Netconcepts

SEO: How Creative Link Building Can Multiply Site Traffic

Patricia Fusco — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:13:09 +0000

The right links are fuel for a retail web site’s search engine rankings. But building the right links is among the most difficult, misunderstood and poorly executed aspects of search engine optimization. There are two kinds of links that retailers should focus on to improve such rankings. Links from an e-retailer’s product page to other relevant product pages within the site—with relevant, as judged by the search engine spider, being the keyword—is one type. But a retailer can’t just put a bunch of links on a site to achieve a higher rank without taking into account whether the links achieve business goals. Such links must make merchandising and business sense, otherwise they will interfere with the shopper’s experience and possibly have a deleterious effect on a retail site. The second kind of link is links coming into a site from external sources, which retailers have a lot less control over. A link from a hunting magazine to an outdoor retail site is a link from an authoritative external site and those kinds of links can boost a retailer’s search rankings. But they are much harder to achieve because they require persuading the outside site to link to the retailer’s site, a mostly manual process. This session will examine criteria for evaluating a link’s value, creative link building strategies, link building dos and don’ts, and how to leverage affiliates and social media content. It will tell attendees how seemingly innocent practices can undermine a search engine optimization program and how best practices in search marketing are likely to change in the near future.

Workshop Presenters:
P.J. Fusco, Senior Consultant, NetConcepts
Mark Kaufman, Associate Vice President, CNet Findability, CNet

Secrets for Getting More & Better Links for Higher Search Rankings

Stephan Spencer — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:42:32 +0000

Keyword-rich contextually relevant text links are like fuel for your web site’s search engine rankings. Without good links, you are relegated to the bottom of the search results heap. Link building is arguably the most difficult; the most misunderstood and poorly executed aspect to SEO. In this session, you will learn criteria for evaluating a link’s value, creative link building strategies, link buying do’s and don’ts, how to approach webmasters, how to leverage your affiliates, how social media can be leveraged to build links, dangerous tactics, and more!

Moderator: Stephan Spencer, Founder & President, Netconcepts

Panelists:
Neil Patel, Chief Technology Officer, Advantage Consulting Services
Seth Besmertnik, CEO, LinkExperts
Rhea Drysdale, Online Marketing Director, Less Everything

Desperately Seeking Links: Baiting, Buying, and Socializing for Links

Stephan Spencer — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 06:00:22 +0000

Keyword rich contextually relevant text links are like fuel for your website’s search engine rankings. Without good links, you are relegated to the bottom of the search results heap. Link building is arguably the most difficult, the most misunderstood and poorly executed aspect to SEO. Learn: criteria for evaluating a link’s value, creative link building strategies, link buying do’s and don’t’s, how to approach webmasters, how to leverage your affiliates, how social media can be leveraged to build links, dangerous tactics, and more!

Learning Points:

Link building efforts that went horribly awry and how to avoid repeating their mistakes
Concrete action steps to boost your site’s importance in the eyes of the search
engines
Demystify link building, debunking myths, presenting real opportunities, providing tools, sharing real world experiences

Moderator:
Stephan Spencer, Founder and President, Netconcepts

Panelists:
Eric Ward, Founder, The Ward Group
Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing
Seth Besmertnik, CEO & Co-Founder, LinkExperts

Ecommerce Clinic: Link Building and Social Media

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:00:36 +0000

Keyword-rich text links are like fuel for your search engine optimization (SEO). Our panel of SEO experts will evaluate your link health and propose the cures - both tactical and strategic. If you want to venture beyond directory submissions and into “link baiting” and social media marketing to supercharge your rankings, then this session is for you.

Speakers:
Stephan Spencer, Founder and President, Netconcepts
Neil Patel, CTO, Advantage Consulting Services
Eric Ward, Founder, The Ward Group
Rebecca Kelly, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOMoz

Organic Search Is All About the Links

Stephan Spencer — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:47:21 +0000

Links are the currency of search engines. Without good inbound links to your web site, your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will be in vain. Link building is arguably the most difficult, most misunderstood, and most poorly executed aspect to SEO. Join SEO and link-building expert Stephan Spencer as he guides us through the quagmire showing us the way to great search engine rankings.

You will learn:

Google’s PageRank scores: red herring or useful metric?
What makes a link valuable or not
Creative strategies for building link-worthy content
What works when approaching webmasters with link requests
Pitfalls to avoid if buying or bartering links

Speakers:
Stephan Spencer, Founder and President, Netconcepts

Link Building

Jacqui Jones — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:05:27 +0000

Link building is fast becoming one of the best ways to promote your site, find out how to master the basics & get you linking strategy up & running, great overview here.

Speaker:
Jacqui Jones, Natural Search Marketing Consultant, Netconcepts

Organic Search Is All About the Links

Stephan Spencer — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:42:05 +0000

You will learn:

Google’s PageRank scores: red herring or useful metric?
What makes a link valuable or not
Creative strategies for building link-worthy content
What works when approaching webmasters with link requests
Pitfalls to avoid if buying or bartering links

Speakers:
Stephan Spencer, Founder and President, Netconcepts

Inside Secrets To Building Links for Online Publicity, Buzz and SEO

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:00:21 +0000

Everyone seems to be in a frenzy to get links to their sites. Usually for the wrong reasons and from the wrong sites. Terms like Link Popularity, PageRank, Hubs, Authorities, Hilltop, Sandbox, Anchor Text, etc. are being bandied about and discussed ad nauseam. Marketers obsess over concepts like link leakage, bleeding PageRank, nofollow tags, triangular links, link architecture, link equity. There are many companies selling linking services that are absolutely 100% worthless.

Get past all the misinformation and disinformation and join two of the top-most experts on link building, as they share their favorite tips, lessons learned, tools, and success stories.

This seminar will be rich with case study examples.

This seminar is for you if you:

Know that you’re missing out on key linking opportunities, but you just don’t know which ones and how to find them
Don’t have all the answers on what it takes to get coverage and links in the right places from the right people
Don’t have a current linking strategy or have one with holes

Successful link builders take an active role in the process. They don’t just sit back and hope that links happen. They make them happen! Take the first step by registering for this virtual seminar today.

You will learn:

To build a comprehensive linking strategy (including: portals, blogs, feeds, niche venues, vertical search, authority sites, e-newsletters, zines, awards, mailing lists)
How to get the best anchor text that you can
Holistic linking
How to receive online publicity
How to purchase links
How maximize on-site and off-site link architecture
How to mine and analyze competitor site links and industry-specific links
The biggest link building mistakes and myths
To generate buzz
How to write and release effective press releases
Link building in blogs and RSS feeds
How to the right people with the right message
How to optimize your link architecture to get the most out of your inbound links

The 90-minute seminar will include an extended Q&A.

ABOUT THE PROF EXPERTS

Eric Ward founded the Web’s first service for publicizing Web content back in 1994, and he still offers these services today. His client list is a who’s who of online brands. Eric is best known as the person behind the original linking campaigns for Amazon.com Books, The Link Exchange, Microsoft.com, Rodney Dangerfield, WarnerBros, The Discovery Channel, the AMA, and The Weather Channel. His services won the 1995 Tenagra Award for Internet Marketing Excellence, and he was selected as one of the Web’s 100 most influential people by Websight magazine in 1997. Eric also wrote the Link Building column for ClickZ, the NetSense column for Ad Age magazine, and is a 4-star speaker at major industry conferences.

Stephan Spencer is founder and President at Netconcepts, a 9-year-old, multi-national interactive agency specializing in search engine optimization, web redesign, usability, e-commerce, website auditing and email marketing. Clients include Verizon, REI, Gorton’s, Cabela’s, InfoSpace, The Sharper Image, Wella, Northern Tool, Sara Lee Direct, Midwest Airlines, Guild.com, and MP3.com. He has contributed to magazines such as Catalog Age, Unlimited, Building Online Business, and NZ Marketing. Stephan is a frequent speaker on Internet marketing topics for organizations such as the DMA, the AMA, Internet World, and IIR.

Google in the Real World: How Links Boost Your Ranking

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 11:00:01 +0000

Links are the currency of the search engines. Without good inbound links to your web site, your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will be in vain.

Link building is arguably the most difficult, most misunderstood, and most poorly executed aspect to SEO. Join SEO and link-building expert Stephan Spencer as he guides us through the quagmire and shows us the way to great search engine rankings.

You will learn:

Google’s PageRank scores: red herring or useful metric?
What makes a link valuable or not
Creative strategies for building link-worthy content
What works when approaching webmasters with link requests
Pitfalls to avoid if buying or bartering links
The phenomenon of Google bombing and making it work in your favor
The role of authorities, hubs, and topical relevance
How to leverage blogs and the blogosphere for link building
To get your content successfully syndicated onto other web sites with RSS
How to capture the link gain (PageRank) of your affiliates and your advertising

The 90-minute seminar will include an extended Q&A.

Maximizing Your “Natural Search” Channel: SEO That Really Works

Stephan Spencer — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine an online ad that costs you nothing per impression, guarantees both a local and worldwide audience actively seeking your products and services, and offers 6 times the click-through rate of a banner ad… a search engine listing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the ultimate targeted, low cost and high return weapon in the e-marketer’s promotional arsenal.

Learn how to maximize your reach through the “organic” (unpaid) results in the search engines:

Which search engines to target
Keyword research tools and tactics
Writing copy that “sings” to the search engines
Benchmarking against your competitors
Link building strategies that work
Optimal search engine architecture
Best practices to emulate
Scams exposed
Case studies - including the “inside scoop” on what worked and what didn’t
Making your e-commerce or database-driven site “search engine friendly”
Measuring the return on your search engine marketing investment
Developing a search engine marketing plan
Criteria for selecting a search engine marketing agency
Online tools and resources