About Sarah Parker

Sarah Parker is a freelance journalist and blogger at The Blog Room and communications consultant at Parker Communications. She lives and works surrounded by mountains and birdsong – in NSW Australia.

Fast Five in Search – Week 45, 2013

fast-fiveIt’s that time of the week already and we’ve got a great Fast Five selection for you. Enjoy!

Hummingbird’s Unsung Impact on Local Search by David Mihm
If you’re targeting local markets in your search strategy you might want to check out this post by David, as according to his initial research, Google’s Hummingbird update has had an impact on local search results.

Panic Stations! A Case Study on How to Handle an Important Page Disappearing from Google by Steve Morgan
I know I say this a lot, but this is a great post to bookmark. Like Steve, many of us have never personally experienced this phenomena – but if it does ever happen, we’ll want easy access to all the helpful info in this post – including the great resource links.

4 Post-Penguin Link Building Tactics Every Company Should Be Doing by Jayson DeMers
Google has ensured Webmasters treat link building as a qualitative process rather than quantitative. Here Jayson describes four types of Backlinks which are highly beneficial, following the various algorithm changes and Google updates over the past few years.

Google Promises More Accurate Results with New Google Trends Topic Reports by Matt Southern
This week Google announced a new addition to Google Trends which will provide more accurate topic reports. Predictive text now appears when users begin typing a search term, which helps further clarify the request/results.

And finally…

Building Brand Identity – Five Reasons Your Blog Needs a Ghostwriter by Enzo F Cesario
Are you finding it hard to maximise the benefit of your company blog? Enzo puts forward some great reasons why a Ghostwriter might be the answer to your fresh content woes.

Happy reading!

*Image courtesy of Threadless

 

Search Industry Job of the Week – Social Media Manager

Job Title: Social Media Manager
Job Reference: Unknown
Position Type: Part time
Name of employer: Search Engine Journal
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date Posted: 25 November 25 2013
Position description:

Well-known, internet marketing web publication, Search Engine Journal is looking for a Social Media Manager to advance its digital community.

This is a high profile position that gets you in front of the internet marketing community on a daily basis.

The Social Media Manager will be entrusted with the publication’s large social media network and will be responsible for cultivating and expanding the target audience through creative campaigns and social listening techniques.

Goals are to foster a positive culture, to identify leads for the editorial team, to expand influence, and create a thought leadership position. Note: this opportunity is part-time.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Assist with creation, conception, and presentation of social media strategy and integrated marketing campaigns
  • Utilize social listening tools to generate insights
  • Create and maintain Content Calendars
  • Review user generated comments and posts in a quick and timely manner
  • Identify influencers and manage outreach to them
  • Respond to users, when appropriate, in order to cultivate a positive community
  • Constantly on top of industry trends and developments- experiment with new and current features
  • Work with teams across the site to ensure that it is represented at its best online

Must Haves:

  • At least 1 year of experience managing professional social media accounts
  • Charisma, a fun personality, and digital-savvy
  • Goal setter; able to calculate the ROI of their efforts
  • Strong attention to detail and accuracy
  • Passionate about social media, SEO, and content marketing
  • Active participation in a wide variety of social media activities
  • Demonstrated ability to build and engage a large community
  • Proven ability to write concise, creative, and informative copy
  • Familiar/comfortable understanding of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ platforms
  • Strong time management skills; necessary to balance multiple projects, campaigns, and administrative duties
  • Flexible/Adaptable; available to respond outside of traditional working hours
  • PR experience a plus

Benefits:

  • Monthly base plus performance bonus plan
  • Inclusion on the masthead and editorial team; (Past and present members of the team have parlayed their increased exposure into speaking invitations, consulting gigs and career opportunities, as well as writing for Entrepreneur.com, Huffington Post, Medium.com and many other major industry publications)
  • Possible travel to represent the brand and provide press coverage at events and conferences

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info about company from: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/
Contact: Send resumes via online form to: Marketing Pilgrim Jobs

For more search industry jobs, or to post a vacancy, visit Search Engine College Jobs Board.

Fast Five in Search – Week 44, 2013

fast-fiveThis week’s Fast Five includes the secret to utilizing the full powers of Excel, the latest changes to Google’s AdWords and the rumour that banks may start using your social media profile to determine your credit rating!

Automate Your SEO Reporting by Exporting Your Leads into Excel by Brian Harnish
If reporting conversion results to clients is on your monthly to-do list – this article’s for you. Brian includes links to programs he finds helpful and his step by step guide to running a macro program within Excel is well worth bookmarking.

Web Psychology – Whiteboard Friday by Nathalie Nahai
Nathalie Nahai is a web psychologist and in this Whiteboard Friday post, she explains how online behaviors are shaped and can be influenced using three simple strategies.

Google Introduces Change To AdWords: Pay By Viewable Impression CPM Bidding by Matt Southern
Google rolled out a major change to AdWords this week by introducing CPM bidding by viewable impressions. This is seen as a step up because unlike the traditional model of served impressions, advertisers won’t be charged unless the Ad was actually viewed by the end-user.

How to Train Fresh Graduates for Your Internet Marketing Agency by Matt Goulart
This is a short handy guide to initiating new graduates (even if they’ve specifically studied PPC and SEO) into the real world of online marketing.

And finally for something a bit different…

How Social Media Monitoring Impacts Reputation Management by Jean Dion
This article will totally change the way your view your social media and financial transactions! Banks are starting to check social media profiles when determining credit ratings! Talk about Brave New World!

Happy reading!

*Image courtesy of Threadless

Search Industry Job of the Week – Digital Marketing Specialist

Job Title: Digital Marketing Specialist
Job Reference: 105194
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: Logitech
Location: Newark, CA
Date Posted: 18 November 2013
Position description:

The Digital Marketing Specialist is responsible for building a strong and engaged community of brand advocates using the leading social media tools. You must be comfortable in a rapidly changing fast paced environment, be risk taker, willing to lead and not afraid to make mistakes.

Your Contribution:

Move fast. Speak up. Decide and own. Drive change. Exceed customer needs. These are some of the winning behaviors you’ll need for success at Logitech.

In this role you will:

  • Develop and execute social media strategies, promotions, paid social media campaigns, social applications and develop key insights / reports
  • Act as the voice of UE brand on social and web to communicate product news, promotions and activities
  • Write, plan and schedule all social media content for the brand
  • Measure success of key campaigns and evaluate way to drive greater efficiency
  • Coordinate and communicate social media strategy and direction to global teams

Your Skills:

For consideration, you must bring the following skills and behaviors to their team:

  • 3-5 years of relevant social media and digital marketing experience
  • Ability to deal with ambiguity, respond flexibly to changes, and produce results in a fast-paced environment
  • Demonstrated knowledge of driving social media engagement and strong presence across the social platforms
  • Experience managing social/ digital promotions from inception through execution.
  • Experience working with and managing external agencies
  • Solid understanding of SEO and SEM best practices
  • Expert in digital marketing strategies, social media, social community engagement, social and web content creation
  • Passionate music lover

Small Company. Big Products.

Logitech is a world leader in products that connect people to their digital experiences. With a broad portfolio of interface devices, Logitech’s leadership in innovation encompasses a wide variety of corded and cordless personal peripherals. With special emphasis on products for PC navigation, gaming, Internet communications, digital music and home-entertainment control, Logitech is at the forefront of design and is creatively driving a richer experience for digital interactions.

Logitech is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Logitech are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/home
Contact: Send resumes via online form to: Logitech Careers

For more search industry jobs, or to post a vacancy, visit Search Engine College Jobs Board.

Fast Five in Search – Week 43, 2013

fast-fiveIt’s all about creative content and user experience in this week’s Fast Five. Enjoy!

Learn to Write Blog Headlines Search Engines Love: Five Tips by Natalie McCatty
Only 20 percent of people read beyond the headline  – so we need to make sure it’s good! Natalie explains why knowing your keywords, audience, and main message is essential for a good headline.

Creating an Experience for Your Product by Eric Covino
This is a great post to get us thinking about the total user experience we’re creating around our brand. Eric provides suggestions, examples and resources to illustrate his point.

Stop Thinking Keywords, Think Topics by Kate Morris
SEOs still need to provide keyword research reports or keyword ranking reports, but should we be changing what’s in them? Given all the changes to Search in the past few years, are we focusing on the wrong data?

Why Visual Assets > Infographics – Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin
In Rand’s latest Whiteboard Friday he talks about why he loves visual assets, but can’t stand infographics.

And finally…

How Well-Planned Content Can Get You Better Marketing Results by Krystian Wlodarczyk
This is a great post about the importance of great content and how to keep generating it. Krystian says educational content is particularly important because of its ongoing value. Well worth referring to when you need inspiration for your next blog post!

Happy reading!

*Image courtesy of Threadless