iskandarX Society SEO - Educate Your Way To Links

Search engine marketers understand phrases such as black hat cloaking and deep crawl bot, but trying to explain these terms to someone unfamiliar with search can be difficult.

While it’s not always an easy task, it’s an important one because a client’s understanding can increase his or her level of trust.  And, when your business relationship is built on trust, the relationship has a better chance to deepen and prosper.





A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

Out of a desire to help clients quickly understand the complexities of search marketing, Elliance, Inc. developed SEO Infographics.  A combination of cartoon-like characters, arrows, charts and other graphics are used to break each tactic into easy-to-understand chunks of information.

The infographic for link baiting, for example, features a web page dangling from a fish hook with smaller web pages surrounded by the more popular social bookmarking sites such as digg, Del.icio.us, Techonrati and Stumbleupon.  Arrows from the smaller web pages point to the large web page and three short sentences support the graphics. It’s quick.  It’s easy.  It’s understood. Sometimes a few sentences accompany the graphics to explain a step-by-step process.

The SEO Infographic illustrates Universal Search by showing a direct comparison between the elements Google previously used in a Web search and the elements that are currently included. Sound confusing? Not when the concept is depicted visually.  Instead of spending 20 minutes talking through a tactic, universal search is explained with one glance, thanks to the Infographic.

Search Infographics Fill Many Voids

More than twenty SEO Infographics have been created and more are in development.  The SEO Infographics by no means enable a person to head their own search-marketing department, but they provide the background necessary to converse on the subject.

We believe this information is valuable for clients when they are trying to decide which search firm to hire.  Later, a deeper understanding can be beneficial when clients need to determine how much of their overall marketing budget should be devoted to search.

As we mentioned earlier, the SEO Infographics began as a form of sales support.  We quickly realized they could be used in two other roles.

First, since the nature of the SEO world is to share information, we could use them to give back to the community at large.  If our clients found them beneficial, surely other people would, too.

Second, by adding a new Infographic to our new SEO microsite each week, we’d always have steady supply of fresh content.  Valuable, one-of-a-kind content is a mantra for SEO professionals.  It’s much easier to get quality links if you provide something new instead of the common ‘me too’ approach to content.

Link Building with SEO Infographics

Last May, Elliance partnered with Search Engine Land, to contribute a weekly SEO Infographic to their new column, Search Illustrated. Search Engine Land is a hub for news and information about search engine marketing, optimization and how search engines operate. This site is overseen by Danny Sullivan, the leading “search engine guru” who began covering search engines in 1995.

For Elliance, contributing to Search Illustrated fit nicely into their creative link building strategy. Since the SEO Infographics are educational, people see value in passing them along to their colleagues.  At times, some members in the SEO community have questioned an Infographic.  This has started a conversation as people pass them along to get other people’s opinions, which resulted in the SEO Infographics being spread around blogs and online communities.

SEO Infographics Bring Results

In just three months, traffic to seo.elliance.com doubled. The original intent of the Infographics was to explain search marketing, and from the number of blogs and portals (including SEOmoz and Twitter) that have picked up the SEO Infographics, it’s evident that there are many people craving this type of information.

The SEO Infographics have been well-received by clients and our sales staff has found them to be an easy way to answer questions and concerns.

Applying This Concept to Your Client:

1. Think visual.  With image search really taking off, now is the time to think of ways to add more images to your sites.

2. Commit resources.  The SEO Infographics would not have been successful without being created in a consistent fashion.  Before you decide to add any type of new element like this, make sure you have the manpower to follow-through.

3. Don’t be creative just to be creative.  A fish hook on a link baiting Infographic is clever and intelligent.   Be ready to say no to a graphic designer who has an idea that’s clever but strays off the mark.

4. Stay current.  The SEO Infographics are successful because they are new.  Research what has already been done in a particular field to avoid being a copy-cat.  New, fresh content always grabs the market first.

5. Think social.  Make it easy for people to spread your content by letting them sign up for RSS feeds and add your page to StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, My Yahoo, Reddit, Technorati, etc.

6. Prepare for the long haul.  As with any type of link building, you won’t get results overnight.  Remember, the amount of time you spend to get a program off the ground will be worth it in the end.

The SEO Infographics were born from a need to have clients understand what they were paying for.  These internal assets have now become a part of the SEO world that others can use to help them understand how the world of rankings and search engines work. Take a look around your office or workspace – there’s bound to be some interesting or cool event that takes place that you are taking for granted, assuming everyone you talk to understands it in the same way.

These are the areas of expertise that you can share with the world and in turn create a plethora of ways to market yourself and demonstrate your ability to communicate your expertise in your given industry.