Teaching SEO to Non-SEOs: Don't Be Ridiculous

DON’T BE RIDICULOUS TEACHING SEO TO NON-SEOs* *When they couldn’t
care less By Ian Lurie For Seattle Search Network

@IanLurie Me Founder/Former CEO of Portent Nerd/programmer/writer/gamer Love marketing, SEO,
cycling, Dungeons & Dragons

@IanLurie Now a consultant Living a glamorous life of leisure
OFFICE & CRAFT AREA BIKE SHOP GYM

@IanLurie The Problem

@IanLurie They want inter-team SEO training. Sweet! This is my
big chance!!!!

@IanLurie How I look when I walk into the conferenceroom.
I’m here to teach you the beautiful poetry that is SEO.

@IanLurie How I start. Business case available resources opportunity gap
etc. etc. etc.

@IanLurie How I end. Title t ags, descriptions, structured dat
a, NLP , machine learning, links, architecture

@IanLurie What they hear. cost effort complexity annoyance snake oil
blah blah blah blah

@IanLurie I used the same training for every team. They
responded thesameway.

@IanLurie Hey thanks that was great. We’ll get right on
it.* *Whatever the hell “it” is…

@IanLurie I had an epiphany. Expecting the entire company to
attend training, write it down and commit to execution then & there is ridiculous.

@IanLurie Training Is Marketing

@IanLurie Training is marketing I should treat training the same
way i treat all other content .

@IanLurie Audience awareness, great content, and smart delivery will win
the day Yes, that’s an Oxford comma. Phbbbt.

@IanLurie Setting Expectations

People you invite.

People who attend

The converts

@IanLurie Training is marketing. Theseconverts areyourmarketingteam.

@IanLurie Target The Audience

@IanLurie I always delivered the same training to every team.
that’s ridiculous.

@IanLurie Create content that targets each audience. that makes sense.

@IanLurie Nerdosity: How deep you drill into search engines and
technology Examples: What’s right, what’s wrong, best practices Data: Performance, opportunity gap, business impact

@IanLurie Other marketers and creative nerds want to know how
SEO: Works at a high level Can helpthemgetresults May impact their day-to-day Snappy dressers. Know how to party. Deep thinkers. Remember everything.

@IanLurie Nerdosity Examples Data

@IanLurie “Title tags still matter a lot.” “Don’t mess up
your copy. Optimize after you write it.” “Here’s how that hub you built helped us rank!” “Yes, I know we sell athleticfootwear. Pleasecallthemrunning shoes.” Snappy dressers. Know how to party. Deep thinkers. Remember everything.

@IanLurie Developers, specialists, analysts and technicians want to how SEO:
Really, truly works May impact their day-to-day Interacts with technology Clever. Good with tools. Don’t get out much.

@IanLurie “Googlebot works like this.” “Moving to subfolders boosted our
traffic 75%!” “Javascript sucks, but you can mitigate the suckage by using prerendering. Here are three examples.” Clever. Good with tools. Don’t get out much.

@IanLurie Management wants to know how: SEO can grow the
business Howthecompetitionisdoing How much it will cost Always planning for the future. Stressed out. Organized. Careful.

@IanLurie “Our share of voice is only 10%. If we
can get to 12%, we’ll gain 10,000 visitors.” “Last year, the team made this one change and increased share of voice 10%.” Ourcompetitorshave20%shareof voiceforthesephrases. Clever. Good with tools. Don’t get out much.

@IanLurie Never,ever,ever believethis. Find out what “advanced” means. we want
the advanced course.

@IanLurie During live training, always have a safe word: “Interesting”

@IanLurie Deliver All The Time

@IanLurie I always assumed everyone could attend a training session,
that they’re paying attention, and that they’ll remember that one email I sent. that’s ridiculous.

@IanLurie Ensure people can always access and consume your content.
Maybe i have another meeting. Or my cat gets angry at the dog and pees everywhere so i get distracted .

Too large to fit in microwave.

@IanLurie I love to look at fancy-schmancy learning management systems.

@IanLurie No matter what tool you choose, half the organization
will hate it. So use what you have.

@IanLurie Write + Organize + Ping

@IanLurie Video/Doc/Deck/Etc. + Google Docs + Email

@IanLurie Simple list of links Note updates Always solicit questions
I like to organize by audience Ping via email Send regularly

@IanLurie Keep it simple Note updates Use headings Organize by
audience Build a library!

@IanLurie No allowed to use Google Docs? Email a list
every week. Use the company knowledge base. Use the ticketing system… get creative.

@IanLurie Q&A? Get fancy with an integrated Slack knowledge base
like Tettra

@IanLurie Everything ends up in a document!

@IanLurie Hey, that’s someone else’s content?!!!! Follow the rules and
it’s perfectly OK.

@IanLurie Name versions.

@IanLurie Organize it (Any storage will do)

@IanLurie Create Quality Content

@IanLurie I always tried to create gorgeous, award-winning training content.

@IanLurie Quality means complete, usable, and up-to-date. that makes sense.

@IanLurie Please, I beg you… No new tools.

@IanLurie Use what you have. pdfs. Google Docs. Word Docs.
Whatever.

@IanLurie Word/Google Docs are fine

@IanLurie HTML is great.

@IanLurie If you use slides, thoroughly annotate or include a
notes view.

@IanLurie How about plain text? UseMarkdown. Plain text? Use Markdown
and convert to PDF, Google Doc, Word Doc... http://bit.ly/2OG5GQX

@IanLurie Record in-person training! (Video’seasy,butnotrequired)

@IanLurie Record everything! Screencaptureisreallyeasy Screencapture is a cinch. I use
Screenflow.

@IanLurie Repurpose video! Transcribe, edit, publish with images (Moz’sWhiteboard Fridayisthegoldstandard)

@IanLurie Try Zapier + Trint+ Zoom to automate the process.

@IanLurie Randompetpeeve: Please learn to create and annotate screen captures
on a Retina or HiDPIdisplay. Snagitisagreattool.

@IanLurie To do all this, you’d need approximately 30 hours/week.

@IanLurie Start with the simplest format. that makes sense.

@IanLurie Always answer. Better an ugly answer than no answer
at all.

@IanLurie Create small chunks. No matter how long the session
or how detailed the walkthru, break it up into lots of separate, connected, smaller chunks of information. It’s easier to edit and consume.

@IanLurie Always turn answers into content.

@IanLurie Repurposethebiggesttitles. that makes sense.

@IanLurie Oh yeah: Use analytics.

@IanLurie Sharepoint, Google Docs, email opens…

@IanLurie Who has time?!

@IanLurie I always tried to execute 100% of these recommendations.

@IanLurie Set Priorities 1. Complete 2. All TheTime 3. Beautiful
that makes sense.

@IanLurie Treat training as marketing.

@IanLurie Look for converts.

@IanLurie Target the audience.

@IanLurie Deliver all the time.

@IanLurie Create quality content.

Nice vest Slides: https://bit.ly/seo-train Ian Lurie [email protected] @ianlurie

Teaching SEO to Non-SEOs: Don't Be Ridiculous

Teaching SEO to Non-SEOs: Don't Be Ridiculous

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