July 21, 2009

Marketers and Optimizers and Videographers! Oh, My!

Imagine a room full of internet marketers, search engine optimizers, and professional videographers! Oh, my!

And I'm not talking about the room where Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, will give his opening keynote on the first day of the SES San Jose conference, which will run concurrently with the Social Media & Video Strategies forum on August 11, 2009.

No, I'm talking about last night's meeting in Dedham, MA, of the National Professional Videographers Association of New England. It featured a presentation on social media by Tom and Reiko Beach of TRB Design, Inc., followed by a sneak preview of YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day by me.

Tom and Reiko talked about how they doubled sales of gymnastics training videos and DVDs on their Gym Smarts website by creating a GymSmarts Community blog, a GymSmarts Community - Gymnastics page on Facebook, Thomas Beach and Reiko Beach profiles on LinkedIn, GymSmart's and The Gymnastic Minute's channels on YouTube, and a GymSmarts account on Twitter.

After their presentation, I talked about my new paperback book, which is being published by Wiley next month. Mike McDonald of WebProNews Videos asked me to reveal the secrets of online video that can be found in YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day earlier this year at SES New York 2009.

Greg Jarboe - Mysteries of Online Video

At last night's meeting of National Professional Videographers Association of New England, I also talked about some of the topics that I'll be discussing during: (1) How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community at the SES San Jose conference on Tuesday morning, August 11; (2) What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video at the Social Media & Video Strategies forum on Tuesday afternoon, August 11; (3) News Search SEO at the SES San Jose conference the Thursday, August 13; and (4) YouTube and Video Marketing Workshop at the SEM Training San Jose on Friday, August 14.

It doesn't take a whole lot of complex market trend analysis to see that professional videographers are just as interested in learning more about social media and search engine optimization as search engine optizers are in learning more about social media and video marketing. Why? As last night's audience learned from Tom and Reiko, you can double your business by combining all of these digital marketing tactics into an integrated marketing strategy.

Now, it might seem frightening at first to get out of your comfort zone and explore new categories. Perhaps there are wild animals over there -- even ones that know...SEO.

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!

But, that's the only way you are going to get to the Emerald City -- which is the only way you are ever going to get back home to Kansas.

Let me put it another way.

Recently, Scott Kirsner of The Boston Globe wrote an article entited, "Where the jobs are in anxious times." He talked with some local recruiters who focus on the innovation economyu, specializing in sectors like technology, life sciences, and energy. He asked them about specific jobs and industry clusters where they've been seeing demand lately -- as well as jobs and industry clusters where demand has died off.

Clark Waterfall of the Boston Search Group told Kirsner, "engineers and salespeople are always perceived as must-have team members, but marketers and PR and business development can tend to be nice-to-haves in times like these."

Kirsner also heard that a new role being created at many companies is a social media expert, who can help the company communicate with customers and prospects using new channels like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.

"Sometimes that job is called 'community manager' or 'community rep,'" Tom Summit of Catalyst Recruiting Corp. told Kirsner, adding, "But the people who can get hired are the ones who can relate online activities to quantifiable metrics. What are you doing for the company, aside from just starting a blog?"

What Kirsner didn't address in his article is where this new community manager's position fits in the org chart. In other words, does this new position report to the marketing director, the public relations director, or the digital media director? And is this new community manager position being created in addition to or instead of more search engine optimization jobs?

If the community manager is helping a company to communicate with customers and prospects using Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, who is responsible for using YouTube, Flickr and Digg? If the community manager is supposed to relate online activities to quantifiable metrics, will he or she have access to the company's web site analytics?

For answers to these questions, you'll want to attend The View from the CMO's Office at the SES San Jose conference on Tuesday morning, August 11, and Integration: The New CMO Imperative on Tuesday afternoon.

The SEM training workshop, Getting Fluent in Search Marketing: A Fast-Track for Senior Managers, which will be taught by Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit on Friday afternoon, August 14, also tackles these questions.

Oh, and don't even ask who the professional videographer reports to in the org chart. As Michael Kolowich, the President and Executive Producer of DigiNovations, said during the Q&A part of last night's meeting, corporate videography is generally assigned to the marcom manager, who often sees it as an isolated marketing tactic and not part of a broader integrated marketing strategy.

So, it looks like we're going to have to bring back the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West before we get where we want to go. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

March 4, 2009

SEMPO Names 2009 Officers

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, has elected a new slate of officers for 2009. Jeffrey Pruitt, formerly SEMPO president and executive vice president of corporate partnerships, iCrossing, was elected chairman, replacing outgoing chairman Dana Todd, CMO and co-founder at Newsforce.

Sara Holoubek, corporate strategy consultant, replaces Pruitt as SEMPO's president. Ron Jones, president and CEO of Symetri Internet Marketing, was elected vice president of SEMPO, and Dave Fall, vice president, product management, search technology, at DoubleClick, Inc., was elected treasurer. Jones and Fall effectively swapped the positions they held last year. Chris Boggs, director of search engine optimization for Rosetta, was re-elected secretary.

The newly elected officers will begin their one-year terms on April 1.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 18, 2008

New SEMPO Chairperson Dana Todd Has Big Dreams for Organization

Last month, SEMPO selected the officers for their 2008 Board of Directors, and Chairperson Dana Todd is sharing her vision for the organization.

"Because the internet marketing industry changes so rapidly, it's becoming more important to hiring managers to know that the people they're bringing on board have more than a passing knowledge of the tactical aspects of Search Marketing. It's very learnable, but you can't take shortcuts in learning a complex science such as Search," said Chairperson Dana Todd. Specifically, Todd wants to help search marketing practices be applied to other sectors such as online advertising, information architecture, and PR.

The Board of Directors will also focus on finding new ways to support the three primary legs of SEMPO's mission , which are education, research and global expansion. New initiatives include defining standards and best practices, building local presences, and expanding the role of the SEMPO Institute to bring a higher baseline of education to search marketers.

Todd co-founded SiteLab Interactive in La Jolla, California. The company has been integral in the launch of Newsforce, which provides new media distribution tools for Public Relations professionals.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:18 AM | Permalink

March 17, 2008

Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy

Despite an increasingly gloomy economic forecast, spending on search engine marketing continues to grow beyond expectations. Preliminary results of the 2007 State of the Market Survey were released today at Search Engine Strategies New York by SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.

According to the survey, search engine marketing spending exceeded projections in 2007, and marketers say they will continue to increase their spend on search, which would lead to continued healthy growth. One caveat: if there's no inventory to buy as a result of a recession or economic downturn, it won't matter what marketers say they want to do.

While some of the increasing spending is new ad dollars, some of it is the result of shifting marketing dollars from other offline and online marketing endeavors, with offline ads the biggest losers.

Search is taking spending away from things like magazines, direct mail and newspapers moreso than TV, which is a bit puzzling, says Kevin Lee, executive chairman of Didit and co-chair of SEMPO's research committee.

"I'm surprised we're not seeing as big a shift from TV. Search is getting more budget from offline media that are usually used to narrow-cast, instead of TV and radio, which are broadcast media," Lee said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense, but maybe it's because it's being moved from something niche-y to something else that's niche-y? As search becomes more recognized as something that brand advertisers can use, I'd expect to see more TV and radio dollars shift as well."

Respondents are expecting to increase their search spend this year, due to factors like advertiser demand; rising costs of keywords and pay-per-click campaigns; an increase in the number of small-to-midsized businesses using search engine marketing; and greater consumer participation in search and increased interest in targeting, such as behavioral and demographic targeting of searchers.

Key preliminary findings include:

The North American SEM industry grew from $9.4 billion in 2006 to $12.2 billion in 2007, exceeding earlier projections of $11.5 billion for 2007
North American SEM spending is now projected to grow to $25.2 billion in 2011, up significantly from the $18.6 billion forecast a year ago.
Marketers are finding more search dollars by poaching budget from print magazine spending, web site development, direct mail and other marketing programs.
Paid placement captures 87.4% of 2007 spending; organic SEO, 10.5%; paid inclusion, .07%, and technology investment, 1.4%.
Google AdWords remains the most popular search advertising program, but both Google and Yahoo sponsored search spending has decreased from a year ago.

SEMPO will present more detailed findings from the study on Thursday at the SES New York conference.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:24 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2008

SEMPO Nominees for Board of Directors

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, has announced the nominees for its 2008 board of directors. The 2008 board will consist of 13 individuals who will each serve a two-year term. Voting runs from February 6 to February 15. Candidate profiles are available to SEMPO members on the SEMPO site.

Twelve of the 13 current board members are running for re-election: Chris Boggs, eMergent Marketing; Massimo Burgio, Global Search Interactive; Fionn Downhill, Elixir Systems; Dave Fall, DoubleClick; Duane Forrester, Microsoft; Sara Holoubek, Free Agent; Gordon Hotchkiss, Enquiro Search Solutions; Bill Hunt, Global Strategies International; Kevin Lee, Didit; Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing; Dana Todd, Newsforce; and Tanya Vaughan, Hewlett-Packard. 360i's Dave Williams opted not to run again.

There are 21 other candidates for the board seats: Damien Anderson, Blowfish Digital Limited; Jay Berkowitz, Ten Golden Rules; Lindsay Blankenship, Avenue A | Razorfish; Jessica Bowman, Yahoo; Paul Bruemmer, Red Door Interactive; Luar Buso, Getupdated; Bruce Clay, Bruce Clay, Inc.; Chris Copeland, Outrider; Marc Engelsman, Digital Brand Expressions; Mark Fiske, Bazaar Advertising; Mark Jackson, Vizion Interactive; Mike Jacobs, iMarketing LTD; Ron Jones, Symetri Internet Marketing; Max Kalehoff, Clickable; John Koehler, VML; Chris Kramer, NETexponent; Robert Murray, iProspect; Steve Riegel, Faction Media; Farukh Shroff, Solid Cactus; David Szetela, Clix Marketing; Lori Weiman, Click Forensics.

You'll recognize many of the names of the nominees as SEW Experts and ClickZ Experts columnists, including Chris Boggs, Fionn Downhill, Kevin Lee, Mark Jackson, Ron Jones, and David Szetela. Congratulations, and good luck to them and to all the nominees.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:55 AM | Permalink

January 16, 2008

SEMPO State of the Search Marketing Industry Survey Now Open

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, is once again gathering feedback from search marketers for its annual State of the Search Marketing Industry Survey.

The survey collects data on respondents' PPC and SEO spending habits, measurement techniques, and other topics to create a yearly snapshot of the search industry, as it did in the 2006 report.

The deadline for participation is February 1, 2008. Any search marketer in North America is eligible; SEMPO membership is not required. Respondents will receive the preliminary survey results before they are released, and will be entered to win a random drawing for an iPod Touch or a free pass to any Search Engine Strategies event in North America.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:47 PM | Permalink

September 24, 2007

Yahoo Under-represented at IAB

One unintended consequence of the departure of Wenda Harris Millard from Yahoo is that Yahoo no longer holds a seat on the board of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Harris Millard, now president of media at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, was just named vice-chair of the organization, and Google's Tim Armstrong, and Microsoft's Mike Hard are on the executive committee. Representatives from InterActiveCorp, AOL, Seevast, MySpace, and Idearc are among the 37 members that sit on the board of directors...but no Yahoos.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:16 AM | Permalink

September 17, 2007

SMA-NA Dissolved

Ian McAnerin, president of the Search Marketing Association of North America (SMA -NA), announced on Saturday that he will be dissolving the organization due to lack of resources.

SMA-NA, like the UK (SMA -UK) and European (SMA-EU) counterparts, was founded in 2004 as an alternative to SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. The SMA-EU seems to have disappeared as well, but I'll update this post when I find out more about that.

The SMA groups formed when several search marketers felt that the year-old SEMPO was not serving their needs.

McAnerin notes that SEMPO has addressed many of the concerns that led to the formation of SMA-NA, which was another factor in his decision. "In short, I'm fighting a problem that really doesn't exist with an organization that in most practical aspects also doesn't exist," McAnerin writes on his blog. "No matter how strongly I feel about the goals of the SMA, it's come to the point where I feel I can make more of a contribution to the industry using other methods and processes, and this is where I feel I should focus my efforts to promote and engage this industry I love and am so deeply a part of."

Share your thoughts in the SEW Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:16 AM | Permalink

June 27, 2007

SEMPO Institute Adds Advanced Search Advertising Course

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, has added another advanced course to its SEMPO Institute initiative. Joining the Fundamentals of Search Marketing and Advanced SEO courses is an Advanced Search Advertising course.

"Advanced Search Advertising gives marketers the ability to get more return on their ad buys by providing them with a deeper level of strategy as well as hands-on tactics they can implement," SEMPO President Jeffrey Pruitt said in a statement.

The 14-lesson course covers PPC models, keywords & campaigns, copywriting for ads, bidding & ranking, landing pages, success metrics, PPC program specifics, reporting & analytics, click fraud, alternative PPC search engines and feeds & feed advertising.

All courses are available online, and students can complete lessons at their own pace. Students are tested and graded on each lesson, and must pass all lessons with a passing grade to receive a certificate of completion.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:53 AM | Permalink

March 21, 2007

SEMPO 2007 Officers Named

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, has announced its 2007 officers, as chosen by its Board of Directors that were voted in last month.

New SEMPO officers include:

Chairperson: Gordon Hotchkiss, Enquiro (Chairperson since 2006)
President: Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing (VP in 2006)
Vice President: Dave Williams, 360i (Secretary in 2006)
Treasurer: Dave Fall, DoubleClick (new to board in 2007)
Secretary: Chris Boggs, Avenue A | Razorfish (board member since 2006)

Former SEMPO president Dana Todd and secretary Sara Holoubek retain seats on the board, but will not serve as officers this year. Todd was elected president of the group in 2005, succeeding founding president Barb Coll. Holoubek had held her role for a one-year term.

Back in January, Pruitt shared with us a look ahead at some of SEMPO's 2006 plans and goals.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 4:09 PM | Permalink

February 26, 2007

SEMPO Board Named

This year's SEMPO elections are complete, and a new board of directors for 2007 has been named:

Chris Boggs, Avenue A/Razorfish
Massimo Burgio, Global Search Interactive
Fionn Downhill, Elixir Systems
Dave Fall, DoubleClick Inc.
Duane Forrester, Sports Direct
Sara Holoubek, free agent consultant
Gordon Hotchkiss, Enquiro
Bill Hunt, Global Strategies International
Kevin Lee, Did-It
Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing
Tanya Rietze, Hewlett-Packard
Dana Todd, SiteLab
Dave Williams, 360i

The 13 board members were picked by SEMPO members from a record 37 candidates. Eight members are returning from last year: Boggs, Holoubek, Hotchkiss, Hunt, Lee, Pruitt, Todd, and Williams. The remaining five are new to the board this year. One-year terms for board members will begin in mid-March, when it will elect officers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:10 AM | Permalink

January 30, 2007

SEMPO Names Board of Directors Nominees

Lee Odden shares the list of 37 SEMPO Board of Directors nominees, as chosen by SEMPO members earlier this month.

Last year's board members that are in the running again this year include Bill Hunt, Chris Boggs, Dana Todd, Daniel Perry, Dave Williams, Gord Hotchkiss, Jeffrey Pruitt, Kevin Lee, and Sara Holoubek. Four current members are not running again: Bill Tancer, Julienne Thompson Hood, Mauro Lupi, and Mick Jolly.

The next step now is for members to vote for 13 board members, by visiting SEMPO's site between February 6-16. Once those winners are announced in late February, the new board will begin meeting in mid-March. At their first meeting, the board will elect officers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:49 AM | Permalink

January 25, 2007

SEMPO Grows Up

As SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, embarks on its fifth year of existence, the group is growing into a mature, global organization. Where early days were marred with infighting and criticism, and recent years have been marked by growth, SEMPO in 2007 is looking forward to a year of growth and stabilization.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 8:40 AM | Permalink

January 23, 2007

SEMPO Launches Training Program

A new Web-based SEM training program, SEMPO Institute, is open for enrollment. The first course, "Fundamentals of Search Marketing," provides a high-level understanding of search marketing essentials in a 14-lesson course.

The "Fundamentals" course will cost $499, but full-time students and military personnel will get a discount, as will SEMPO members.

Two advanced courses will be offered beginning in March: Advanced SEO and Advanced Search Advertising. Advanced SEO is a 15-lesson course at a cost of $1,750. Advanced Search Advertising is a 14-lesson course at a cost of $2,250.

The course outlines and framework were created by volunteers from SEMPO's Education Committee, led by co-chair Fionn Downhill, president of Elixir Systems. Downhill and her team created a peer review process for each of the courses to further ensure all courses reflect best practices in the industry. Curricula will be periodically reviewed, and the courses are expected to evolve with the industry.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:37 PM | Permalink

January 11, 2007

SEMPO Board Nominations Open

It's that time of year again -- time to pick new leadership at SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization. Members can nominate candidates for the board of directors for 2007-8 until next Thursday, January 18, at 5 p.m. EST. Submissions can be made via e-mail or on SEMPO's Web site.

This is the first step in the process, with the next steps being a public posting of all nominees (Jan 25), then voting by members (Feb 6-16). Winners will be announced in late February, and their terms will begin in mid-March. At their first meeting, the board will elect officers.

The current board and officers are all eligible for re-election.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:52 PM | Permalink

November 22, 2006

SEM Certification & Training Courses

The move toward offering certification and training in search marketing is accelerating. Here's a rundown on some new courses and developments I've heard of recently.

Kalena Jordan's Search Engine College has launched "Certification Pathways," a bundle of courses designed to get people up to speed in the space.
Wondering if you should even be in search marketing? SEMPO's got a webinar designed to help, Starting a Career in Search Marketing, happening on November 30 at Noon Eastern time.
SEMPO is also offering the SEMPO Institute, a distance learning program designed to provide search engine training. The group says it will go live in January 2007 with a course on fundamentals, followed by an advanced SEO and advanced paid search curriculum. Do the training, and you get a certificate.
My DMA Offering Search Marketing Certification Program post from September covers how the DMA was going to offer their own training and certification course. Why We Need Search Standards from iMedia Connection provides a bit of an update on that. Courses are to launch in January -- more information can be found here.
Incisive is offering training courses following the SES Chicago 2006 show. This page outlines what's being offered. You can attend these classes in addition to the show (more info on the entire show here) or separately, if you want.
Training courses from Bruce Clay aren't new, but he's been offering them longer and more consistently than anyone I can think of. So you might want to check those out here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:58 PM | Permalink

November 13, 2006

SEMPO's 2006 Search Marketing Survey

SEMPO has been surveying search marketers since the inception of the organization. Kevin Lee wrote a ClickZ article asking search marketers to Voice Your Opinion. SEMPO surveys provide very insightful data, statistics and research for the industry. So please take the time to complete the survey over here. You will be given the results when the report is completed.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:14 AM | Permalink

September 28, 2006

The Click Quality Council Formed By ClickForensics

ClickZ reports that ClickForensics announced that they will be leading a new group named The Click Quality Council to "discuss Pay Per Click (PPC) quality issues and to ensure their interests are represented in the development of PPC measurement standards." The Click Quality Council has 20 advertisers including names such as VISA and LendingTree and agencies such as Carat Fusion and Agency.com. There were hints that this group would be formed in the BusinessWeek's Good Look At Click Fraud. It is important to note that the IAB seems to be setting up a similar organization, but the IAB will have both advertisers/agencies and search engines involved, whereas the Click Quality Council will only have advertisers and agencies.

Postscript: Some corrections were made to this article.

(1) The Click Quality Council has 20 advertisers. (2) The CQC wants to make it clear that they are not setting up a "similar or competing organization" to the IAB or to SEMPO.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:26 AM | Permalink

March 22, 2006

SEMPO Board Elects 2006 Officers

ClickZ reports that SEMPO's new board of directors has elected the 2006 SEMPO officers. The new chairperson is Gordon Hotchkiss from Enquiro, Dana Todd from SiteLab remains the President, Jeffrey Pruitt from iCrossing is the new Vice President, Sara Holoubek takes over as the Treasurer and the new Secretary is Dave Williams from 360i.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 4:06 PM | Permalink

March 14, 2006

SEMPO Elects New Board of Directors

SEMPO has released its Board of Director 2006 Election Results while we were all at Search Engine Strategies NYC.

The new board had their first meeting at the conference, and will remain in office for one year.

Those that are back from the previous board include;

Gordon Hotchkiss, Enquiro
Kevin Lee, Did-It
Mauro Lupi, Ad Maiora
Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing
Julienne Thompson Hood, Advertising.com
Dana Todd, SiteLab
Dave Williams, 360i

Those that are new to the board for 2006 include;

Chris Boggs, G3 Group
Sara Holoubek, Free Agent Consultant
Bill Hunt, Global Strategies International
Mick Jolly, PRWeb
Daniel Perry, Career Education Corporation
Bill Tancer, Hitwise

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:25 AM | Permalink

February 11, 2006

SEMPO Nominees for 2006 Board of Directors

13 Directors will be voted into office with the voting period ending February 17th. Voting by Member's Only. Members can access the profiles of each candidate and the ballot by visiting this page in the Member's Only area of the sempo.org website at https://www.sempo.org/members/board_of_directors_2006_nominees. To influence the make-up of the Board, join the organization.

Those up for nomination includes:

Paul Bruemmer - Red Door Interactive Chris Boggs - G3Group Tammy Camp - Comcorp, Inc. Alon Cohen - SpiderSplat Consulting Tim Daly - SendTec Koichiro Fukasawa - Wasabi Communications Elizabeth Harvey - Harvey Marketing Group, Inc. Sara Holoubek Julienne Thompson Hood - Advertising.com Gordon Hotchkiss - Enquiro Bill Hunt - Global Strategies International Mick Jolly - PRWeb Anton Konikoff - Acronym Media Kevin Lee - Did-it Mauro Lupi - Ad Maiora Kevin McCarthy - ChannelAdvisor Daniel Perry - Career Education Corporation Jeffrey Pruitt - iCrossing John Sanchez - Zunch Communications Jessie Stricchiola - Alchemist Media, Inc. Bill Tancer - Hitwise Michael Tate - E-magine Networks, Inc. Dana Todd, SiteLab Dave Williams - 360i

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 6:50 PM | Permalink

January 9, 2006

SEMPO Opens Nomination Period for Board of Directors

On the heels of the release of SEMPO's (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) annual State of the Search Marketing Industry report that Chris wrote about today, Dana Todd has informed us know that the nomination period for the SEMPO Board of Directors is now open.

Postscript: Here's the information emailed to members:

With the new year comes the beginning the electoral process for SEMPO's Board of Directors. The first step in the process is the nomination period, which will be open from 2 PM GMT (9 AM ET) on Monday, January 9 through 10 PM GMT (5PM ET) on Wednesday, January 18, 2006.

SEMPO's Board for 2006 will consist of 13 individuals, each of whom must be a current SEMPO member. The term of SEMPO's current Board is for one year, so they must be nominated and re-elected to retain their current seats. Only one candidate from each eligible member company may be nominated and the list of nominees will be posted on www.sempo.org after the close of the nomination period. To view the full electoral process, please click here.

SEMPO's current and previous Boards have been dedicated to SEMPO and significantly helped drive SEMPO to its current status as a leading industry organization. SEMPO has hundreds of members in over 20 countries and continues to grow. We ask that you submit your nomination for the person you feel will best help SEMPO continue to grow and achieve its mission. SEMPO members are allowed to nominate themselves for election.

Please submit your nomination, via email, to [EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED; AVAILABLE TO SEMPO MEMBERS THROUGH THE SEMPO SITE]. The deadline is 10 PM GMT (5PM ET) on Wednesday, January 18, 2006.

The voting period will begin on Monday, February 6, 2006. You will receive email notifications about the voting period and information will be posted at www.sempo.org.

Also, please take this opportunity to ensure the accuracy of your membership data in www.sempo.org. To review your data, and to make changes, please logon and click My Account in the left navigational panel. Or, you can send your requested changes to info@sempo.org.

Thank you for taking part in this exciting and important process.

Posted by Gary Price at 3:58 PM | Permalink

November 9, 2005

SEMPO Survey Of Search Marketing Industry Seeks Participants

It's SEMPO survey time again! SEMPO Survey Probes SEM/SEO Issues from Kevin Lee at ClickZ gives you a rundown on how the survey aims to measure the state of the search marketing industry. I'd encourage everyone to participate, because it's one of the few surveys out there driven out of the search marketing community. You can take it from here. State of the Search Marketing Industry 2004 from SearchDay covers results from last year's survey. Want to comment or discuss? Visit our forum thread, SEMPO SURVEY: Search Engine Marketing -- Trends and Metrics.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:39 AM | Permalink

October 21, 2005

SMA-NA Election Results In

Thanks to Nacho Hernandez, who just sent me the SMA-NAN election results. Here are the winners:

President and Chair: Ian McAnerin
Secretary Treasurer: Debra Mastaler
VP Public and Media Relations: Jeff Nelson
Internet Chair: Benjamin Pfeiffer

Term of office will be for one year. Nothing at the SMA-NA site yet, but I'm sure it will come.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:02 PM | Permalink

October 5, 2005

Group Formed To Help Develop Mobile Search

Group Plots Future of Mobile Search from ClickZ covers a new "Mobile Search Working Group" that's been formed by the Mobile Marketing Association. The MMA group aims to help carriers bundled branded mobile search solutions into their service packages. Frankly, I'd like the group or any group to bang carriers over the head that I don't want to be tied to any one search solution. I want the freedom to choose whatever I like. The groups home page is here, but the additional information the page points you at has yet to actually go live.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:39 AM | Permalink

October 3, 2005

Silicon Valley SIG To Meet Again On Mobile Search, Gains Blog

The Silicon Valley Search SIG group I mentioned earlier now has a Search SIG blog to keep you informed of events. The next one is on mobile search, being held at Google on October 10.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:06 PM | Permalink

September 23, 2005

Silicon Valley Search SIG Has First Meeting, Talks Audio Search

I've been meaning to write about SDForum's Silicon Valley Search SIG since Robert Scoble mentioned it earlier this month. The new group just had its first meeting, Audio Search: Selling Picks & Shovels at the Podcast Gold Rush. Yahoo's posted a summary on its search blog today, pointing at the end to even more summaries. Audio of the event is promised to come via several of the podcasting search vendors in attendance. The group sounds great for anyone in the area. I always feel sorry for those not in the middle of Silicon Valley who can't take part in these things, however. Want to hit the next one? The group sadly lacks any type of decent home page that I could find. It does have a mailing list, and you can sign-up or read archives here. A next event in October on vertical search is being planned.

Postscript: The group has a blog now here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:00 AM | Permalink

September 22, 2005

SEMPO Says No, SMA-NA Says Yes To Fight Against Traffic Power

Further to my earlier post on the Traffic Power story, some were wondering how the two US search marketing organizations would respond to the suit alleging that SEO Book's Aaron Wall revealed Traffic Power's trade secrets. The answer is in. SEMPO is staying out of the fight, while SMA-NA is jumping in and siding with Wall.

The SEMPO statement from our forum discussion on the case:

It is the policy of SEMPO not to comment on any legal cases pending, particularly those that do not directly involve our organization. This matter in particular will be decided under existing case law relating to freedom of speech, libel/slander, and contract law. There is no compelling reason for a nonprofit group with a mission of education and market expansion to become embroiled in a legal discussion unless there is a specific reason for it such as providing expert opinion on definitions or methodologies; and if we had been solicited, then we certainly wouldn?t be able to comment.

I can understand the caution, but then again, you kind of like the chutzpah of fledgling SMA-NA deciding to take the potentially risky move and diving in. Some highlights from SMA-NA leader Ian McAnerin's blog post, Traffic Power Lawsuit, Blogging, and the SMA-NA:

I felt it was a key issue, and a serious one affecting the internet as a whole. As such, I discussed it with the other paid members of the SMA-NA at the time and decided it would be best to see what we could do about this on behalf of the SEO and Blogger industry....

I talked to Aaron and got his approval to help out on behalf of the SMA-NA. Then I went to one of the best law firms (IMO) in the state - Jones Vargas, whom I've worked with before, and contacted Ariel Stern, an all-around nice guy....

It was pretty clear that SEO's and bloggers sometimes need legal help (I get questions all the time, for example). So I talked to the fine folks at FindLaw and we are in the process of working out the details on providing methods of connecting experienced internet lawyers to SMA-NA members, in addition to providing other legal resources, advice and benefits. Once we work out the exact details, I'll use that as a template to approach lawyers in Canada and Mexico so that any SMA-NA member anywhere in North America (or any SMA member worldwide who needs legal help from within North America) will be able get it.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:09 AM | Permalink

September 15, 2005

SMA-NA To Hold Elections

Todd at Stuntdubl notes that the Search Marketing Association of North America -- SMA-NA -- may soon have elections. Chief organizer Ian McAnerin says over here on the High Rankings Forums that only one more member is needed to call a quorum and lists potential offices. Then on the SMA-NA forum, he says the quorum has been met. So election information should be going out to members soon.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:15 AM | Permalink

July 6, 2005

DMA Search Marketing Council Formed

Spotted via Andy, the Direct Marketing Association has formed a new Search Engine Marketing Council chaired by Heather Lloyd-Martin. The council is designed "to be the primary search marketing resource for the direct marketing community." The council doesn't appear to have its own web site yet, but what the DMA's overall councils page, where it will likely appear in the near future.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:10 PM | Permalink

June 15, 2005

SMAUK Releases First Year Program; Names Officers

The votes have been counted, and the fledgling Search Marketing Association UK has named its officers for the first year as well as a proposed program of goals.

Andy Atkins-Krüger of Web Certain was announced as the group's president at its first formal meeting at Search Engine Strategies London earlier this month. Mike Grehan from Smart Interactive was named as vice president. Other executive committee members are listed here.

What are the next steps? The group has posted a program for the next year here, which covers things such as building a members knowledge base, providing legal advice for members and promoting the search marketing industry. A PDF download (here) provides more details on each area.

Below, I've pulled out some quotes from individual committee members heading up particular areas for from the report general, which I found particularly descriptive of planned activities:

Search Engine and Supplier Liaison "I intend to bring together representatives of a selection of agencies who are members of the association ? and create a forum with each of the major engines to exchange opinions and views with the aim of improving the interaction between us to facilitate growth for the search engines and the agencies alike."
Building a web site knowledge-base for members "I'm creating an editorial and research team which will coordinate the development of the web site, identifying the most important research to be undertaken and then facilitating its implementation. We will be working with research organisations to undertake the research."
Developing an approach to industry standards "We have had some discussions with the British Standards Institute who approached us to see if we would be interested in laying down the foundations for BSI accreditation and believe this our best way forward. Setting standards for our industry will be difficult, but laying out the way that search marketing professionals should deal with their clients should be achievable and the BSI has had considerable experience even in the most difficult of terrain. We will, however, need to keep an eye on timescales and when this can be achieved."
Legal advice for members "We know members face many challenges on the legal front including privacy, copyright, client contracts and click fraud. I?ll also look at professional indemnity which was suggested at the inaugural meeting. We may be able to provide a pack of templates for members ? or create a recommended list of lawyers or both."
Promoting the search marketing industry "We cannot rest on our laurels ? the industry may be growing ? but we have to wise up in terms of presenting our case. I'll be taking the SMA cause to all the major conferences and exhibitions. I'll also be helping Andy to set up the PR operation for the SMA-UK."
Training Our approach will be to look at using existing certification routes or accreditation of training schemes ? rather than trying to create an in-house SMA training scheme."
Government Liaison We need the Government?s help in NOT regulating our industry so that it becomes commercially uncompetitive ? but also to encourage the Government to use and promote our services.
Membership and Association Marketing "I will be concentrating on marketing materials needed to actively promote the association and ways in which our members can benefit from these to further promote themselves. So far we?ve had a volunteer offer to draft a Powerpoint to present the industry and SMA-UK to local groups around the country. I?ll also be compiling and cocoordinating the discounts suppliers offer to members of the SMA-UK."

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:50 PM | Permalink

May 17, 2005

SMA-EU Formally Launches; SMA-UK Names Executive Committee

Via Threadwatch, news that the SMA-EU European search marketing organization has formally launched. What's that mean? Nominations for a 12 seat executive committee will open later this month and memberships are being accepted. Meanwhile, SMA-UK has posted results of its executive committee election.

Members are:

Andy Atkins-Kruger, Web Certain
Mike Grehan, Smart Interactive
Simon Collingridge, NETsposure
Jason Cartwright, GCDM
Jim Banks, Web Diversity Limited
Barry Lloyd, Make Me Top
Teddie Cowell, Neutralize (*\*)
Shakil Khan, Activemed Ltd

A president and vice-president are currently being elected from this group, with voting to close May 20. Results are to be announced during the groups inaugural meeting at Search Engine Strategies London, June 1-2.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:58 AM | Permalink

March 15, 2005

SEMPO Elects New Officers From Board

Last month, SEMPO elected a new board of directors. Now that board has selected from among themselves a new chairperson, president and other officers:

Chairperson, Kevin Lee, Did-It.com
President, Dana Todd, Sitelab
Vice President, John Sanchez, Zunch Communications
Treasurer/Secretary, Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing

The new officers replace the outgoing officers of:

Chairperson & President, Barbara Coll, Webmama.com
Vice President, Dana Todd, Sitelab
Treasurer (and former Vice President), Noel McMichael, Digital Impact (Marketleap)
Secretary, Jessie Stricchiola, Alchemist Media

While Coll and Stricchiola are no longer officers, they remain members of the new board, elected after they stood again. McMichael didn't run for reelection to the board. More about the new officers and board can be found via this page: SEMPO 2005 Board of Directors Election Results. A release specifically about the officer elections will be posted here soon.

For more on the election process, see these past posts:

Postscript: SEMPO Picks New Officers provides a look at what the newly elected officers hope to accomplish over the coming year.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:38 PM | Permalink

February 25, 2005

SEMPO Gets New Board Of Directors

SEMPO members have just received a mailing informing them of their new board of directors, selected through the recent election. The board is scheduled to be formally introduced to the public next Monday at the group's open meeting at Search Engine Strategies New York. Elected to a one-year term are:

Ron Belanger, Carat Interactive
Chris Churchill, Fathom Online
Barbara Coll, Webmama.com
Koichiro Fukasawa, Wasabi Communications
Gordon Hotchkiss, Enquiro
Kevin Lee, Did-it.com
Mauro Lupi, Ad Maiora SpA
Jeffrey Pruitt, iCrossing
John Sanchez, Zunch Communications
Jessie Stricchiola, Alchemist Media
Julienne Thompson, Advertising.com
Dana Todd, SiteLab
David Williams, 360i

All previous board members (noted in bold above) who stood again were reelected, suggesting that despite problems SEMPO endured last year, the membership itself was still happy with how the group's leaders have run things. A full list of all nominees can be found here.

The board will select from among itself a president and new officers for the coming year, all of whom will be named in New York. All board members have a term that will begin in mid-March 2005 and run to the same time in 2006.

Postscript: See also this article from ClickZ: SEMPO Names New Board

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:26 AM | Permalink

February 22, 2005

Web Analytics Gets Trade Group

Trying to understand activity at your web site? Know what converts, what search engines send you traffic, links that are valuable? Mining this information is all part of web analytics -- and that industry just gained a new trade group to spread news and information about the field. The Web Analytics Association provides more information at its web site. See also this ClickZ story: Web Analytics Trade Group Formed. Want to discuss? Visit our forum thread, Web Analytics Association (WAA) Trade Group Formed.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:59 PM | Permalink

February 21, 2005

New SEMPO Board To Be Announced Soon

I'd mentioned earlier that SEMPO's elections for new board members had finished. So when will the winners be announced? SEMPO tells me the plan is to have a press release out to the general public on Monday, Feb. 28, to coincide with the first day of Search Engine Strategies New York and the open meeting SEMPO is having that same day.

That meeting will throw what are promised to be some tough industry questions to a panel of search experts. It's also when the new board members will be personally introduced to members in attendance.

You may hear about the winners before the formal press release comes out, however. That's because SEMPO says it will be doing a special mailing to its own members before the release, to ensure they know about it directly. When that happens, I'd expect the news to quickly leak out.

In all, there are 13 seats to be filled. SEMPO sent me this list of 29 initial board nominees. I've highlighted existing board members who stood again in bold:

Name Company

Ron Belanger

Carat Interactive

Chris Churchill

Fathom Online

Barbara Coll

Webmama.com

Chris Copeland

Outrider

Scott Delea

Digital Grit

David Douglass

Performics

Fionn Downhill

Elixir Systems

Debbie Everson

Searchmar

Robert Gaudio

MEA Digital

Koichiro Fukasawa

Wasabi Communications

Gordon Hotchkiss

Enquiro

Darren Kuhn

Resolution Media

Kevin Lee

Did-it.com

Vinny Lingham

Clicks2Customers & Incubeta

Misty Locke

Range Online Media

Mauro Lupi

Ad Maiora SpA

Michael Marchese

LeapFrog Online

Gregory Markel

Infuse Creative

Winthrop Morgan

American Institute for Research

Jeffrey Pruitt

iCrossing

Manish Puri

Innovative Solutions

Thomas Reilly

Acronym Media

John Sanchez

Zunch Communications

Dan Shapero

NetApplications

Jessie Stricchiola

Alchemist Media

Julienne Thompson

Advertising.com

Dana Todd

Sitelab

Ada Vassilovski

Commission Junction

David Williams

360i

Who will be president or fill other officer roles? The board itself will elect these, as in accordance with SEMPO's by-laws. This should happen in mid-to-late March, SEMPO says.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:16 PM | Permalink

SMA-UK Gets Formal, Calls For Elections; SMA-NA & SEMPO To Meet Next Month

SMA-UK is moving ahead with becoming a formal organization, complete with an elected board. The group for UK search marketers began organizing last October, gained half the members deemed needed to formalize in January, then its steering committee decided on Feb. 15 that it should go forward with registration as a trade association.

The existing steering committee members are stepping down, with nominations now open for a formal committee that will be elected by the membership. More news directly from SMA-UK in this announcement.

The group has a timeline up outlining next steps. Nominations are open through March 31. Elections will have been held and members announced by May 9. A second election will then be held so members can select a president and vice-president from among the committee. The group's inaugural meeting will be held on June 1 or 2, coinciding with Search Engine Strategies London. The president and vice-president will be announced then.

Yes, you can nominate yourself -- or anyone else who is a member. A membership form outlines various levels and costs. A new member directory lists the 35 members registered to date. That's less than the 75 individual members the group said were needed when its information pack was released in November. It's also less than the 50 members the group said were needed in an interest list mailing done last month.

My assumption is that the group assumes additional needed members will be signed up by the time of the first meeting. I'm checking on this and will post back here when I know.

Postscript: SMA-UK says that the membership list doesn't include additional individuals covered by corporate memberships -- and the higher fees that corporate memberships contribute to the organization. A small number of members also wish not to be listed. All told, membership fees received currently equals that of 68 members, just below the initial 75 member mark the group originally aimed at.

"Given that we are well over our financial targets, without needing any sponsors or associate members, and people were urging us to start, we decided to launch the ship," said acting president Barry Lloyd.

Also see UK SEM Group Gears Up for Elections for more details on the formalization of SMA-UK.

As a reminder, the related SMA-NA association for North American search marketers recently opened its own web site, with a discussion area, details of membership types and info on a planned first organizational meeting and membership drive for March 2, coinciding with Search Engine Strategies New York. Discussion of SMA-NA's new site can be found in this forum thread: SMA-NA Website is now LIVE!

Also meeting at SES NY will be SEMPO, on Feb. 28, from 5:45-7:00pm. It's an open meeting for anyone, with more details here. Voting for that group's election for a new board of directors has been completed, and I'm checking on when the winners will be announced.

Postscript: See New SEMPO Board To Be Announced Soon for more details on the announcement.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:56 PM | Permalink

February 18, 2005

SMA-NA Website is Now Live

News in one of our SEW Forums that the SMA-NA (Search Engine Marketing Association, North America) website has just gone live. Here's a January 2005 blog post by Danny about SMA-NA and other organizations.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:22 AM | Permalink

February 3, 2005

SMA-UK Takes Flak Over Lack Of Updates

The honeymoon is over for SMA-UK, as SMA-UK get's a Kickin' in the Forums over at Threadwatch notes. The failure to update the site with information has drawn criticism. SMA responds in the thread above, saying things have gone slower than wanted -- but that the group only wants to update when it has real news to report.

Certainly an update on the kick-off meeting that was held back in December would be a good addition. I noted back in January that this happened but had yet to appear on the SMA-UK web site.

Posting the mailings that have gone out to the SMA-UK interest group would also help. That let me know that SMA-UK was at the halfway post, as I also reported in January. But visiting the site, you'd never know this.

There is plenty going on, as the Threadwatch comments reveal as various people within the SMA-UK working group respond to critics. Even better would be for this news to be on the SMA-UK site itself.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:06 PM | Permalink

January 13, 2005

SMA-UK At Halfway Point

From a mailing to those on the SMA-UK interest list, news comes that the group has half the 50 members it needs to move forward with a formal meeting, ratification of its constitution and board elections. Those interested in this search marketing group for the UK can visit the SMA-UK site to apply. Some background on SMA-UK is here: SMA-UK Posts Rules & Membership Rates. An associated SMA-EU group is also forming for Europe, as is SMA-NA for North America. More recent details on both of those here: SMA-NA Forming - Now A Direct Challenge To SEMPO?

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:03 AM | Permalink

January 12, 2005

SEMCares: Calling On SEM Industry To Help With Tsunami Relief

After watching the tsunami news, search marketer Gregory Markel wondered if there was something the SEM community could do to help. The new SEMcares web site launched today was the result.

One idea at the site might be controversial, the suggestion on the home page that SEM firms should optimize pages for things like "tsunami" and then link to their favorite support organization from these pages.

Controversial? If a number of pages actually make it into the top results without direct information on the tsumami but instead just link to tsunami information and relief pages, that wouldn't serve searchers well.

On the other hand, the search engines ought to be smart enough to see that the new pages are linking to the more important "authority" pages, which should in turn help keep those authority pages high.

Certainly there's nothing controversial over the suggestion that people within the SEM community simply link to relief organizations directly from existing pages. People all over the web in all types of industries are already doing this. A list of organizations is also listed at the site.

Another part of the site allows those who have contributed in some way with SEM efforts to log publicly or anonymously what they've done.

The site is focused on tsunami relief efforts right now, but it's designed to encompass other charitable work or activities in the future. To that end, if might be nice if the site evolved some type of "matchmaking" service, where a charity or non-profit could request SEM help and get it from firms that would volunteer their time.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:00 AM | Permalink

January 11, 2005

SMA-NA Forming - Now A Direct Challenge To SEMPO?

Last year, the Search Marketing Association formed chapters in the UK and Europe. Now one for North America is being founded, with Ian McAnerin leading the charge.

Ian explains more about why the group is being founded, in particular because of his dissatisfaction with SEMPO, in his blog post Search Marketing Association of North America - SMA-NA.

Ian did a lot of work for SEMPO trying to help it sort out the legal mess over its non-profit status. He ultimately concluded, as he shares in the post, that SEMPO was "fundamentally broken" but that many were interested in some type of trade group they could support, especially small SEO firms and single-person shops.

As a Canadian, Ian had considered a SMA-Canada chapter but was afraid the membership levels would be too low. So SMA-NA is designed to encompass the United States and Mexico, as well as Canada.

SEMPO, of course, was founded out of the US and is heavily dominated by US firms. Ian notes in his post that this makes SMA-NA perceived as more a threat to SEMPO than the earlier SMA chapters. This comes from the conversation had with SEMPO president Barbara Coll, he explains.

The entire SEMPO-SMA issue also came up in a recent thread at our forums: SEMPO Versus SMA. The thread was sparked by Mike Grehan, who has been a chief critic of SEMPO since his article pillorying the group and its failings came out last year. In particular, he saw comments from Coll in a ClickZ article about the SMA launch (SMA-NA Set to Launch) as further showing SEMPO as being out of tough with the rank-and-file of the SEM industry.

Personally, I've had my fill of trying to deconstruct the failings of SEMPO, as I posted within that thread. SEMPO has done good things, such as the recent SEM survey. But more important, it feels like at this point those who are dissatisfied with SEMPO for whatever reasons would be better off channeling their energies into one of the SMA groups or even starting an entirely new organization.

In fairness, in the same ClickZ article that sparked the thread debate, SEMPO board member Dana Todd specifically commented that other groups are welcomed:

"We're not the first, and we won't be the last organization for search engine marketing," Todd said. "We have a very specific mission, and other groups have different interpretations of what their needs are. If anyone has the wherewithal and the fortitude, I think it's great."

Privately, SEMPO may have its concerns about SMA-NA. But publicly, it said nothing threatening to the group in the ClickZ article.

Ready to join SMA-NA? You can't yet, as the group doesn't have a site up. But you can discuss what you'd like to see it do in a recent forum thread Ian started: SMA - What do you want it to do?. And below, some additional related resources and a recap of important ones I've mentioned:

Reflections On SEMPO is my long, long article looking at the problems raised about SEMPO last year.
SMA-EU Forming For European Search Marketers is a past blog post looking at the formation of the new SMA groups in reaction to the fallout from SEMPO.
SMA-UK & SMA-EU are the official web sites of those groups, with a bit more information about them. Ian's post mentions that SMA-EU had a kick-off meeting on Dec. 21, but there's no news yet of what came out of this posted on the SMA-EU web site or the SMA-EU blog.
Search Marketing Association of North America - SMA-NA: Ian's blog post, explaining why he saw a need for SMA-UK.
SMA-NA - Search Marketing Association North America To Launch: Threadwatch post where Ian provides more details within the comments about how the group may form, including perhaps an organizational meeting at SES New York.
SMA-NA Future Web Site: Go here now, and you'll reach SMA-UK. But in the future, that will resolve to an SMA-NA web site.
SMA - What do you want it to do?: SEW Forums thread that Ian started, asking for input on SMA in general, but you can contribute about SMA-NA here, as well.
SEM Industry: Groups is a category of Search Topics available to Search Engine Watch members that lists past blog posts on the topic of search marketing groups.

Postscript: Group Seeks To Rep Search Engine Marketers from MediaPost has more on the SMA-NA launch, with accusations against SEMPO along with SEMPO responses.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:18 AM | Permalink

December 15, 2004

Trends in Search Engine Marketing

We know that Google and Overture are making bucket-loads of money from selling paid listings, but how much money is being spent on other types of search engine optimization and marketing? And who, exactly, controls that spending—advertisers or search marketing agencies?

Two recently released reports, one from Jupiter Research and the other from SEMPO (which Gary blogged below), offer answers to those questions, and others. The new data provides the clearest insights yet into what has traditionally been a murky area of understanding, even for people working as search industry insiders.

Today's SearchDay article, State of the Search Marketing Industry 2004, provides an overview of these two new reports. A longer version of the article for Search Engine Watch members also discusses findings showing that search marketing budgets are poaching funds from other types of advertising and covers advertiser attitudes and concerns regarding the paid listing click fraud issue.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 10:41 AM | Permalink

December 13, 2004

The State of Search Engine Marketing 2004

SEMPO's "The State of Search Engine Marketing 2004" report was released tonight at SES. Pamela Parker offers an overview in this Clickz article.

The article highlights some numbers: The survey of 288 search marketers found the industry will spend $4 billion on both paid and organic search in 2004, including in-house and outsourced expenditures. By contrast, a recent JupiterResearch study said paid search would account for $2.6 billion in spending in 2004.

+ Next year, advertisers plan to spend, on average, 39 percent more on all types of search engine marketing than they did in 2004.

and some findings: Contrary to what's been reported in other research, the SEMPO study found that most advertisers plan to handle the majority of their search marketing in-house rather than outsourcing it to an agency. Fifty-two percent of advertisers said they would handle all of their 2005 spending in-house. Larger advertisers were more likely, however, to outsource more of their budgets. A recent JupiterResearch report said that only a third of search marketers used an agency, but, because larger marketers tended to outsource, agencies control more than half of search marketing spend.

Expect more about the new SEMPO report in SearchDay later in the week.

Posted by Gary Price at 7:40 PM | Permalink

December 8, 2004

SEMPO Board Member Churchill Not To Run Again

Via Andy Beal, news that SEMPO board member Christine Churchill will not be standing for reelection in the process currently underway. In Stepping Away From SEMPO, she explains her primary reason, sadly, is her brother's battle against cancer.

She also reflects on how the group has grown. It's not how she envisioned, and while wishing those to carrying it on the best, she also ponders if time will show a need for multiple search marketing groups.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:52 AM | Permalink

November 23, 2004

November 19, 2004

SEMPO Seeks Board Of Directors Nominations

SEMPO is now accepting nominations to fill thirteen board of director seats. Nominations are open through December 3. Members are to be elected in late December or early January, which is much faster than originally planned. Board members weren't due to have terms expire until March 2005, at the earliest. The faster elections are something I'm sure will help strengthen the group.

Want to discuss? Barry Schwartz posted news of nominations opening in our forums, and you can comment in the same thread: SEMPO Announces Board of Director Nominations.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:15 PM | Permalink

November 15, 2004

SMA-EU Launches Blog

Threadwatch reports that SMA-EU, the European search marketing organization that's forming, has launched a blog. The blog has news on the group's development.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:04 AM | Permalink

SEMPO Posts Revised Governance Documents

Earlier this month, the SEMPO search marketing group approved a variety of new governance documents, such as new bylaws, anti-trust guidelines and articles of incorporation. You'll find these all posted via SEMPO's About SEMPO page.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:48 AM | Permalink

November 8, 2004

SMA-UK Posts Rules & Membership Rates

The SMA-UK search marketing organization for the UK formed last month has posted information detailing its constitution and a membership application form with rates.

The information pack is in PDF format. It details that the group will have four types of memberships, as listed below.

Individual Membership: Open to search marketing professionals who work in the industry full-time. Can attend meetings, participate and vote. Cost is £250 pounds per year, or about $465.
Corporate Membership: Open to search marketing companies. Allows up to four company employees to attend meetings, but only one person can act as a company representative during voting. Provides the ability to exhibit at SMA meetings. Cost is £1000 per year, or about $1,850.
Associate Membership: Open to companies interested in search marketing or that sell to search marketers. Can attend and participate in open meetings but cannot participate in closed sessions about policy formation. No voting ability. Can exhibit at SMA meetings. Cost will be determined on a case-by-case basis, with the group's executive committee apparently charging companies more based on ability to pay.
Student Membership: Open to those learning about search marketing but not employed in the profession full-time. Cost is £125 per year, or about $230.

Those already members of the SEMPO search marketing group are entitled to a 10 percent discount on SMA-UK fees.

SMA plans to charge its officers membership fees, unlike SEMPO. Officers at SEMPO are given free elite "Circle Membership" status, which has drawn some criticism. SMA UK also doesn't plan to accept sponsorships from search engines, something else that SEMPO's been criticized for.

Separation Of Group & Search Engines

Acting SMA-UK head Barry Lloyd explained to me recently that this is because SMA-UK may conceivably wish to take action against the interests of search engines. Accepting sponsorship funds from search engines could hinder that.

Having said this, the group may still take funds from search engines -- and perhaps substantial amounts -- given that associate membership fees will be based on a company's size. In addition, associate members can pay to exhibit at SMA-UK meetings.

Another way the group is trying to prevent search engines from having undue influence over the organization is by only allowing them to become associate members. This means SMA-UK can exclude them from meetings where policies relating to search engines may be set.

As I told Barry, that sounds like a good idea at first. But realistically, the search engines will easily discover exactly what was said in any meeting. After all, they'll have a number of key search marketing partners that will obviously report back.

Given this, I'd say you might as well include them in policy meetings. It certainly gives them the ability to provide clarification and information, if needed. It could even cause the search engines to take corrective actions before some type of policy had to be formally set.

Still, I suppose some people will be more comfortable if the search reps aren't actually in the room, even if they'll eventually learn what happened. It's also worth noting that SMA-UK's executive committee can allow associate members to remain in policy meetings, as it deems useful.

The information packs notes that at least 75 members will be needed before the group is considered viable. To date, the organization says it has had over 200 interest requests. Now that interest gets put to the test, as people can formally join for the first time.

Sister group SMA-EU, for European search marketers, doesn't yet have an information pack up. However, the basics should be very similar to SMA-UK, given that SMA-EU has used the SMA-UK constitution as its base. The group has promised more information soon.

Want to discuss? Visit our forum thread SMA-UK Release Member Rates or a variety of related threads as listed at the end of this post: SMA-EU Forming For European Search Marketers.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 5, 2004

October 25, 2004

SMA-EU Forming For European Search Marketers

Only days after the SMA-UK search marketing group was launched, a new SMA-EU organization has been founded that's intended to encompass all of Europe.

Mike Grehan, a founding member of SMA-UK, provides more details in his UK and mainland Europe search engine marketers unite commentary.

The piece suggests that SMA-UK will continue to operate as an organization independent of SMA-EU. Instead, SMA-EU so far seems intended as a catch-all for search marketers in Europe interested in an alternative to the year-old SEMPO search marketing group but unable to participate in SMA-UK because that group's UK-specific focus.

Why would Europeans want an alternative to SEMPO? Actually, any number of search marketers anywhere might want an alternative after SEMPO was dogged by controversy over poor communication and other problems recently. My Reflections On Sempo article explains this in more detail.

That leads to the question of whether an SMA-US group might be formed. Indeed, it was pretty much implied by the UK's hyphenated status that those founding SMA-UK probably foresaw the idea of a broader SMA group stretching into any country where there might be interest.

In fact, SMA-UK uses sma-uk.org as its domain name. A similar sma-us.org domain was registered on the same day as sma-uk.org. Both registrations were done by MakeMeTop, the company run by SMA-UK acting chair Barry Lloyd.

So will a SMA-US show up? Yeah, I have no doubt someone will jump in to do it there and perhaps elsewhere. In the US, I'd lay my bets on SEMPO-Tahoe being converted.

None of this precludes SEMPO from continuing and being successful in its own right, of course. Despite the criticisms, the group has said it's gained new members.

I also did have a friendly chuckle at Mike's article on SMA-EU where he describes SEMPO as "a type of trade association in America." Yes, it was founded in the US but counts a healthy number of non-Americans as members, including Europeans -- Mike himself still being one of them.

In the end, no matter where people stand in the wake of complaints on SEMPO, the good news is that search marketers seem more than ever interested in organizing together for a common good. The more groups the merrier!

More news on SMA-UK, SMA-EU and SEMPO as it comes. Representatives from all three groups will be meeting at Search Engine Strategies Stockholm this week, where Chris and I will both be at.

Want to comment or discuss? Here are a few recent forum threads related to these topics:

Search Marketing Association EU - SMA-EU
What should you search marketing association do?
New trade association for search marketers (SMA-UK)
Will SEMPO Survive?
And even more past discussions in our SEM Related Organizations & Events area

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 23, 2004

Background On New SMA-UK Group

Chris blogged earlier about the new Search Marketing Association UK group. Now ClickZ has a good article about the SMA-UK and why it formed: UK Search Marketers Form SEMPO Alternative. Meanwhile, discussion of the group is over in our forums: New trade association for search marketers.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 21, 2004

New Search Marketing Association in the UK

>From the press release:

"A working group of search engine marketing professionals in the UK has come together to plan the formulation of a UK based trade association.

"The proposed Search Marketing Association UK (SMA-UK) will provide a platform to inform and educate the marketplace of the benefits of search marketing in the overall marketing mix, as well is giving its members an industry voice. Barry Lloyd of search marketing firm MakeMeTopï is acting Chairman of the group, with Andy Atkins-Kruger of search marketing firm Web Certain as acting Deputy."

Meanwhile, Greg Jarboe sends word of SEMPO's official reaction to the formation of SMA-UK:

"We think the creation of SMA-UK is a good thing. This group realized that their region required a unique organizational structure and we congratulate them on taking the initiative to create it. SEMPO looks forward to working with them down the road on issues that impact the industry."

Stay tuned...

Posted by Chris Sherman at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 17, 2004

Executive Director Compensation Ends For SEMPO President

Want to know what SEMPO's board of directors discusses? A new area has just opened up on the site, with official minutes of the last meeting on September 28.

In those minutes (link opens Word document), it's reported that the controversial executive director stipend being paid to SEMPO's president ended as of Oct. 1. Some discussion of the minutes being posted is here in our forum thread: SEMPO Board meeting minutes.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 12, 2004

SEMPO Gets Forum For Members, Wants More Survey Data

Barry Schwartz reports that SEMPO has opened its own forum area for members, a positive move that should help those within the organization better talk about its direction, growth and activities among themselves. Want to discuss? Visit our own forum thread: SEMPO Launches Members Only Forum.

Meanwhile, SEMPO's still looking for more SEM firms to take part in its search marketing survey. More about that here in my past post: SEMPO Search Marketing Survey Opened. To participate in measuring the size of the search marketing space, drop by here: SEMPO Research Survey.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 5, 2004

SEMPO Search Marketing Survey Opened

Last week, I complained that little is known about the size of the search marketing industry. Paid search spending, sure -- we've got some sense there. But money being spent directly with search marketing companies themselves, on both paid and natural listings? Who knows?

I also mentioned that one bright spot was planned research by SEMPO to survey the market. Now that survey's begun. Anyone is able to participate using the form now posted here: SEMPO Research Survey.

Results are planned for release later this year. More details on the survey can be found in this press release: SEMPO Launches Survey on the Size and Impact of Current SEM Activities and Spending.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2004

SEMPO Gets New Advisors & Parody Site

SEMPO's gained three new members for its advisory board: Chris LaSala from Google, Neg Norton from the Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association and Safa Rashtchy from Piper Jaffray. More from SEMPO in this release. The new members fill spots vacated by the departure of Chris Sherman and myself (more on that here: Reflections On SEMPO). To discuss, please visit this forum thread: SEMPO Announces Three New Advisory Board Members.

Meanwhile, a parody site lampooning SEMPO, SEMPO-Tahoe, has been moving up in the rankings for a search on the organization's name. Today, it jumped to fourth place on Google. Discussion of that site can be found here on our forums: SEMPO Gone To The Dogs?

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 8, 2004

My Recap Of SEMPO Issues

In my Reflections On SEMPO article posted today, I recap issues and concerns that marred the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization's first birthday last month and look at ways the group could go forward.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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