Learn how to use SEO and social media to attract more people to your event. Start with the basics of getting events found online, see different ways to spread the word and master how to make your event pop in Google and the social networks.
This was presentation was done in partnership with Brown Paper Tickets, the fair-trade ticketing company.
4. About me.
2.5 Years at Portent
6 Years Web Consulting
1000+ Businesses
Various internal and
external trainings
5. About Portent.
We are a leading integrated internet marketing
agency set in Seattle, serving world-wide clients
We are 55+ strong
Founded in 1996 (pre-Google)
We rally around the definition of “Portent”: the
forecast of something big on the horizon
With 18 years in the industry
you can trust our expertise.
Gree$ngs
from
the
#smithtower
6. What
is SEO?
Event Promotion & SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
7. Event Promotion & SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
SEO
is getting more
relevant traffic to
your website from
search engines.
8. • Showing up higher in
search results
• Showing up more often
in search results
• Showing up better in
search results
Event Promotion & SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
Ways to get
more traffic
from search
engines.
10. • If you have a website, it
should be there
• If you don’t, it should be
somewhere
• Just be online; anywhere
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Online.
Have a
webpage for
your Event.
18. Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Online.
You need to
be able to
get to the
page with
the mouse.
(Like this.)
Homepage
(click!)
Category Page
(click!)
Event Page
22. At least these:
• Event name
• Event Date
• Event Location
• Description
• Links to outside sources
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Useful.
Include
Important
Information.
23. 23
Event name
Date Time
Useful informatiozn
like this.
25. Search engines see
duplicated content as
useless and spammy.
The description on your
page needs to be
different than descriptions
on other sites.
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Useful.
Be
Unique.
35. What I mean by “relevant”
• Know what topics people
are looking for related to
your event
• Know what terms people
use when looking for
events like yours
• Know what terms people
use to get to your site
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Relevant.
Be
Relevant.
69. Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Popular.
Get others to
talk about
you.
• Talk to local bloggers
• Write about specific
parts of your event
• Highlight presenters and
performers so they’ll
share your posts
74. Title tag:
• 50-65 characters
• Direct impact on ranking
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Pretty Title
Tags.
75. Meta Description:
• 155ish characters
• NO direct impact on
ranking
• Ad copy to get people to
click on your result
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Pretty Meta
Descriptions.
79. • Events Markup
• Lists event info right in
search results
• (Only works in Google)
• 20-30% increase in CTR
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Really Pretty
Search
Results.
http://searchengineland.com/how-to-get-
a-30-increase-in-ctr-with-structured-markup-
105830
80. Get ready for some
coding stuff.
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
82. 82
h3 itemprop=nameEvent Planning and SEO with Brown Paper
Tickets/h3!
pimg itemprop=image class=image float left src=http://
professionalgeorge.org/images/bpt-pic.png alt=Event Planning
and SEO with Brown Paper Tickets/!
p itemprop=location itemscope itemtype=http://schema.org/
PlacestrongWhere:/strongbr/!
span itemprop=nameBrown Paper Tickets Community Events
Space/spanbr/!
span itemprop=address itemscope itemtype=http://schema.org/
PostalAddress!
span itemprop=streetAddress309 N 36th St/span (2nd
Floor)br/!
span itemprop=addressLocalitySeattle/span!
Event Markup. z
91. 91
Tag it up just
like before
Data Markup Helpz
er.
92. 92
Hit “Generate
HTML” and copy/
paste code
Data Markup Helpz
er.
93. Event Tag in GWT Pros
• Easy to use
• No coding
• Immediate
Event Tag in GWT Cons
• Manual
• Only goes to Google
• Easily breaks
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Event
Tagging in
GWT.
94. Event Markup Pros
• Scales well
• Supported by all search
engines
Event Markup Cons
• Slower to publish
• Requires coding
resources
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Event
Markup in
HTML.
96. Twittercard Markup
• Gives you a bigger tweet
• Let’s you highlight image
• Links to your Twitter
handle regardless of
who tweets
• Lets you customize title,
image, description
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Pretty
Tweets.
97. 97
!-- Twitter Card data --!
meta name=twitter:card content=summary!
meta name=twitter:site content=@number1george!
meta name=twitter:title content=Page Title!
meta name=twitter:description content=Page description less
than 200 characters!
meta name=twitter:creator content=@Portent!
-- Twitter Summary card images must be at least 120x120px --!
meta name=twitter:image content=http://www.example.com/
image.jpg!
Twittercard Markuz
p.
101. 101
You need to be approved in Card
z
Validator.
102. Twittercard Markup
• 36% increase in clicks
• 41% increase in retweets
• 48% increase in favorites
• 31% increase in visits
• 33% increase in visitor-to-
lead conversion rate
• 55% increase in leads
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Pretty
Tweets.
http://www.shopify.com/blog/12915741-
everything-you-need-to-know-about-twitter-cards-
for-ecommerce
103. Open Graph Markup
• Lets you customize title,
image, description
• Gives you control over
display
Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Pretty Social
Shares.
110. 110
!-- Open Graph data --!
meta property=og:title content=Title Here /!
meta property=og:type content=article /!
meta property=og:url content=http://www.example.com/ /!
meta property=og:image content=http://example.com/image.jpg /!
meta property=og:description content=Description Here / !
meta property=og:site_name content=Site Name /!
meta property=fb:admins content=Facebook numeric ID /!
Open Graph markz
up.
113. Event Promotion SEO 101
Be Pretty.
Check your work!
• cards-dev.twitter.com/
validator
• developers.facebook.com/
tools/debug
• google.com/webmasters/
tools/richsnippets
• developers.pinterest.com/
rich_pins/validator/
(bit.ly/bpt-seo)
114. Event Promotion SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
Event
Promotion
SEO
5 Steps for Event
Promotion SEO:
1. Be online.
2. Be useful.
3. Be relevant.
4. Be popular.
5. Be pretty.
115. Event Promotion SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
Event
Promotion
SEO
5 Steps for Event
Promotion SEO:
1. Have a dedicated page
2. Display useful information
3. Use relevant language
4. Share and be sharable
5. Use markup for better display
116. Event Promotion SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
Step 6:
Celebrate!
117. Event Promotion SEO 101
How to Attract Record Crowds
George Freitag
SEO Strategist
portent.com
@number1george
bit.ly/bpt-seo
Thank
You