Inbound Marketing, particularly Search Engine Optimization, is something that I am extremely passionate about. I’ve dedicated nearly a decade of my life to playing around with, testing and implementing various SEO techniques trying to find the holy grail, SEO That Works. To that extent I wanted to gauge the impact Google Places has on certain keywords I watch like a hawk. My phone number is therefore one of the three or more positions on the Google map you see when searching for certain location specific phrases people search for daily in Cape Town. My phone now rings about once per day and 99% of the time lasts 1 minute where I can actually help the caller with credible information to the query they have. Not today though, Bay Point Trading called.

The salesperson rushed through how important it is to rank at the top of Google and how registering a certain domain name with keywords they already found me on Google for will get me to the top of Google. Being a Web AddiCT I know how these things work and wondered if the person from Bay Point Trading could explain it to me. Are they going to redirect traffic from the new domain name to my site? Will it be 301, 302 or are they going to build a landing page targeting the same keyword as the domain name? An SEO professional can answer these questions in their sleep. This was the salespersons first day, he didn’t have all the answers. I hope he doesn’t get into trouble. The cold caller handed me over to his sales manager. I didn’t get his name. Asked the same question and this is what he asked me…

Bay Point Trading Sales Manager: “Are you in front of your computer?”
Me: “Always”

Go to Google South Africa and type seo that works

Already I was thinking… How many people actually search for that keyword? Checked and found that 4400 people do monthly. OK so they have the exact match domain name seothatworks DOT co with a all the on page SEO checkboxes ticked. The keyword they found my number on Google for only gets less than half the searches the ‘seo that works’ exact phrase gets. Cold calling and other marketing methods have proved successful for them as they have more than 8000 customers.

So I asked him to go to Google and spelled my name… R-A-F-I-Q… click search.

To cut a long story short the sales manager didn’t want to speak to me anymore, mumbled something and hung up the phone without even saying goodbye. Was it his first day too?

This is not SEO and is only one tactic that could prove successful in the short term. If you’d like an idea of how a most SEO companies could and should interact with you try this test. I wish Bay Point Trading well with their marketing and sales initiatives.

Has Bay Point Trading called you too?

For notes and the SEO 101 slides see the previous post WordPress SEO Fundamentals

This SEO video by GIT only has 65 views. It’s not moserious the SEO rapper but it is damn funny. Before you have the swagger of the SEO PIMP you need to know the SEO Fundamentals.

I’d love a transcript of the video. What are your favourite lyrics?

For those of you who missed the WordPress SEO 101 talk your Web AddiCT did at #WCCT here are the slides entitled SEO Fundamentalism…

WordPress is the perfect platform to allow you to achieve excellent SEO results. It is only a tool though. Without SEO fundamentals in place you may not achieve the expected results no matter what plugin or tool you choose to use. This session will delve into the evolution of SEO from 1999 to present day and leave you with practical guidelines to apply to your WordPress blog before you’ve selected a theme, installed a plugin or published your first post.

All the presentations at WordCamp Cape Town were filmed and should be available online within the next few week so I’m not going to repeat everything just point you in the right direction based on resources that are currently available online that will help with WordPress SEO. The first few slides where in honour of the default WordPress theme, Kubrick, which most of us started with when you wrote your first blog post. Here is a history lesson on the Kubrick theme that changed the internet as we know it. Well worth reading in you have 5 minutes.

WordPress SEO Keyword Research Tools & Tips

• Google Keyword Suggestions
• Google Adwords Keyword Tool – Be sure to log into your Google Account as results differ when your logged in or not.
• Google (Hot) Trends – find what people are actually searching for and match your keyword strategy with those trends within your niche.
• “visitors found this page by searching for” niche – find keyword ideas from forums that show you what people who landed on a particular forum post via search engines were searching for.
• Wikipedia View Counter – As Wikipedia pages usually rank very very well viewing the Wikipedia stats pages will give you a good idea of how much traffic ranking for a certain keyword will result in.
• For WordPress SEO plugins or sage advice be sure to check out Yoast, Scribe and Viperchill’s Blogging Case Study.

I’ll save the rest for when the WordPress SEO video from WordCamp Cape Town will be published just don’t forget to treat WordPress SEO like shampoo. For a recap of the sessions check out memeburn’s articles about the developer and publisher tracks.

Alot of people have asked me what exactly an SEO does. This video explains things nicely. Before highlighting the Search Engine Optimization process as explained in the video above many of you have asked why I don’t blog about SEO more often on this blog. There are 2 reasons:

1. This is not an SEO blog and was never intended to be. I do use this blog as a testing ground to better understand various aspects of SEO that I’m continually learning and then implementing with the various companies I work with.
2. One you’ve discovered an aspect of SEO that could provide you with a competitive advantage amongst your competition would you elucidate those finding with the rest of the wwworld? Didn’t think so.

A few more things I’d like to highlight is that Search Engine Optimization is NOT a once off exercise either. SEO does not require you to be a Ninja/Guru/Magician or anything else some folks like to call themselves. SEO is not Rocket Science either.

Here is the SEO process explained. It occurs as an endless loop (not once off).

• It starts with Keyword Research, Competitive Analysis and the setup of statistical tracking programs like Omniture of Google Analytics.
• Up Next we align those keywords with various pages on the domain or create new pages to ‘catch’ the traffic that comes with those keywords.
• Optimize pages for targeted Keywords
• Build links to the domain or various pages
• Wait for search engines to index the content and links (this process takes time)
• Rankings and traffic will improve over time
• Lather. Rinse. Repeat (its a repetitive process after all)

I’ll be blogging more about SEO at the company blog, MIH SWAT, about the following topics on a monthly basis:

• 21 Secrets of Top Converting websites.
• Successful Information Architecture.
• Link Building Basics.
• News Search Optimization
• Scaling up your SEO Campaigns
• Enterprise Level SEO
• Duplicate Content & Multiple Site issues
• Selling Search to the C-Suite

The conference will draw thousands of marketers and agency professionals who will attend sessions and labs focused first and foremost on education (no sales pitches!) covering Search Marketing (including SEO, PPC management & Social Media), keyword research, local advertising, mobile engagement, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, online video, site optimization and usability, in addition to high-level strategy, keynotes, an expo floor with 100+ companies, networking events, parties and more

If you’d like to follow the conference from where you are the twitter hashtags are #ses and or #sessf. Thanks to Bruce Clay Inc there will be lotsa non-stop SES San Francisco live blogging.

Apart from the really long flights getting into the US with an Arabic first name like @rafiq is another mission on it’s own. Racial profiling, you could call it. I was in the US just under a year ago and had to go through a double security check with the official saying ‘It’s probably just your name.’ This time I got to the first security checkpoint and everything appeared fine but when he handed back my immigration forms and passport the official asked me to go to the secondary security checkpoint where I had to wait a few minutes then was asked 20 questions before having my passport stamped. After I collected my luggage I got stopped again and had all my bags searched. Welcome to the United States of America

So now that I’m here I’ll be tweeting from the conference using the @mihswat account and posting pics to my posterous page here. You can also expect a blog post or two on the MIH SWAT blog comparing my SES experience to SMX along with the usual memes covered on this blog.

This movie might be worth watching after all.

Photo by Dawn Endico

The vuvuzela has certainly been one of the biggest talking points of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and has since crossed beyond our borders into other countries. Even celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio have been spotted with their lips around this plastic phenomenon. Google Zeitgeist – which provides insight into global, national, past and present search trends – has revealed that the United Kingdom is the number one country searching for places to buy the vuvuzela, followed by the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

Top 10 countries interested in buying vuvuzelas

Vuvuzela searches by country

When French coach, Raymond Domenech, snubbed a handshake from South African coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, searches combining their names rose; particularly in France on the day of the momentous match in Bloemfontein. Luis Suarez’s infamous hand ball against Ghana during the quarter finals also sparked a series of searches, with the United States being the most eager to research the controversial play that inevitably dashed Africa’s hopes in the tournament.

Interestingly, Bangladesh leads the pack in trying to find out more about ‘Waka Waka’ (the official 2010 FIFA World Cup™ anthem), with Paraguay and Mauritius coming in second and third respectively. K’naan’s ‘Wavin’ Flag’, although slightly less popular, appears to have resonated with citizens in Hungry, Argentina and India.

Highest regional interest for Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’ song in the last 30 days:

World Cup 2010 Google Seach trends

Web search interest in South Africa on Paris Hilton.

Paris Hilton is so dope

Anyone can use Insights for search to come up with their own rankings by visiting http://google.com/insights/search/ and Trends http://www.google.com/trends

Glad good old Bulk SMS stays consistently the same.

How many SEO consultants does it take to change a light bulb?
One. All she needs to do is first migrate the bulb to WordPress, install some SEO-optimizing widgets and the rest is easy.

How many real SEO consultants does it take to change a light bulb?

Two. One to change the light bulb and another to conduct a controlled experiment that shows that although rookie SEOs think the light bulb has changed, in reality there are over 200 factors that go into determining the state of the light bulb and we can’t really know for sure that the light bulb has indeed changed.

How many black hat SEOs does it take to change a light bulb?

None. Black hat SEOs don’t change the light bulb. They just redirect people to a different room where there is no light.

How many Social Media consultants does it take to change a light bulb?
None. “Look, if all you’re thinking about is changing the light bulb, you’re missing the point. The idea is to first lurk around in the room and watch other people changing light bulbs. Then, start providing commentary and encouragement to those that are changing light bulbs. Then, build relationships with these people in the lighting community. Then — and only then, should you even think about trying to change the light bulb.

There are even more social media light bulb jokes to go with these paid and organic search jokes below…

How many StumbleUpon users does it take to change a light bulb?

12. One to change the light bulb while 11 others thumb them up and cheer them on

How many link baiters does it to change a light bulb?
None. “All you have to do is get a bunch of high-powered people to point to the light bulb and Google will take care of the rest.

How many PPC (Pay Per Click) experts does it take to change a light bulb?
One. But she’s smart enough to know that you can’t just focus on “light bulb”. You need to “change light bulb”, “replace light bulb”, “fix light bulb” and “new light bulb”. But, not of course, “light bulb” as that’s way too pricey and drives a bunch of unqualified people that are not really interested in changing light bulbs.

How many search engine optimizers does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one, but it’s gonna take about 3-6 months to start to see the light bulb change. And that light bulb’s pretty high up there- are you sure you wouldn’t rather change 10 easier light bulbs?

How many pay per click experts does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one but the cost depends on how much the other light bulb changers are currently charging- and you’re going to need a totally new kind of light bulb for that fixture. Actually I have to create it. I’ve never seen a fixture quite like that one.

How many social media gurus does it take to change a light bulb?
It’s not about the change- it’s about engaging people in conversations about the light bulb change.

How many advertising agencies does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Oh well that all depends… what’s your budget?

How many PR people does it take to change a light bulb?
We can’t change it, but we can tell other people that we need it changed. And we can’t be sure if it gets changed but we can estimate if it probably got changed based on other people’s light bulb changing.

How many email marketers does it take to change a light bulb?
Wait- did the light bulb opt in? Cuz we can’t spam light bulbs just cuz you want to.

How many web designers does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one- he made the rest of the room look really freaking cool, so someone should definitely want to come in here and change that light bulb for you sometime soon.

How many viral video people does it take to change a light bulb?
Three; one guy to film it, a teenager to change the light bulb then faceplant off the ladder, and a dog to immediately skateboard by past him, wagging its tail.

How many digg users does it take to change a light bulb?

431. One power user and another 427 of their “closest” friends to help them. It is widely known that it is impossible to change the light bulb without asking/begging for a bunch of friends to help you change it. And finally, 11 users to leave comments on why if you had just switched to Apple you wouldn’t have to change the light bulb.