Online Marketing Strategies: with chocolate-like blends of
SEO, Web Analytics and sprinklings of Social Media

If you’ve heard of 99Designs then Google’s latest venture, Prizes.org, which has just been launched on the quiet yesterday will feel familiar.

In essence, Prizes.org allows you to create a contest for tasks on nearly any topic you choose – not just graphic design jobs but anything from tips for hassle-free plane journeys with kids, help naming a company, new running route suggestions and so on.

Google Prizes.org homepage screenshot

The team responsible for the creation of this crowd sourcing site is a largely autonomous team that Google acquired last year called Slide. Before you create a contest you must purchase credits (1 credit costs $1 USD). At the moment the platform is in Beta and is only open to contest creators that have a “credit history” meaning they have to have participated in or created contests in the past, but this restriction will likely be lifted eventually.

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Google is just beginning to roll out a new social search feature called Google +1. If you haven’t seen it or caught up on the latest of Google’s social products, then I strongly recommend you read about it via Danny Sullivan’s excellent write up on Search Engine Land, Meet +1: Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like Button. If you’re not seeing these +1 buttons in search results (you need to be logged in to your Google account) then you can opt in to the Experiment.

Essentially, this is a button very much like the Facebook Like button that Facebook launched about a year ago. If you like a web page, you hit the +1 button in Google search results. This applies to both organic search results and paid ads and means that when you are logged in you will see summaries of how many and who (if Google thinks you’re connected to them) +1d them. In a matter of months it’s likely that Google will roll out a button for websites to implement on-site, just like the Facebook Like button and Twitter’s Tweet buttons.

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Nichola Stott and I are pleased to announce the SES London 2011 networking party, which will take place on Wednesday 23^rd February, at 7pm.

SES London is one of the largest search engine marketing conferences in Europe and is taking place between the 21^nd and 25^th of February at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, in Westminster. Over 1,500 search marketers will descend on London for three days of SEO, SEM, and social media marketing strategies and tips from a variety of industry experts. We are pleased to announce the conference networking party, supported by SES and Incisive media will be something a little different thanks to our venue sponsor, Raven SEO Tools.

The essential SES London 2011 networking party details are as follows:

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I’ve just signed up for Quora: a platform specifically designed as a vehicle for people to ask questions and to gain group answers.

Once you’ve followed people in your usual networks like Twitter and Facebook, asking topical questions to do with your industry can reveal some very interesting answers and pave the way for some great discussions and information sharing from your peers:

What made me eventually commit to the network was the fact I was blown away by two things:

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So, Google rolled out Google Buzz in my Gmail account last night. I thought I would share my experiences since and my thoughts on their impact and its future. There are a few positives towards the end too, I promise! Here are a few quick links: 

• The negatives
• The positives
• Google’s positives
• Mobile Buzzing
• A summary

My “oh Buzz off” moments: 

1. Connected sites
   Google decided to connect PicasaWeb and my Flickr account automatically. I disconnected both twice, but they resurfaced each time. So far I’m winning. Watch this space.
   Google also appears to have ‘found’ my YouTube page. Naturally as they own YouTube, this isn’t a massive surprise, just not expected. My YouTube channel does not have the same name as my Gmail account, however… Some clues can be found on my Google Profile page where Google has clearly done some sniffing around to find the following sites. Note however, I have NOT used my Gmail account to sign up to any of these sites. I can only assume Google has been reading my email:
   

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My 2009 was quite simply, epic. And therefore, so is this post!

This time last year I chose “get results” as my New Year’s resolution.  I ended up changing my life around within a month. Here’s where it all began:

How it started

2008 I took exams and continued building solid career experiences at a web design company in Nottingham. I was working as a web marketing consultant there until February 2009 when they told me some gutting news; they had to make me redundant. As devastated as I was to leave, I’d had a niggling urge in the back of my mind for a few months about travelling or relocating. Being made redundant made me turn those ideas into a reality and I started to explore travel options and research living and working in London, leaving my quiet countryside life behind. One of my leaving presents was the book The Yes Man by Danny Wallace (aff)  – one of the best gifts of the year as I followed in his footsteps and ended up changing my life around and having some phenomenal experiences in the months that followed.

Gathering momentum towards the Big Smoke

In the month between finishing my job in Nottingham and moving to London, a LOT happened!

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So LinkedIn’s had a redesign. In addition to a new minimalist look and feel that utilises more viewing space, they have balanced this positive step forward with a definite ‘two steps back’ approach by deciding to add profile URLs that include a country-specific subdomain.

Here’s what I mean. My old profile URL, which still works, is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joannabutler

However, this is now appearing on profiles as the following:

Not only this, but other country codes are also working as @danbarker noticed: Read more…

Below are my slides from my presentation at A4U Expo 2009 in London this week – finally, after battling with Slideshare and firewalls, Scribd saved the day! I really enjoyed giving my web analytics talk where I managed to spy on delegates, give out free Latitude USB sticks and swear thanks to one of my favourite quotes – quite an achievement! Of course, that was all whilst giving out lots of practical GTD tips for analytics using segmentation techniques. I was also privileged to be joined by Will Critchlow and Lisa Myers who gave their own invaluable technical analytics presentations.

In case you missed it before the event, Search Cowboys also interviewed me about my talk, which I later learned was the most retweeted interview – so thank you to those who retweeted!

Overall it was a fantastic two days where I met and caught up with many inspirational people. If you have any questions or just want to keep in touch, please do! A few of my details are below, but you can find my full contact details here.

• Email: Joanna at Search Engine Chocolate dot com
• Connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/JoannaButler
• Follow me on Twitter: @JoannaButler

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I’m finally back home in London after a fantastic day yesterday in Nottingham at the Chartered Institute of Marketing East Midlands annual one-day conference, the Power of Marketing. I really enjoyed giving a couple of workshops on SEO, including some cutting edge tips, practical social media and web analytics advice and some PPC guidance. A lot of you requested my slides after the event, so I’ve posted them below. I hope you find them useful – if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

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Firstly, thank you to all of you who sent me questions via Twitter to ask Sir Tim Berners-Lee tonight at the Science Museum (see previous post as well). I was live Tweeting the event using the hashtag #Berners-Lee.

The talk was truely fascinating, and by no means just a simple run down of how the Internet was born. I left feeling Sir Tim Berners-Lee was a true genius, and so genuine. The talk was actually filmed by BBC Click and as I was on one of the front rows you are guaranteed to see me in the background mesmerised by his talk and tweeting updates!

Below is a mini write-up including answers to your questions tonight:

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