Tahoe Production House's Brandi Brown was invited to participate in the Small Business Seminar's put on by the NTBA, NLTRA, and Tahoe City Downtown Association. She put together a great presentation that scratches the surface of SEO or Search Engine Optimization as well as Content Marketing and how to use this information in your current marketing plan. Learn more at www.tahoeproductionhouse.com

1. Tahoe Production
House

2. The “About” Section
Brandi Brown, Entrepreneur
- Born and Raised in Lake Tahoe
- BA from Loyola Marymount University in
TV/Film Production
- Opened TPH in 2011, Tahoe’s Creative
Agency
- Shameless TPH Promotion

3. Tahoe Production
House
Search Engine Optimization and Content
Marketing

4. Online Presence
What is an “Online Presence”?
• An online presence is the sum of all the identities you’ve
created (can be both personal and business-driven) and
the interactions those identities have established, and
participated in, online.
• Your online presence has a very broad reach, and when
built successfully it can spread brand awareness and
gain you fans, followers, leads, customers and anything
else you could ever want for your business.
• How to start building your online Presence:
– Strategize / Platform / Value / Social / Track

5. The Rise of Search Engines
We use Search Engines to find...
• Products and Services
• Businesses
• People
• News
• Directions
• Images
• Answers
• Videos

6. What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization Purpose:
Increase the quantity and quality of traffic from
Search Engines
How?
Good Business
Good Reputation
Good Website
Good SEO Strategy

7. Factors that help your
Website SEO
Internal Factors
• Stuff you have control over:
– Website Speed
– Website Security
– Website Structure
– Keywords
– Overall User Experience

8. Factors that help your
Website SEO
External Factors
• Stuff that’s hard to have control over:
– Links to your website
– Social Signals
– Online Reputation
– Branded Searches
– Directory Listing

9. Website SEO
Your Website is Like a Cake

10. Modern SEO Elements
SEO Elements that Matter in 2018
• Quality Website
• Quality Content
• Quality Links

11. Before & After

12. Before & After

13. Take Control of your SEO
You should always keep SEO in the forefront of your mind,
and always follow best practices. Skipping the basics of SEO
will only leave your site’s foundation a mess and prevent
you from fully maximizing revenue opportunities.

14. Take Control of your SEO
Make your Website Mobile Friendly, Responsive (avoid
building a separate mobile friendly site, m.example.com)

15. Take Control of your SEO
Make your Website Fast. Fast loading pages are
very important!
Biggest Culprits:
Huge Image Files
Sloppy Code
Fancy Website Elements (Sliders, Video Header)
Slow Website Hosting
Unnecessary Plug Ins

16. Take Control of your SEO
Keep your website secure
Website Security is an Official Google Ranking
Factor, without SSL your rankings will suffer
Make sure your website has an SSL Certificate
Update Themes and Plug Ins Regularly

17. Take Control of your SEO
Make it easy for Search Engines to Crawl your
Website
- Eliminate Technical Issues like missing site maps,
missing pages, broken links, and duplicate content.

18. Take Control of your SEO
Use a Logical Site Structure
• Clearly organize the information on your site to
help users (and search engines) understand the
various topics on your site and the relationship
between them.

19. Take Control of your SEO
Select Unique Keywords for Each Page
• Search Engines rank pages not websites. Make
sure each page has its own set of target
keywords.

20. Local SEO
Online Business Directories
• Accurate and consistent business information is Key.
– Name, Address, Number, Website URL, Business
Categories
• Using a service like MOZ Local will help you streamline
listing management

21. Local SEO
Google My Business
• Claim your Google Listing
– https://www.google.com/business
– Request Postcard
– Enter verification code
• Make sure this listing matches all other listing
directories for full optimization

22. Google Business
360 Virtual Tours
Google has created a new way for businesses to be seen, based on their “street view”
mapping technology, known as Google Business View. To assist in this effort TPH has
certified and trained photographers to capture multiple 360-degree panoramic photo
shots of a business or storefront to create an easy-to-use interactive tour that can be
seen 24-7, from anywhere in the world.

23. Google Trusted
Photographer
Why is Google Maps Business View Important?
Google Maps Business View is the latest ORGANIC SEARCH product designed to
enhance your business in local Google search results.

24. Google Trusted
Photographer
Where will people find my Google
Maps Business View tour?
The 360° virtual tour will be added to:
• Google+ Local Business Page
• Viewable in Google Search results
• Appear on Google Maps
• Can be used on your business
website, blog and link on Social
Networking sites

25. Business Reviews &
Rankings
Business Reviews are Important, they count!
• You can collect reviews on your Google Business Page,
Facebook, and sites like Yelp
– Sometimes this is a double edge sword, but a
necessary element to help your rankings.
Management of your reviews helps!

26. The POWER of Content
Marketing
What is good “Content”?
• Photography, Video, Blogs, + Social Media

27. Photography
Did you know?
• Today, more images are created every two minutes than
were created during the entire nineteenth century.
• As of March 2012, Facebook had stored 140 billion
photos total, with 300 million more added every day.
That’s 10,000 times larger than the photo archive of the
Library of Congress.
How are you going to stand out?
HIRE A PRO!
Why hire a professional when you could throw some iPhone
photos or stock photos online?

28. Great photography is part
of great branding.
• Clean, bright images sell products better
• Creative professionals can portray a product or
experience in a fresh light
• Photos of staff help the client feel more comfortable,
familiar
• Sell the experience, whether it’s for a lifestyle brand or a
restaurant
• A more customized approach to marketing in a world of
generic imagery

29. Photography SEO
Since images are a big indicator of a webpage’s topic, they carry extra weight with
Google.
• Each image on a page has attributes that Google reads:
• Filename and Alternate text
• The location of the Photo (top of the page carries more importance), Text Nearby the Image
• Dimensions (larger image is more important)
• File size (compressed images load quickly, so reduce the quality in Photoshop as shown on the right)

30. Photography SEO
EXAMPLE:
Google needs to be able to visualize
the image and overall context of the
page, using the above factors.
Compare the following:
Photo #1 – Not Optimized
Filename: DS123.jpg
Alt text: Sacramento nature
photographer
Caption: No caption or text on the
page
File size: 300KB (slow)
You want to be example #2. In this one,
Google will understand the photo without
looking at it. You effectively water down
this ingredient if your website doesn’t
give you access to these factors. For
example, Flash sites may not have
alternate text or text on the page.
Photo #2 – Optimized
Filename: Green-reeds-rivers-edge.jpg
Alt text: Green reeds grow near water’s
edge along the choppy river
Caption: I stopped along the bike trail for
this photo
File size: 30KB (fast)

31. Video
One effective, but often overlooked and misunderstood,
component for any SEO campaign is video. Video is
engaging, informative, and most importantly, rewarded by
Google when properly optimized.
If your brand has yet to incorporate video as part of your
digital strategy, here’s proof that video is a powerful
marketing tool and can work wonders in the world of SEO.

32. Video SEO
Here’s Proof that Video is Good for SEO

33. Video SEO
Video Allows You to Tap into the Second Largest Search
Engine!
Over 100 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube
every minute, so there is great potential for your brand to
tap into this resource and reach your target audience.
Keep your YouTube videos optimized with catchy titles,
descriptions and keywords so the search engine can
understand what your video is about and why it’s relevant.

34. Video SEO
Video Makes Your Brand Stand Out in Google Search
• Google owns YouTube, and the search engine gives well-optimized video
content the same authority as written text.
• Video tags can also be indexed in Google search and are just another piece
of meta-data, or searchable data, that Google uses to assign relevance to
search results and determine the influence and overall ranking of your
video.

35. Video SEO
Videos are Incredibly Easy to Share
• Videos are frequently shared on social media networks
such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and Google is
paying attention.
• Video content generates social signals (“likes” and
“reshares”), and all this sharing can build valuable links
back to your page.
• Consider sharing your video content in your blog posts,
social media posts, email newsletters, communities like
Reddit and Tumblr, and anywhere else your relevant
audience may be spending their time. The more
exposure you can generate for your videos, the better.
• Transcribe your Videos and Place the Text on your
Website or Blog.

36. Video SEO
As with any content
marketing strategy, be sure
to measure your video SEO
efforts in order to capture
your successes and make
changes when something’s
not working. You should also
set a goal for your video
campaign. Whether it’s to
boost your website’s ranking
in search results or lower
your bounce rate, having a
clear goal in mind will keep
your video efforts on the
right track.

37. Blogging
Why Blog?
The Benefits of Blogging for Business and Marketing
1) It helps drive traffic to your website.
2) It helps convert that traffic into leads.
3) It helps establish authority.
4) It drives long-term results.

38. Blogging
Best Practices
• Search engines love fresh, unique content. How often do
the pages on your website change? Probably not very
often at all. That’s why you must keep a steady blog
filled with new information.
• A search engine will pull the freshest and most relevant
content whenever a search is performed. If your site
hasn’t been updated with new information over the
course of time, you can bet someone else’s website with
a steady blog will rank higher than yours in the results.
• Create a Blogging Schedule / Calendar

39. Blogging
Common Types Of Blog Topic Structure
• Up-to-date overviews about the category, product or service your business
(website) is about.
• The search engines want to know that the content in your blog provides
informative, up-to-date, relevant content and not “spammy” content
• News stories or timely information about your category, product or service
• Lists (Top Ten Best or Worst)
• Tutorials / How To’s
• Share about your recent experiences and how they relate to your category,
• product or service (include photos/videos)
• Write posts about and link to other interesting articles or blogs

40. Blogging
Tips on writing blogs that are best optimized to help
build your organic Search Engine Rankings:
• Unique, Useful, Well-Written Content. Be Engaging. Be informative. Be
relevant. Spelling and Grammar Count to Search Engines.
• Incorporate Social Media sharing tools for each blog.
• Generally posts with 600 words are sufficient (though Google
recommends up to 1,000 words)
• Don’t forget to add links within your posts to the article, event or story
that you are referencing. Link to other areas of your website if it
relates to the content within your blog.

41. Social Media
What is Social Media?
so·cial me·di·a
noun: social media; plural noun: social medias
• websites and applications that enable users to create
and share content or to participate in social networking.
Social Media Examples
Apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and
others.

42. Social Media

43. Social Media
How do I use Social Media to further my SEO?
• Tip #1: Look into each social media channel and
determine which will work best for your business.
– Consider the following important factors with each:
• The product or service you are offering and the
available human and financial resources at your
disposal.
• Social media may be free, but think about the
value of your time!

44. Social Media
How do I use Social Media to further my SEO?
• Tip #2: Don’t sign up for EVERY social media channel
because they are new or popular kid on the block.
– Determine which is MOST relevant to your business.
Rather be excellent with one or two channels than
mediocre at five or six.

45. Social Media
How do I use Social Media to further my SEO?
• Tip #3: Before deciding which social media channel to
be active on, work out a clear and implementable plan.
– Many people lose their business focus while
becoming social. It has a negative effective on the
business due to the time lost trying to come to terms
with social media.
– A plan really helps you to stay focused.

46. Social Media
How do I use Social Media to further my SEO?
• Tip #4: Don’t get frustrated. Stick with it. Social media
takes time and an investment of your time over a
sustained period in order to achieve results.

47. Social Media
Facebook
• This is by far the biggest social media channel, with an
estimate of 1.11 billion people using the site each
month, 665 million active users each day, and generates
up to 645 million local business page views per week,
Facebook has proved that its popularity amongst users is
here to stay.

48. Social Media
Twitter
• Twitter is full of people with things to say, and you can
listen! This social media channel has an
estimated 215 million active users. Twitter is meant not
so much for friends and family but for people you
actually want to communicate with. You may think the
140 character count (or the amount of words you can
tweet) is limited, but when used correctly, you can reap
the rewards.

49. Social Media
Google Plus
• Google+ has 359 million active users a month – far from
the ghost town it is popularly believed to be. Many see
Google+ as a combination of Twitter and Facebook, but
its new features makes it a marketing paradise. The
Hangouts, +1s and hashtags , if used properly, can
result in a fantastic page popularity.

50. Social Media
Pinterist
• This is a tricky social media channel and you should only
take it on if you have great images to share concerning
your business. Your business can reap the benefits of
introducing your products to an estimated 70 million (10
million in the US alone) users on Pinterest, with fabulous
backlinks to your website.

51. Social Media
Instagram
• If you’re not already aware, Instagram is a photo-
sharing program. What makes Instagram different from
other photo-sharing programs is that it’s a free app
which can be downloaded onto iPhones and some
Samsung and Android devices. It enables users to apply
a variety of filters to pictures with a simple press of a
button.

52. Social Media
LinkedIn
• Linkedin is the largest social media network for business
people and professionals but most small business
owners still don’t have it on their marketing radar.
Business owners are now realizing the value of this site
and the opportunities to build relationships and sales
leads.

53. Social Media
YouTube
• This social media channel is the most popular video
oriented site and has an estimate of over
1 billion unique visitors every month, with over 100
hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute.

54. Social Media

55. Questions?