\u2026or How My Organic Traffic Went Through The Roof.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been one of the craziest 365 days in my life, and I thought it would be apt to write a bit about all the stuff that\u2019s taken place. I haven\u2019t really been talking about myself in my guides and other previous posts, so please indulge me, for once!<\/p>\n
\n \n Subscribe to the Simmer newsletter<\/a> to get the latest news and content from Simo Ahava into your email inbox!\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n A year ago I had just quit my job at my previous employer, Innofactor Plc<\/a>. When I quit, I\u2019d been working as a product owner for Microsoft SharePoint CMS (content management system) components, and I wasn\u2019t really seeing any future in it. To be honest, I still don\u2019t think \u201cMicrosoft SharePoint\u201d and \u201cCMS\u201d should ever be uttered in the same sentence, but Innofactor did do some pretty cool stuff that made the relationship between the two a bit smoother.<\/p>\n Anyway, a good friend of mine called me and told me that there was an SEO job open at the digital marketing agency he was working at. Well, I jumped at the chance because<\/p>\n He\u2019s a great guy and I wouldn\u2019t mind working with him<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The job would involve more interaction with clients (which I missed)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n SEO was something I\u2019d been doing as a freelancer for a long time, and I didn\u2019t mind making it my profession<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n So now I found myself working at NetBooster<\/a>, a pan-European digital marketing agency. Our Helsinki office is small, but we have a dedicated crew doing their absolute best to deliver more value to our clients.<\/p>\n About a week before my work started, I created this blog at www.simoahava.com<\/a>. I wanted a channel through which I could write about my experiences in digital marketing.<\/p>\n My first posts sucked. They really did.<\/p>\n I very soon noticed a number of problems with SEO, especially for someone working at a digital agency. First of all, no matter how hard we try to be on top of things, reading up on the latest trends, algorithm changes, penalties, recoveries, expos\u00e9s, etc. it will always be nigh impossible to deliver this knowledge to our clients. Part of the problem is that especially in Finland there\u2019s still a lot of \u201cold-school\u201d SEO being shipped around, where shady agencies are delivering black hat links, 200\u20ac-per-month maintenance packages (what the hell can you do with 200\u20ac per month???), and promising stuff to clients that will never bring actual profit or ROI to them.<\/p>\n Trying to promote content-based strategies instead of mindless ranking tactics to companies still deeply entrenched in the latter is very difficult. It\u2019s obvious SEO can\u2019t be confined to a silo in today\u2019s multi- and omni-channel marketing world, but for some reason we still get heaps and heaps of RFPs where this is exactly what the client wants.<\/p>\n SEO is really, really, REALLY easy. Just create good quality content regularly, and market it naturally. Stop laughing, it\u2019s the truth! If you don\u2019t believe me just read Jeff Sauer\u2019s excellent post on his SEO views<\/a>.<\/p>\n Just for a point of comparison, here\u2019s what my organic traffic looks like from day 1 of the blog to today:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s from 0 to almost 7,000 monthly sessions from organic sources. I know, it\u2019s not HUGE but I must remind you of the following things:<\/p>\n I have never ever built a single link for my blog<\/p>\n<\/li>\n I have never ever spent a single second on keyword research for my posts<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A blog focusing mainly on Google Tag Manager<\/a> is pretty niche<\/p>\n<\/li>\n I do not promote my posts in social media<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n OK, I\u2019ll have to clarify the last bit. I do \u201cpromote\u201d them, in that I use them to start a discussion in Google+. I don\u2019t do the promote-once-in-the-morning-then-again-in-the-afternoon-then-again-in-a-week stuff because I\u2019m just not comfortable in promoting my own posts. I let others do that for me.<\/p>\n So SEO is really simple. I get a lot of content ideas from my blog comments, which is why, I guess, they always seem to answer some search intent.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been reading my blog, you\u2019ll know it\u2019s mostly about web analytics. Google Analytics, to be more precise.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t hide the fact that I think data is the only stable thing in the turbulent world of marketing. Or rather, the only stable strategy in a business where strategies pop up like zits after a weekend of booze and chocolate.<\/p>\n The thing I learned during this year of intense interaction with clients in workshops, seminars, consultation projects, and so forth is that there\u2019s a LOT of untapped opportunity in how data is utilized.<\/p>\n Because I\u2019m very developer-minded, the first opportunity is in data collection. It\u2019s not enough to just pull page view hits and then observe changes in standard metrics. Remember, Google Analytics is a tool for millions<\/em> of businesses, and these standard configurations must cater to all these needs and not just the needs of your lumber yard or clothing store.<\/p>\n If you want to dig into how data collection can be optimized, I suggest you take a look at what people (including myself<\/a>) have been writing about tag management.<\/p>\n However, I really enjoy reading stuff by Googlers such as Avinash<\/a>, Justin<\/a>, and Daniel<\/a>, because they get it right<\/em>.<\/p>\n They know it\u2019s not just about data, but rather the insights derived thereof and the people, the analysts, doing the interpretive work<\/em>.<\/p>\n A smart data collection method will only get you so far. A smart data analyst will take your business to the stars.<\/p>\n Another reason this has been a great year is because I think moving to the world of digital marketing and especially digital analytics has been my professional break-through. I\u2019ve met so many wonderful people over the months that I can\u2019t even keep count.<\/p>\n My blog and my activity in Google+ (I love, LOVE that platform!) have brought along all the following awesomeness:<\/p>\n More conference invitations than I can keep up with<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Guest post requests (still haven\u2019t had time to do any)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Podcast interviews<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n The culmination of my developer ambitions (secret is revealed at the end of this post)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n And many other things.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never ever seen a developer \/ professional community as vibrant as the ones surrounding Google Analytics<\/a> and Google Tag Manager<\/a>. I think it\u2019s awesome that the Google engineers and product managers themselves work with us in these communities, awaiting input and feature (and bug) requests, and contributing to the discussions.<\/p>\n The conferences have been awesome, and I have to single out two which should be on the list of \u201cmust-visit\u201d for all analysts and marketers out there:<\/p>\n Superweek (Hungary)<\/a> – Situated on top of a mountain, with rolling fog and clouds enveloping the hotel grounds, this conference is set in a very The-Shining-esque milieu. Nevertheless, it\u2019s still one of the top conferences in digital today. It\u2019s going to be organized in January 2015, make sure you don\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n
\n X<\/span><\/p>\n
\n The Simmer Newsletter<\/strong>\n <\/p>\nThe beginning<\/h2>\n
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The problem with SEO<\/h2>\n
![\"Organic](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/05\/seo.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
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Digital analytics<\/h2>\n
The people, the wonderful people<\/h2>\n
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![\"Me](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2014\/05\/marriage.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
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