SEO Tips, Tactics and Strategies for Outdoor Writers is a presentation given to the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association on May 2, 2014 by Paul J. Krupin, Search Word Pro. It covers the current collective knowledge of the art and science of using SEO on websites, and the integration with PR and social media, with numerous relevant examples. The outdoor writer focus is also relevant to authors, publishers, bloggers and business entrepreneurs of all types. The evolution of the search engine algorithms is discussed and the ever increasing role of quality content and content management is described. Topics include keyword research, keyword targeting, metatags, link strategies, good SEO, bad SEO, content selection, content quality, content management, targeted PR, and social media outreach and integration.

1. SEO Tips, Tactics & Strategies
for Outdoor Writers
Northwest Outdoor Writers Association
May 2, 2015

2. Who is Paul Krupin?
• Retired & rewired environmental specialist & former attorney
• 27 years state & federal government (OR DEQ, BLM, NFS, USDOE)
• Author, publisher, publicist & inventor

3. Creator of Search Word Pro
• Interactive eBooks with multi-search engine capability built in.
• No typing. Just pick it and click it. Always current. Totally mobile.

4. Should you optimize your website for
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
Yes! Most definitely.
And it’s not that hard to do at all.

5. Search engines help people find
information
If it is valuable enough to them, they want it.
If they want it enough, they buy it.
To sell online, people need to be able to find you.

6. Can you simply describe the SEO process?
Yes – Search - Find - Match and take Action
People Search, They Find, and when it is a Match,
they take Action to acquire what they want.
You want to be what they find and want.

7. What are the key web site elements?
Your Site & Your Technology
Your Content & Your Connections

8. What’s the bottom line on SEO?
Your content has to dazzle, enchant, & delight your audience.
Balsamorhiza rosea

9. What are the most important issues ?
Concepts and themes rather than keywords and code.
Relationships with people, rather than transactions.
Erigeron pumilis

10. Is your domain name important?
Yes. Pick a name that people will remember
and make it easy to type, say, find, and share.

11. Why should you care about keywords?
People search.
You need to figure out why people search and
what they search on in your niche.
Crepis atrabarbra

12. Your goal is to rank high in your niche
Use “keyword research” to figure out
the magic search words.

13. Words matter to the search engines
Use “keyword targeting” to figure out the best ways to
use those words on your pages so people find you.
Erigeron piperianus

14. Do you need to use metatags?
Metatags are not as important as they used to be.
Be accurate in titles, use facts in descriptions, and no more
than three long word phrase keyword tags on each page.
Don’t go overboard.

15. What are the keyword rules of the road?
Slice: Keywords you enter into a text box at a search engine that instructs
the search engine to bring back just those web pages containing what
you told it to look for. The more words you enter, the narrower the slice
becomes.
Snippets: Brief descriptions the search engine delivers to you. The search
engines use algorithms to decide what you see. Settings allow you to
control how much of what you see and how it is organized.
Blinks: A blink is what you think you know after reading the snippet.
Slice
Snippets
Blink

16. Tweets: Tweets are the short snappy headlines which summarize and
describe the content of the results or the snippet.
Dicing: Occurs when you click one of the specialized search tools or
media source categories at the search engine to narrow the
results to a certain type of content.
Key “need to know” concepts explain the landscape
and define the structures of the content you see.
Dicing
Tweets

17. How important is writing for SEO?
Very important. It’s critical.
But if you write to please your audience, it’s easy.
Phlox longifolia

18. Quality content is #1
Google & Bing reward sites that are:
• Accessible – Relevant – Have a Great Reputation
• Offer an Outstanding User Experience
• Exude Trust
Lupinus sericeus

19. What content is best for SEO?
User friendly, useful, relevant, timely & shareable.
Avoid writing keyword-rich content.
It does not help your rankings any more.
Delphinium nuttallii

20. How do you find out your
best keywords?
Identify your primary niche.
Define the long word phrases that people care about the most.
Create content that is even better than what is already out there.

21. Do You Need Lots of Web Pages?
No, not anymore. You can rank high with a small number of
pages that have very high quality.
Quality is more important than quantity.

22. What is the best way to get the best links?
Create content with value worth sharing.
Google & Bing reward content that is shared.
Phacelia linearis

23. Good content pays off
The best links are “editorial votes” given by choice
and popularity among users.
Mt. Adams!

24. What is the best link strategy ?
Quality content placement in your niche.
Google & Bing reward earned links.

25. What links are the best links?
• Your internal links
• Mainstream news sites
• Related industry sites in your niche
• High PR from age-trusted sites in your niche
• Non-abusive sites in your niche
• Popular & influential blog sites in your niche
• Popular social media sites in your niche
• Useful links page in your niche
Mt. Stuart!Mt. Rainier!

26. Links to avoid – Penalty links
• News release – “no follow” sites.
• Blogrolls
• Article submission and syndication sites
• Directory links
• Forum signatures
• Widgets on your home page
• Unnatural links of any type (page codes)
• Reciprocal links from spam email or social media
• Paid links of any sort (FTC issues)
• Tracking codes on your home page
• Link bait & click bait

27. What’s more important?
1 link from a real website >>> 100 links on social media
High quality links >>>> low quality links

28. How do you find media in your niche?
Keyword searches to create custom targeted media lists
• Prime & online media – Cision
• Online media - search engines

29. How do you determine which media are
most important?
Ask your customers. Focus on media in your niche.
Identify what your people read, watch and listen to especially
when they are “in the right mood” to buy what you are selling.

30. What are the hot topics?
Core messages and themes designed to hit people’s
hot buttons in your niche:
• Do interesting stuff! Go interesting places!
• Superb organization and research
• Problem solving & value-laden

31. Core messages
& themes
• Interesting stuff!
• Interesting places!
• Superb
organization and
research
• Problem solving &
value-laden

32. What are travel content possibilities?
• Useful & precise destination information
• Absolutely galvanizing experiences
• Expert tips, tactics, advice & actions
• Roadmaps to success
• Mouthwatering photos, descriptions, stories
Mt. Stuart!

33. • Useful destination
information
• Galvanizing
experiences
• Expert tips,
tactics, advice &
actions
• Roadmaps to
success
• Mouthwatering
photos,
descriptions,
stories
Hot Buttons

34. What is the formula to quality content?
DPAA + H
D = Dramatic
P = Personal
AA = Achievement in the Face of Adversity
H = Humor

35. What are the good SEO tactics?
• Really helpful, unique, problem solving content
• Great topics, great themes
• Thorough relevant research
• Value to your visitors so good they want to buy
everything you have for sale & they share you freely

36. What are more good SEO tactics?
• Organized into bite size paragraphs
• Headlines, subheadings, title pages - that matter
• Share Buttons that send links to your pages!
• Leverage word of mouth in your niche
• Incoming links from authoritative sites in your niche

37. What are the bad SEO Tactics?
• Keyword stuffing and link stuffing
• Paid links from spammy fake sites.
• Submitting to article directories
• Free and even paid news release web sites.

38. What are the best SEO share methods?
Quality content, share buttons that generate links,
plus social media outreach

39. Can you use the same content on various
media & communications platforms?
Yes! Build it once for publication on your site.
Reformat it for each & every media technology.
Allium robinsonii

40. What are the most critical social media actions
for effective SEO?
• Publish it – Your web site & other web sites with relevant backlinks
• Tweet it at 140 characters plus a sniplink and one or two hashtags
– Twitter
• Post it with a photo, a snippet and a link and one or two hashtags
– Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest …
Astragalus purshii

41. What’s a hashtag (#)?
A keyword # that you use to help people who care about that topic or word.
You use it & they search on it and find you.
Post with
hashtags
Hashtag Search
#1 on
Facebook!

42. Are press releases still good for SEO?
Yes! But Google no longer ranks the links you can get
from news release distribution sites.

43. News release was sent out 3
times.
I bugged the Herald by phone.
I uploaded the photos myself to
the Herald website.
Case Study – PR for the Badger Mountain Challenge

44. Custom Targeted PR in Your Niche
Real PR - SEO is very, very, very good.
Herald circulation
= 30,000
Herald articles
triggered the TV
interviews and
stories
Radio and TV in
Portland, Seattle,
and Spokane.

45. Real Media Coverage SEO
• Articles, interviews and product reviews
– prime media & online media
• Generates lots of fresh new traffic, links, brand value and
name recognition and leads to additional coverage and
content opportunities.

46. So does SEO work?
This is the Search Word Pro blog
post containing the search tool
created to research this
presentation
http://searchwordpro.com/blog
/article/seo-tips-tactics-and-
strategies-for-authors-writers-
bloggers.html

47. Does it really work?
#2

48. Yes it works!
#1 & #2

49. Ahhhh! Thank you!
Fidelitas rosa
var. exquisite

50. Paul J. Krupin
Search Word Pro
509-582-5174
Paul@SearchWordPro.com
www.SearchWordPro.com
www.DirectContactPR.com
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