Christmas isn’t Christmas without someone butchering a much-loved song to make a marketing point and this year it’s our turn. Brace yourselves for the SEOptimise Twelve Days of Christmas Special…

Image credit: krisdecurtis

On the first day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me, one golden rule

1. SEO is an ongoing effort

On the second day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me two social media musts

1. Be personable
2. Never pitch in an online social situation

On the third day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me three web copy writing rules

1. Remember humans read your copy as well as search engines
2. Link out to information that adds authority to your opinions
3. Your words represent the company, so be eloquent, intelligent and accurate

On the fourth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me four Twitter tips

1. Discuss and debate, don’t just lecture
2. Let your personality show, Twitter isn’t the board room
3. Monitor mentions of your company and respond to them
4. Respond to relevant questions

On the fifth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me five golden SEO rules

1. Be unique – use original copy on your site
2. Stay onside with Google – black hat tactics risk penalisation
3. Aim to build links from relevant, authoritative websites
4. Rewrite your site – if your website hasn’t been written with Google in mind, redo it
5. Use internal links throughout your site, with relevant anchor text

On the sixth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me six tips for building your brand

1. Tweet regularly and often
2. Keep an up-to-date blog
3. Offer guest posts
4. Use social media platforms
5. Attend industry conferences
6. Socialise in industry-specific social sites & forums

On the seventh day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me seven hints for press releases

1. Make the news angle obvious
2. Target appropriate journalists with the release
3. Follow up the email with a phone call
4. Release responses to relevant industry events
5. Don’t let quality standards slip – use a spell check
6. Link to your own pages using relevant anchor text
7. Make it as easy as possible for the (overworked) journalist

On the eighth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me eight email marketing rules:

1. Don’t bombard customers
2. Keep your content relevant
3. Make your copy sparkle
4. Use intriguing subject lines
5. Review your emails in different browsers to check they look right
6. Send the message at an appropriate time
7. Test messages on a small group first
8. Respect your recipient at all times

On the ninth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me nine linkbait tips

1. Add value with guides and how-to’s
2. Use lists like top tens, golden rules and so on
3. Offers industry news and current affairs
4. Use multi-media like podcasts and video
5. Blog regularly and comment on other blogs
6. Don’t be afraid of controversy, it attracts links
7. Offer services like industry-relevant calculators and tools
8. Respond and listen to visitor feedback
9. Don’t simply sell

On the tenth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me 10 tips for LinkedIn:

1. Complete your profile
2. Bag your vanity URL
3. Make your profile public
4. Connect with everyone you know
5. Request recommendations (where appropriate!)
6. Join relevant groups
7. Use LinkedIn Answers to boost your reputation
8. Use a descriptive job title
9. Link to your website using keyword-rich anchor text
10. Register your company’s profile

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me 11 pay-per-click tips:

1. Review competitors’ campaigns
2. Target a relevant geographic region
3. Manage your budget carefully
4. Choose enticing text
5. Carefully choose the destination URL
6. Monitor performance often
7. Don’t just target the most popular keywords
8. Monitor your conversion rate
9. Avoid running b2b campaigns at weekends
10. Use negative keywords to avoid irrelevant appearances
11. Be ready to adapt the campaign for game changing rules or if conversion falls off

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my SEO agency gave to me 12 blogging rules:

1. Use short paragraphs
2. Avoid unnecessary punctuation
3. Check spelling, then check it again
4. Double-check grammar
5. Don’t exceed your vocabulary
6. Ask a colleague to proofread your copy
7. Link to relevant articles and information
8. Avoid repetition, even of keywords
9. Go beyond keyword stuffing
10. Use unique meta data
11. Post often
12. Be interesting

So what do you think? Surely it’s more festive than Rage Against the Machine! Have a great Christmas SEOptimise readers! ;)

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Kevin Gibbons is Founder/Director of Strategy at SEOptimise. Kevin is well known within the search industry as a blogger for sites such as Search Engine Land, Econsultancy and Search Engine Watch. Kevin is also a frequent SEO speaker at a number of conferences including Search Marketing Expo (SMX), Search Engine Strategies (SES), a4uexpo, SAScon and BrightonSEO.