SEO and Content Marketing
August 8, 2009 by Bernie Borges
Filed under Most Recent, SEO, Social Media
This podcast is about the relationship between content marketing and SEO. I begin with a short story about SEO.
In March, I met Andrew Davis, Chief Strategy Officer at Tipping Point Labs at a custom publishing conference in Miami. Our first conversation was a little confrontational. Drew let me know that he wasn’t a big fan of SEO. Drew felt that if you have great content, you don’t need to do any SEO. It will take care of itself, he said! So we got into a spirited discussion about SEO. The main point I made to Drew is that content is indeed very important for SEO results. But, so are other factors most notably having a website that is technically friendly to search engines. I also pointed out the importance of eliminating search engine penalties to enjoy the SEO value of great content. Drew and I have since become friends. Look for Drew as a guest on a future podcast. I have been on one of his podcasts discussing the future of search marketing.
Content Marketing Rock Stars
Junta42: In a recent podcast interview with Joe Pulizzi, CEO of Junta42, we discussed the importance of content marketing.
We didn’t have time for many examples. So, the rest of this blog post and this podcast is devoted to examples of a few content marketing rock stars and their impact on SEO and business results. Junta42 is a small company focused on content marketing. Joe Pulizzi’s blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts spread his content worldwide. The result is Junta42 is helping to create global awareness of content marketing as a strategic marketing discipline. And Junta42 is fast becoming known as a premier provider of content marketing vendor matching services to businesses worldwide who need to find a vendor partner to create custom content.
HubSpot: A terrific example of content marketing! They produce so much interesting content it’s hard to do anything in Internet marketing without finding them. HubSpot has a great blog about “Inbound Marketing.” They produce a weekly video podcast called HubSpot TV which is streamed live every Friday at 4pm Eastern and is also syndicated through iTunes. They produce frequent webinars that educate marketers about inbound marketing. They are prolific users of Twitter. Their executives speak regularly at conferences and they re-purpose those slides on Slideshare as well as share them through Twitter. And, they produce comical video content that entertains us. HubSpot has set the bar very high for the rest of us in content marketing. The result for HubSpot is very high search engine rankings for keywords such as “Internet marketing software” and “inbound marketing.” The bottom line result is their growth curve looks like a company during the hyper growth years of 1995 to 2000. The “R” word doesn’t exist in their vocabulary.
Indium Corp. Rick Short is Marcom director at Indium, a 75 year old manufacturer of solder paste sold to manufacturers of electronic assembly equipment. Rick is a visionary 
content marketer. Indium has 10 blogs staffed by 14 engineers around technical aspects of solder paste. Their content marketing strategy reaches engineers around the world through their blogs and videos which educate and also entertain. Indium is in a very niche industry. Their content marketing results are impressive and include increased awareness in their industry, a healthy flow of sales leads and other outstanding branding opportunities all of which Rick measures meticulously. Rick is also quick to point out that their website as well as individual blog posts rank very high in search engines for many relevant keyword phrases.
Blendtec: A manufacturer of commercial blenders. Blendtec is a well known content marketing example. Their consumer blender was not well known however. But, George Wright, their marketing director came up with the brilliant idea to have their CEO blend very interesting objects. They created a website called Will it Blend? The spectacle of blending various objects ranging from marbles to wooden rakes has been a success beyond their wildest expectations. Probably the most famous (viral) video was when they blended an iPhone. Their website has received millions of visits due to the viral explosion of their video content. The impact on their sales has been outstanding to the tune of a 700% increase! They’ve also received a lot of mainstream media coverage. Blendtec is creating an entertaining experience through their video content which is producing outstanding SEO results and bottom line results.
Chris Griffith, a realtor in Bonita Springs, FL. Chris has cornered her market. She has three websites, a blog, she writes a 
column in her local newspaper and she’s very active on Twitter and Facebook. Chris creates great content about her community which makes her the go-to person in Bonita Springs. The result for Chris is great SEO rankings for phrases like “realtor Bonita Springs Florida.” Anyone who is looking for real estate in Bonita Springs, FL will find her online. The result is her real estate sales in 2008 were up over 2007 during a time when real estate sales were down year over year across the U.S.
BatchBlue: A web based CRM software product. They focus on building relationships. It’s in their company and product culture. Their blog is all about helping people using their software product with useful tips and strategies designed to make us more productive using BatchBlue CRM software. Their entire focus is providing great informational and educational content. They also have multiple Twitter accounts where they publish content and build online relationships. BatchBlue is growing very nicely as a result of their content strategy.
WOMbeat! A website that offers word of mouth networking for local businesses and consumers currently limited to Tampa, FL but with expansion plans. The founders refer
to WOMbeat as LinkedIn meets YellowPages. Local consumers can find local businesses through word of mouth referrals on their site. The service is free to consumers. WOMbeat is very active in their blog. They also actively use Twitter and Facebook to produce informative content that spreads and creates (you guessed it) word of mouth advertising for their young company.
Louis Page Inc. Duncan Page runs the company started by his grandfather 116 years ago. They sell meshed wiring and fencing products. They operate out of a small modest office and a small warehouse outside of Boston. Duncan has recently created a blog called The Fence Post. This blog offers tips and advice on how to use fencing products. The awareness of his blog has resulted in an 850% increase in leads in the time it’s been online. Duncan was recently interviewed by a Boston based television news station where among other comments he said: “This stuff really works.” Yes, Duncan it really does work! Thanks for being such a great example.
All of the examples of content marketing above are case studies in my Marketing 2.0 book except the Duncan Page example. I 
wish I had learned about him while I was writing my book. In each example above a content marketing strategy is driving SEO results which increases the chance of being found on the web through great content and a broad footprint on the web.
Maybe I can write about your content marketing success someday. Add your comments below about your content marketing/SEO strategy.
Bernie Borges
@berniebay
I enjoy articles about SEO or Adsense. I have read paid ebooks and i can say they really work. One single tip can increase your CTR 100%. My personal slogan is “if you need seo, learn to seo” so i will continue to visit blogs with tips, articles and ways to improve your site performance. If you want to earn big bucks from you site, you should test and learn forever.
Sorry if my comment is too long but everybody can learn SEO.
Thanks, fuser
yeah i agree with you !
What an excellent point you made
What an excellent point you made
What an excellent point you made
Bernie,
I feel really bad about that first interaction with you. You really helped shape and inform my understanding of SEO and more importantly you’ve become a great friend and constant resource for great information.
Thanks so much for these examples! Great work – yet again.
- Drew
Bernie…thanks for the shout out. You’ve compiled a great list here, and I continue to learn from you. Thanks!
Bernie – thank you for the inclusion. I truly value my connection to you as your network is worth its weight in gold. I learn so much from you and the people you know. Thank you.
I think SEO in general does sometimes have a bad rep, but agree with you…great content is just one component of your overall SEO/online marketing strategy. Always great to hear other’s take on the subject though.
Great content is certainly a key component of successful SEO – it’s one of the best ways to get plenty of useful inbound links, as well as giving your company a better chance of standing out as a true authority on a particular subject. Really helpful to see such a concise list of sites who make the best possible use of all the different available channels for producing SEO-friendly content.
Thanks for your comments. I’m amused that my friend Andrew Davis feels bad about our first encounter. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And, it’s resulted in a great relationship.
All the examples provided in this blog post/podcast are genuine examples of people and companies who “get it.” I value them very much.
I look forward to learning of more examples like these.
The good and the fresh keyword rich content is important to seo.Thus content marketing is an inseparable part in seo.Thanks for providing the very nice information.
We frequent Joe’s blog and HubSpot’s helpful webinars as they are consistently approaching internet content in engaging as well as strategic approaches!
This is a great article. Being a regular reader of Hubspot and Junta42 it’s always nice to see them get the praise they deserve, they are ROCK STARS!
I’m now going to go through the other links on this page to see what take-aways I can find!
Thanks,
Karl
To be successful in SEO you must do properly: on-page optimization (content, w3 validation, h1,h2 tags…) and off-page optimization (revelant links, non-revelant links, articles…)
Cumshot
I am really interested in this program but I do not know much about it. After reading your article, i have more experiences to work with it. Your post is interesting and picturesque. I hope i can get your post in next time. Keep on!
Im still new on this SEO and internet marketing world. And hopefully, via your blog, I will learn more! Thanks!
Learnign SEO is not really tough all you have to do is read articles from blog like this and try what you have read. There are a lot of resources online that is not reliable. I believed in saying that experienced is the best teacher
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This is a great article. Being a regular reader of Hubspot and Junta42 it's always nice to see them get the praise they deserve, they are ROCK STARS!
This is a great article. Being a regular reader of Hubspot and Junta42 it's always nice to see them get the praise they deserve, they are ROCK STARS!
This is a great article. Being a regular reader of Hubspot and Junta42 it's always nice to see them get the praise they deserve, they are ROCK STARS!
Nice post, I’ve really enjoyed reading your articles. You obviously know what you are talking about! And Your site is so easy to navigate too, great blog.
you right jenesuis,
i also happy read all article on this blog…
same with you , i also wait others here..
I have been searching for a website like this in the field I am interested in. I am a big fan. I was thinking about creating my own blog about similar ideas for like-minded people. Some good ideas here. Thanks, I can only hope mine turns out as good as this one
Bernie, well done – you've listed everything necessary.
Great web site. Than you for the information
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