Jetfar

Today I’m excited to share this exclusive interview with the man who literally wrote the book on SEO, Aaron Wall. Aaron is best known for Seo Book, the seminal text on search engine optimisation. Today Aaron has a complete offering for search engine optimisation, including the excellent SEO Tools and the recently launched SEO Training Program; if you are serious about promoting your web site, I highly recommend you check these out!

While Aaron is best known as an SEO ninja, he also writes about a wide variety of topics including business, domain names and local search.

I was absolutely delighted when Aaron offered to answer a few questions about some of the challenges I expect to face with Jetfar.

Even with the immense respect I have for Aaron, I was totally surprised at the incredible insight and the quality offered in his advice.

The Interview

(Rich) We hear a lot about SEO for blogs, and content driven websites. How does the importance and application of SEO differ for a web application?

(Aaron) I think there are two different ways applications exist from an SEO perspective:

1.) as a destination

2.) as a tool used to build other products or destinations

If you are looking to build a destination, you really need to get the on-site SEO done properly. Encourage users to link to their profiles and content from their own websites. Give them tips on how to do SEO without calling it SEO (increase your exposure etc.). Also if you let people syndicate content or tools, ensure these syndications provide an embedded static text link backlink to the source if possible. That helps give you enough PageRank to flow through the site.

If you are creating an application which is used to build other destinations, then the key here is to get word of mouth marketing and public relations leverage. In this instance you aim to get people using your platform leverage. Cover them on your sites (like so) and follow the tips by Max Levchin here, including this tip:

“Make the #1 measurable goal of your PR team the amount of coverage that successful (or just interesting) developers get. People will jump through all kinds of hoops to be in the papers. Double so if the article lists them next to a [your] big brand.”

Max’s tips are good for building a destination or not… and public relations is a key to success. To further appreciate the importance of public relations, consider Mahalo. According to Google’s internal spam documents some pages on that site should be considered spam. But because Jason got so much public relations coverage, Google probably will not edit his site. I publish similar content on a site with no public relations and it will probably get killed.

One additional tip here is that if your start up is entirely reliant on someone else’s network you will probably fail badly. Even if you are successful the network you are riding on can either clone you or buy you out for pennies on the dollar. You really need to create a destination.

(Rich) In terms of marketing and SEO, what importance would you place on the use of emerging microformats? (e.g. vcard / hcard / XFN / Geo)

(Aaron) It is hard to predict fully how these will come into play. But on a macro-trend, I think they continue to shift value toward data aggregators. Thin listing styled business models are fast dying (just look at the one year stock charts of online yellow page companies like IAR and RHD). And it is hard to gain a longterm competitive advantage from these formats since they are standards… if you build any real value with them then that value will quickly be cloned by rich competition or data aggregators.

Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 article which states data is the new Intel inside article is quite powerful.I guess the way I would look at these formats is that if you want to benefit from them you want to create the types of content that are likely to be promoted by them and not the type of content that loses value from them… meaning that if I have lots of friends that help promote my content I will do well. But I have to create something that is different and worthy of promotion. That difference could be niche target, domain name, using new tools so people talk about you when talking about how cool those tools are, etc.

I view new data formats as sending more value to Google, etc. As an independent group or person I think the only way to really leverage them to create a sustainable advantage is as a public relations strategy.

(Rich) In the past you’ve commented on the importance of establishing a destination web site. With this in mind, do you have any comment on OpenSocial?

(Aaron) If you hook into things like OpenSocial you must have something that helps you stand out from the crowd. That can be a leading editorial channel, offline gatherings, friends with great social connections, etc. Even if you hook into something like OpenSocial you really need something that makes people drawn toward you which is hard to replicate.

(Rich) What advice would you have for a fledgling startup who wants to target a specific local geographic region?

(Aaron) Add something to your service that is hard for Google and others to replicate. Start in a valuable market that is worth targeting. Create something that others can embed in their sites as well…that is a big piece of why YouTube beat Google Video.

(Rich) With the iphone already here and Android just a few months away, how should we factor this into our long term thinking about marketing an Internet business?

(Aaron) Short, crisp, and memorable domain names are valuable. And will continue to be so.

Business location has always been important. But when mobile phones and Google Maps replace the yellow pages it may change how important location is. In some ways I see it making location more important, but I can also see it allowing businesses to be spread out too… am not sure which way it will lean… probably depends on niche and local market.

(Rich) With the recent upgrades in Google local, getting a presence in the SERPS for local search is becoming increasingly difficult. What advice would you give to a new comer who wants to make a splash creating leads for small local businesses?

(Aaron) I would say to do 3 things.

1.) Master understanding Google AdWords targeting, Google Local, Yahoo! Local, and whatever Microsoft comes up with. Created an automated plan for getting the most out of these sites. If you are in a vertical where other review sites play a big role (like Yelp with food in San Fran) then group Yelp with the above sites as part of your strategy.

Charging for extra exposure via AdWords can be an optional premium service. Use a keyword permutation generator to generate relevant keyword lists. Make sure one campaign is locally targeted while another campaign uses geographic keywords as modifiers.

2.) Create a destination of your own with featured content. You need something that is going to attract links and subscribers to you if you want to build an audience and a destination. Thicken up the site with reviews too…you need to be more than a thin listing site if you want to have a sustainable strategy.

3.) Get involved in local business meetings and the local community. And use offline promotional tools if you can, like have people put stickers for your site in their window to encourage ratings (like Yelp does).

The alternative option for 2 and 3 is to become an expert in a field (legal, automotive, etc.) and build a brand as the guy who is the local lawyer leads expert (as a rough example). A way to add value if you dominate a niche nationwide is to offer the people you sell leads to information and strategies about how to get the most value out of the leads.

A huge thank you to Aaron Wall for generously providing his valuable time and advice.This article, SEO for GeoDomains and Webapps first appeared on Jetfar.com.