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As digital marketers trying to keep up with clients, constant changes in technology, and life in general, how do we keep ourselves from burning out?Kathleen Garvin of The Penny Hoarder and Amanda Russell of Ghergich & Co. join former SEJ FeaturesEditor Danielle Antoszto share their insights on how to avoid burnout. Kathleen, Mandy, and Danielle also discuss how technology has affected the way we work and share tips and tools to disconnect.

Mandy:I think part of the big change, part of the switch thats happened in the past decade or so is that theres so little privacy with the internet and with social media. Not only do your employers know more of whats going on with your life but you know more of whats going on in your friends lives and you get that life ADHD a little bit,where youre like, Well, Im working this job but the grass looks greener over here. Maybe I need to try that out. I think that helps to propel us toward this burning out feeling where everybody else seems happier than you areor yourenot as successful or what have you. I know I look around a lot and I see my colleagues and my coworkers and theyre doing these amazing things, and I wonder if thats something I should be doing. AmI doing things correctly?

I would have loved to find a company where I could stay for 40 years and feel like Ive really made a contribution.Yet I do this job hopping thing because I keep thinking, The next step, the next step, the next one is going to be the right one. It keeps life interesting but I know, too, that employers look at it and theyre just, Well, how long are you going to stay with us? What should we expect from you?

Mandy:When I started working for Ghergich, it was a completely different ball game. Im working from home, I can do whatever. I can work in my pajamas, I can roll over, open my laptop, and answer emails while Im still in bed. That has been a freedom that I never knew was possible. It allowed me to take this opportunity and work remotely and Im not taking vacation time. I work 9 to 5 then I go out and explore and do things on the weekends.

That has been huge for me. Its only because of the internet and being connected, and my employers knowing that, If we need Mandy, we can just message her and its fine.It can be 8 p.m. but if we absolutely need her, shes there, even though shes in Mexico. You have to take the bad with the good. The bad is that, I see all my friends who are doing these amazing things and I want to be successful or, just like we said, grass is greener. But then, I get to follow my dream and my love of travel while still working and thats pretty freaking fantastic.

Kathleen:Sure, I think you hit the nail on the head about taking the good with the bad. I think you have to. The internet does give us so many possibilities to work remotely or work a completely internet-based job which is great and is something that I think our generation might be the first ones who fully take advantage of. I feel like its something you hear a lot more of, you see more people doing it.

Kathleen: In my work, in addition to email, we use Slack. Slack is pretty much the primary conversation driver and we try to email as little as possible. I think Slack is good but we also work in an open office space so you can go up and go over to the person to ask them a question which is great.

I dont thinkI really found any tools that help in terms of increasing my productivity. Its just been for me to know when to stop myself or maybe even just be alone with my thoughts. We are used to being in line now at the store. Anything else where your first reaction is to take out your phone and go on Instagram or something else, or text somebody, I try to be more mindful of that as well. I can be alone. I dont need to be on my phone and again, take a breather, take a break. I will say that I dont get any push notifications on my iPhone.

Mandy:Ive struggled a while with fear of missing out the FOMO phenomenon. Something thats helped me more so than apps or whatever else is forcing myself to just leave my phone somewhere.

There are a lot of apps out there that make it easier to communicate, whether its WhatsApp or Slack or Skype. Those help a lot but making sure that I really disconnect and teach myself not to worry about missing that amazing post. Its going to be okay, it really will be.

Kathleen:Exactly. Behavior modification, where you change the way you operate and you change the way people expect you to communicate with them. I think it alsodepends on your team. Do you have a boss who, no matter what, is going to expect you to answer your phone or be available at certain times of night when you should be off the clock?Thats difficult. But assuming you had control over your schedule,I think theresabsolutely nothing wrong with changing your habits, changing your behavior, and training people to let them know when they can communicate with you and that you are not dead if it takes you tenminutes to respond to their message.

Kathleen: Definitely take some time off. Even if you dont physically go anywhere, just have a mental health day. Use your time off wisely. Make sure you plan breaks for yourself. I was reading an article yesterday,it was an interview with Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx.She said that as soon as you can afford to, hire your weaknesses.Hiring a VA is smart andif you can afford to, definitely do that to offload work and help clear some space to help you relax a bit, prioritize, and put your energy towards things that matter.

Taketime off social media to give yourself a break and let yourself recharge. One app that everyone at work was talking about that I finally downloaded this weekend was the Calm app. Its guided meditation and sleep stories.All of these things rolled into one I think are important for personal happiness and career success.

Mandy:Just being honest with yourself and doing what you can to pinpoint exactly what is causing the burnout. Because I know for me, whenever Im having a bad week or I feel like I just dont want to work anymore, I dont feel like getting up for work. Whatever the case may be, theres generally one specific reason. Either I need a vacation or I hate doing this task and wish I could delegate it. Once Ive pinpointed it then I need to act on it to take care of it. To get it off my plate, to get it off my mind. If the burnout feeling is still there, then I need to see what else is going on.

Think you have what it takes to be a Marketing Nerd? If so,message Kelsey Joneson Twitter, or email her at kelsey[at] searchenginejournal.com.

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Featured Image: Paulo BobitaIn-post Image #1: alphaspirit/DepositPhotos In-post Image #2: TaiChesco/DepositPhotos

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How to Avoid Digital Burnout [PODCAST] - Search Engine Journal

SEO Bootcamp has not disappointed. Its like drinking from a fire hose. All of the information Ive gotten has been incredibility valuable and worth wild.

(PRWEB) February 09, 2017

Web Savvy Marketing today announced its next SEO training workshop will take place this May in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The SEO Bootcamp workshop is three full days of SEO education and training provided by SEO expert Rebecca Gill.

SEO Bootcamp is designed to reorient a website owners thinking about search engine optimization by moving them away from quick schemes or reliance on outside SEO consultants. The SEO training, co-working, and one-on-one coaching sessions are designed to teach students how to execute SEO best practices in a structured and methodical manner.

Workshop attendees will walk away with a complete SEO plan that utilizes a proven methodology for obtaining website traffic that converts into tangible ROI. The workshops schedule will cover the following SEO topics:

Prior SEO Bootcamp students have provided very positive feedback including:

Joe Skilton, a small business owner, says, SEO Bootcamp has not disappointed. Its like drinking from a fire hose. All of the information Ive gotten has been incredibly valuable and worthwhile. And not just the nitty gritty on how to optimize your website, but also the overall process which has really helped clarify the good advice Ive gotten from other sources but didnt know how to quite put it together the right away.

Sara Dunn, a WordPress consultant and marketer, says, Buckle your seatbelt and get ready for drill sergeant Rebecca! Its a ton of information but its really about doing SEO right. Youll finally learn the things you need to know so youre not making mistakes or using outdated information.

To learn more about the May session of SEO Bootcamp, visit the website at https://www.seobootcamp.com.

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SEO Bootcamp is Coming to Oklahoma City - PR Web (press release)

Your website may be the slickest, most beautifully-designed thing in the world, but without a strong approach to search engine optimisation (SEO), its virtually useless, because no one will be able to find it.

A website with good SEO will appear higher up on a list of search engine results. For small business owners who have little or no technological know-how, trying to get it right can be an intimidating prospect. But not having the tools or training doesnt mean that you cant get higher up the Google results page.

Start simple, says Ross Dempsey, head of digital at marketing agency, Digital Impact. Begin with whats called on-page SEO the main elements of a web page that search engines look at to understand what its about. Getting this right is a good first step to making a site rank higher in search results.

First, he says, make sure that the title of a web page (the headline that users see on a search results page) accurately describes what it is. Second, keep the web address (the URL) short and punchy. And finally, try to use target keywords the words that people type into the search box to find your business in the first 100 words on a page.

SEO can help you generate traffic, but dont forget to give people a great experience once they arrive at your websitePaddy Moogan, Aira

But watch those keywords. Trying to rank for competitive phrasesis a common mistake, says Charles Travers, consultant at Kent-based SEO agency, Finetune Digital.

If youre a small insurance company, you dont want to try to rank nationally for the car insurance search term, he says. There are enormous companies spending a lot of money there. For smaller players, its a losing battle.

Instead, focus on keywords and phrases with less competition, he adds. These could be longer, but more specific phrases cheap car insurance breakdown cover, for example.

Paddy Moogan, co-founder of digital marketing agency, Aira, says that creating content that draws lots of links from other websites is one of the easiest way to achieve a better SEO score. The more external websites that link to content on your site, the more a search engine such as Google will trust it and the more likely that your SEO ranking will improve.

The focus should be on the quality and relevance of the linking site, he says. If youre getting links through from a sports nutrition blog and youre a plumber, Google may see this as manipulative and it could cause more harm than good when it comes to your rankings.

To ensure your SEO efforts are working, monitor your traffic using tools such as Google Analytics and use Googles Search Console to see the keywords that people are using to find your website, says Mr Moogan.

The bottom line? Its about the customer, he adds. SEO can help you generate traffic, but dont forget to give people a great experience once they arrive at your website.

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SEO tips for small businesses - Telegraph.co.uk

If youre an SEO company or someone who is just really good at SEO, I want to save you some time and let you know you may find this article a little too basic.

If youre a local business who is confused by SEO and looking for some simple advice that works, this article was written specifically for you.

This is the first of several articles on SEO written for small local business. Theres a ton of really good SEO training out there. But most of it is catch all training that is often too general.

My goal with these articles is to help the Main Street businesses out there who serve their local community. So if youre an attorney, dentist, moving company, accountant, restaurant or businesses like them; read on. This was meant for you.

SEO That Gets You Customers Starts Here

The secret to the success of your Search Engine Optimization and entire search marketing strategy begins with keyword selection.

Commonly known as keyword research, this is pivotal to get right. If you get it wrong, everything you do later will either not work effectively or flat out not work at all.

If you plan to do your own SEO, getting help with keyword research can be money well spent. You really need to have this done well.

Ive had the opportunity to perform a keyword audit on many websites. And one of the most common things I find is that businesses are just targeting the wrong keywords.

SEO Is Not Easy

If youre doing your own SEO or even hiring an SEO company to do it for you, one thing you will learn is it is time-consuming and can be technically difficult.

Googles algorithm has changed dramatically in the past few years. The Algorithm is a complex system that decides in real time what the search results will be. It sifts through mountains of data and matches sites that are stored in Googles database, also called the Index, to they keyword. It then presents the results in order of what it believes the importance to be.

First, you need to make sure that your website is in the Index for the keyword you want to appear in search results for. Then you need to make sure your website is the most relevant and authoritative of all the other sites competing for the same keyword. No small task.

But To Make It More Difficult

They update their algorithm all the time and it makes it much harder to do SEO. You have to stay one step ahead of the ever changing way Google makes its decisions.

Not only does Google change, users change too. Users are more sophisticated. They cant be fooled into clicking on a search result simply because its on the first page. So how you display in the search results is more important than ever. And your content needs to be better than ever so that when they do click, they want to continue reading it.

And to make it even worse there are more competitors vying for the same keywords than ever. And new competition joins in all the time. Just think about how much local competition you have. They all probably have websites and are trying to be on page 1 of Google just like you.

Webcast, February 16th: Build Your Growth Roadmap in a Day

Google makes changes, your prospects behavior changes, your competitive landscape changes.

What has not changed is:

1: Theres still only a limited number of spots on page 1 of Google. So you need to be smarter and work harder than everyone else. If you dont, you cant compete. And

2: Search runs off keywords. Whether these are typed or spoken, the search engine still needs keywords to understand what it is the person searching wants.

While theyre getting much better at deciding what they want, Google still needs a question asked first in order to give you an answer. And this is the best way to think about your keywords. Think of them as questions your prospective customers are asking.

Things like:

Who are the best IT professional in New York

Or

I need a commercial mover in Danbury CT

Or

Find Stamford CT Dentist reviews

These are keywords. And to compete on the search engines, this is your first and most important step to success: identify the best keywords.

This Is The Best Way To Find Great Keywords

Before you begin, create a spreadsheet to dump these keywords into as you uncover them. Dont worry about organizing it. Dont worry about whether you have duplicate keywords. Just brain dump them into this spreadsheet.

Step 1: Ask

Forget fancy techniques. Forget keyword tools. Forget anything you may have learned and start here first.

Start with your customers. Go ask every single one of them how they found you. If they say Google, ask what they typed.

If they didnt find you on the search engines, ask them what they would have typed to find you.

Ask everyone you meet for the next 2 weeks what keyword theyd use if they were looking for your service. Ask your friends, family, customers, random strangers, people in your business community, competitors. Ask anyone and everyone.

Step 2: What you do

List all your services. If you are an IT Solutions Provider, you might list things like:

Make sure to put all these services into your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Solutions

List all the problems your products or services solve:

Once again, list all these solutions to your prospect and customer problems into your keyword research spreadsheet. Youve now got something really cooking here

Heres What To Do Next

There is a lot more to proper SEO than I am covering here. The goal of this article is to give you a great start to easy keyword research without overwhelming you.

From here, you can take this list and dig deeper into keyword research. You can discover more keywords based off of the list you just created. You can research what your competitors are doing. You can uncover the possible search volume and competitiveness of these keywords.

Or you can just start creating useful content for your website or blog that answers these questions. Even without worrying about things like keyword density, title tags, meta descriptions and all the other little SEO nuances, you can create powerful content with this data.

If you create content from here, just speak to your customer, keep it very simple (no techie talk) and make it at least 500 words. If you do that, youre going to do more for your SEO than most.

In upcoming articles, I will share ways to refine your research and organize your strategy for solid SEO. So come back next week after youve spent time asking and placing what you find in your spreadsheet.

Continue reading here:
A Simple Keyword Research Technique For Small Business SEO - Business 2 Community

Recently, I attended Baidus annual search conference for agency partners in Beijing. One of the premier search events in China for SEO professionals, the conference was hosted by engineers from Baidus core search and Webmaster Tools teams.

The agenda covered Baidus eco-empowerment strategy, its Mobile Instant Page (MIP) project and a wrap-up of the 2016 algorithm updates. The event made it clear to me that 2016 was the year Baidu SEO came into its own. If you arent already investing in Baidu SEO, 2017 is your year to start.

The concept of eco-empowerment was introduced by Dai Tan, Baidus Chief Architect of Search. With search, Baidu wants every practitioner in the internet ecosystem to have better efficiencies in production, execution and monetization. In order to fulfill eco-empowerment, Baidu needs to provide relevant technology and form a mechanism for the ecosystem, supported by two pillars: page load speed and HTTPS.

Every half-second delay in page loading will cost you 3 percent of user visits. This is why Baidu moved quickly to follow Googles Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) feature with the MIP project (Chinese language). At the same time, security is a critical factor to an engines reputation in a market where site hijacks, spams and PII data leaks are rampant. In May 2015, Baidu launched Not Set, which is its own version of Not Provided.

The main accomplishment in the mechanism of Baidu Search is in the release of Spider 3.0 (Chinese language), which was launched in early 2016, dramatically increasing the speed of URL discovery and indexing. As a result, crawl speed has increased by 80 percent, and Baidu is now capable of indexing trillions of web pages in real time. The Divine Domain project planned for mid-2017 promises to further boost indexing speed.

Mobile Instant Page is a bold name. Even Googles AMP only claims to be accelerated. The results speak for themselves.As reported in the Conference, more than 2,800 sites have implemented MIP, reducing load time by 30 to 80 percent and subsequently increasing landing page clicks from 5 to 30 percent.

The technology and structure of MIP are very similar to Googles AMP; even the page code is virtually identical. And just as AMP has been a controversial idea in the SEO world since its launch, so is Baidus MIP within the Great Firewall of China. Convincing webmasters to adopt this new technology has been a challenge, given the sacrifice of page flexibility in favor of improved loading speed and ranking signals.

Baidu has been fighting its way through obstacles, having learned valuable lessons from AMPs rollout. A channel has been added in Baidu Webmaster Tools for page submissions. An open-source project is now on GitHub. A tutorial provides quick training for programmers. An integrated development environment (IDE) and an online validator are published. Themes are available for popular content management system (CMS) platforms like WordPress. Most importantly, the Flashy icon is now attached to all MIP results on the Baidu mobile search engine results page (SERP).

By December 2016, three months after MIPs release, Baidu had already indexed more than 900 million MIP pages.

An MIP result entry with the MIP icon on the mobile SERP of Baidu

The anniversary of the MIP Project

You may see Baidu MIP as a copycat of Google AMP. But there are nuances. First, Baidu MIP is using scripts to maintain compatibility with mobile browsers other than Chrome or Safari in China. In addition, MIP pages put JavaScript before the ending tag, while in AMP, you still put scripts between and . Both MIP and AMP only allow asynchronous scripts, but it doesnt make a big difference, because neither approach will delay the page rendering.

Since Google retreated from China in 2006, the only two G-products that remain functional in that market are Google Maps and Google Translate. Mobile internet users are unable to access the AMP in mainland China.

Many people believe that if Google hadnt been expatriated, Baidu would not have its dominant power in the search market. However, even when Google search was still in China, its market share never exceeded Baidus. And Bing, which is still in China, isnt challenging Baidu at all.

When it comes to other players like QQ and MSN Messenger, only those engines that are customized for local markets (or work with the government) will have the chance to win the battle against Baidu.

A map of the world showing the real-time activity of Baidu search, on a screen in the lobby of Baidu Building in Beijing

Baidus ambition is not confined to China. Alliances with partners like Merkle in other regions are helping Baidu to learn about other markets and expand business reach. If you still see Google as a threat to Baidu, you may be wrong. A better term, frenemy, may better describe their relationship.

Now, through Googles DoubleClick for Search, you are able to bid for Baidu pay-per-click (PPC) ads. On the other side, Baidu is actively working with Google on the alignment of AMP-MIP and developing standards for Progressive Web Apps. And finally, Baidu intends to adopt the Schema.org data structure in 2017, having already documented the Schema.org markup support in the MIP specification.

Anti-app-fraud, Ice Bucket, Skynet and Blue-sky are the four main algorithm updates made by Baidu in the second half of 2016, and in almost every month, there was a negative update.

While the Chinternet environment is getting more complicated, Baidu is investing a significant amount of effort to protect and improve the ecosystem they have defined:

In late 2016, there has been a drop in discussions around indexing in the Chinese webmaster communities. This seems to signal that Baidu can now better identify pages with low quality.

From the other angle, it is evident that Baidu has a clear view that the mobile-first web is transitioning into a mobile-only web. Apart from the core project of MIP, three out of four algorithm updates are aiming for mobile pages.

Historically, SEO strategies and investments were second-tier priorities for brands in China. Too many paid ads appeared on the SERP, where organic links had limited exposure, leaving little opportunity for SEO. Additionally, leadership had no idea of how long they would be in their roles. They wanted quick success and shortcuts, suggesting paid search is the best way out.

Things are changing. Due to regulations and the release of Chinas Internet Ad Law, Baidu cut down the number of sponsored results in the main column of the SERP from up to 10 to no more than 5. With some exceptions where larger ad formats are served, users will see a much cleaner SERP with fewer ads.

Obviously, it is a positive change for SEOs because paid traffic and organic traffic play a zero-sum game. Organic results now have more viewability with fewer sponsored links overhead.

As my colleague, Adam Audette, wrote in Merkles Dossier, your SEO effort is critical and will account for 3050 percent of traffic online. As such, I offer the following recommendations for your 2017 SEO strategy in China.

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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2016 was a coming-of-age year for Baidu SEO; why you should invest in 2017 - Search Engine Land