aimClear® Search Marketing Blog

OK, PR pros, it’s confession time. How many of you have clients that have asked, “Why aren’t we showing up in Google Alerts?” Or how about this gem: “We started a blog, but no one’s reading it. What should we do?” If you were like me several years ago, you probably responded with some shifty non-answer like, “Google Alerts don’t matter; they don’t result in more sales,” or, “Your readership will grow with time.” Is this a not-in-my-job-description situation or a sign it’s time to get back in the classroom? Read the rest of this entry »

Did I just lose a contact, or does it seem like the lines between public-relations practitioner and online marketer are blurring? An increasing number of SEOs seem to think so (I happen to agree), but their perceptions of the role PR pros play in the SEM sandbox range from toy-sharer to sand-village slave.

Recently, I read a Search Engine Watch article by Jeremy Bencken that focused on the link-building benefits of PR. The post shared some sweet tips that any PR practitioner should implement, but some advice centered on PR primarily as a link-building tactic, neglecting the fact that PR is a strategy in and of itself: to drive the awareness that leads to the search. In other words, a story placed through media-relations efforts might not include a link, but if it led a reader to search for more information, it did its job. More on this concept after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

To celebrate the opening of our St. Paul office, we decided it would be super cool to profile local public relations players in our (new) second hometown. After all, we’re neighbors now, and there’s not much more of an Internet fishbowl than the PR community. There will be plenty of time for y’all to get to know aimClear and our services a bit better.  For now, let’s highlight Minneapolis/St. Paul agencies that have bubbled up to prominence from the primordial PR soup.

We understand growing an agency at the intersection of PR, search & social media has its challenges and perks. For one, we get to stick fingers in a variety of exciting and fruitful sects of online marketing and reap dynamic benefits each provides. These days being a   “complete marketer” means integrating all online marketing disciplines, including blended search & social demographic research, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), online reputation management, social media marketing, targeted press release distribution, custom training, SEO analytics monitoring & consulting, copywriting, data-driven community management and more. Skill-sets should not only be offered, but mastered. Read the rest of this entry »

In a world where 140 characters can make or break a brand, where customers expect instant gratification 24/7, there’s little (if any) time for self-doubt or antiquated mindsets when it comes to marketing your company. You’ve got to study up, spread your wings and soar into action– armed with an iron-clad PR strategy advised and amplified by search and social media.

The Search, PR and the Social Butterfly session at #SESSF looks to deliver informative insight & tactical takeaways, featuring  Lisa Buyer, President & CEO, The Buyer Group, Sally Falkow, President, PRESSfeed, Brett Tabke, CEO, WebmasterWorld, Kristjan Mar Hauksson, Founder and Director of Search & Online Communications, Nordic eMarketing, and moderator Susan Bratton, Co-founder, Personal Life Media. They were set to talk about the more contemporary alternatives to traditional press kits and media lists,  as well as best practices for optimization and feed syndication, and the audience was ready to learn. Read the rest of this entry »

An essential aspect of any reputation management job, is monitoring the never-ending flow of  content germane to our client. Most often the keyword monitoring “Big List” includes brand, products, C-level executive names, intent phrases and competitors’ keyword permutations.

This post is a guerrilla tutorial for building a totally free reputation monitoring dashboard, suitable for personal/corporate use or reselling to an agency client.  You’ll be able to easily build a tool where nobody can even whisper your business keywords, in a positive or negative light, without your awareness. Read the rest of this entry »