Sixth Man Marketing is starting our own version of open gym focused on online marketing. Come on down and talk shop with other business owners and hear the latest online marketing strategies, tactics, and tips. This isn’t just one-way instruction. While we’ll have a formal topic each week, we’re encouraging input from other online marketing folks and business owners in our community.

Open Gym Logistics & Details

Location: Sixth Man Marketing Office
Time: Friday’s from 3pm to 4pm
Cost: Free
Capacity: First five people to register. Only one person / industry / week
Registration: Call (509) 624-5580, fill out our contact form, or email jessie (at) sixthmanmarketing.com

Topics / Calendar:
11/18/11 – Google Analytics New Version Awesomeness Tour (Yeah, it’s good)
11/25/11 – Off for Thanksgiving break (Turkey Time!)
12/02/11 – Usability Best Practices (What’s working & what isn’t on your website)
12/09/11 – The Latest in Local Search (How to rank in Google Maps & blended searches)
12/16/11 – Conversion, Conversion, Conversion (How to make them click!)

These open gym session are meant to be part training, part analysis of your website, and a whole lotta fun talking shop about your online marketing strategies. They are going to be very interactive sessions with a ton of real-world advice. We’ll provide some light snacks and drinks as well.

Who’s got next?

Getting Started with Google Analytics
If you have the time (and it does take a while) I recommend going through Google’s Conversion University to learn all about Google Analytics. That said, they’re a bit on the dry side (understatement) and take a while to get through. However, this great Google Analytics installation video from Ian Lurie of Portent Interactive gets you started in just over ten minutes.

What You Need to Know
There’s a lot of advice out there when it comes to analytics. The tips I’m interested have nothing to do with reporting. They’re all about gaining insight from the data and doing something with it to improve your business! And there’s only one name you need to know when it comes to gaining true analytics insight. That name is Avinash. He has done more to advance true analytics insight that anyone on the planet. Here are a few of his essential posts:

The Beginner’s Guide to Web Data Analysis
Web Analytics Segmentation: Do or Die, There is no Try!
Web Analytics Definitions: Goals, Metrics, KPIs, Dimensions, Targets
The Best Social Media Metrics

Presentations & Examples

Here are my most recent analytics presentation. Please feel free to download or share.

One of the things I really emphasize when I present is the importance of understanding what’s important to YOUR business. Don’t worry about all of the metrics, pay attention to the ones that impact YOUR business. For example, my wife Tine is the Executive Director of a nonprofit called Bloom Spokane. Their #1 business driver is the number of people that attend their in-person classes. So we measure that as a KPI. Here’s how we look at it in a custom dashboard.

My Quick Guide to Using Website Data to Grow Your Business

1) Understand what’s important to measure when it comes to YOUR business. Every business is unique. Learn what’s important to measure, learn from your insights as well as mistakes and make improvements.

2) Get your hands dirty and learn this stuff! It’s powerful, people! I know you’re busy, but your business will benefit greatly from this information once you take the time to learn it a bit.

3) Take action! You don’t need to be an analytics ninja to take advantage of this stuff. You can make improvements to your website today by just taking a few suggestions from the information in this blog post not to mention the mountain of valuable information from my Get Listed friends.

I wish I was in Western New York with all of you today! I know you’re getting a TON of valuable information from the Get Listed crew. Be sure to take full advantage of it!

Spokane Ad Federation October Luncheon Attendees

Ed takes a moment to go over a few questions

We went through a lot of real-world examples and talked in detail about ways to gain actionable insight to make website improvements. We looked at ways to measure the effectiveness of blogging, branding, campaigns, and social media.

Here’s the full presentation for those that attended and others that might find if helpful.

For additional questions about topics from this presentation I’d like to recommend:

Best Social Media Metrics – Avinash Kaushik

Google Analytics Training Videos

1) It strengthened my online community

I think the most powerful thing I discovered this week was the effectiveness of blogging for connecting or re-connecting with people. I received several blog comments and emails from industry peers and friends welcoming me back to blogging and providing encouragement. This extension of my community makes the world feel just a little bit smaller and reminded me of how cool it was posting to online forums and user groups back in the day. For example, I’ve never met Toronto SEO Dev Basu in person (Although I think we might’ve met at SMX Local in San Francisco – 2008). But I’ve respected his work for a long time and blogging is a great way to keep in touch with industry professionals like Dev and grow your network. I can only imagine how effective regular blogging + conference attendance is to growth in the industry. In fact, it was at SEOmoz Advanced 2009 that (after a little tequila if memory serves correct) I suggested Spokane as the first stop for Get Listed University. I always look forward to great conferences like SMX Advanced, Mozcon, & Searchfest to learn from the best in the industry, connect with my online marketing peeps, and have a great time. Regular blogging will likely help me grow my network so I can see more familiar faces in the crowd. Maybe I’ll even meet Dev at my next conference.

2) My website traffic jumped

There’s a pretty huge caveat here. I have very low traffic. It just hasn’t been a goal of mine. And with my infrequent blogging, let’s just say I haven’t exactly grown a large following. While I don’t put much merit in overall traffic increases, I am pleased with the increase in referral traffic and brand search traffic driven by my recent post. While it hasn’t translated into business this past week, I believe that putting out good content on a regular basis will put me in the right position to earn new business. I had a comment from Matt McGee that sums up this thought very well:

And if this increase in referral traffic (shown in my Google Analytics data below) continues it will likely lead to good things down the road, just like Matt says.

When you examine the referral traffic in detail you can see that this traffic comes from my business network in Spokane (Facebook & Twitter), industry peers (Twitter), my Get Listed University faculty friends, and my Mom.

3) It drove searches for my brand

And while my brand search traffic is low, there is certainly a nice increase compared to the previous week (as seen below). This is probably the biggest take-away for small businesses in my opinion. By providing good content to your audience they’ll be looking for more content from you. And in time, you’ll have the possibility of earning their long-term business.

4) Search isn’t always the big dog

My blogging failure post started ranking quickly for, guess what,… blogging failure.

Within two days it was ranking 2rd on Google for “blogging failure” (4th on Bing/Yahoo). And for a second I was lured into thinking this would be good for business. It won’t (for a variety of reasons). My point is that people tend to place too much emphasis on rankings (myself included at times) and not the bigger picture. For example, here’s a success story I was touting at Get Listed Spokane last February.  My wife’s nonprofit Bloom Spokane has ranked 5th for “birth advice” and 1st for “hospital birth advice” since her blog post was published in February. What has it gotten her? Fame? Fortune? Free t-shirt? Nope. Just thirty four visitors via organic search traffic.

Don’t get me wrong. I love long-tail organic search traffic. It can be really important to a business. But it’s important to see the bigger picture. Three months of searches for all things “birth advice” does not represent a game changer to her nonprofit.

But the 122% increase in overall traffic since her blog post went viral makes a difference. That’s 5,772 more visitors than the previous period. More importantly, those 5,772 visits represent social media influencers, industry experts, potential speaking opportunities, and increased national exposure.

5) There’s Always Some Risk

There’s always some risk when you put your neck out there. You could offend your audience, not research a topic thoroughly enough, or inadvertently drive Twitter traffic to the wrong Ed Reese.

Sorry other Ed Reese. I’ll do my best to keep my business major, marketing frat boy douchebag friends at bay. We’ve got some kegstands to do, anyway.

Yeah, that’s quite a gap in blog posts. What makes this even worse is that I’m constantly preaching the virtues of blogging to clients as well as attendees at Get Listed University events. In fact, my wife’s blogging for  Bloom Spokane is part of my Get Listed analytics presentation.

In fact, I talked about her recent blogging success so much at our last few events that Matt McGee started calling me Ed “My Wife’s Blog Post” Reese. But she wrote an amazing article / interview that went viral in her niche. Talk about the power of blogging. It quickly boosted her to a national level and nearly doubled her average readership. Here’s a look at the timeline:

And not only did it help grow her audience, but it helped her search engine optimization efforts as well. Thanks to the new inclusion of social media signals into the search engine ranking algorithm (chronicled very well by SEOmoz here, and then tested on Twitter here, and detailed in amazing fashion here ) she is now ranking very well for a pretty broad phrase that’s often searched in her industry.

Nearly everyone I respect in the industry blogs on a regular basis and makes it part of their business practice. They’ve also told me in person (or publicly at conferences) how it has positively impacted their business, reputation, and careers. So whether it’s Rand Fishkin, David Mihm, Mike Blumenthal, Matt McGee, Lisa Barone, Neil Patel, or any of my awesome Get Listed compadres, they’ve all told me the power of words. In sequence. Online. That says stuff. Cool stuff. Insightful stuff. On a regular basis. It’s time to get back on track.

But if blogging is so dang effective, why doesn’t everyone do it?

• Writing is hard. I liken it to golf. I may get better but it will always be a challenge.
• It takes time. Life often gets in the way (work, kids, clients, etc.)
• It’s not a direct payoff. It nearly always gets bumped for client work.
• Consistency is hard. The ideas for posts don’t necessarily come on a regular basis.

So what am I going to do about it?

• Follow Matt McGee’s advice and blog regularly. For me, that’s going to start at one post a week.
• Create a blog publishing schedule to stay ahead of the game
• Invite my team as well as guest bloggers to participate and provide a richer forum & perspective.
• Create a process for publishing blog posts effectively.

Photo courtesy of Anthony Productions

Time for this epic blogging failure to come to a close. At least at the next Get Listed University event I won’t have to hide my head in shame when Matt McGee says “Would you trust someone (that has a blog) who hasn’t posted in six months?” Hey Matt, it was almost a year. But I’ve finally taken your advice

In fact, three of our presenters are finalists for a SEMMY Award. It’s the search engine marketing equivalent of The Oscars, except the nominees aren’t nearly as good looking. While I doubt the awards will be covered by E Television, it’s an honor to be nominated.

Alright, what’s up with the this talk of free stuff?

We’re thrilled at the registration numbers so far, but my goal is a 100% packed house. Beyond a personal goal of having a full room for the event, a packed house helps send a very positive signal that Spokane is a destination for technical conferences. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having to go to Las Vegas, Orlando, or San Jose for conferences. It’s time for more technical conferences to come to Spokane!

But I also have a personal goal – to beat Matt McGee. You see, Matt took the early lead in attendee registration and politely reminded me that he’s not even from Spokane. That just ain’t right. All speakers have individual discount codes that saves you $50 (the same discount offered via The Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Inlander, and LaunchPad). The only difference (until now) is the code tracked in our registration engine.

Let’s see some schwag (free stuff)!

For those of you familiar with trade shows, there is always the allure of schwag – free stuff from vendors. As this is a non-profit educational event, we don’t have the budget for traditional schwag. However, here’s what I’m throwing out there for reese2010 attendees:

Register For The Event Here
Add “reese2010″ during the check-out process to save $50 and select one option below.

Free One Hour SEO/Marketing Assessment: Pick my brain for one hour at your office. Yep, one hour of free Internet marketing advice. No pitch. No proposal. One free hour of SEO advice for you and anyone else at your company that you’d like in the room. Bring your questions and I’ll do my best to answer as much as humanly possible in one hour.

Free Foosball Lesson: Back in the day I made an attempted a career in professional foosball. In fact, I’ve played four of the top 20 foosball players in the world. True, my 0-4 professional record doesn’t exactly make me the Roger Federer of the foosball circuit. But I’d call myself a very good recreational player and can teach you some really cool tips and techniques that will help you beat your friends and neighbors the next time you play. I’ll meet you at Trent & Dale, THE place to play foosball in Spokane. I might even be able to talk Lotus Leong-Chesbrough into swinging by. She has won a $100,000 invitational tournament, represented the United States in international competition, and destroyed me in a tournament back in 1994.

Free Disc Golf Lesson: As an aspiring disc golf player tournament player, I’ll offer tips about improving your game and guide those who would like to learn more about the sport. I’m still a relative novice to disc golf, but play quite a bit and am happy to share what I’ve picked up so far. To learn more about the sport, check out the Spokane Disc Golf Association.

Register For The Event Here
Remember to add reese2010 before final check-out

But what about people that have registered for the conference already?

No worries. All attendees that registered before January 27th will be grandfathered in! This is all in good fun. The local search community is a very close, supportive group of people. Our goal is to provide you with all the tools necessary to immediately head back to the office and improve your business. And if we’re able to play some foosball or disc golf along the way, all the better. We look forward to seeing you on February 4th!

ANALYTICS, ANALYTICS, ANALYTICS

As I’m sure you recall from my presentation, I hammered home the importance of understanding analytics. I’m not talking about “reporting” or “monthly reports” for your boss. I’m talkin’ about kick-butt, actionable analytics that teach, provide valuable insight, and inspire action. What’s workin,’ baby? What does the data tell us today? This higher level of attention to your data is not optional… if you want your business to succeed. You must “know thy data.” Here’s how:

Occam’s Razor – Awesome analyics blog from Avinash Kaushik
Web Analytics an Hour a Day – Great introduction to actionable analytics (also from Avinash)
Google Analytics Blog - Resource for understanding Google Analytics (beginner & advanced)
Google Analytics Videos - Educational videos that show how to use Google Analytics
Conversion University – A curriculum of analytics video tutorals
Analytics 2.0 [The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity] (Thanks Avinash!)

MAKE SURE YOUR WEB SITE CONVERTS TRAFFIC

I think it’s great when companies embrace new technologies and ways of thinking. Social media has taken the Internet marketing world by storm and generated all kinds of buzz (much of it well deserved) this year. However, I’m always wary of what I call the “Shiny Penny Syndrome.” It’s a condition where companies throw resources at the latest and greatest marketing techniques without testing and tracking what the shiny penny actually does. I’ve also seen companies completely stop doing what works (like email marketing) just because it doesn’t have that new marketing smell.

Don’t Make Me Think – Great read (really fast, too) about web site usability
Conversion Rate Experts – UK company focused solely on conversion rate optimization
108 Ways to Improve Conversion Rates (from Conversion Rate Experts)
Google Web Site Optimizer Blog (The Official Optimizer Blog)
Always Be Testing - Great book for learning A/B & Multivariate testing
Marketing Experiments – I love these guys. Their webcasts rock!

LOCAL SEARCH = LOW HANGING FRUIT

As an Internet marketer I’m always looking for the low-hanging fruit–”the best bang-for-the-buck in the shortest period of time. And for most small and medium businesses that’s Local Search. Like I mentioned before, this doesn’t mean you stop doing everything else and go local only. It means that it’s time for a dedicated local search strategy to compliment your existing marketing efforts. Learn more from these experts:

David Mihm – Portland, OR Local Search expert & designer
2009 Local Search Ranking Factors – I’m proud to be a contributor to this research project
Mary Bowling – Denver, CO Local Search expert
Understanding Google Maps & Local Search – For those that want details, details, details.
Small Business SEM – Local Search + SMB Advice = Awesome!
Miriam Ellis – San Francisco, CA Local Search expert & designer
Chris Silver Smith – Cartographer & Local Search expert. Again, for folks that want the technical details.

ORGANIC SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

There is a lot of information out there about SEO. In fact, there is so much information that it’s tough to know where you should even begin. These folks provide the best information and their content is always up to date.

SEOmoz - Free and premium levels of membership – Both are great!
SEO Book – Again, free and premium levels of membership – Great as well
Search Engine Journal - Free SEO content from a variety of SEO experts – including me starting next month
Search Engine Land - Center of the universe for all things search – Look through the categories
Vanessa Fox – She has an uncanny ability to explain complex details in very simple terms
Rand Fishkin’s HostingCon Preso – Awesome SEO explanation (and motivation for my art project)

BUT WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about social media. Remember, this socia media stuff is new for everybody so the importance of testing and learning from data is paramount. I think this bit of reading will provide good insight for you.

Outspoken Media - More than social media, but they cover it very well. Many good social media posts here.
Copyblogger – Read Copyblogger now! Writing is so freakin’ important. This is one of my favorite blogs!
7 Harsh Realities of Social Media Marketing – Great new post from Copyblogger
Trackur - Cool way to track social media mentions & reputation
Samepoint – See all mentions of your name or company online. A very cool social media monitoring tool.
5 Facebook Case Studies – Yes, 5 real case studies about marketing with FB.
Twitter, Tacos, & Trucks – The Story of Kogi Bar-B-Que

LIKE I SAID,… WHAT MATTERS IS HOW IT HELPS YOUR BUSINESS
Here’s an example from the presentation. I know it’s hard to believe,… but I didn’t even go to art school!

WANT MORE INFORMATION? HAVE QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? JUST LET ME KNOW.

Please feel from to leave a comment below, send an email, or contact me at my office (509-456-4350).

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – How SEOs Know SEO from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

I’ll be speaking at the Spokane Club on November 11th at 7am for their Breakfast Networking Series. Spokane Mayor Mary Verner gave a great presentation this week about the city budget and future plans. Next week I’m going to do my part to increase Spokane’s tax base by teaching local business owners how to use online marketing to increase revenue.  I realize there has been a lot of buzz recently around social media, SEO, and online marketing in general, so I wanted to create a short video to preview a bit of the content I’ll be covering during my presentation. For those of you that have seen me present before, you know that I don’t hold back when it comes to content. If you want to understand how to use online marketing to generate business for your company I’ll help provide the roadmap, tools, and resources to succeed. I look forward to seeing you there!

Spokane Club Nov 11th Networking Breakfast Preview – Ed Reese from Ed Reese on Vimeo.

To learn more about the event, please feel free to call Debra at the Spokane Club (509-838-8511).