Earlier this month some of the Creare team ventured South for Brighton SEO. Here are some insights through the eyes of an eager outreach consultant:
Key Takeaways
- Authenticity Strikes a Chord – Individuals within the Business Need to be the Face of the Content
- Genuine Business Stories + Creative Story Telling + Traditional PR = Big Links
- Webmasters want increased traffic/exposure – Utilise your own products and platforms to achieve this for them in exchange for brand mentions
Summary from an Outreach Perspective
Link building has seen several shades of frightful over the past decade.
But since then, Google’s tenacious web spam team developed a series of algorithms that truly shifted the entire thought process of SEOs worldwide.
This notion really hit home in Charlie William’s round table session - ‘Developing Meaningful Outreach & Content.
What were once ‘Link Builders’ are now ‘Content & Outreach Consultants’.
What was once a conversation about link farms is now a meeting about face to face encounters with webmasters.
Link building has changed for the good – creating real value, genuine relationships and authentic marketing.
Favourite Speaker of the Day
Hands down, my favourite speaker of the day:
Matthew Barby – 10 Ways to Build a Link in 20 Minutes Flat
What you need from a conference is actionable content and Matthew had me jotting down content & outreach tips faster than Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty – fast.
Brighton SEO in 5 Words?
A Wealth of Actionable Content.
Quote of The Day
“Links are just natural by-products of good marketing and public relations” – Samuel Scott
Roundup of the Best Talks of the Day
1. Stop Thinking About Links & Start Thinking About Publicity - Samuel Scott
Samuel introduced a fantastic case study on how a small local pizza shop generated 100s of links by giving away pizza to homeless people across New York.
The example served as an interesting stepping stone to his key point – link building is just another name for PR.
Good PR comes from drawing attention to newsworthy content and likewise quality, low cost link building is just the same.
Encourage businesses to tell you stories about their brand, reformat these into consumable content and pitch this to larger platforms to amplify the message.
2. 10 Ways to Build a Link in 20 Minutes Flat – Matthew Barby
Matthew listed some insightful approaches to build links and brand mentions in the current environment. Here are some of his notable approaches:
– Search MeetUp.com for local community groups in your client’s niche – Support the group via advice, support or sponsorship to gain links on both their website and their MeetUp group page.
– Be both proactive a reactive to journalists by quickly responding to requests (via HARO) and pitching to relevant individuals (via hey.press)
3. A Supercharged Approach to PR Success – Rebecca Lee
Rebecca shared some interesting PR tips gained from her extensive knowledge of working with notable publishers from the Metro to the Daily Star.
Rebecca made it clear through many examples that creativity isn’t always about inventing a new concept but having the foresight to get some involvement in a newsworthy piece and pitch it right.
A clearcut example of this was when Rebecca’s team drove down to take some photos of the infamous white and gold dress – their photos and write up got a full page cover in the Daily Mail and a tweet from Kim Kardashian!
The above is the second in a series of Creare’s Brighton SEO write-ups, click here to read more about the event from a technical perspective.