Make the Most of Your MozCon 2017 Adventure – A Seattle How-To

Posted by Danielle_Launders

There’s a little secret we keep here in Seattle: it doesn’t actually rain all the time (we just want people to think that so we can keep the beautiful summers all to ourselves). Those of you who have been to a MozCon before are in on that secret; those of you who are joining us for MozCon 2017 on July 17–19 will soon find out!

It can be hard coming to a new city and trying to find food and experiences off the beaten path, which is why Mozzers have come together to share some of their favorite places, both new and old, to help you make the most of your time in Seattle this summer. If you don’t have your ticket and don’t want to miss out on all the fun, grab yours now — they're selling out!

Buy my MozCon 2017 ticket

Unfamiliar with MozCon and not sure what you’ll learn? Scope out the full agenda with all the juicy details on who's speaking and what topics we're covering.

Official MozCon activities

We want you to enjoy yourself, make new industry friends, and get the most out of your MozCon experience — which is why we have an assortment of events and activities to keep you busy.

Monday night #MozCrawl

Monday night is all about exploring and making new friends. Join us from 7–10pm for our annual #MozCrawl. This year we're bringing it back to the Capitol Hill neighborhood! Get to know your fellow attendees and our six MozCon partners hosting the fun. You’ll be able to go at your own pace and in any order.

Bonus points: have your MozCon Passport stamped at all of the stops and enter our drawing to win a ticket to MozCon 2018.

Capitol Cider hosted by Klipfolio

Linda’s Tavern hosted by WordStream

The Runaway hosted by CallRail

Stout hosted by Jumpshot

Unicorn hosted by BuzzStream

Saint John’s Bar & Eatery hosted by Moz

Tuesday night MozCon Ignite

You’ll definitely laugh, you’ll likely cry, and most importantly you’ll enjoy yourself at MozCon Ignite. Listen to twelve of your fellow attendees share their journeys, life lessons, and unique hobbies in our five-minute Ignite-style passion talk series. MozCon Ignite will take place at Benaroya Hall from 7–10pm, where you’ll have time to relax, unwind, and mingle.

• My Life with Guinea Pigs with Britt Kemp at Bishop Fox
• A Disastrous Camping Trip with the Best Partner with JR Ridley at Go Fish Digital
• My Wife, Actually: A Story of Being Gay Enough with Joy Brandon at Nebo Agency
• Homebrewing 101: A 5-minute Primer on DIY Alcohol with Erin McCaul at Moz
• This Too Shall Pass: The Blessing of Perspective with Yosef Silver at Search Interactions
• The King of Swing: A Guide to Creative Fundraising with Cameron Rogowski at Double Dumplings
• How Finding my Sister’s Mother Changed my Life with Ed Reese at JEB Commerce
• Living My Life with an Identical Clone with Christopher Beck at Internet Marketing Inc.
• How to Change Sex the Easy Way with Maura Hubbell at Moz
• 5 Signs Your Friend or Loved One is a Birder with Jeremy Schwartz at MediaPro
• How to Save Humanity in Twenty Minutes a Day with Andrea Dunlop, author & independent book marketing consultant
• Traumatic Brain Injury & Why Self-Diagnosis Sucks with Blake Denman at RicketyRoo Inc.

Wednesday night MozCon Bash

Bowling: check! Karaoke: check! Photobooth: check! Join us for one last hurrah before we meet again at MozCon 2018. You won’t want to miss this closing night bash — we'll have plenty of games, food, and fun as we mix and mingle, say “see ya soon” to friends new and old, and reminisce over our favorite lessons from the past 3 days.

Birds-of-a-feather lunch tables

At lunch, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with your fellow community members around the professional topics that matter most to you. There will be seven tables each day with different topics and facilitators; find one with a sign noting the topic and join the conversation to share advice, learn tips and tricks, and make new friends.

Monday, July 17

• B2B Email Marketing hosted by Steve Manjarrez at Moz
• E-commerce hosted by Everett Sizemore at Inflow
• In-house SEO hosted by Kristin Fraccia at Magoosh
• It’s Just Me — Digital Departments of One hosted by Liz Reuth at Le-vel
• Linkbuilding hosted by Rachael Brandt at Magoosh
• On-Page SEO hosted by Cyrus Shepard at Fazillion
• Travel Website SEO hosted by Michael Cottam at Visual Itineraries

Tuesday, July 18

• In-house SEO hosted by Jackson Lo at Tripadvisor
• Link Building hosted by Russ Jones at Moz
• Mobile Marketing hosted by Bridget Randolph at Hearst Magazines
• Perceiving Brand Through Digital PR hosted by Manish Dudharejia at E2M Solutions
• Product Marketing hosted by Brittani Dinsmore at Moz
• Search Trends hosted by Gianluca Fiorelli at IloveSEO.net
• Technical SEO hosted by Corey Eulas at Factorial Digital

Wednesday, July 19

• Full-Funnel Targeting hosted by Trenton Greener at Project Management Training Institute
• International SEO hosted by Kate Morris at Craftsy
• Local SEO hosted by Blake Denman at RicketyRoo Inc.
• Measuring SEO Impact hosted by Corey Eulas at Factorial Digital
• SEO for Bloggers hosted by Jeff Hawley at HashtagJeff.com
• SERP Features hosted by Jon White at Moz

Even more ideas for your Seattle adventure!

There are so many wonderful places to see, food to eat, and yes, coffee and craft beer to be consumed. Lots and lots of coffee and craft brews. That's why a few Mozzers have pulled together their favorite places to check out during your stay in the Emerald City.

No Anchor
“By far my favorite place in Belltown. Incredibly unique beer selection and fresh local food combinations that you can’t find anywhere else.”
– Abe Schmidt

Marination Ma Kai
“Marination is one of the top food trucks in the country and now they have several brick and mortar restaurants. Marination Ma Kai is located in West Seattle and has a big outdoor patio with gorgeous views of downtown Seattle, it's a summer hotspot for a cool beverage and noms. Why is it quintessential Seattle? Not only is the food life changing, the view amazing, but getting there is an adventure! Just walk down to the waterfront and hop on the wonderful Seattle Water Taxi. The trip from downtown drops riders off right at the restaurant.”

Rapha Seattle
“If you LOVE bicycles this place is a must-visit. One of only five US Rapha Clubhouses, Rapha Seattle is home to delicious coffee, fine food, and bicycle events.

The atmosphere is cool and inviting. Visitors are surrounded by the coolest bicycle gear and memorabilia. You can rent a Canyon bicycle to explore the city (Which is a big deal because you cannot buy Canyon bikes in America, yet). Rapha also does guided bike rides for the public and member only rides.”
– James Daugherty

Taylor Shellfish (Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, or Queen Anne)
“The Puget Sound offers the best oysters in the world. What's great about Taylor Shellfish is that it's all about the oysters, the drinks and the people you're with in a simple, unpretentious, come-as-you-are atmosphere. There's nothing more quintessential to Seattle than that.”

The Point in Burien
“An all-around great bar to grab a bite and a drink if your flight is delayed or you need to kill some time near the airport. The Point is 10 minutes from SeaTac, has a fantastic menu (including lots of gluten free options), a great cocktail menu, tap list, and big-screen TVs.”
– Brittani Dinsmore

Hattie’s Hat
“Ballard was an old fishing village. Hattie's Hat bar has been in continuous operation for over 100 years and the bar that you sit at was installed in 1907 or something. Incredible. The bartenders are all in Seattle bands, some of them moderately famous from the 1990s. Go in the early afternoon. Ask for Lupe or Lara. Sit at the bar. You'll thank me for it.“
– Brian Childs

Holy Mountain Brewery
“Seattle is a beer city. Holy Mountain makes Seattle's best beer. Go there.”
– Evelyn Baek

The Whale Wins, Revel, Joule, and Fremont Brewing
“All are in the Fremont area and are each tasty in their own right. Besides if you don't like those options there are plenty of places to choose from in Fremont”
– Steve Manjarrez

Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe
"Coffee + super sleek bookstore that encourages women in tech and science. Need I say more?"
– Meredith Crandell

Still hungry? Check out:

• General Porpoise
• Serious Pie
• Thackeray
• The Sovereign

And don't miss our posts from years past, which are full of even more recommendations: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

If you're looking to connect with fellow attendees, please join our MozCon Facebook Group.

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6 Tips to Make Your Brand an Email Response Rockstar

Posted by ronell-smith

Are you ready to create emails that get replies? Well, it's time to step away from the clickbait-y subject lines hawking insincere or insignificant promises, and instead deliver messages worthy of earning a response. Despite rumors to the contrary, asking for a reply or using email templates or sample letters is not the best path to ensuring your emails draw more than a yawn.

If the goal is to deliver emails that consistently get responses, your brand must first focus on being authentic, sincere, and empathetic, putting the needs of the person on the other side of the screen before those of your brand.

By doing so, you not only earn clicks, eyeballs, and responses, you can also increase the number of conversions for your product or services, which likely won’t go unnoticed.

For the skeptical among you, I’ll use a personal example, one that involved me sitting at my desk when my former vice president stormed out of the executive team meeting, yelling my name as he walked down the corridor toward my office.

"Ronell! Where’s Ronell?!" he implored as I stuck my head out my office door to greet him. “I need you to explain these numbers to me.”

I — lump in my throat — looked at a printout with budget numbers for my department.

“I cut your budget 30%, right?” he asked. “But [the revenue for your area] increased 17% over the same period. What did you do?”

Before I could say a word, he ran off to another meeting as I scrambled to respond.

At the time, I didn’t really have a solid answer.

But the more I looked into it myself, the more I realized that I had made a small change that had added up to make a huge difference: I focused intensely on building connections via email with my core clients.

Whereas many of my peers sent ho-hum, “How are you doing? We should talk soon”-type emails that got opened but seemed to never garner responses, I resorted to employing a system that was successful and trackable:

• Set aside 30 minutes a day for what I called “connectedness emails” — highlighting my knowledge of their new products or services, sharing my thoughts on them, and providing an informed opinion on how successful they were likely to be
• Sent a minimum of two emails
• Tied responses to future ad sales

What started out as a fun way to connect with my customers became a process I’ve continued to use for the better part of a decade, during which time I ran a members-only online newsletter that had email open rates averaging 47% (in a vertical where open rates averaged ~5%) and response rates averaging ~35%.

I’m sure many of you reading this could beat these numbers in your sleep.

My point is not to show you how lucky I was to have some success at email marketing over a short period of time. My point is that email outreach can be the powerful tool we view it as, if only we’re willing to revise our processes and focus on doing the things that earn meaningful responses, not merely clicks or opens.

Who cares about email, anyway?

Despite all of the attention and dollars thrown at social media, email is one of the most effective tools we have in our arsenal to successfully conduct outreach and build lasting connections.

But I’m sure you don’t need to be convinced, for you’re probably already sending emails more often than you’d care to remember.

What’s more, given the plentiful information on the email outreach, you’re probably wondering why you need to read another such post.

The answer: We can all be more effective at email, whether for marketing or for outreach. I’m of the opinion that the content marketing and SEO industries could be a lot more effective by placing as much emphasis on doing email better and more effectively as we do on social media. (I’m not talking resource allocation, mind you; I’m talking diligence and attentiveness.)

Before I share the simple but effective tactics I’ve used for the last decade, three housekeeping notes are in order:

1. I’m not now, nor have I ever considered myself, an email expert.
2. This post won’t cover, in any great detail, subject lines (e.g. length, words, etc.), open rates, optimal times to send emails, etc.
3. Three things compelled me to write this post: (a) the prevalence of (often ineffective) email outreach; (b) the importance of email to SEOs and marketers in general; (c) and my desire to share a few simple elements I’ve used successfully for years.

How can your brand kick butt by creating emails that garner responses?

#1 -Tell me what's in it for me

After the opening salutations, get right to the point. Show me you value my time and have used yours to identify my needs and how your brand can help me meet them.

The email below, which I recently received from GetStat, nails it:

• The subject line not only intrigued me, it made me want to see what they’d collected on my behalf
• The opening was brief and to the point
• The information they compiled is in line with why I would likely be reading and subscribing to their blog
• They were brief
• (I’ll cover the CTA below)

As you can see, any brand can create a similar email.

It all begins with having empathy for the person on the other end, clear brand goals and a willingness to respect people’s time.

#2 - Grab mobile readers' attention with the first sentence

I have a confession: I don’t trust your subject line.

We’ve all become masters of the clickbait email subject line. If you’re going to get me to open your email, you’ll need to think different.

Like most of you, I open most emails on a mobile device.

To consistently get my attention on a smaller device, disregard the subject line and use the first sentence of the email, which is often shown via mobile.

Yes, this can mean your emails have my name in the first line. But for brands I recognize, I don’t need to know you realize who I am; I need to know what you’re sharing is of value to me right now.

This should be an easy sell for SEOs who always include keywords in the first few lines and sentences to of a message, be it a blog post or an email.

So, while you’re laboring over that catchy subject line, go ahead and peel off some time — and a few choice words — to include in the first sentence.

#3 - Mind your grammar

One of my first jobs out of college was a business writer for a newspaper.

The metro editor had a standing policy regarding email correspondence that got everyone’s attention:

• If you spelled his name wrong — no matter how great the pitch — he discarded it
• If you misspelled a word in the email, it met the same result.

In the years since, I’ve met many people who feel the same way.

Don’t focus on the message at the expense of respecting the person you’re contacting.

Take the time to figure out who you’re writing to. It might be a make or break.

#4 - Create & exhaust tension

If you’re really serious about wanting your email opened, show me that you can help me solve a problem you know I’m facing.

“I know you’re looking to…”

“Brands facing the challenge yours now faces…”

“Your content team is doing an excellent job, but are likely stretched thin…”

That’s when you step in with a worthwhile answer and can likely earn more than my attention.

The key is to show the individual reading your email that you feel her pain, have taken the time to find the solution, and, most important, you are the person to handle the job.

That’s how I got the newspaper gig, despite majoring in biology and having zero experience or training in journalism:

(This is not the actual email I sent, but it is similar.)

• I’d done my homework to know the issues the paper — and thus the editor — was facing.
• I knew he’d likely discount a non-journalism major, but I reasoned that he had stories he’d want covered — that is, he’d want to go down swinging.
• I wanted him to know I respected the business and the journalism, not simply the former.

I later learned that after reading my email, the executive editor said “Where did this guy come from?” He then set up a meeting with me.

I was hired the same day.

“Your email did it,” said my editor, months after I was hired, while admitting he was initially skeptical.

Your brand can achieve similar results. All it takes is a little investigation.

#5 - Have a well-defined call-to-action with clear next steps spelled out

One of my biggest weaknesses when I first started in content marketing was calls to action.

I’d write a blog post that simply ended.

There was no thoughts about intended next steps for the folks I was writing to.

Don’t be me.

At or near the end of every email you send, highlight, share, or link to the intended next step in the journey. (See the GetStat email above.)

#6 - End on a high note

A recent post regarding email outreach I wrote for Moz listed "thank you" as a better alternative to “thanks” as a closing.

Not so fast, says the latest research from Boomerang.

While “thanks” seems gratuitous to me, their research shows it as outperforming every other closing but “Thanks in advance.”

The main point I’m taking from this research is the need to test, test, test.

At the very least, start experimenting with various closings while keeping track of the responses.

Your results will likely vary.

Over to you

As you can see, none of the tips shared above is particle physics. They can be employed by anyone, at any brand and at any time.

I hope you’ll give at least a few of them a shot.

We all spend so much time and energy on email each day, it’s worth taking the time to figure out ways to better engage people through the medium.

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