I’ve written about “The Art of SEO” and did not realize that the author, Stephan Spencer would be on one of the panels in sessions at Affiliate Summit West 2012. Thankfully, I read his book before the session which provided extra value as he and other SEO experts answered questions. While the information was still advanced past my level, I found I comprehended much more than expected.
Other experts on the panel include Bruce Clay and Chris Boggs. They are all very technical and found humor in subjects that I think left the audience with questions, but the information that we did comprehend proved valuable.
A clear message included stressing building content that deserve a top billing instead of working to “game” the system which will eventually get you penalized with Google.
Some social media experts are quick to say blogging is on the way out, however, this group believes that the opposite is happening and blogging will maintain as the foundation of social media. Somewhere you need a tool to go into more detail than you can with a Facebook post or a tweet.
Social Media users need to learn how to better leverage the relationship between the tools instead of focusing on just one to get superior results that continue to work. A blog serves as the foundation and allows your content to work for you long into the future, while tweets and Facebook posts get lost in the conversation.
Many bloggers are using link building to build traffic to their blogs. Most of the strategies are not conducive to a long-term strategy for Google as the search engine continues to refine. This makes using paid link building strategies dangerous as Google is likely to penalize sites in the future. The experts suggested staying away from linking your site from sites that have PPC or Pills, Porn and Casinos. Only link from solid sites that have quality content.
The best way to get links is to be where the bloggers are that you want to connect with, becoming friends with them. When you build the relationship you build an opportunity to get high quality natural links. I’m doing this by building my personal brand attending the Affiliate Summit Conferences and even volunteering to help newcomers at the conference to get the most value back.
This session, like the others attended at this year’s Affiliate Summit West were rewarding and I look forward to Affiliate Summit Central and Affiliate Summit East later this year.