PubCon: In-House Optimization Forum

The following is simply my notes from the session. I simply jotted things down as they got my attention, much (but not all) is in my own words filtered through my own thought processes. If I lack information on any particular speaker, or misrepresent what was said, please know that this is inadvertent.

This was a Q and A session, no presentations by any speakers. The panel consisted of:

Joe Laratro (moderator); Brant Bukowsky, Plus1 Marketing
Heather Lloyd-Martin, SuccessWorks
Jessica L Bowman, Enterprise Rent-a Car

• What do you do once you’ve picked all the low-hanging fruit? Keep looking for new opportunities for optimization:
  • Optimize your link text
  • Clickable headlines
  • Experiment with PPC
  • Write content
  • Submit to directories
• Blogs are more likely to get links than regular website content.
• Keep tweaking for improved conversion rates.
• First six months can be spent getting the team on board.
• The larger the business the harder it is to get content written. Corporate sites often don’t feel the need for content or a blog.
• If hiring out for content, work with people who write for a living. Always be sure conversions are a primary factor and there are calls to actions. Build FAQ pages, articles, find ways to bring in people in different phases of the buying cycle.
• Don’t look at just rankings, make sure you bring conversion data to the table.
• What should be the pay range for in-house SEOs? Referred to Rand’s article on pay ranges. Doing job search is NOT consistent. Everywhere from 30K to 180K
• How do in-house SEO managers spend their time? The more you get paid the less you actually do you’re getting paid for. Spend time on reading (couple hours a day). More time is spent with people, employees, working through solutions. Only about three hours a day on actual SEO.
• It is impossible to keep up with everything that’s going on, you need to learn to keep up with things only in a particular area, don’t worry about it all. Spend time talking with those that may know about other areas more intimately.
• Sharing content? If you have enough genuine content then don’t worry about sharing content between two corporate owned sites. If possible, instead of using dup content, post a link from one place to the other.