick note to those working with SEO companies: If your SEO company is not doing above mentioned items and you feel frustrated, sometimes all it takes is communication. Tell your SEO firm how you feel and what you need. Most likely they had no idea there was a problem, and they would be happy to fix it.

7 Fixes to Communication Problems with SEO Clients is a post by SEO expert Suzanne Sanchez. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

If you type in your company’s name and bad press and/or content show up in the SERP’s, you need reputation management. That’s pretty much an industry standard. Rep management practices have become pretty standard too: get lots of good content out there to basically force out the bad press. See Nelson’s latest post on black hat white hat industry practices for more on suspect reputation management. Ok good, stay with me.

Now introduce long tail optimization into your reputation management. That won’t do any good you say! Long tail optimization should not be a focus! High traffic keywords should receive all our time, attention and effort! Blasphemy! Now look here, son. Wait for me to explain.

Why Long Tail In The First Place?

While most people ignore long tail due to lack of volume and traffic, long tail actually makes up nearly 75% of searches in search engines. So think about it, monopolize long tail traffic for your site and you have just won 75% of all potential search traffic. That is hard to ignore. For all you visual learners, here is a graphic illustration of my point. (Thank you Rand Fishkin at SEOMoz for your awesome Whiteboard Friday! For more detailed information and explanation on this graph see his post Ignore the Long Tail at Your Peril!)

The red bar is the high volume searches, general terms like “computer.” These searches receive millions of searches a month! It is hard to make a space for yourself with that kind of competition. The yellow bar is secondary terms, like “computer cases” or “computer mouse.” These phrases receive 10’s of thousands of searches a month.

The green section is where the term “long tail” came from. It is the longest part of the curve, or tail. These terms or phrases receive 0-5 searches a month and consist of phrases like “Where can I find a computer case in Nashville TN?” or something similar. This is mostly uncharted territory, a place for you to create a space and authority for yourself. And it is relatively easy to do, creating content, linking, and other basics will do the trick. Pretty sweet huh?

Once you dominate longer tail keywords, your other primary keywords will improve from this effort. An analogy is similar to Robyn’s explanation of deep linking to boost home page juice. It works the same way. Boost your authority and presence through content production in long tail, and this can boost your main domain in other larger trafficked terms.

A+B=C

An illustration should help put this all together. My father’s website, when you type in his full name and title, doesn’t show up. Instead a competitor’s name shows up before him on the SERPs. Now that’s just wrong. He doesn’t even own his own digital name space.

A good SEO company can fix this quite easily. Focusing on long tail optimization, his company can produce content in the form of articles, press releases, etc. Using considerably less time and effort, he can rise to the top of the SERPs for his full name. His rankings for other high volume keywords will increase because of the presence and authority he has created with long tail optimization. Obviously, similar tactics for the high traffic terms will always benefit and work nicely in improving his image on the net.

Long Tail Reputation Management. Wait…What? is a post by SEO expert Suzanne Sanchez. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

“Hundreds and thousands of times, for her I searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, and there she stood.” –Chinese Song Dynasty Poem

The name Baidu was literally taken from an ancient Song Dynasty poem written about the persistence of searching for the ideal. Well la de da! Ain’t that dandy. Sure it is. Baidu lives up to its Chinese origins. It is a combination of innovation and tradition in this increasingly fast paced SEO world.

“What a piece of work is a [search engine], how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god.” -William Shakespeare

Often times “thems folks out west” misunderstand the ways of the East. Unfortunately this cultural misunderstanding seeps into SEO. What do we know about Baidu? How does it work? Why should we even care?!

Why “Do the Baidu”

Firstly, it’s relatively easy to understand. Just think, Google, five years ago. Baidu does work much like Google and Yahoo once did in the late 90’s early 2000’s but has come through with some quality innovations. “Pin-yin” is a new search feature that allows users to enter search queries in the more phonetic English alphabet as opposed to Chinese characters. This makes for a quicker search for the user and search engine alike.

Secondly, Baidu focuses on the quantity of links as opposed to quality of links. Good news SEO’s, bad news users. The way to get “quality” links according to Baidu is to create a lot of links with Chinese characters as anchor text. Even better is to have completely Chinese content, with anchor text included. However, Baidu doesn’t necessarily take into huge consideration where the anchor text comes from. Just make sure your content doesn’t include adult content, or anti-China material. That’s definitely a Baidu “no no.”

Thirdly, Baidu has a “load capacity friendly” spider. That means it won’t overload your site with visits, and will obey the robots.txt agreement.

Optimizing tips for Baidu

1. Brush up on your metadata vocab because your gunna need it. Baidu, like Google, puts emphasis on the title. However, unlike the all-knowing Google, Baidu also looks at other metatags such as description and keywords. Make sure it is relevant.
2. Always include an Alt tag with images. It’s an easy code adjustment and can add more relevance to your site.
3. The higher your keyword density in your content, the better. Whoa there tiger, don’t get too hasty, 6-12% density will do just fine.
4. Try to get hosted in China; Baidu is a local search engine. If you can’t do that, get a local domain like a .com.cn. That’s should do the trick.

References:

• http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1104033
• http://www.metamend.com/baidu-search-engine.html
• http://www.filination.com/blog/2007/03/25/chinese-baidu-search-engine-optimization-seo-in-china/
• http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1185/Search-Engine-Optimization-for-Baidu.html

Do the Baidu is a post by SEO expert Suzanne Sanchez. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.