How do I execute the following strategy.......on my own!?

[robmarr789]

Introduction to project

Okay so in this short paragraph I am going to give a brief insight into the project I am currently working on and the aims and objectives of what I and my company aim to achieve.

Tools Company

Basically I work for a tools company who are about to launch an online website to sell and distribute their products all over the UK. Tools boring.... I know, but stay with me. I have been given the task of optimizing the website as well as creating brand presence and engagement through research, development and implementation of an engaging content strategy. Through the content I aim to add excitement, educate, and inspire the tools buying persona and ultimately bring excitement to an industry which lets just say 'doesn't exactly get the pulse racing'. In other words, I want to away with all the boring deals,promotional and and store opening based drivel (not literally all of it but you get the picture) and bring back some 'fun'.

Bottom Line : Increase Sales Online

I have done a large amount of research into the areas I need to cover. However admittedly I am relatively new to the world of online marketing and although I have a lot of experience in brand optimization and consumer psychology, I have a few questions to ask 'the experts' into the more practical elements which will help me execute and manage my project. I have split my queries into the different marketing areas I want to target. I do not expect anyone to help me with all, but any help would be greatly appreciated! Please try to bare in mind, I am a one man band on this so budget and time are major constraints.

SEO

1. Best way to research and choose the keywords for PPC?

2. What very simple organic search SEO basics should I be utilizing?

3. How do I build my social media channels, and blogging into SEO (link building etc)?

Bench Marking

1. I want to benchmark my nearest competitors Social Media analytic's so I can determine their success's and failure and also create targets for where I want us to get to. However I can't seem to find any software which allows you to conduct competitor analysis. I am using Hoot suite but this only allows me to manage and analyse my own social networks

2. I also want to do this for SEO, I know MOZ allows you to do this

Research

1. How do I set up listening posts to follow whats trending in a select websites, blogs, social media platforms etc? Search the whole WWW is too broad for the kind of research I am trying to conduct.

Anything Else! (literally anything!)

Any other useful or eye opening tips you have for me which you feel can help me deliver this project, the more the merrier!

**BEST ROI TOOLS AND TIPS......................... **

MANY THANKS!

[robmarr789]

Thanks for all your useful insights. I am pretty adept at managing my own time and have always favored a self managed teaching method so I think I'm prepared to execute and manage this project. Of course at times I will need to out source much of the SEO as I am aware how extremely technical it can become. My main focus will be more on the content side of things. If any of you have any tips on how to build my content directly into SEO be sure to get in touch.

Thanks Guys

[Branden_S]

Chris and Mat gave some good areas to start out with for SEO and social media.  If you are getting into PPC, I recommend starting with Google AdWords certificate...its an online class that reviews many aspects of PPC and is a good starting point for any PPC manager.

On a side note, you mentioned that you are a 1 man band and your asking some really big questions, some dealing with creative writing, some involve mathematical analysis.  In my experience 1 person can't effectively write content, optimize on page seo, build links, manage PPC campaigns and engage in social media conversations.  Nothing against you, but there's just not that many hours in a day for 1 person to do everything.

A good question for you to answer is " whats more important to you, time or money"?  If time is more important, I would consider working with an agency who specializes in SEO, PPC, social media etc. There is a learning curve with online marketing, and a good agency is already over the curve.   If money is more important, you will need to roll up your sleeves and prepare to tackle several major projects. I got thrown into the deep end years ago, and I figured things out, so it can be done, but it took 60+ hours/week.

[Chris.Menke]

Rob,

• Start with Moz's SEO guide for understanding your SEO.
• Use Google's Adwords Keyword Planner for your keyword research
• Read through these posts to bring you up to speed on building your social media presence
• Open Site Explorer will allow you to benchmark on-page and off-page ranking factors for your competitors.  You can do them one at a time or compare them against each other.
• Google Alerts is a free place to start for monitoring your competitors and here are some others to look at

I think once you get through all that, you'll have a basic foundation for moving forward on your new site's search marketing.

[matbennett]

Wow - there are some big questions there.  I think that the best way to answer some of it will be to point you at some resources that might help out.

Before I do I will say that tools are definitely not a boring niche.  Seriously, I have work projects where I would have given a limb for something as interesting as tools to work with.  The thing is tools make stuff and fix stuff and that is interesting. They also have a techie appeal which I always think makes thing easier.

OK  - specifics (and I'm going to be a pain and really just answer the first bit)

SEO

1. Best way to research and choose the keywords for PPC?

Firstly SEO and PPC are different things.  It's worth remembering that as it is going to be difficult searching for answers if you get them mixed up.  PPC is when you pay on a per click basis.  SEO is generally seen as dealing with traffic from organic sources (ie google natural results).

• Here is a link to the moz.com guide to keyword research: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research
• Here is a link to one from Viperchill which I think is well worth a read too: http://www.viperchill.com/keyword-research/

In truth, if you are handling that campaign by yourself you are going to need to bone up quickly on a wide range of topics - not just the stuff you have identified, but the stuff you don't yet know that you need to know!

One of the best self-paced ways of doign this is probably distilledu http://www.distilled.net/u/  .  It's an online course that will walk you through a lot of the basic stuff. Every topic it covers can be found elsewhere of course, however having it in one place from a trusted source and having progress tracked is really helpful.

Take a look