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Content Manager at Transparent Inc

Post by on Mar 28, 2013

I got a new job. Last week I accepted a role in the marketing dept of a tech company called Transparent Inc. They’re located in the King Dufferin corridor, and like so many other companies down there its hard to tell exactly what they do for a living.  I’ve been here a week and still don’t know. This firm is part of another enterprise called LAUNCH!, an experiential advertising agency. I have new responsibilities, input into the design of some really interesting things being built, and a clean window overlooking the shifting digital landscape in Canada;  the company chair gives me a fresh perspective and a lofty perch from which to study the art and science of web marketing in the early 21st century. I’m the Content Manager at Transparent I came up with the title ‘Content Manager’ myself.  They wanted to label me the Social Media Manager but I… Read more »


Rob Campbell the SEO Smojoe at Podcamp Toronto 2013

Post by on Mar 27, 2013

Post by Robert Campbell on Mar 06, 2013 On Saturday Feb 23rd 2013 I was at Podcamp Toronto. The first familiar face that greeted me as I walked in the door at 9:30am was Karim Kanji co-founder of Third Ocean. “Rob Campbell” Karim announced as he shook my hand. “You showed up early, and you wore a suit!” he said, suddenly suspicious of me.  Karim was helping organize Podcamp Toronto 2013 because, like a moth to a flame, he must love the excitement of being an inside man at these things. Taking it all in over two days you can sort the facts out later – identifying new and old trends and most exciting, using new information to conceive new possibilities.  Yes I felt a little overdressed right at that moment, but you know, as the day went on I came to believe again that you can’t dress up too… Read more »


How to do Article Marketing in 2013

Post by on Jan 07, 2013

Article marketing has really changed since I first started writing on the web in 2006.  Back then we used to submit content to article replication websites which, although they still exist today, I wouldn’t bother using any of them now. They are yesterday’s news. Look here at my old author profiles! http://www.ignitepoint.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=33502  (used to be IdeaMarketers) http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Rob_Campbell I also used to employ Amazines.com, FreePressReleases.com, HelloArticles, FastPitch… I’m trying to remember more. But all this is just garbage now. I hope you are not using these sites?! Myself, I wouldn’t waste precious original content by publishing it in these mud puddles… nor any site that has the word ‘article’ as prefix or suffix i.e. ArticleSpinner or GoArticles or HelloArticles etc   As you can see,  I no longer upload content to those sites.  They are bastions of ‘useless’ text that nobody reads except robots.  No actual humans navigate to an article… Read more »


Finding Nearby Dentists Is Acid Test For Local Search Engines

Post by on Dec 09, 2012

Earlier this week I published an inspired piece of content entitled Find me a dentist on Dr. Archer’s website blog. The long copy article was reasonably well researched and expertly fashioned to be really findable as it explores the various different dentist index websites that have evolved to help consumers secure appointments with nearby dentists. But how do these services collect the rich data they need to make useful results? The data they purvey, the source of the information and its deliverance is the primary distinction we can use to judge these local search providers; deep down inside these small competitors, they have to believe they can create an information delivery system that surpasses Google’s own local search abilities.  As in most business niches, Google is the market leader in connecting Canadians with their dentists, but that hasn’t stopped half a dozen competitors from trying to do it better… and… Read more »


Third Search and Social Rank Symposium is April 16th 2012

Post by on Mar 21, 2012

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On Monday April 16th 2012 there will be a third Search and Social Rank Symposium held at Archeo restaurant in the Distillery District of Toronto.  People like this event because it’s easy to come here and eat and drink and talk and learn a bunch of helpful new sites and new tools they can use in their own homemade marketing solutions. You can get $30 tickets for #SSRS3 here, or check Facebook for even more details. Search and Social Rank Symposium #3 will be both mental and physically nourishing. Attendants will get a tasty HOT meal from a buffet table with lots of selection, alongside a delicious alcoholic beverage of their choice. Most importantly, they get a nice cushy seat at a long wooden table surrounded by peers. Wireless internet access will be available, of course and indeed some folks open their laptops and take perfect notes, and some even… Read more »


Story Funnels To Buckstops at CRFA Trade Show in Toronto

Post by on Mar 05, 2012

Story Funnels to Buckstops for Bar and Restaurant Owners, looks the same as it would for mining companies or fashion magazines or fruit beverage vendors. Every online business in every niche can use this basic model to build relevance and increase traffic and conversion on their websites. Once again I got a chance to explain this diagram above to a room full of curious people. My only reward was the sound of their ballpoint pens scribbling notes on paper as I passionately imparted the wisdom of building incoming links as part of a prolonged SEO campaign, manifesting itself as warm and fuzzy social media stories. I filled the talk with web URLs they can visit and little tips and tricks they can use to improve their search engine rankings while telling their own informative and emotional stories. I crammed three hours of tactics into a forty minute talk in the… Read more »


The Second Ever Search and Social Rank Symposium

Post by on Feb 06, 2012

On Jan 23rd 2012 myself and David Shephard from Jib.ca along with Deb Lewis of Toronto City Events and some other principals organized another better Search and Social Rank Symposium at Archeo in the Distillery District of Toronto. $25 ticket bought hot food, cold beer and fresh ideas (and not just sales pitches, although there were a few of those). We invited everyone we knew, and used the occasion to promote our brand of science. I debuted a rather sticky piece of content called Who to Follow on Twitter in The Distillery District which I had just posted on The Distillery District blog. This in my mind exemplifies SEM and SEO because sharing the document spreads my links. I went about a rather backward route to explain this to the audience and ended in kind of murky water with a question about canonical script. People came from miles a around… Read more »


Canadian Harvest Illustrates Business Storytelling

Post by on Oct 04, 2011

It’s October already. September was a blur, but there was one day I did manage to get out to my parent’s farm in time to help harvest honey. We brought in one hundred and forty honey supers in one day. Here I am helping my brothers harvest their honey crop. The harvest is late this year, and beeing out in a ‘yard-of-bees’ on a chilly September morning isn’t much fun – the bees were miserable! But the mist covered scenery is breathtaking. I love this particular beeyard because its centered in an old apple orchard. Its a trip back in time to when local farmers planted fruit trees and made their own home cooked pies and preserves. Now here in a very old field, far from any major highway there are a half dozen hundred year old trees and their children, and their forgotten fruit lies all around the perimeter… Read more »


Why Listen to Rob Campbell Explain Story Funnels to Buckstops at Word11, August 27 Toronto

Post by on Aug 20, 2011

Saturday August 27 will see a great many blog friends and social media marketers gather behind CSI in the parking lot south of Honest Eds at Bloor St and Bathurst in Toronto. Word11 has been conceived as a 24hr blog media event, and hopes to be the first in a long series of annual 24hr events. It emerged from a minor kerfuffle between Cg6 and WordCamp, the details of which remain unclear.  Some refunds were issued and are still the subject of excellent blog discussions and tweets. The event was preceded by something called Prefix which took us all by surprise. I ask you… Will WORD11 be the first occurrence of an annual social media festival? or will this be the only one? Whatever the case I’m sure we’ll make memories, and I reckon it will be rather historic day and night and day again. I intend to use this… Read more »


100 Posts on Smojoe

Post by on Jul 27, 2011

MILESTONE This blog now has 100 posts. I just crossed the line. I’m reminded of a conversation at WordCamp09 where a guy said ‘You’re not a blogger until you have 100 posts.’  I started this portal in June 2008 to help sell my intangible goodness. This 100th blog post affords me the perfect opportunity to reflect back on my own progress as a freelance writer, blogger, web content producer and thinker / organizer that specializes in helping others find a marketing path in the age of earned media. I taught myself and learned empirically the Smojoe Code of compound link building and ‘how to make keyword sandwiches’. Readers of every description have watched and read along as Smojoe gave birth to Lenzr and everyone can see what that business is becoming…  This blog is one of the best places to glean rare inside looks at traffic stats and issues. Will… Read more »