Social Media Optimization

Dan and Jennifer run the extremely popular askdanandjennifer web site. They have been featured in magazines, newspapers and radio programs, and have appeared and/or consulted with the Television programs like Dr. Phil and CNN Headline News

Dan and Jennifer, your site has really taken off over the last twelve months Can you tell me about your decision to launch a relationship advice web site?

We ran an online dating web site for over 3 years and in that time saw that so many people are having deep issues not only finding someone, but in their real life relationships.

This week Wendy Piersall steps into the interview chair as part of our ongoing series of interviewing the top people in the social media marketing space.

Over the past year Wendy’s has been busy expanding her blogging empire and increasing her visibility online. In addition to her main blog Wendy has also found the time to launch a second blog called Shoestring Smarts and she also has a site on Entrepreneur.com called Inspired Business Growth.

Wendy, your blog has really taken off over the last twelve months Can you tell me about your decision to launch a blog

This week we Rand Fishkin steps into the interview chair as part of our ongoing series of interviewing the top people in the social media marketing space.

Rand is an Internet Marketing Consultant and the founder of SEOmoz, a Seattle-based SEO company, serves as a hub for search marketers worldwide, providing education, tools, resources and paid services.

Rand has been involved in web development since 1995 and search engine optimization since 2001. Rand specializes in working with both online and brick-and-mortar firms to improve traffic, usability & conversion rates on the web. His clients include companies around the globe in the retail, financial, healthcare & communication sectors.

The interview series is the most read section of the blog and I have been working through a list of people that I wanted to hear from. But now I want to hear from you about who else I should try and interview. Would you rather read about what someone like Rand Fishkin (plug for next week’s interview) has to say about social marketing or would you prefer to hear more form people like James Connell of Roots Canada.

Leave you suggestions as a comment below

This week Andy Hagan steps into the interview chair as part of our ongoing series of interviewing the top people in the social media marketing space.

Andy is well known in the SEO field and is a frequent speaker at conferences like Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld and South by Southwest Interactive.

1. Andy you are one of the early evangelists of social media optimization, especially for link building. Can you tell me about your decision get involved in this market?

We are really excited that social media leader Neil Patel has agreed to be the interviewed in our social media optimization series.

Neil Patel is the founder of Advantage Consulting Services which was started in 2002. He has lead Internet marketing strategies for small and medium sized businesses as well as top companies such as Hewlett Packard and Wal-Mart.

In the interview Neil talks about his thoughts on social media as well as what SMO strategies he is advising clients to use, and which ones to avoid.

It’s the end of a very interesting week. On Monday we kicked off the week with an interview with Cameron Olthuis. Cameron gave some really insightful answers. I asked Cameron what has been the biggest surprise to him about the growth of social media. His answer was:

The biggest surprise to me is that many big brands and industries have failed to recognize this trend and leverage it. Take the surfing industry for example: many of the big lifestyle brands in that industry have large followings and crazy brand evangelists that would be perfect for social media marketing, yet none of them have recognized this trend or leveraged it properly. That whole industry needs a kick in the ass when it comes to online marketing.

We are really excited that social media leader Cameron Olthuis has agreed to be the interviewed in our social media optimization series. Cameron is CEO of a media startup that is currently in stealth mode and his blog is a must read for anyone interested in social media ad search.

Cameron, you are one of the early evangelists of social media optimization. Can you tell me about your decision get involved in this market?

We are really excited that Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank® Online Marketing, a Minneapolis, Minnesota search marketing agency has agreed to be the interviewed in our social media optimization series.

In part one of our interview,Lee discussed how TopRank uses social media tactics to distinguish itself in the market. In part two Lee talks about how TopRank’s clients are using social media to grow their business online.

1. TopRank Online Marketing has an impressive customer base. Are your clients asking you for an SMO strategy? What social media tools or tactics are you seeing them use? What works? What doesn’t work?

We are really excited that Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank® Online Marketing, a Minneapolis, Minnesota search marketing agency has agreed to be the interviewed in our social media optimization series.

Lee is very active as a blogger at industry conferences including: ad:tech, Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld Pubcon, ACCM, DM Days and the annual DMA conference.
TopRank has been recognized as a leading SEO firm by TopSEOs.com and PromotionWorld and has been included in Marketing Sherpa’s guide to SEO firms for the past 3 years.