SEO Presentations

Finally, I want to talk about these points in relation specifically to our industry, whether you're doing the keynote at SMX or persuading your CEO that SEO isn't snake oil. Let's run a link building presentation through the GOER gauntlet.

* Goal: Find out what your audience wants from this link building presentation. If it's SMX Advanced, you don't need to explain why links are important; if it's a potential client, there's every chance they won't even know what a link is.
* Outline: You'll know more about link building than you could possibly imagine. Get it all out of your brain and onto some paper and now, based on what you learnt in 'Goal', go through and pick out the really useful stuff. Build a presentation around those points; they're the important bit, after all!
* Elaborate: Got a personal story about link building? Or an original idea about it? Make sure you make space for this in your talk because it's probably what your audience will remember you for.
* Refine: Be realistic. There's no way you can talk about all those link building techniques in a 20 minute slot. Focus on precisely what you want to cover and do it well.

You'll often have to cover a lot of technical information in these presentations. For those of you that fall into the 'scientific/factual' group above, taking in this information is a walk in the park. For the rest of us, it can be a bit of mission. Take time to put your tech stuff in a format that works for all - use big, clear diagrams and, if possible, illustrate each key point you make. SEOmoz is actually a great source of examples for this. How often does Rand use some kind of diagram or chart in his Whiteboard Fridays? And who will ever forget Googlebot?

It's also important to use specific examples in these kind of tech/jargon-heavy presentations. For example, if you can show your audience a real life example of link building in action, they're much more likely to believe you and recall what they've learnt once the session is over. In the same way, you should offer further resources for those skeptical audience members in group 4; give them something to go away and think about.

Lastly, this isn't about presentation skills... but while I'm here, don't forget to make the most out your presentation: do a follow up blog post about it and link to your slides; make sure you blog about anything new that was thrown up in the presentation and, if possible, contact anyone that spoke to you about your session.