{ Digesting Digital Media for Today’s RDN: SEO & Social Media Your Gut Can Tolerate Sheila Mulhern UVA Health Systems April 16, 2014

 Learn how to make the most of your website or blog  Gain a basic understanding of search engine optimization  Strategies for creating desirable user content  How to use linking building strategies  How to optimize and measure SEO results  Understand how to use public relations, advertising and social media to promote your content  RD branding and tailoring content to your audience Objectives

 Search Engine Optimization –  The active process of optimizing website ranking in search engines within organic/natural search results of major search engines – Google, Yahoo, Bing  Why do we need SEO?  Users most likely to click top links or links on first page  Improve traffic to your website  Techniques can help improve your rank What is SEO?

Organic vs Paid Results

How does SEO work?

What does Google use to Rank Pages? google-systems.com

 Plan  Produce  Publish  Promote The 4 P’s of Content Marketing

 What type of blog or content do you want to publish?  What’s your niche?  Plan your editorial schedule  What keywords are popular?  Freekeywords.wordtracker.com  Assess related websites  Google Trends (  Compete.com  Alexa.com Plan

 Variables that Influence Your Blog  Content and Headline  Keywords  Formatting  Link placement  Number of links  Images, surveys  What doesn’t click?  Links far off to the side  Embedded links  Boring headlines Produce & Publish

 Submit your site to search engines   //siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit  Search.msn/docs/submit.aspx  Google Recipe View  Advertising, PR, social media  Time of day  Duration  Using third party content providers  Homepage vs. channel index page placement Promotion

Advertising   Way to monetize your blog   Display advertising   Web banners, etc   Pay-per-click/cost per click   Cost per action   ads   Social media   Joining Advertising Networks   Google AdSense   Best for new bloggers   Free   Google AdWords   More advanced   Account to purchase PPC advertisements on Google and Google Search Network

PR Agencies & Food Companies   Product reviews   Samples   Event access   Establishing boundaries   Opportunities to work as spokesperson   Selling recipes   Can boost trust value for SEO if featured on other websites   Be your own PR rep!

Social Media Active Monthly Users Facebook: 1.19 bn YouTube: 1 bn Google+: 300m Twitter 232 m LinkedIn: 181 m Instagram 150 m Pinterest: 70 m Tumblr: 50 m Kamber Nov survey results

Measuring Success   Website Traffic   Google analytics   SiteMeter   Statcounter   Omniture   Web alerts   Comments   Likes   Shares   Ad revenue   New opportunities

 Use to see how blog is performing  See what site web traffic is coming from  Gage content interest of users  Track top performing stories  Find areas for improvement  Highlight performance metrics for audience development and increased ad revenue How Web Analytics are Helpful

Analytics Key Terms   Unique users (uniques) – a measure of the number of people who visit your blog in a certain timeframe (~30 days)   One person who visits your blog four times in one day is one unique (has one distinct IP address)   Pageviews – measure of the number of pages on your blog that are accessed by Internet users   Traffic sources – sources where inbound links come from   Time spent – Average amount of time readers spend on blog   Keywords – can use analytics to find what users are searching for when they access your site   Bounce rate – percentage of visitors who enter the site and “bounce” or leave rather than continue viewing more site pages

 Why is online media important for registered dietitians?  Self-branding and promotion  Reliable source for the community  Reader interest in food and nutrition  90% of users went online for recipes*  73% trust food blogs*  Networking opportunity The Role of the RD *Blogher Food Facts Survey 2012

Nutrition Blog Topic Trends & Ideas  Food focused  Experiences  Photography  Taste first along with healthy  Healthy food that tastes good  Series (in season, market watch, ask experts, taste test)  New research  Product reviews  Recipes  Nutrition Analysis

 Nutrition Blog Network  Have to be an RD and active website for at least 3 months  Submit blog; Blogger directory by category/author  InspiredRD  Kumquat (gluten free)  Toby Amidor Nutrition tobyamidornutrition.com/my-blog/ tobyamidornutrition.com/my-blog/  Ellie Krieger (Food Network Dietitian)  Jackie Newgent (natural recipes) jackienewgent.com/recipe-blog/ jackienewgent.com/recipe-blog/  BlogHer  RD’s in the Nutrition Blog Network

 Facebook, Twitter Instagram, Flickr,  Pinterest  Creating healthy recipe boards  Photo Media – websites that select food photos  Healthy Aperture (only healthy eating site)   Food Gawker  TasteSpotting  Feastie  Kitchen Artistry  Cook Eat Share  FoodEpix Social Media for the RD

 Food Blog Code of Ethics  Food Blog Alliance  Nutrition Blog Network  BlogHer  Food Porn Index (healthy to unhealthy food tracking  CookSmarts (meal planning)  Fotobabble  Statsilk (interactive maps)  Infographics  Wordle.net (word clouds)  Podcasts Other Helpful Resources

 SEO is a complex but usable tool to improve page rank and website performance  Social Media continues to grow as an important tool for SEO and website development  RD’s have many tools and opportunities to use online media to promote healthy eating and their own RD brand. Summary

  Jones, Kristopher. Search Engine Optimization: Your visual blueprint for effective Internet marketing, 3 rd ed. John Wiley & Sons. Hoboken, NJ,   The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. New York, NY,   Senyei, Kelly. Food Blogging for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. Hoboken, NJ,  between-adsense-and-adwords.html   google-systems.com References