We chose to present about two different topics that are trending right now: Local SEO, and SEO Worst Practices.  The reasons why we chose these topics are:

SEO Worst Practices

One of the most common problems we see with incoming clients are previous SEO firms who have done a bad job.  Maybe the SEO firm just didn’t keep up with changing strategies and tactics.  Or maybe they oversold and under-delivered.  Whatever the reason, Cement Marketing is on a crusade to educate businesses about what they should expect from their SEO provider and how to audit their SEO firm.  We hope that savvy clients demanding excellent results will push the industry forward.

Local SEO

Local SEO is a lot of fun right now.  Why is Local SEO fun?  Because the effects are seen quickly and Local SEO is something most business owners can tackle on their own.  We offered up some tips for improving your Google Place that can be implemented in just a few hours.

We’ve included the slides from the presentation below.  If you represent a group that would like to hear us speak, please let us know.  Or if you are a business who would like to be found more often on the web, contact us.

As all things begin, our Columbus eCard started with a question.

“How can we tell Columbus we love her?”

And then an idea.

“A sign, we could make a sign, take a picture of us holding the sign and then share it on Facebook.”

But what would it say?

“Happy Birthday, Columbus.”

Sure that would work.

“But, how do we make it about the viewers? How do we make it about Columbus and everyone who lives here? How can they engage with our idea?”

The result: a hand painted social message, Facebook update or Tweet saying, “Columbus, 200 Years of _______.” You fill in the blank.

The idea was simple. We would take the picture and then give viewers a chance to add their own message digitally. To us it was clear. After all, we live and breath social and search – and we don’t just say that…

So, we bought the supplies and started painting.

Next we had to figure out a) where to hang it and once we eliminated the street and opted for windows we had to b) figure out how to pass the sign from window to window. This was when the real team building kicked in.

Brad Spencer, our SEO strategist came up with the brilliant idea of rolling up the sign, taping rope to the corner, tying keys the rope and then tossing the keys and the rope from window to window. Then we passed the sign to each other.

First Sara Bradley, our SEO copywriter and then to Jessie Eckert, our social marketing maven.

And then to Eric Katz, our superhero developer, who had to keep it from blowing away,

And then to Brad and Madeline, our awesome intern.

The whole thing created quite a stir on Gay Street. Cars were stopped, bystanders were video taping and as the sign unfurled only to reveal

a blank space – they couldn’t quite figure it out. How is this going to go online? They wondered.

Here’s how.

And thank you, Columbus. Without you we wouldn’t be here and we love you for that because we love what we do and wouldn’t want it any other way.

While it’s impossible to know for sure, here at Cement Marketing we expect that it won’t help move your website up in the rankings, but it may help you get more traffic anyways.  How can this be?

First, lets talk about why it most likely doesn’t help move your website up the rankings…

Why Doesn’t Google’s +1 Button Improve My Rankings?

Google uses hundreds of signals (or variables) to determine the relevance and quality of your website.  Google continually tests the value of different signals.  Some signals Google looks for that you may be familiar with already are…

• Number and Quality of Inbound Links
• Age of your domain
• Keywords on your page

Should I Add the +1 Button Anyways?

We recommend you do.  And here’s why:

See the +1?

What About the Spammers?

After the announcement of +1′s, it was only days before you could pay someone to have thousands of fake accounts +1 your website.  (This is yet another reason why the +1 button makes for a bad search ranking signal).  But when you consider the value that +1′s truly offer, then having thousands of fake accounts +1ing your site won’t help at all.  Why?

Fake accounts won’t have many friends or contacts.  So no one will ever see the fake accounts pearly whites when they search.  Simple.

Convinced you want to add the +1 Button?  See how on the +1 Button Page or let us do it for you!

Cement Marketing is a growing interactive firm in Columbus, Ohio. Our team of nine are all incredibly passionate about what we do, but our motto is life first, work second. As a result, we work shorter hours than typical agencies but are more productive while we’re here. In addition to allowing our employees to live their lives, we also offer full health benefits including vision and dental.

Duties will include:

- Working closely with Web and Social project strategists to create the best possible work for our clients. Your creative leadership and input will be expected from start to finish on all projects.
- Communicating directly with clients when presenting design concepts or wireframes
- Creating graphic concepts and designs for Websites, banner ads, Facebook landing pages, and mobile sites.
- Working closely with Web strategist to create Website architecture before design.
- Meeting deadlines agreed upon with project strategists.

Required Qualifications:

-A Bachelor’s Degree in graphic design or a related field
- Experience or training in typography
- Minimum of 3 years of graphic design experience, or show us an extraordinary portfolio
- Strong written and communication skills
- Must have basic understanding of what is and isn’t possible from a development perspective. Knowledge of HTML, Java, CSS, etc is a plus.
- Must be a team player and realize that all criticism is constructive
- A proven track record of designing awesome interactive experiences

Salary and Benefits

- Salary commensurate with experience
- Medical, dental and vision benefits
- SXSWi trip to Austin this Spring
- Mac Book pro laptop

Email online portfolio and resume to alaina@cementmarketing.com

For the past two years, Rod has been with Big Mouth Media, the UK’s #1 SEO and PPC agency. Rod started as a PPC account manager with Big Mouth and quickly moved up into the role of Digital Account Manager. In addition to being a digital whiz kid, always chasing and capturing the coveted conversion, Rod from Scotland is also a front end WordPress developer on the side. He’s also well versed in Photoshop, Joomla, Drupal, HTML/CSS and a bit of PHP. And did we mention he also has an AdWords Advanced Certificate. Some of his clients have included BetFair.com, LastMinute.com, and Tastecard.co.uk.

For Cement Marketing, Rod from Scotland, will manage all client PPC accounts and also serve as our Website Design and Development Strategist. He’ll be managing all of our Web design and development projects and working closely with our lead designer, Ryan Stryker. Stay tuned for more new hire announcements as Cement Marketing continues to grow.

I had just walked in after a workout at the gym, burning off stress and clearing my head after a long day working as an interactive copywriter, when I saw my boss pop up on chat. I jumped to the computer.

“This is crap,” she wrote. ‘This’ was the latest blog post I’d written.

I was mad and tried to focus on deep breathing before writing back, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

She replied, “It’s okay, you are learning, I just need you to learn faster.”

Once the anger wore off, I felt empowered. I didn’t want to have this conversation again. I knew there would be more mistakes, but I had to keep trying. I wanted to do better.

I graduated from college in the summer of 2010 from The Ohio State University. The proud owner of a Journalism degree and a newborn baby, I landed a job as a copywriter at an interactive agency in Columbus, Ohio. That’s where I am now.

Prior to copywriting, I had written for a few newspapers during college. The experience and skills I earned there were good. They bulked up my resume, but they didn’t give me a full set to excel as a copywriter.

To me, being a writer as a living is an [altered] dream come true.

In 2008, I was in my second year of college, failing miserably. Having marginal science and math skills, I was floundering in my nutrition major and business minor. The only classes that I was doing well in were writing-based. A little pressure from my parents beckoned me to either choose a new path and do well, or come home. I decided to switch to Journalism.

From there, I thought I would merge my two passions: writing and fashion. I was going to get multiple internships at magazines in big cities and eventually become Anna Wintour. In my mind.

My path veered a little from my dreams. I had a baby in college. I was obviously not moving to any big city that published any reputable women’s magazine. I was going to have to make the best of my situation.

I have made the best of my situation thus far and have realized that dreams aren’t always set in stone. I’m happy in my position as a copywriter. But I want to continue to grow and change my dreams. To me, writing is not just my current job. It’s a skill that is always changing.

But it won’t come in my sleep. I need to work for it. I don’t believe in luck. I believe that good things come to those who work hard. I was ‘fortunate’ to find the job that I did after college. I wasn’t lucky. I worked 20 hours a week as an intern, then 40 hours a week as a full-time employee both while finishing college, while taking care of a baby alone.

I know I can do anything I want with hard work. I know I need to keep learning and working hard to become a better writer. If I won the Damn Fine Words writing contest, I wouldn’t be just earning a free writing class. I would take opportunity to learn and combine it with my own hard work. With that formula, the only outcome is success.

————–

Contact Sara at: Sara@cementmarketing.com

Account Director and Digital Strategist

Our new Account Director and Digital Strategist must, love all things Interactive and have a passion for what they do, enjoy working with a small, tight-knit and super productive group and have two-three years of Interactive marketing experience.

The Account Director is the bridge between the client and the Cement Marketing team. The Account Director’s responsibility is to clearly articulate what the client needs and goals are to the Cement Marketing team by delegating tasks to make those needs and goals a reality – within the scope of the project and budget. As for the Digitial Strategist piece of your title, we are hoping you can lead client strategy as well. This will require an in-depth knowledge of analytics, usability, best design and content practices. Wireframing and site map creation skills are a major, major plus.

Duties include:

• Keeping content director, developer and designer on task
• Keeping a close eye on budget and hours and ensuring projects come in on time and within budget
• Communicating clearly and constructively with clients
• Helping the team to come up with big, creative digital ideas for client projects
• Ultimately ensuring projects run smoothly on their end and ours

Benefits include:

• The opportunity to join a small, emerging Internet Marketing leader in Columbus at the ground level. Your growth path would be set and raises would be significant based on performance.
• Full health, dental and vision insurance
• The joy of working in a drama-free environment where life comes first. We are a tight group and there is absolutely zero gossip or typical workplace distractions. We just get the job done so we can all get out at a reasonable hour.
• Tickets to SXSW Interactive in Austin this Spring
• Use of a personal MacBook Pro laptop

Required:

• The capacity and natural desire to learn new Interactive marketing trends
• Experience with Google Analytics, WordPress or another blogging platform or content management system
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• A passion for the now and what is current in the ever changing and evolving world of Internet Marketing
• Drama free. We are a laid back group and would like to keep it that way
• Mad Powerpoint or Keynote skills are a must

Not required but a plus:

• Experience on Web design and development project management.
• Facebook pages and Facebook advertising, Twitter and experience in Google AdWords or PPC is also a plus

Salary commensurate with experience.

Email desired salary along with cover letter, resume and at least two references to alaina@cementmarketing.com.

We are now hiring for the following position:

PHP WordPress Developer – FULL TIME

Our ideal candidate must be capable of building complete websites from Photoshop files and a WordPress CMS expert.  You must have produced at least 10 high-quality, fully customized WordPress websites in the past, and be familiar with and have experience writing and modifying plugins. Must be able to follow detailed direction, work cooperatively with team members in a Macintosh-based environment, and possess excellent communication skills.

Responsibilities:

• Developing and maintaining WordPress/PHP/MySQL sites.
• Application development and integration of end-user digital products.
• Training and mentoring development staff.
• Responsible for analyzing assigned tasks and providing accurate work estimates to keep development on schedule.
• Interaction with internal staff to develop and launch websites.
• Code and system documentation.

Requirements

• Advanced knowledge of PHP, HTML and CSS.  Experience in Javascript, , MySQL, jquery, Flash, Ajax, Ruby, C+ or HTML5 are a bonus.
• 2 years of WordPress Experience – including building / maintenance / customizing
• Ability to work with existing site design
• Ability to work in a fast paced environment
  • A plus if you have mobile app design experience.

Perks

• Cement Marketing offers excellent healthcare benefits and also pays 50% of healthcare for dependents.
• We offer a fun and relaxed work environment. Dogs are allowed in the office, but only if Archer and Ellie approve.
• Family is always first and while we want someone in the office full-time, spending a few days a week at home could be negotiated.
• We also pride ourselves in not over-working our team. One mandatory job requirement is that you unplug and walk out at 5:30 every day. Believe it or not, we find that not overworking our team means that we are a more productive team.
• Telecommuting is possible but only for the right candidate, must have a proven track record of successful full-time telecommuting employment or solid references.

Desired start date – July 1, 2011.
Salary commensurate with experience. Please email resume and salary history ryan@cementmarketing.com.

Cement Marketing is an Equal Opportunity Employer

A new MacBook, all of the software, books and conferences you need to keep up to speed, awesome healthcare, and a mandatory rule that everyone is out of the office by 5:30 – every day. What can we say? We’re fans of personal lives and know that overinflated agency hours are reflective of poor project management, a plague across the industry and not something that should be accepted just “because that’s the way it is.”

As a result we’re all happy to be here every day and are consequently more productive. If you want some back up on our reasoning behind that please check out the book Re-Work by 37 Signals.

But, in exchange for all of those perks, there is a catch– every new teammate is forced to humiliate themselves in the alley during their first week. The pictures are then shared on Facebook, Flickr and here on the website to forever be used against them during fun Photoshop break out sessions.

Meet our latest victim – Ryan Stryker, Cement Marketing’s first Design and Development Director.

He has 12 years of experience, most of them in Interactive design and development. His work speaks for itself, you can view his portfolio here. Also follow him on Twitter here.

But before you go check up on his credentials, take a look at these.

Read Ryan’s full bio here.

A blog, adored by the search engines for its frequent and ever-changing content and loved equally by readers for the same reason, is a must have for any individual and business. With that said, most small businesses push their blog to the bottom of their to-do list.

We just stumbled across this awesome interview of Seth Godin and Tom Peters on blogging and why you–yes, you–should be blogging even if no one is reading.

If you’re ready to start blogging but aren’t sure how start with WordPress.com. The blogging platform is entirely free and be sure to visit the WordPress support forums if you have any questions or issues. You can also contact Cement Marketing, we specialize in WordPress and develop all of our websites in WordPress.