November 23, 2009

If you aren't at SES Berlin, go to SES Chicago for 11 topics breaking

Search Engine Strategies Berlin is being held this week at the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre, and SES Chicago 2009 gets underway in two weeks at the Hilton Chicago.

During the past 10 weeks, I've shared 10 important reasons for going to these must-attend events. For those of you who want to join in the chorus, they are: 10 authors speaking, nine trainers training, eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three.

This week, I'll share an eleventh significant reason for attending Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 -- and it isn't "11 pipers piping." You should attend SES Chicago 2009 for "11 topics breaking."

According to recent research by Tradeshow Week, the top reason for attending conventions and tradeshows this year is to "keep up-to-date on trends and issues." And a close look at the conference agenda for Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 shows that the conference sessions will help you keep up-to-date on trends and issues -- big time.

When the conference agenda was first posted back in August, 11 out of the 65 sessions were totally new. In addition, another 11 sessions were "reserved for late-breaking topics."

Since then, Incisive Media has appointed of Mike Grehan as VP and Global Content Director for Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and Search Engine Strategies. And Grehan has identified these late-breaking topics and speakers have been invited to keep you up-to-date on these trends and issues.

Together, these 22 totally new sessions represent the "bleeding edge" of opportunities and threats in the search engine marketing industry. And some of them aren't even about search engines -- they're about social media and social networking sites.

This is why savvy search industry veterans who have attended each and every SES Chicago since 2003 keep coming back year after year. They know this Search Engine Strategies conference gives them a sneak preview of the latest topics two to three months before their direct and indirect competition.

Below is the list of 22 sessions which are totally new to SES. You can't attend them all, but you'd be smart to attend as many as you can.

Totally New Conference Sessions on Day 1: Dec. 7, 2009

Search: A Real Time Paradigm?

YouTube & Video Optimization

New Exporters: How Search Marketing Can Be Used to Build Trade overseas

Online PR: Where to Next?

From Search to Discovery

Point/ Counterpoint: DIY SEM - The Pros & Cons

20 Secrets of Top Converting Websites

The Quest for Perfect Information: How Network Intelligence is Transforming Search

Customer Insights Via Search Engine Tools

Ghost Blogging, Tweeting, Content Production: Is it Ethical? Does it Matter?

What's the Link between Search & Social?

Totally New Conference Sessions on Day 2: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009

Developments in Information Retrieval on the Web

Social Media Checklist

Real Time SEO: No More Yesterday's News

PR, Social Media and Search

Totally New Conference Sessions on Day 3: Wednesday, Dec. 9

PPC or SEO? The Ultimate Search Marketing Battle

Advanced Paid Search Brain Candy

Facebook Rockstars Roundtable: Marketing For the Other Internet

How to Cut Your Corporate Budget Without Cutting Leads or Sales

The Oprah Winfrey Litigation: What Affiliate Marketers MUST Know

Eye Tracking Research Update

M2M: Cracking the Code on Marketing to Marketers

Next week, we'll look at a final reason for going to Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009. In the meantime, just keep singing "11 topics breaking, 10 authors speaking, nine trainers training, eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 16, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or Chicago for (Over) Ten Authors Speaking

During the past nine weeks, I've shared nine significant reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those of you who want to join in the chorus, they are: "nine trainers training, eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll share a tenth important reason -- and it isn't to see "ten lords a-leaping." You should attend these events to hear well over ten authors speaking.

Actually, there will be at least 22 authors speaking at SES Berlin (November 23-25) or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 (December 7-11), but I was already having difficulty fitting the facts into my version of the popular English Christmas carol.

Now, there will be 65 speakers at Search Engine Strategies Berlin and 172 speakers at SES Chicago 2009. So, why is hearing 22 authors speak an important reason to go to one of these must-attend events?

Well, if you've read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, then you probably share his great love for books. And you probably also share his distain for a distopian society where "firemen" burn books "for the good of humanity."

When Bradbury became the first science fiction writer to win the Pulitzer Prize in May 2007, he told LA Weekly that his novel was not about government censorship. Instead, he said Fahrenheit 451 was a story about how people's interest in books had been destroyed by television, replacing critical thought with useless "factoids."

Now, I'm not suggesting that we should all be like Granger, the leader a group of wandering intellectual exiles in Fahrenheit 451 who memorize books in order to preserve their contents. Nor, should we act like Clarisse McClellan, the character in the novel who is unpopular among her peers and disliked by her teachers for asking why instead of how and focusing on nature instead of technology.

But, in an era when most YouTube videos are 2-3 minutes long, wouldn't you like to hear from someone who "wrote the book" on search engine optimization, search engine marketing, or social media? And, in an era where tweets are 140-characters or less, wouldn't you like to meet up with an author who has written 200-500 pages about Google, YouTube, or blogs?

This isn't a knock on YouTube or Twitter. Back in June 2009, the contested election in Iran between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi led to massive demonstrations, with many Iranians going to social networks like YouTube and Twitter to share the upheaval in their country with the world.

Still, wouldn't you like to get an in-depth understanding of how your organization can use social media or search by talking with a person who has written a detailed account of this or another related topic?

So, who will you meet? Here are the 21 authors that I was able to identify:

Tim Ash, author of Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions.

Andy Beal, co-author of Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online.

Bruce Clay, author of Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies.

Bryan Eisenberg, co-author of Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer; Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing; and Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results.

Mona Elesseily, author of Mastering Panama.

Eric Enge, co-author of The Art of SEO.

Jennifer Evans Laycock, author of The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing and of the Zero Dollars, a Little Bit of Talent and 30 Days series.

Liana Evans, author of Social Media Marketing: Publicity Through Viral Marketing.

Rand Fishkin, co-author of The Art of SEO.

Andrew Goodman, author of Winning Results with Google AdWords.

Mike Grehan, author of Search Engine Marketing: The Essential Best Practice Guide.

Bill Hunt, co-author of Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site.

Greg Jarboe, author of YouTube and Video Marketing: an Hour a Day.

Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do?

Kevin Lee, author of The Truth About Pay-Per-Click Search Advertising and co-author of The Eyes Have It: How to Market in an Age of Divergent Consumers, Media Chaos and Advertising Anarchy and Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales.

Rebecca Lieb, author of The Truth About Search Engine Optimization.

Peter Morville, author of Ambient Findability and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.

Ayat Shukairy, co-author of Landing Page Optimization: The Complete Guide.

Jim Sterne, author of Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success; Customer Service on the Internet: Building Relationships, Increasing Loyalty, and Staying Competitive; Advertising on The Web; and World Wide Web Marketing: Integrating the Web into Your Marketing Strategy.

David Szetela, author of Customers Now: Profiting From the New Frontier of Content-Based Internet Advertising.

Shari Thurow, author of Search Engine Visibility and When Search Meets Web Usability.

Amanda Watlington, co-author of Business Blogs: A Practical Guide.

I know a couple of other people who are working on books, but haven't finalized their titles yet. And I'm sure I'm missing a few authors. Any oversights are unintentional.

Next week, Search Engine Strategies Berlin gets underway. But, we'll continue looking at more reasons for going to SES Chicago 2009.

By the way, if you register for SES Chicago 2009 by Friday, November 20, you can save up to $200 with the Advance Rate. That's enough to buy half a dozen of the books mentioned above.

In the meantime, just keep singing "ten authors speaking, nine trainers training, eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

November 9, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for Nine Trainers Training

During the past seven weeks, I've shared seven compelling reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those of you who want to join in the chorus, they are "eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll share an eighth great reason -- and it isn't "nine ladies dancing."

You should attend these events for "nine trainers training."

As I mentioned back in September, training is one of the three key trends. If you type "SEO training" into Google Insights for Search, you'll see that web search interest has grown steadily since 2004 -- and is forecast to continue growing in 2010. So, it's not surprising that more time is being added to the schedules of search engine conferences for training workshops.

But I often wonder if "in-depth training" is the right term for the "radical reorientation" that takes place in these intensive workshops. The small class setting ensures participants that their instructor is accessible for informal one-on-one or small group discussions of "why" as well as "how."

As Columbus discovered, training the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria how to sail west was a relatively straightforward task. The real challenge was convincing Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand that they wouldn't fall off the edge of the world.

Fortunately, the instructors of the SES training workshops are experts who know how to handle both ambidextrously.

So, what can you learn by participating in one of these training workshops?

SES Berlin offers a "Workshopsprogramm" on 23 November, the day before the "kongress." The program includes: • Link Building 2009 Workshop, which will be taught by Christoph Cemper, General Manager, and Melanie Arko, Project Manager CEMPER.COM. • Web Analytics Workshop: Data Into Action, which will be taught by Timo Aden, Gründer und Geschäftsführer, Trakken GmbH. • Best Practices der Suchmaschinenwerbung, which will be taught by Oliver Zenglein, Head of Online Marketing, be2.

Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 offers SEM training on December 10, the day after the conference. The half-day workshops include: • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop, which will be taught by Shari Thurow, Omni Marketing Interactive. • Landing Page Testing Hands On: Developing Your Action Plan, which will be taught by Tim Ash, SiteTuners. • Advanced Keyword Research, which will be taught by Ron Jones, Symetri Internet Marketing. • Social Media and Your Business, which will be taught by Sage Lewis, SageRock.com.

On December 11, SES Chicago 2009 offers partnered training. The full-day workshops include: • Search Engine Optimization Training, which will be taught by Bruce Clay, Bruce Clay, Inc. • Integrating Search Across All Online Marketing Efforts, which will be taught by Aaron Kahlow, Chairman & Founder, Online Marketing Summit; Ray "Catfish" Comstock, Senior Search Strategist, BusinessOnLine; Paul Sherman, President Emeritas, Usability Professionals Organization (OMI Professor); Jennifer Wessenmeyer, VP Analytics, Stratigent; Debbie Qaqish, Partner, Pedowitz Group (OMI professor); and Kevin Espinosa, Director eMarketing, Caterpillar.

Next week, we'll look at more reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, just keep singing "nine trainers training, eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 6, 2009

PRSA 2009 International Conference Features Two Online Marketing Heroes

I'll by flying to San Diego this weekend to speak at the PRSA 2009 International Conference next week. Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing and a member of the SES Advisory Board, will also be speaking at the annual Public Relations Society of America event.

Odden is speaking on Monday, November 9, at 10:15 a.m. about "Help Google Find Your Releases: Top 10 Search Engine Optimization Tactics for Public Relations Professionals."

Nine out of 10 journalists, reporters and editors use search engines to do their jobs, according to a recent survey by TopRank Online Marketing. In this environment, public relations professionals must understand the ins and outs of search engine optimization (SEO).

So, Odden will help PR people find out how to choose the best key words, optimize their newsroom and press releases, build better links, and sell SEO to decision makers. Plus, he'll share "the No. 1 SEO tactic to implement today."

I'll be speaking on Tuesday, November 10, at 11:15 a.m. with Laura Sturaitis, the senior vice president, media and product services, at Business Wire.

How do you know your press release delivers value? Are there ways to increase a press releases' ROI?

Sturaitis and I will discuss real live examples and techniques to get the most mileage for press releases, especially in the Web 2.0 world. We'll explain why PR people need to work hand-in-hand with their Web team to see how visitors are getting to their site and moving through it. We'll also examine Web analytics for compiling, tracking and measuring activity deriving from the press release via the wires and elsewhere.

If you want a preview, check out my post on the ComPRrehension blog, which is entitled, "Does Your Press Release Deliver Value?"

Odden and I also spoke last year at the PRSA 2008 International Conference in Detroit. Why is this useful information for search engine optimizers to share with their colleagues down the hall in the public relations department? SEO specialists and PR specialists need to work together to handle the opportunities and threats created by Google universal search.

When Google announced universal search in May 2007, Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google, said, "The ultimate goal of universal search is to break down the silos of information that exist on the web and provide the very best answer every time a user enters a query."

This radically changed everything we knew about search engine optimization (SEO) and public relations (PR). If your webmaster isn't optimizing content for YouTube, Google News, or Google Images, then who is?

With more than 12.8 billion expanded search queries a month on Google Sites in the U.S., this isn't a rhetorical question. In other words, the SEO specialists and PR specialists need to get out of their silos to ensure that their organization is getting found in all the right places.

As I told Michael Miller, the author of "Online Marketing Heroes: Interviews with 25 Successful Online Marketing Gurus," back in 2008, "For a good part of the 20th century, every part of the marketing mix was in a different silo. Advertising had its lingo and its metrics, and PR had its lingo and its metrics, and if you had a group that was focused on trade shows and events, they had their lingo and their metrics, etcetera. One of the things that is sort of a byproduct of keeping people in their silos is that things that the email marketing people learned ten years ago, or the search engine marketing people earned five years ago, the PR people in the same organization haven't learned yet. As a result, they keep doing what used to work but stopped working a long time ago, only nobody noticed."

I added, "To the extent that you can get the PR people interacting with the search people, they will discover that there are lots of things they can do together."

And Odden was also interviewed for Miller's book. So, your PR people will be getting the same advice no matter which online marketing guru they listen to at the PRSA 2009 International Conference -- or which chapter of Miller's book they read.

Odden and I both spoke at SES London 2008. Check out my video interview with him below.

Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing, at SES London 2008

And Odden and I are both speaking at SES Chicago 2009. So, there's no escaping our combined message: Get out of your silo; start interacting with other members of your marketing team.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

November 4, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for Eight Days A-Learning

During the past seven weeks, I've shared seven compelling reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those of you who want to join in the chorus, they are "seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll share an eighth great reason -- and it isn't "eight maids a-milking."

You should attend these events for "eight days a-learning."

SES Berlin starts on 23 November with one day of "workshop" and continues 24 and 25 November with two days of "kongress." Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 runs December 7 through 11. It starts with three days of conference sessions, which are followed by two days of training.

If you think no one can possibly cram eight days of learning into two events a couple of weeks apart, you'd be wrong. Andy Atkins-Kruger, Mike Grehan, Bill Hunt, Motoko Hunt, Anne Kennedy and Richard Zwicky, among others, will be at Search Engine Strategies Berlin and SES Chicago 2009.

Yes, yes, these road warriors are speaking at both events. But when they aren't speaking, they'll be sitting in other conference sessions learning. That's one of the secrets of their success. In fact, they'll learn more in eight days than many of us will learn in a year.

That's why I like interviewing well-traveled people for the SES Conference Expo's channel on YouTube. It's like interviewing the philosophers in The School of Athens, one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael.

And I know that no one would confuse the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre, where Search Engine Strategies Berlin is being held, or the Hilton Chicago, where SES Chicago 2009 is being held, with the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, where The School of Athens decorates one of the walls. And I'm pretty sure that speakers at these two events won't be walking around wearing togas.

But there is much to learn from the industry's top search experts, including representatives from the search engines themselves. Here are some samples of some of the speakers who you will find walking around these events.

At SES Chicago 2008, Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Andy Atkins-Kruger, the founder of WebCertain. Andy discussed his favorite speaker and also talked about the state of search in Europe for 2009. Andy Atkins-Kruger, WebCertain, discusses SES Chicago and SES London 2009

At SES San Jose 2009, John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Thomas Bindl, CEO of Refined Labs, about SES Berlin 2009. Thomas talked about the history of SES in Germany and says the current speaker line-up is the best the conference has seen so far, including coverage of such topics as social media, PPC, organic, etc.

Thomas Bindl, Refined Labs, previews SES Berlin 2009 At SES San Jose 2009, I interveiwed Mike Grehan, the newly-anointed VP and Global Content Director at SES, SEW, and ClickZ. Mike talked about the search world's attempted transition into social media, and the challenges this poses for traditional search engine marketers and organic search engine optimization professionals.

Mike Grehan, the new VP and Global Content Director, ties social media to search, SES San Jose 2009

At SES San Jose 2008, I interviewed Bill Hunt about his new book, Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web site. Bill will be the keynote speaker at SES Berlin 2009.

Greg Jarboe interviews Bill Hunt about his new book

At SES London 2009, I interviewed Motoko Hunt, founder of AJPR, LLC, about mobile search. Motoko saids mobile search is exploding in Asia, with the creation of the mobile web back in 1999.

Motoko Hunt, AJPR, LLC previews mobile search panel at SES London 2009 At SES London 2009, I interviewed Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner & Founder, Beyond Ink, about search getting "all the credit." Anne said the clicks are there and we know that different people come from different places in their buying cycles.

Anne Kennedy, Beyond Ink, on the importance of search at SES London 2009 At SES San Jose 2009, John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Matt McGowan, VP Publishing, Incisive Media, about upcoming SES shows at Chicago and Berlin. Matt says after having SES shows in various cities in Germany, including Hamburg and Munich, it was time to schedule one in Berlin.

Matt McGowan, VP Publishing, Incisive Media previews SES Chicago and Berlin '09

And at SES San Jose 2008, Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Richard Zwicky of Enquisite, about click fraud. Richard stressed the importance that ad networks place on users to file claims whenever they have identfied network errors and/or possible fraud.

Richard Zwicky, Enquisite, discusses click fraud

Next week, we'll look at more reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, just keep singing "eight days a-learning, seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 28, 2009

Tweet This: 19 Percent of Internet Users Use Twitter

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 19 percent of Internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys conducted in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11 percent of internet users said they used Twitter or another micro-blogging service.

Three groups of Internet users are responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social networking site users, mobile Internet users, and adults under age 44.

In addition, the more devices someone owns, the more likely they are to use Twitter or another service to update their status. Fully 39 percent of Internet users with four or more internet-connected devices (such as a laptop, cell phone, game console, or Kindle) use Twitter, compared to 28 percent of Internet users with three devices, 19 percent of Internet users with two devices, and 10 percent of Internet users with one device.

The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. By comparison, the median age for a LinkedIn user is now 39, down from 40, while the median age for a Facebook user is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.

According to Pew, it will become more difficult to track status updating as an independent activity as social network updates feed into Twitter and vice versa. For now, it is clear that a "social segment" of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online.

Cindy Krum, CEO of Rank-Mobile, interviewed Mark Jackson, CEO of Vizion Interactive, about the Twitter panel discussion at SES Toronto 2009.

Twitter is no Google - Mark Jackson, Vizion Interactive at SES Toronto 2009

At SES Chicago 2009, Jackson will be speaking at the "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds" session, and Krum will be speaking at the "Cool Mobile Apps, Augmented Reality - It's a Brave New World!" session.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

October 26, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for Seven Tracks Amazing

During the past six weeks, I've rolled out six great reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those of you who want to join in the chorus, they are "six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll share a seventh compelling reason -- and it isn't "seven swans a-swimming."

You should plan to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to discover "seven tracks amazing."

Let's start with the two tracks at Search Engine Strategies Berlin. On November 24, Day 1 of the conference, one is the Fundamentals Track (Grundlagenkurs) and the other is the Advanced Track (Fortgeschrittenenkurs). On Day 2, one is the Issues & Strategies Track (Problembereiche und Strategien) and the other is the Tactics Track (Taktik).

What makes two different tracks on two different days amazing? Even the simple structure of the SES Berlin conference captures the complexity of the search engine marketing industry.

If this is your first search engine marketing conference, you may suffer from the naïve hope that you can learn everything you need to know in two days. However, attending sessions in the Fundamentals Track teaches you that you will have to come back again next year to attend sessions in the Advanced Track. Or, deciding which track to attend on Day 2 teaches you the difference between strategy and tactics.

According to Seth Godin, "Here's the difference: The right strategy makes any tactic work better. The right strategy puts less pressure on executing your tactics perfectly." He adds, "It takes real guts to abandon a strategy, especially if you've gotten super good at the tactics."

So, what makes simple structure so amazing it that the sessions you attend teach you what you don't know and the sessions you don't attend help you understand that there is still more to learn.

Now, let's turn to the five tracks at SES Chicago 2009. On December 7, Day 1 of the conference, they are: Search Fundamentals; Blended Search Results; Analytics, Conversion & Attribution; The State of Search; and Search on the Edge. On December 8, Day 2 of the conference, they are: Search Fundamentals; News & Advertising; Small Business Track; Geek Speak; and ClickZ/OMS Track. And on December 9, Day 3 of the conference, they are: In-House; Hybrid; Advanced Issues; Vertical, Retail, B2B; and Clinics.

What's so amazing about this? Well, back on September 28, I mentioned that one of the three key trends was "change." To back this up, I pointed out that only 12 out of the 65 sessions at Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 were repeats from last year's conference.

Well, if you look at this year's tracks, only two out of 15 are repeats from last year's conference: hybrid and Clinics. This indicates that the philosophical and theoretical framework of the search engine marketing industry is changing even faster than our knowledge of the latest search industry trends.

Or, to paraphrase former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, there are known knowns (things we know we know), known unknowns (things we know we do not know), and unknown unknowns (the things we don't know we don't know).

I think I know what he meant, but I don't know if I really know.

But, even though I can't explain it, I have a funny feeling that the unknown unknowns about our industry now outnumber known unknowns -- and its time to question your assumptions about the known knowns, because many need to be re-examined.

So, let's just say that the search engine marketing industry is undergoing a "paradigm shift."

If you want the backstory on this shift, read the column, "When Community Is Search," by Mike Grehan, the VP and Global Content Director at SES, Search Engine Watch, and ClickZ.

Or, if you agree with Grehan that content is more than "Text, text, and more text," then watch my video interview with him at SES San Jose 2009 about the link between search and social.

Mike Grehan, the new VP and Global Content Director, ties social media to search, SES San Jose 2009

This is really why you should bring your whole team to either SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009. All of you not only need to learn more about the known unknowns, all of you must also discover some of the unknown unknowns and re-examine many of the known knowns to make it through the paradigm shift successfully.

Or, as Yoda observed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, "You must unlearn what you have learned." Or, as Yogurt observed in the 1987 movie by Mel Brooks, "God willing, we'll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money."

And speaking of money, the are special group discounts at the Windy City event. Although the first two conference registrants pay full price, the third person from the same organization, registering at the same time qualifies for 50% off his or her registration fee.

Next week, we'll look at more reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing "seven tracks amazing, six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 20, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for "Six Booths Astounding"

During the past five weeks, I've provided five great reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those who want to join in the chorus, they are "five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll share a sixth compelling reason -- and it isn't "six geese a-laying."

You should plan to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to discover "six booths astounding."

I know, I know, most of us attend SES events to learn as much as we can in the conference sessions. Hey, I spend more than 80% of my time there, too.

But, I always make room in my schedule to walk the trade-show floor at SES events -- because I always discover half a dozen booths from companies that have astounding new products or services.

Now, it's hard to predict which six booths will astound you at Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. But I do recommend that you make time to check out the expo hall.

And I can share with you half a dozen exhibitors that astounded John Mulligan, my colleague at SEO-PR, as he walked the trade show floor for SESConferenceExpo's Channel at Search Engine Strategies San Jose back in August.

If past is prologue, then you'll find that it's well worth your time to visit the booths in the exhibit hall, too.

Ryan Hupfer, HubPages, and Ren Chin, YieldBuild on exhibiting at SES San Jose 2009

Ryan Hupfer, Communicator of Awesomeness!, and Ren Chin, VP of Marketing, YieldBuild discussed exhibiting at SES San Jose 2009 with Mulligan. YieldBuild is an online ad optimization company which helps web publishers make more money from their online ads. This is done by formatting optimization, help publishers figure out best placements for their ads for their website and which networks perform best in which ad spot. YieldBuild supports different networks including Google AdSense, Microsoft PubCenter and Ad.com.

Steve Wiideman on Local Splash, search engine marketing solution at SES San Jose 2009

Steve Wiideman, owner of SEO Expert TV spoke at SES San Jose 2009 about Local Splash, a local search engine marketing solution for businesses that are regional or local. Local Splash has a proprietary application that helps businesses get higher ranking in the map sections of Google, Yahoo and Bing. Local Splash helps businesses by verifying their information, lock down the account and optimize it so it gets better ranking. Local Splash also looks at categories for all of your competitors to understand the best possible sequence of categories that a business can be placed in.

Jennifer Whaley, Century Interactive, on driving phone calls to your website at SES San Jose 2009

Mulligan also interviewed Jennifer Whaley of Century Interactive on the exhibitor floor at SES San Jose 2009. Century Interactive links website sessions to phone calls and tracks those phone calls, chats and clicks that result from print and web campaigns. Jennifer described the types of clients that Century Interactive caters and, in particular, those clients who don't sufficiently understand clickthroughs and bounce-rates but understand phone calls and helps them understand what key influences are driving their business such as keyword terms, referring websites, etc.

Paul Pellman, ClickForensics, on exhibiting at SES San Jose 2009 Paul Pellman, the CEO of ClickForensics, discussed the company's product at SES San Jose 2009 with Mulligan. Pellman talked about many of ClickForensics new initiatives, including their new interface for their publisher and ad network clients which allows their customers to drill down and monitor their existing source of traffic and quickly screen approve new sources of traffic and identify the quality of that traffic. Pellman said clients are seeing an immediate impact on the quality of traffic they deliver to their advertisers and feed partners and to be able to negotiate better deals.

Frank Rocco, Adfare Video Solutions discusses cheap video advertising at SES San Jose 2009

Frank Rocco of Adfare Video Solutions discussed exhibiting at SES San Jose 2009 with Mulligan. Adfare produces video ads in a short time frame and deliver them in less than $150 per video. Adfare can produce cheap video ads because it can take existing content, anything the customer or advertiser has online, and download those images or footage and build a script and produce a high powered, effective video within 48 hours. Adfare works across a variety of platforms, including mobile.

Wendy Roe, Pixelsilk, on exhibiting for the first time at SES San Jose 2009

Last, but not least, was Wendy Roe of Pixelsilk, who discussed the company's content management system. Pixelsilk debuted Bruce Clay's SEO toolset inside the company's Search Advice so you can get advice and recommendations for your SEO next to the content editor.

Next week, we'll look at more reasons to go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing "six booths astounding, five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 18, 2009

NACA's Save the Dream Tour Tops 315,000 Participants in 7 Cities

We've been following NACA's Save the Dream Tour this year. The first three cities were featured in a case study at SES San Jose 2009 during the How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community session as well as at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum during the What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video session.

Since then, NACA has held Save the Dream events in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Las Vegas -- and is currently in the middle of an event at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, which will run through Tuesday, October 20.

NACA's Save the Dream has been an incredible success with over 315,000 participants at the first seven cities, with many thousands having their mortgage restructured with interest rates permanently reduced to as low as 2%. Although there has been some skepticism about how they can do this, NACA has legally binding agreements with all the major lenders/servicers to achieve this.

I spent Friday and Saturday at the Cow Palace to see the event for myself. And I've decided to feature an update of their case study at SES Chicago 2009.

To date, NACA has issued 15 optimized press releases about NACA Save the Dream events in eight cities. These press releases have 2,120,603 headline impressions and 32,596 full page reads, according to PRWeb.

The documentary video about NACA's Save the Dream tour has only 2,920 views. But it has helped to generate coverage more than 29 stories on local TV stations.

NACA's campaign includes press release optimization, YouTube video, blog outreach, media relations, and Twitter marketing. Through the end of September, it had generated 363 posts, 300 tweets, 21 mainstream news stories, and 7 YouTube videos.

To get a sense of what these stories are saying, read: "The American Dream is not lost- NACA stages Save The Dream Events" by Clifford Wright in the LA Baptist Examiner. Or read "Thousands at Cow Palace seeking mortgage help" by Carolyn Said of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bruce Marks, NACA's founder and CEO, was profiled by ABC News on Nightline Sept. 5, 2009. And CBS Evening News with Katie Couric featured a story by Anthony Mason entitled, "Homeowner Hero's War on Banks," on Friday evening, Oct. 16, 2009.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Subtitled, "The American Spirit: One Man's Crusade to Help Others Restructure Loans," Mason's story says, "With at least one in every 136 homes at risk of foreclosure, one man has persuaded some mortgage holders to renegotiate with borrowers."

According to Compete, there were 724,305 unique visitors to NACA.com in July, August and September 2009, more than double the 361,764 unique visitors to the site in April, May and June 2009, and almost triple the 270,486 unique visitors to NACA.com in July, August and September 2008.

Oh, and all those visitors arrived before the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ran it's story last Friday. And if the five-day San Francisco event attracts 60,000 participants, which is how many the five-day Atlanta event did, then NACA's 8-city Save the Dream Tour will have attracted 375,000 participants.

That's an amazing story for a national non-profit community advocacy and homeownership organization. I'm just grateful that they're letting me help them tell it.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

October 12, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for "Five Brand New Things"

During the past four weeks, I've provided four great reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those who want to join in the chorus, they are "four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll share a fifth compelling reason -- and it isn't "five golden rings."

You should plan to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to discover "five brand new things."

Most of the focus at these events is on the conference sessions, but I've always made time to prowl the floor of the exhibit hall to see "what's new." And I don't mean trade show tchotchke.

Now, sometimes I see a booth from a brand new company that I've never heard of before. And other times, I find a brand new product or service being demoed in the booth of a big brand name. And every now and again, I uncover the latest SEO or SEM tools in a sponsored session at the conference.

I know, I know, this is like saying that I watch the Super Bowl in order the see the commercials. But, that's why the official name of the event is Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo.

Now, it's hard to predict the five brand new things you'll come across at either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. As either Niels Bohr or Yogi Berra once said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

But, I've been attending five of more Search Engine Strategies a year for more than five years on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, so I'm reasonably confident that SES Berlin and Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 will feature their fair share of brand new things.

And I should probably say something like, "Past performance is not indicative of future results," but let me share some actual examples of the five brand new things featured at previous SES events by Byron Gordon, my colleague at SEO-PR, who conducts many of the interviews for SESConferenceExpo's Channel.

Acquisio PPC Management Client Demo & How-to

At SES Toronto 2008, Marc Poirier, Chief Marketing Officer of Acquisio, gave a how-to demonstration of Acquisio's online advertising campaign and client management / report generation tool. Acquisio is a PPC management software company that builds software to help agencies automate processes they have to deal with in their monthly campaign management. It is exhibiting at Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009.

Stacey Jarvis, Microsoft Canada, on Bing, at SES Toronto 2009

At Search Engine Strategies Toronto 2009, Stacey Jarvis, Search Lead, Consumer & Online, Microsoft Canada, discussed Microsoft's Bing. Stacey said Bing has evolved from what was originally a pure search engine to a "decision engine." Bing is a Platinum Sponsor of SES Berlin.

Dan Morris, Brafton, on customized news feeds for websites at SES New York 2009

At Search Engine Strategies New York 2009, Dan Morris of Brafton, a custom news agency, was interviewed. Morris said Brafton writes for each client specific stories about breaking news developments in their respective industry, using keyword strategy and links. Brafton is exhibiting at SES Chicago 2009.

Alex Torres, Google, on Google tools that help to maximize your website's ROI

As Search Engine Strategies New York 2009, Google Enterprise Product Marketing Manager, Alex Torres, was interviewed about using Google's many tools, including website optimizer, Adwords analytics and Site Search to help website owners maximize their ROI. Alex discussed the reasons why Google expanded its offerings and recommends website owners to use a holistic approach when incorporating Google's website tools. Google is holding sponsored sessions at SES Chicago 2009.

Jeev Trika, Visibility Magazine, at SES Chicago 2008

At Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008, Jeev Trika, Visibility Magazine, was interviewed. Visibility Magazine started in 2007 and focuses exclusively on Internet marketing strategies. Visibility Magazine is exhibiting at SES Chicago 2009.

Next week, we'll look at more reasons to go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing " five brand new things, four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 7, 2009

This Breaking News Just In - The Meta Keywords Tag is Still Dead!

At SMX East this week, Cris Pierry, the Senior Director of Yahoo! Search, surprised everyone by saying that Yahoo! had stopped supporting the Meta Keywords Tag several months ago.

Google has never supported the Meta Keywords Tag and Bing doesn't support it, either.

So, I think I can safely say, "The Meta Keywords Tag is still dead."

Actually, the first to notice that it had died was Andrew Goodman of Traffick, who declared way back on my September 2, 2002, "An End to Metatags (Enough Already, Part 1)". He observed, "If somebody would just declare the end of the metatag era, full stop, it would make it easier on everyone."

On October 1, 2002, Danny Sullivan, provided a second opinion in Search Engine Watch in "Death of A Meta Tag." He declared, "In my opinion, the meta keywords tag is dead, dead, dead."

Nevertheless, Inktomi and then Yahoo! Search continued to support the meta keywords tag, so some search engine optimizers continued using it, although it didn't have significant impact.

Time passed, Sullivan left Search Engine Watch to start Search Engine Land and Search Marketing Expo, and way too many search engine optimizers continued using the Meta Keywords Tag because there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

But, now Pierry has officially notified the next of kin.

So, I think the entire search industry can stop using the Meta Keywords Tag -- just as Chevy Chase has stopped saying, "This breaking news just in - Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!"

I can't wait to tell the public relations agencies and PR departments that don't want to include keywords in their headline or lead paragraph. They mistakenly think that their newswire can automatically sprinkle Meta Keywords Tags over an unedited press release like pixie dust and magically optimize it for Google News or Yahoo! News.

I've long recommended using top search keywords in headlines and at least the first 100 words of optimized press releases. However, since Yahoo! News paid even minor attention to the Meta Keywords Tag, just as Yahoo! Search did, it was hard to get some to change their behavior.

Even those who realized that top search keywords actually need to appear high up in very visible locations, had trouble dealing with the death of the Meta Keywords Tag. They would go through the five stages of grief described in the book by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, "On Death and Dying." They are: 1. Denial (This isn't happening to me!) 2. Anger (Why is this happening to me?) 3. Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...) 4. Depression (I don't care anymore.) 5. Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes.)

But, now I can stay the meta keywords tag is dead, dead, dead.

And now, as a public service to those of our viewers who have difficulty with their hearing, I will repeat the top story of the day, aided by Senior Vice President of content for Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and Search Engine Strategies, Mike Grehan.

Greg Jarboe: "Our top story tonight.."

Mike Grehan: [ screaming ] "Our top story tonight..!"

Greg Jarboe: "..The Meta Keywords Tag.."

Mike Grehan: [ screaming ] "..The Meta Keywords Tag..!"

Greg Jarboe: "..is still dead."

Mike Grehan: "..is still dead!"

Greg Jarboe: Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Mike Grehan: [ screaming ] Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow!

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

October 5, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for "Four Keynote Themes"

During the past three weeks, I've given you three great reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those who want to catch up, they were "three key trends", "two early birds," and "a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll focus on a fourth compelling reason -- and it isn't to hear "four calling birds."

You should plan to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to hear "four keynote themes."

Let's start with SES Chicago 2009, where there will be three keynote themes well worth hearing.

On Day 1, the opening keynote is being given by Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? He is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism. He is also consulting editor and a partner at Daylife, a news startup.

Jarvis writes about media, technology and business on his blog, BuzzMachine. A former TV critic for TV Guide and People magazine, as well as the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, he has also been assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a reporter for Chicago Today.

"My keynote, like my book, isn't really about Google," says Jarvis. "It will be about the profound changes in the economy and society brought on by the Internet -- as seen through the success of the one company that has figured out and exploited them better than any other: Google."

Jarvis adds, "We'll have fun discussing the impact of search and the Google economy on every sector from media to advertising to restaurants to government.

On Day 2 of Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009, the keynote speaker is Peter Morville, author of the best-sellers Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. He is also the President of Semantic Studios and blogs at findability.org.

During his keynote, Morville is expected to expand on the themes found in his published works, including the idea of findability and the importance of a navigable and friendly user interface.

"At SES Chicago, this will be my first opportunity to talk about ideas in my new book - about the future of search and discovery," says Morville. "In addition to exploring the relationships between information architecture, ambient findability, and search engine optimization, we'll also be covering mobile search, decision engines, augmented reality, and emerging technologies that will change the way we find everything from answers and articles to products and people."

On Day 3, the keynote speaker is Dan Siroker, the web entrepreneur known for leading the analytics team for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. He also served as the Deputy Director of New Media on the presidential transition team.

Siroker's team of software engineers and analysts were responsible for optimizing the effectiveness of the Obama campaign's online operations that ended up raising over half a billion dollars, registering over 2 million voters, and enabling 3 million phone calls to be made in the final four days of the campaign.

Before joining the Obama campaign, Siroker was a Product Manager for Google Chrome and, before that, he worked as a Product Manager for Google AdWords.

"SES Chicago is, of course, in the President's hometown, so I'm really looking forward to sharing the lessons my team and I learned during the Obama campaign and how these practices can be applied to any data-driven decision," says Siroker. "Whether you're a developer, designer or marketer, if you're building a product or selling an idea, you can use data to do it better."

The fourth keynote theme will be delivered by Bill Hunt, the President of Back Azimuth Consulting and co-author of the best selling book "Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site", who will be the opening keynote speaker at Search Engine Strategies Berlin.

Hunt is currently on the Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization and writes Bill Hunt's Rants & Raves blog, which provides digital marketing commentary from a global marketing road warrior.

Hunt firmly believes that when we understand the searcher's intent, where a searcher is in the buying cycle or even understanding the type of search they are doing, advertisers can better intersect with the current demand for their type of products and services to increase sales. That's a keynote theme worth going to SES Berlin to hear.

Next week, we'll look at more reasons to go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing "four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 28, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for "Three Key Trends"

During the past two weeks, I've given you a couple of reasons why you should go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those who want to sing along, they were "two early birds," and "a ranking in the top three."

There are other compelling reasons to attend one of these upcoming Search Engine Strategies conferences -- and it isn't to get "three French hens." That might have been persuasive back in the Middle Ages, but it hardly seems relevant or important these days.

The compelling reasons driving us to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 are "three key trends."

The first key trend is change. Nothing in search marketing is as certain as change. And it appears that the pace of change is accelerating.

Back in 2005, I wrote, "I know that half of what I learned at last year's show is obsolete, and I had to go to this year's show to find out which half." As I continued to track Search Engine Strategies into 2006, this trend continued, unabated. And this was reflected in the conference agenda, where about 50% of the sessions changed from year to year to keep up with the latest search industry trends.

But I've just spent some time comparing the titles and descriptions of sessions for SES Chicago 2009 with the ones for Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008. And only 12 of the 65 sessions at this year's conference are repeats from last year -- and one of these is the Site Clinic, which may have the same title and description, but features entirely new content.

This means that more than 83% of the content of this year's conference is brand new. Mention this to the folks in finance if they ask, "Didn't you go to this event last year?" Do you think they could afford to skip a financial conference if 83% of the generally accepted accounting principles had changed since last year?

And if the bean counters need an example, mention that Bing didn't exist a year ago -- and now it is grabbing market share, according to the latest comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace.

So, what should be on your search radar for 2010 and beyond? As I said last week, the search engine marketing industry changes so rapidly, that you need to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to stay up-to-date on the latest market trends.

The second key trend is training.

Last year at SES Hamburg, there were two days of conference sessions. This year at Search Engine Strategies Berlin, there is a day of Workshopsprogramm as well as two days of conference sessions.

At SES Chicago 2008, there was only one day of training workshops. At Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009, there are two days of training workshops -- one offering a selection of half-day workshops and the second featuring a full day of training by Bruce Clay. In addition, SES has partnered with Market Motive to offer online certification courses.

Now, if type "SEO training" into Google Insights for Search, you'll see that web search interest has grown steadily since 2004 -- and is forecast to continue growing in 2010. So, it's not surprising that more time is being added to the schedules of search engine conferences for training workshops.

But I often wonder if "training" is the right term for the frequent updates that are needed in the rapidly changing search industry. I've heard the term, "lifelong learning," but I've never heard the term, "lifelong training."

But consider this: If you took an SEO training course before May 16, 2007, it wouldn't have covered universal search. Since then, Google has incorporated information from a variety of previously separate sources - including videos, news, images, maps, and websites - into a single set of results.

So, optimizing your website for the era of 10 blue links is like drinking milk two years after the expiration date.

Fortunately, the instructors of the SES training workshops are experts. And their small class settings ensure that you will learn the latest strategy and tactics for today's fast changing search world.

The third key trend is Mike Grehan.

In August, Incisive Media announced the appointment of Grehan as VP and Global Content Director for Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and Search Engine Strategies. He is one of the big names in our space and has a global reputation.

Grehan wrote one of the first books on search and worked in a senior management capacity on the agency side of the business for a very long time. He has been associated with Search Engine Strategies as a speaker for many years and he's hosted SES London for the past two years.

SES Chicago 2009 will be the first conference to reflect his thought leadership. You can get a preview of his big ideas in the video interview below, which was conducted at SES San Jose 2008.

Mike Grehan, the new VP and Global Content Director, ties social media to search, SES San Jose 2009

Next week, we'll look at more reasons to go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing "three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 23, 2009

Go To SES Berlin Or SES Chicago For "Two Early Birds"

Last week, I told you to go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for "a ranking in the top three." This week, I'll continue with the search engine marketing industry version of "two turtle doves."

Altogether now: "Two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Search industry veterans know that the Early Bird Rate for SES Chicago 2009 ends this Friday, Sept. 25. If you register by then, you can save up to $600 on a Platinum Passport.

Now, the agenda overview of the SES Chicago conference has just been posted. So, you can look over the agenda and decide that this is a must-attend event. Or, you might notice that 11 of the 65 sessions are "Reserved For Late-Breaking Topic."

Why is this a great reason to sign up now?

As I said last week, the search engine marketing industry changes so rapidly, that you need to attend more than one or two Search Engine Strategies conferences a year to stay up-to-date on the latest market trends.

And Mike Grehan, Senior Vice President of content for Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and Search Engine Strategies, Stewart Quealy, SES Advisory Board Co-Chair and VP of Content Development, as well as the other members of the SES Advisory Board understand this.

So, they've posted titles and descriptions of three keynotes and 50 sessions -- so you know there will be plenty of new content to learn -- and save enough slots to address the late-breaking topics that industry veterans know will pop up between now and then.

Hey, a number of us are budgeting the same way. I can tell you where 85 percent of my fourth quarter budget is going, but the last 15 percent may get shifted around to take advantage of new opportunities or to counter unexpected threats.

But you don't need to be an industry veteran to take advantage of the Early Bird Rates. You just need to make your move more than two months before your more cautious competitors.

SES Berlin also offers "Early Bird" rates. At least, that's what it says on the website before explaining the details in German.

To help us non-German speaking search engine marketers understand why we should attend, here is John Mulligan's interview with Thomas Bindl, one of Europe's leading authorities on search.

Thomas Bindl, Refined Labs, previews SES Berlin 2009

With the exception of the "Search around the World" session, which will be in English, all of the other sessions at SES Berlin will be in German. The session are also organized into a Fundamentals Track for those who are new to the field and an Advanced Track for search engine marketing industry veterans.

In the coming weeks, I'll share more reasons why you should go to SES Berlin November 24-2w5 or SES Chicago December 7-11. If you come up with some lyrics like "12 bloggers blogging," let me know. I could use some inspiration.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

How To Pimp Your YouTube Channel and Other Miscellaneous Advice

This may seem like shameless self-promotion, but if you read all the way to the bottom of this post, you'll benefit in ways that you wouldn't imagine. Besides, I figure that you'd want to know how to pimp your YouTube channel and get other miscellaneous advice. I could always blog about this topic, but the details have just been dished out in three videos and a podcast.

Let's start with the interview that Mike McDonald of WebProNews did with me at SES San Jose 2009. (Actually, the video starts by itself, but don't let that throw you.) The video is entitled, Finding Marketing Value in YouTube.

With people being increasingly drawn to video content, everyone is trying to capitalize on video sharing sites such as YouTube. I told McDonald, however, there is one problem: it isn't always easy.

YouTube is known for funny videos of cats or children. While these videos may go viral, they will likely only produce a one-time audience. In other words, these kids and cats may not to do the same thing again, which means there would be no reason for viewers to return to that channel for more content.

To be successful on YouTube, users cannot simply upload a single video. Statistics show that in an average minute, 24 hours of video has been uploaded to YouTube. As a result of this large amount of competition, I tell McDonald that users should create a series of "compelling content" in order to bring viewers back continually.

Users have to have a reason for wanting to come back to a particular YouTube channel and it is up to the content providers to produce that desire. Is your YouTube channel creating that appeal?

Now, I should provide equal time for other views.

Over at ReelSEO, Mark R Robertson interviewed me at SES San Jose 2009 about Leveraging the Power of YouTube for Search Marketing. I told him, "One of the most important trends in search is YouTube. It is the second most popular search engine on the planet."

But I suggested a two-pronged approach:

1. Optimize your video so that it can be found in searches 2. Involve yourself in the community, which helps breed the sharing aspects of YouTube.

I then told a story about Monty Python. I interviewed Monty Python's producer about their YouTube efforts. The producer originally just went looking for a way to help keep pirated copies of Monty Python's work from being uploaded all over the place. So they created their own channel and began posting their work themselves -- in a higher quality.

As an afterthought, they put a click-to-buy link at the bottom of the video so that users could click and be taken straight to Amazon to purchase DVDs. A funny thing happened when they did that: sales went up a staggering 23,000%.

The point of the story, obviously, is that although YouTube is not thought of as a direct-response marketing platform, as it continues to evolve, it's turning into a direct-response marketing solution faster than people may realize.

But wait! There's more! Check out the YouTube video below. Mike Grehan, Senior Vice President of content for Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and Search Engine Strategies, says my new book "won't help you find the answer to life, the universe and everthing in it, but I guarantee it will help you get your videos found on YouTube, Google and other sites. So, read this book. It will change your life. You'll become more wealthy, more attractive to the opposite sex."

Mike Grehan, SVP for SEW, ClickZ and SES on YouTube Marketing: An Hour A Day

If you find this hard to believe, then check out the podcast on DishyMix.

This all started when Susan Bratton saw me dashing through the San Francisco Airport, with a new copy of my book, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour A Day."

Bratton says, it "is another one of those Wiley tomes that plunges all the way to detail hell on every aspect of using web video for marketing. This book is a must-read that will get you up to date on the constant changes YouTube is putting into place so marketers and Google can milk this phenomenon for everything it's worth."

The random encounter at SFO got me invited on DishyMix, where Bratton has just posted her interview of me. It's entitled, Episode 117: Greg Jarboe: Pimp My YouTube Channel, 6-Steps to SEO PR and Roosevelt's Arena.

According to Bratton, "Start making video and let Greg tell you how to produce it, research the keywords and optimize your video so you can get found, watched and loved."

She adds, "And in case you still want to get those press releases out there, Greg gives us his updated, freshly reformulated 6-Step Process for Optimizing Press Releases for the News Services."

If you like those DishyMix episodes where the guest delivers how-to advice in painstaking detail, then this is the show is for you. According to DishyMix, it is "packed with great tips, insider short cuts and a level set on the world of online video marketing, banana-milkshake fueled Jarboe works his buns off for you."

I know, I know, even I would take these comments with a grain of salt.

So, if McDonald's video, Robertson's video, Grehan's video and Bratton's podcast still don't provide you with enough details about video optimization, then you have options.

You can attend today's Online Publicity Workshop at Market Motive. It starts at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific and is entitled, YouTube & Video Marketing.

No, this isn't duplicate content. I will explore the world of online video, including what it takes to be successful and how to use some of the lesser known tools to prepare and track an online video marketing campaign.

Or, can also attend SES Chicago 2009. On Day 1, Monday, Dec. 7, I'll be speaking at a session entitled, "YouTube & Video Optimization."

Online video marketing is crucial in today's marketplace. More than 158 million Americans watched an average of 8.3 hours of online video during July 2009. That's more viewers than the 151.6 million Americans who watched Super Bowl XLIII, which reached the largest television audience in U.S. history.

My solo presentation will provide you "with proven, practical guidelines for developing and implementing video marketing for your organization." At least, that's what the SES Chicago website says.

And if you register by this Friday, Sept. 25, you can save up to $600 with the Early Bird Rate. See, it does pay to read all the way to the bottom of these posts.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

September 16, 2009

Go To SES Berlin Or SES Chicago For "A Ranking in the Top Three"

As you plan you schedule for the rest of the year, consider attending SES Berlin, which will be held November 24-25, 2009, and SES Chicago, which will be held December 7-11, 2009.

For a sneak preview, watch the interview with Matt McGowan, VP Publishing at Incisive Media, by John Mulligan of SEO-PR. They talk about the upcoming SES Berlin and SES Chicago events.

McGowan says after having SES shows in various cities in Germany, including Hamburg and Munich, it was time to schedule one in Berlin. He says attendance is expected to be around 500 for SES Berlin in November. And SES Chicago is expected to attract thousands of marketing executives, managers, professionals, specialists and consultants in December.

Matt McGowan, VP Publishing, Incisive Media previews SES Chicago and Berlin '09

Now, why should you go to one of these shows at the end of the year?

There are a dozen reasons, which I will roll out over the next several weeks. But, let me begin by singing the SEO version of "A Partridge in a Pear Tree."

If you read my article in Search Engine Watch back in January 2007, you already know the words. If you didn't, they are: "A Ranking in the Top Three."

If the search industry didn't change so rapidly, then you could attend one or two Search Engine Strategies conferences a year and stay up-to-date on the latest market trends.

But, Google issues two to four press releases a month and two to four blog posts a week that impact your search engine ranking or represent a new marketing opportunity. For example, Google Fast Flip was announced just this week.

Fast Flip is a new reading experience that combines elements of print and online articles. Like a print magazine, Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual publishers. As the name suggests, flipping through content is fast, so you can quickly look through a lot of pages until you find something interesting.

At the same time, Google provides aggregation and search over many top newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Salon, Fast Company, and Newsweek. And it gives you the ability to share content with your friends and community.

Fast Flip also personalizes the experience for you, by taking cues from selections you make to show you more content from sources, topics and journalists that you seem to like. In short, you get fast browsing, natural magazine-style navigation, recommendations from friends and other members of the community and a selection of content that is both serendipitous and personalized.

Google has also made a mobile version of Fast Flip with tactile page flipping for the iPhone and Android-powered devices, so you can browse on the go.

And, Microsoft isn't shy about making announcements early and often, either. Just this week, Microsoft introduced a new Visual Search feature on its Bing search engine to make Web content more visually appealing. Although not directed at news, it displays some categories of search results using thumbnail images instead of text.

So, if you attended SES San Jose in August 2009 and don't go to another event until SES New York in March 2010, I estimate that you'll be about seven months behind the eight ball when you get there.

Now, if you don't mind letting your search engine rankings drop below the top three listings for several months -- or if you aren't worried that your competitors will take advantage of new opportunities before you find out about them -- then happy holidays.

However, if falling behind in a rapidly changing world does concern you, then take a serious look at attending SES Berlin, which will be held November 24-25, 2009, and SES Chicago, which will be held December 7-11, 2009.

If anyone asks you why you're going, simply sing out that you want to get or need to keep "A Ranking in the Top Three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

September 15, 2009

The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns

At SES San Jose 2009, one of my favorite sessions was entitled, "The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns."

This major B2B research initiative was conducted by Enquiro Research with input from Google, Business.com, Covario, Marketo and DemandBase. So, the session was moderated by Gord Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro, and the speakers included: Mark McMaster, Senior Planner of B2B and Technology Markets at Google, Ben Hanna, VP Marketing at Business.com, Susan Scarth, VP Marketing at Demandbase, Jon Miller, VP Marketing at Marketo, and Dr. Matthias Blume, Chief Analytics Officer at Covario.

Their findings showed that most marketers aren't effectively leveraging online assets to their best potential. Among other things, the notion of a strictly followed, traditional buying funnel is simply not accurate. In many instances, risk dictates buying behavior. In many high risk, complex purchases, search is incredibly important as an integrator across online and offline channels and face-to-face persuasion is still necessary.

The BuyerSphere project looked at how online strategies became artificially separated from traditional best practices, how they can be more effectively integrated, and the part search plays as a major influencer. This panel reviewed the research from over 100 face-to-face interviews, hundreds of eye tracking sessions and over 3,000 survey responses in total.

The project represents a major step forward in understanding B2B buyer patterns and the part online marketing can play in influencing them.

Following the session, I interviewed Hotchkiss about the BuyerSphere Project. He said B2B marketers are frustrated as marketing decisions are not based on rational decision making. Risk and fear play huge roles in B2B buying.

Hotchkiss discussed the "buying funnel" and its history, but concluded it's not a workable model. For more information, go to the B2B BuyerSphere or watch the video interview below.

Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro at SES San Jose 2009 discussing Buyersphere Project

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 13, 2009

Trade Show Exhibtors at SES San Jose 2009 Have Good Stories to Tell

A month has passed since SES San Jose 2009 -- and you might think that all the good stories to tell have already been told.

But most of the press and blog coverage focused on the conference side of the Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo. And the trade show exhibitors also had a lot of news to share over on the Expo side of the event.

Now, instead of uploading all the videos from SES San Jose to YouTube in the same week, we've learned that it's better to upload a few each week to SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. This enables viewers to digest the major stories at a reasonable rate, while also giving them a reason to subscribe to the YouTube channel to get ongoing updates more than five times a year.

Among the trade show exhibitors with good stories to tell was Jennifer Whaley of Century Interactive. John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed her on the exhibitor floor at SES San Jose 2009.

Century Interactive links website sessions to phone calls and tracks those phone calls, chats and clicks that result from print and web campaigns. Whaley described the types of clients that Century Interactive caters and, in particular, those clients who don't sufficiently understand clickthroughs and bounce-rates but understand phone calls and helps them understand what key influences are driving their business such as keyword terms, referring websites, etc.

Whaley went on to describe the analytics that Century Interactive uses when servicing their clients; this includes a java script loaded on a website which captures each website session. To learn more about Century Interactive's innovative Web technology, watch the video interview below.

Jennifer Whaley, Century Interactive, on driving phone calls to your website at SES San Jose 2009

Another trade show exhibitor with a good story to tell was Steve Wiideman, owner of Local Splash. We gave him a mic at SES San Jose 2009 and asked him to talk about SEO Expert and Local Splash.

He discussed his local search engine marketing solution for businesses that are regional or local. Local Splash has a proprietary application that helps businesses get higher ranking in the map section of Google, Yahoo and Bing. Local Splash also helps businesses by verifying their information, lock down the account and optimize it so it gets better ranking.

For example, by syndicating a client's business information across the Web to business directories and search sites, Local Splash in turns adds new destinations to their list such as superpages and over time, ranking improves. Local Splash also looks at categories for all of your competitors to understand the best possible sequence of categories that a business can be placed in.

Steve Wiideman on Local Splash, search engine marketing solution at SES San Jose 2009

Another trade show exhibitor with a good story to tell was Tim Musgrove of Digger. We also gave him the mic at SES San Jose 2009 to tell it.

Musgrove discussed the free trial accounts that Digger gave away at the conference. He also talked about Digger's auto-generated topic pages which auto-creates landing pages for content-rich websites.

Tim Musgrove, Digger, at SES San Jose 2009 on semantic technology and free trial software

Wendy Roe of Pixelsilk also talked about exhibiting for the first time at SES San Jose 2009. She discussed the company's content management system.

Pixelsilk debuted Bruce Clay's SEO toolset inside the company's Search Advice so you can get advice and recommendations for your SEO next to the content editor.

Wendy Roe, Pixelsilk, on exhibiting for the first time at SES San Jose 2009

And last but not least, Mulligan interviewed Frank Rocco of Adfare Video Solutions in front of the exhibitor's booth at SES San Jose 2009.

Adfare produces video ads in a short time frame and deliver them in less than $150 per video. Adfare can produce cheap video ads because it can take existing content, anything the customer or advertiser has online, and download those images or footage and build a script and produce a high powered, effective video within 48 hours.

Adfare works across a variety of platforms, including mobile. In the interview below, Rocco discussed one example of local video being used in a mobile platform.

Frank Rocco, Adfare Video Solutions discusses cheap video advertising at SES San Jose 2009

There are more good stories to tell -- but I save those for another day. Hey, it's a long time between now and SES Chicago 2009. So, come back again for an update.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

September 5, 2009

ABC News Nightline Story Looks at NACA's Save the Dream Tour

Last night, the incredible success of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) was featured on Nightline on ABC News. Entitled "The Financial Terrorist," the story went on the frontlines to Cleveland, Ohio, with NACA CEO Bruce Marks, "a man trying to restore the American Dream."

It's worth noting that Marks is a self-proclaimed "bank terrorist," according to a recent interview in The Boston Globe entitled, "Taking bank chiefs to task to save homes." Marks explained, "Bank terrorism is a nonviolent way we personalize the consequences of CEOs' actions. When someone loses their home, they lose their neighbors, they lose their community, and their kids lose their friends and their schools. It's personal. Lives have been devastated. We go to the CEOs' homes, usually on Sunday morning, which is family time, in their gated communities."

I featured NACA's Save the Dream Tour in a case study that I presented at SES San Jose 2009 during the session entitled, "How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community." I also presented excerpts of NACA's Save The Dream tour documentary produced by DigiNovations at Social Media & Video Strategies during the session entitled, "What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video."

NACA's Save The Dream tour documentary - excerpts (produced by DigiNovations)

NACA's "Save the Dream" tour has already helped thousands of homeowners avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates. It has used 9 optimized press releases, blog outreach, have a dozen YouTube videos, social media marketing and old fashioned media relations to generate 29 local TV stories, 18 articles in daily newspapers, 272 blog posts, and 246 Twitter tweets. The combined coverage helped to attract over 35,000 participants in Cleveland, 45,000 in Chicago, 40,000 in St. Louis, and 60,000 in Atlanta. But, as I mentioned back at SES San Jose 2009 and Social Media & Video Strategies, NACA's Save the Dream Tour isn't over.

It will continue at upcoming events in Phoenix, AZ, at the Phoenix Convention Center from Sept. 25 to 28; Los Angeles, CA, at the LA Convention Center from Oct. 2 to 5; Las Vegas, NV, at the Thomas and Mack Center from Oct, 9 to 12; and San Francisco, CA, at the Cow Palance from Oct. 16 to 20, 2009.

NACA projects that they will be able to help 80% of those who apply. NACA can do this because it has secured legally binding agreements with most of the major lenders and servicers, which covers 90% of the at-risk homeowners.

But, to achieve an affordable solution, participants also need to bring the following documents to one of NACA's Save the Dream events: a) Pay Stubs (most recent available 30 days) b) Monthly Mortgage Statement (most recent available) c) Property Tax Bill (most recent available) d) Homeowners Insurance Bill (most recent available)

It also helps to register for the event. At the first four events this summer, NACA had over 500 staff and volunteers who put in long hours and lots of hard work to help homeowners save their dream. Nevertheless, the turnout has been unprecidented.

As Chris Camp of WSB News in Atlanta reported, "Over four days, 60,000 people have been standing in the hot Georgia sun... hoping for salvation in the midst of America's money crisis. Now it comes down to this. A woman sobs uncontrollably, comforted by friends and her mother....When she lost one of her jobs, her entire world teetered on the edge of disaster. Instead, she came to the Georgia World Congress Center, hoping for a miracle. She found one: the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

September 2, 2009

Richard Jalichandra, CEO of Technorati, and the Power of Social Media

As I mentioned earlier today, lots of sessions at SES San Jose 2009 and the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum focused on the link between search and social media. In fact, the co-location of the two events was as good an indication as any that the two topics were of interest to many of the same people.

While many of those sessions were held at the McEnery Convention Center, others were held next door at the San Jose Marriott. One of these sessions was entitled, "In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing."

With the advent of Twitter, micro-blogging, and mobile video, the publishing model has been turned on its head. How can marketers take advantage of these new tools? This session at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum discussed topics ranging from social media's role in the Iranian elections to Ashton Kutcher.

Following the session, Lee Odden, a member of the SES Advisory Board and the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, interviewed Richard Jalichandra, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Technorati, who was one of the panelists.

Jalichandra cited the example of Kutcher and his Twitter base of more than 2 million followers. He said companies want to develop their brands in the social media space, but they can't always get the reach or scale of a successful viral campaign.

Jalichandra added that as a social media ad network, Technorati encourages companies to place their brands beside the conversation and mix it with a viral component which should help build a successful social media campaign.

Richard Jalichandra, CEO of Technorati, and the power of social media at SES San Jose 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:14 PM | Permalink

Liana Evans of Serengeti Communications on Social Media Relationships

Last month, there were a number of sessions at SES San Jose 2009 and the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum that tried to link search and social media. One of them was entitled, "Social Media: Managing Conversations and Reputations When the User Is In Control."

What your customers say about you online -- both on your site and elsewhere -- has an impact on your marketing efforts. This panel examined how businesses must improve internal operations before trying to guide external conversations, provided the nuts and bolts of carrying out a social media strategy and shared first-hand experiences and tips from professionals in the trenches.

One of the panelists was Liana Evans, Director of Social Media at Serengeti Communications. (The Flickr photo of Li at SES San Jose 2009 was taken by Kenneth Yeung of TheLetterTwo.com) John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Li after the differences between search and social media.

Liana Evans of Serengeti Communications on Social Media Relationships at SES San Jose 2009

Li says you need to set appropriate objectives -- otherwise you are just throwing spaghetti against the wall. She says you need to plan your company's strategy, define what will be measured and constantly monitor and measure. With social media, you're measuring influency, intimacy, interaction. You can measure these attributes by observing such actions as whether comments are being left on your YouTube video, or putting reviews out via blogs about your product.

Li says it's about branding and building relationships when using social media and not necessarily about registering a click to purchase. She adds how important it is when building social media relationships to make potential users of your product "brand evangelists." Managing social media effectively revolves around building a strategy, says Li, and its all about the relationships you build.

Search Engine Strategies 2009 - San Jose - Liana Evans (Flickr photo by Kenneth Yeung (cc) of TheLetterTwo.com)

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 31, 2009

Global Search Market Tops Over 100 Billion Searches a Month

comScore has just released a study of the global search market that shows more than 113 billion searches were conducted in July 2009. This represents a 41 percent increase compared to a year ago.

Google attracted significantly more searches than any other search engine with 76.7 billion searches conducted, giving it 67.5 percent market share. Yahoo! ranked second worldwide with 8.9 billion searches (7.8 percent share), followed closely by Chinese search engine Baidu with 8 billion searches (7.0 percent share). Most of the top search properties worldwide experienced significant growth in search query volume versus last year, with Russian search engine Yandex growing at the fastest rate (94 percent) among the top ten.

It is worth noting that Europe accounted for the highest share of searches at 32.1 percent, followed by Asia Pacific (30.8 percent) and North America (22.1 percent). Among the five global regions, Latin America exhibited the heaviest search behavior per person with an average of 13 search usage days in July and 130 searches per searcher. Europe had the second highest overall search volume per person (117 searches per searcher) while North America exhibited the second heaviest frequency (12.5 search usage days per searcher).

This makes it as important to attend SES Berlin November 24-25, 2009, as it does to attend SES Chicago December 7-10, 2009. Why?

As Mike Grehan, the newly-anointed VP and Global Content Director at SES, SEW, and ClickZ, told me earlier this month, search isn't a static topic. The changes in the industry are accelerating. Can anyone afford to be behind the times in this new era?

Mike Grehan, the new VP and Global Content Director, ties social media to search, SES San Jose 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 23, 2009

Nicholas Fox of Google AdWords Invites You To Shape Future of Search Advertising

Nicholas Fox, the Business Product Management Director of AdWords at Google, gave one of the three keynote speeches at SES San Jose 2009. Yes, yes, he provided a glimpse of where he saw search advertising headed in the near future. And that included finding what you were looking for without using keywords, richer media formats, and cost-per-acquisition.

All these were headline grabbers. And you can see the media response by reading:

Paul Krill article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "Google exec provides glimpse into future of search-based advertising."

David Needle's article in Internet News, "Google Looks Beyond Keywords."

Rebecca Lieb's article in ClickZ, "Keywords Out, Networks In."

But I think there was another big story hidden beneath the headlines. Fox also invited attendees to help Google shape the future of search advertising. And he provided a URL (http://www.google.com/seskeynote2009), which will redirect users to a Google forum where they can provide feedback on the future of search advertising as they see it.

If Google gets more friendly with search engine marketers, then Microsoft will have a much tougher time taking more market share. This is a significant development.

Following his keynote, I interviewed Fox about what he had said in his keynote about keywords, richer media formats, and cost per acquisition. More importantly, we talked about his invitation to attendees to help shape the future of search advertising.

Nicholas Fox, Google, on future of search advertising at SES San Jose 2009

As of this morning, there were more than a dozen messages in the SES Keynote Feedback Forum, including ones by Mona Elesseily and Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media and Joe Cibula of InverSearch. Check it out.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

August 19, 2009

People Still Talking About Charlene Li Keynote at SES San Jose 2009

Almost a week later, people are still talking about the Charlene Li keynote at SES San Jose 2009. It was entitled, "How to prepare for the future of search."

If you weren't there, it's difficult to give you a flavor of the discussions that were triggered by Li's comments. But we tried something different and interviewed some of the conference attendees immediately after the keynote -- along with interviewing Li, the co-author of Groundswell, to get her to expand on some of her remarks.

Below is a video that has just be uploaded to SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Hopefully, this will enable to get an idea of why SES keynotes aren't always lectures by a sage on the stage. They can also be round-table discussions moderated by a guide on the side.

Marketing is going through a similar change. As Li says, companies must create relationships with users of the social media space in order to foster more trust and authenticity. And Pattie Simone of Womenentrepreneur.com and Lisa Buyer of The Buyer Group discuss what this means to them and their clients.

Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell, and the future of search at SES San Jose 2009

The impact of social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on the future of search will be profound. But it's hard to predict. That's what makes this a discussion that extends beyond a specific conference held on any given week.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 18, 2009

SES San Jose 2009 Attendees Give Conference & Expo High Marks

SES San Jose 2009 ended last week, but attendees are still talking about the conference and expo. And they're giving the event high marks.

You can get a sense of that by looking at the photos in the SESConferenceSeries' photostream on Flickr. For example, hundreds of marketers attended the Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic on Thursday, August 14, 2009. It was moderated by Elisabeth Osmeloski, Director of Online Media at Advertures in Search, and speakers included Matt Cutts, the Software Engineer Guru at Google, Tiffany Lane, Search Quality Team at Google, and Greg Boser, President of WebGuerrilla LLC at the session.

You can also get a sense of the quality of the conference content by watching the YouTube videos below that feature attendees of SES San Jose 2009. Each was handed them the microphone and asked what they thought of the event.

Greg Alexander, The Net Impact, on attending SES San Jose '09

Aditi Jasra of Web Analytics World describes attending SES San Jose '09 Ryan Guerra shares his experience attending SES San Jose 2009

Tiffany Phan, CEO Training, describes her experience at SES San Jose 2009

Michael Balistreri, iMOS, describes his first experience at SES San Jose 2009

Lauren Balistreri, iMOS, on attending SES San Jose 2009

Patricia Santos Fontes, Globo.com and Ines Goncalves, Google on being at SES San Jose 2009

Now, if you've just received the email from Jackie Ortez asking you to fill out the SES San Jose Survey, please take the time to respond. The organizers of the conference use the feedback from attendees to get a better perspective on the event. As Jackie says in her email, "Your opinion is highly valuable to helping us continue to improve the SES conferences."

Over the past couple of years, I've seen speakers and whole sessions dropped because attendees didn't give them high marks. So, treat the SES San Jose Survey seriously -- because the results are really, really taken seriously.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 16, 2009

A Chat with Michael Fischer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate

I have seen the future of YouTube, and it works!

Last week, I had "A Chat with Michael Fischer" at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum in San Jose. Fischer is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

We talked about coldwellbanker's Channel on YouTube, which offers consumers a new way to search for and interact with real estate information and listings. Named Coldwell Banker On Location, the channel was created back in May.

On Location is the first branded YouTube channel to use dynamic IP lookup to search for videos, which automatically serves up local results when visitors first hit the site. To create On Location, Coldwell Banker Real Estate closely collaborated with both YouTube and Google to develop what is arguably one of the most comprehensive and immersive brand channels on YouTube.

And I'm kicking myself for not mentioning this YouTube channel in my book, YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, which I finished writing in May. It's like visiting Boston in April 1912 and missing a trip to Fenway Park, which had just opened that month.

Two areas of strategic focus set Coldwell Banker On Location apart from other real estate Web sites. First, it showcases the power of video to bring real state more vividly to life -- offering behind-the-scenes looks at towns and neighborhoods, smart tips and timely news on real estate topics, and video listings of homes for sale. Second, content posted to On Location has a strong emphasis on local information and insights, so consumers can dig deeper into the areas of the country that interest them most.

Supporting this highly localized perspective is one of the more unique aspects of Coldwell Banker On Location -- the ability to search for videos through a special map feature that has been developed specifically for the site. The map "widget" is a prominent feature at the top of the On Location site and the main starting point for consumers searching for a home, a specific area of the country or more information on a real estate topic.

Visitors to the site are automatically shown video search results from their own area / zip code. Then by clicking the link "Browse By Map," consumers can enter the city / state or zip code of their choosing - which pulls up all videos posted to On Location associated with that area. These video results are displayed as icons on the map.

Each search returns a wide range of video results, including video listings, spotlights on that local community and Coldwell Banker sales associate/representative profiles. Consumers can click through to view specific videos - as well as connect back to the main Coldwell Banker Web site to learn more about a specific property for sale.

At the end of the session, I interviewed Fischer about some of the Coldwell Banker Real Estate agents who add their individual personalities to the YouTube video experience.

Michael Fisher of Coldwell Banker discusses Coldwell Banker's successful viral marketing campaigns

Some of the video and written content for On Location is supplied by a select group of content providers, including the Associated Press, CNN, Reel Productions TV, This Old House and TurnHere. Coldwell Banker On Location complements the company`s main Web site at www.coldwellbanker.com - including the "Learn" section which features educational content as well as news articles and updates on the real estate sector. It extends the company`s social media strategy, which includes Facebook pages for the brand and its two founders, Colbert Coldwell and Arthur Banker, a Twitter feed and profiles on Flickr and FriendFeed.

In addition to using YouTube as a platform, Coldwell Banker Real Estate is using Google's ad networks and channels to promote On Location. This includes both Google and YouTube search ads, YouTube banner promotions and Google TV.

Development of the On Location site was a collaborative effort by Coldwell Banker interactive agency partners, FD Kinesis and Bootstrap Software, Inc.

I am especially impressed that the the nation's oldest real estate organization is also the most innovative. Coldwell Banker Real Estate is not only thinking outside the box when it comes to YouTube, it is also thinking outside the website when it comes to video marketing.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 13, 2009

Matt Cutts of Google Joins Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic at SES San Jose

Matt Cutts, the Software Engineer Guru at Google Inc., will be joining the panel during the Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic at SES San Jose 2009 on Thursday, August 14, 2009, from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. The session will be held in Room C at the McEnery Convention Center.

Cutts will be joining Moderator Elisabeth Osmeloski, Director of Online Media at Advertures in Search, and speakers Tiffany Lane, Search Quality Team at Google, and Greg Boser, President of WebGuerrilla LLC at the session.

In case this is your first SES conference, Cutts works for the Search Quality group in Google, specializing in search engine optimization issues. He is well known in the SEO community for enforcing the Google Webmaster Guidelines and cracking down on link spam. Cutts also advises the public on how to get better website visibility in Google.

Cutts joined Google as a software engineer in January 2000. Before Google, he was working on his Ph.D. in computer graphics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has an M.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill, and B.S. degrees in both mathematics and computer science from the University of Kentucky. Cutts wrote SafeSearch, which is Google's family filter. In addition to his experience at Google, Cutts held a top-secret clearance while working for the Department of Defense, and he's also worked at a game engine company. He claims that Google is the most fun by far. Cutts talks about webmaster-related issues on his site at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/.

This interactive session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their websites live to provide general feedback about improving them to gain more traffic from search engines.

I interviewed Matt at SES San Jose 2008 -- back before he'd shaved his head on a bet with his team at Google. He talked about his job interview at Google in 2000. The video interview is one of the most popular on SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube.

Matt Cutts, Google, discusses mobile search at SES San Jose 2008

The Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic was already on a lot of people's list of must-attend sessions. But, with Cutts added to the panel, get there early just to get a seat.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 12, 2009

Josh Groban Fans & Grobanites Finding Clay Shirky Video Interview at SES San Jose

Truth is stranger than fiction. Yesterday, Clay Shirky gave the keynote speech at SES San Jose 2009. In his keynote, he discussed the Grobanites for Charity, which works with Josh Groban fans and the Josh Groban Foundation to raise money and support underfunded charities.

If you don't know who Josh Groban is, ask your daughter or mother. He is a Grammy-nominated U.S. singer-songwriter.

The video interview with Shirky was uploaded to YouTube yesterday.

The Deon Designs blog embedded the video in a post entitled, "Clay Shirky discusses the shift in user behavior in a Web 2.0 World at SES San Jose 2009."

This triggered a large number of tweets -- and 28% of the views the video has received so far have come from Twitter.

Another one of the external links to the video is from the Josh Groban Official Message Board.

Oh, and the first comment on the video came from freim93, who said, "Very cool shout out to the Grobanites!!!!" The second comment came from Rocker742, who says, "Yeah!!! Grobanites for Charity rocks!"

And 16% of the views of the video can from YouTube Search. And the top search term is "Josh Groban." The second term is "SES San Jose."

So, Shirky is an adjunct professor at New York University in the graduate interactive telecommunications program, where he teaches courses on the interrelationships of social and technological networks, particularly how they shape culture and vice versa.

But, this video interview with him could be just another example for his course. Check it out. This is the link between search and social that everyone has been talking about.

Clay Shirky discusses the shift in user behavior in a Web 2.0 World at SES San Jose 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Top Stories from SES San Jose and Social Media & Video Strategies

Both SES San Jose 2009 and the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum got underway today. So, there were lots of stories. Here are the top ones:

Barry Schwartz of the Search Engine Roundtable posted Keynote: Clay Shirky, Author of Here Comes Everybody. Search Engine Rouhdtable is using a live blogging tool to provide the real time coverage. Check out Barry's story and the tool.

And if you want to hear Shirky's keynote, head over the WebmasterRadio.FM, where they've uploaded Clay Shirky Keynote at SES San Jose 09.

WebProNews Videos posted Breaking News: Matt Cutts Explains Caffeine Update. Yes, yes, Cutts talks about the project called "Caffeine" that will re-write the architecture for Google's Web search. But, you will also want to check out his new bald is beautiful look.

More WebProNews Videos

Lori Ho of the adCenter Blog posted From SES San Jose - Search: Where to Next? Recap. She writes, "The usual suspects are here and the conversations are buzzing - one topic that keeps coming up over and over again is the question 'Where is Search going?'."

Trevor Claiborne of the Official Google Website Optimizer Blog posted Conversion is the word at SES San Jose this week.

I interviewed Mike Grehan, the newly-anointed VP and Global Content Director at SES, Search Engine Watch, and ClickZ, about the link between search and social. Oh, we also ask about Stickie the Shoehorn. Check out the video interview below.

Mike Grehan, the new VP and Global Content Director, ties social media to search, SES San Jose 2009

Derek Edmond of the aimClear Blog posted SES San Jose C-Suite Track #1: The Adaptive CMO. Edmond covered the solo presentation by Brian Featherstonhaugh, Chairman & CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Adam Singer of the Online Marketing Blog posted SES SJ: How To Optimize For Search & Engage The Community. Singer not only covered my solo presentation, but he also got me to share my "secret sauce" with him over lunch.

Cindy Kerber Spellman of SearchFuel posted At SES San Jose? Check Email, Tweet & Catch up on SearchFuel @ Blogging Centers. She says, "great things are brewing in the Silicon Valley this week."

Last, but not least, Blair Vincent of Idearc Search Marketing wore a golden cape to promote Superpages.com over at the exhibit hall of SES San Jose 2009. Hey, I not making this stuff up.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 11, 2009

SES San Jose 2009 Kicks Off with Over 5,000 Attendees

The Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose Conference & Expo and Social Media & Video Strategies Forum both get underway on Tuesday, August 11, 2009. More than 5,000 attendees have already registered to attend.

I caught up with Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, including SEW, ClickZ and SES, and asked him to provide an overview for the week.

Now in its 11th year, SES San Jose is organized and programmed by the SES Advisory Board and SearchEngineWatch.com, the leading authority on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). The conference will be packed with 70+ sessions covering PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization and usability, while offering high-level strategy, keynotes, an expo floor with 100+ companies to help you grow your business, networking events and more. My video interview with McGowan is below.

Matt McGowan welcomes you to SES San Jose 2009, highlights a week of Search Engine Strategies

Of course, I am just following in the footsteps of WebProNews Videos, which did a preview of the event last week. Check out their video interview below.

More WebProNews Videos WebProNews to Cover SES San Jose 2009

Although there will be blog, Twitter and video coverage of SES San Jose, the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, and the Local Search Summit this week, experienced attendees know there's nothing like being there. Still, if you want to listen in to the keynote presentation by Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody" on WebmasterRadio.fm on Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 6, 2009

Live Certification Gauntlet at SES San Jose 2009

No one will be beaten to death. At least, I don't think there will be any physical punishment.

But on Tuesday, August 11, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Market Motive U will be holding a Live Certification Gauntlet in Exhibit Hall 2 where the keynote is given.

If you've never seen one, it was common practice in the French army, especially for thieves. In some traditions, if the condemned was able to finish the run and exit the gauntlet at the far end, his faults would be deemed paid, and he would rejoin his comrades with a clean slate. Elsewhere he was sent back through the gauntlet until death.

You can witness this new form of mental punishment that compels a person to run between two rows -- a gauntlet -- of experts who ask tough questions as he or she passes.

Yes, this is what it takes to be certified in search marketing. Come watch current students and recent graduates of Market Motive U address the toughest questions under the scrutiny of the Internet Marketing Dream Team - comprised of top speakers, authors and consultants - all on one stage!

This session is open to all attendees and runs like a wild fusion between American Idol, a PhD dissertation defense, and a lightning-round news round-table show. This event will feature: • Live site and campaign audits • Tough on-the-spot questions • Lightning round-type quizzes • No holds barred critiques from the Internet Marketing Dream Team.

Each panelist will have completed up to three months of Market Motive Master Certification and will vie for faculty endorsements during this live session. You can witness each dissertation on the latest search marketing standards or submit your website or campaign for a chance for it to be evaluated by the new masters of Internet marketing.

The Dream Team Faculty includes: Matt Bailey & Jennifer Laycock on Social Media, Jamie O'Donnell on Online PR, Avinash Kaushik & John Marshall on Web Analytics, Todd Malicoat on SEO, Andrew Goodman on Paid Search, and Bryan Eisenberg on Conversion Optimization.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

August 5, 2009

Audience for Online Video-Sharing Sites Has Nearly Doubled

According to a survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project conducted in April 2009, the share of online adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006. Fully 62 percent of adult internet users have watched video on these sites, up from just 33 percent who reported this back in December 2006.

Online video has also become a bigger fixture in everyday life, garnering 19 percent of all internet users who use video-sharing sites to watch on a typical day in April 2009. This compares with just 8 percent of internet users reported use of the sites on a typical day in 2006.

The report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans' use of the Internet. The results are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between March 26 to April 19, 2009, among a sample of 2,253 adults, 18 and older.

According to Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist at the Pew Research Center, online video watching among young adults is near-universal; 89 percent of internet users ages 18-29 now say they watch content on video sharing sites, and 36 percent do so on a typical day.

While much of the content on video sharing sites is user-generated, there is also a growing archive of professional content available through YouTube and newer network-sponsored video portals like Hulu. Efforts to lure viewers to these portals appear to be paying off, as 35 percent of internet users now say they have viewed a television show or movie online. By comparison, just 16 percent of internet users said they had watched or downloaded movies or TV shows when asked a similar question in 2007.

I know, I know, I've just written a book entitled, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day." But just because I'm biased doesn't mean I'm wrong.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the use of video sharing sites currently outranks many other headline-grabbing internet pastimes among American adults. For example, the 62 percent of adult internet users have watched a video on online video-sharing sites like YouTube is greater than the 46 percent of adult internet users are active on social networking sites, or the 11 percent who use status updating sites like Twitter.

So, think about that as you consider which sessions to attend at SES San Jose 2009. You can attend The Next Wave for Online Video, Extreme Makeover: Live Twitter & Blogging Clinic, or both sessions.

Or, you can attend the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, the Local Search Summit, or both events.

Based on the latest data from the Pew Research Center, online video-sharing sites are among the topics that you'll want to be able to discuss intelligently. And if you really want to master this subject, check out the YouTube and Video Marketing Workshop on Friday, August 14.

Or, you could sign up for one of the other training workshops. I know all of the other instructors: Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive, Jennifer Evans Laycock of SiteLogic, Bill Hunt of Back Azimuth Consulting, Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit, and Cindy Krum of Rank-Mobile, LLC. There are a lot of topics that will be on the test.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Q&A with Marc Poirier, Co-Founder and CMO of Acquisio

I asked Greg Meyers of iGESSO, LLC to interview Marc Poirier, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Acquisio, before SES San Jose 2009. Acquisio is one of the scores of sponsors and exhibitors that you'll want to check out when the exhibit hall is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11, and from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 12.

You should know that no t-shirts were bartered for this exclusive interview. The selection was made entirely by using an algorithm that analyzed 958 photos in the SESConferenceSeries' photostream to find the most relevant result for the term, "Marc Poirier."

Marc Poirier is a professional Search Engine Marketing expert with more than a decade experience in the Search industry. He is Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Acquisio where he leads all marketing activities.

Prior to his position at Acquisio, Marc was founder and president at Canalytics, a boutique SEM and SEO agency regarded as one of the most active Google Analytics Authorized Consultants in the world today. Prior to Canalytics, he held various e-marketing management positions for technology and software companies that include Komunik - a Relational Marketing software vendor, Cognicase - a Canadian leading IT consulting and systems integration firms, aside from being a strategic consultant at U.S. based marchFIRST.

Marc began his entrepreneurial career in 1996 while completing his Cognitive Science Ph. D. studies when he founded Webaxis Alliance, an interactive agency that worked on major Canadian websites such as sympatico.ca and canada411.ca .

Whenever the opportunity arises, Marc loves to fish and is an amateur walleye fisherman who shares his passion on his blog, http://marc.poirier.com.

Question #1: Can you explain to our audience what is the driving force behind the creation of Acquisio? Was there a specific opportunity you wanted to capitalize on?

Answer: Originally, Acquisio was a search marketing agency I co-founded in 2003. We had some level of success doing this, and in this industry, with success comes the pain of reporting. We reached a point where building our reports for all our clients would take a team of 4 people 2 weeks of non-stop mind-numbing work in Excel, and then Powerpoint or worse desktop publishing software. Not a great way to scale a business. But our clients loved their reports, and we knew it was the reason they paid their bill at the end of each month. When you are an agency, in many ways, the product you sell IS the report. So they had to be done as quickly as possible and with as much attention to detail as possible so we could get paid. But we would often make errors, or forget something, it was a total nightmare. In case anyone wonders why we have these t-shirts, well, now you know.

We always looked around for software to help automate some of this stuff, but we never did find anything that would do much of what we needed. Certainly, bid management software was NOT the answer, though we definitely had our share of experience playing with them.

At this time, the opportunity became clear that one of the things our industry needed was a productivity platform for search marketing agencies. The vision originally was to provide one login to all the engines, along with all the tools needed to launch and manage client campaigns. It had to be a white label platform. It had to be easy to use and visually appealing. And most of all, it had to save our future clients time, lots of time.

The first iteration offered an application that produced visually engaging, client-ready white label reports. We were the first, and as far as I know, still the only ones offering it. Later we designed a multi-engine bulk editor, which we designed just like the Google AdWords editor, but it support AdWords, YSM and adCenter. We were also the first to do it, but others followed eventually with similar tools.

The campaign automation platform came later. We looked at the bid management space and felt it was so outdated we couldn't just reproduce what was already there, so we spent a lot of time with our product advisory board and with our clients to design a tool that would let the marketers design business rules using every available bit of data we have to accomplish any given task automatically. Question #2: In all of Paid Search Marketing, there are users with many different levels of experience. Can you give us some insights into Acquisio's main target market? For example, your service appears to be targeted to both Search Marketing Agencies and Individual Advertisers? Which market is this platform best suited for?

Answer: Our market has always been clear - we focus on helping agencies. We are the only SEM platform whose mission is focused on helping agencies. They share the same business model, and they have a unique set of challenges; and it's definitely not about managing bids. Our mission is to provide a platform that will make them extremely efficient.

Acquisio SEARCH attracts non-agencies as well, and we do have several very large advertisers using Acquisio SEARCH. They love it - in fact some of them tell us we offer much more value than the so-called "enterprise-class" platforms. Our product is significantly more affordable than most of them are, and while there may be some added benefits to using their product, for many large advertisers with multiple accounts, we're just a slam-dunk!

Question #3: For just about every PPC Guru in the world, the Google Adwords Editor is the most widely used Adwords management tool on the market. It's also attractive because it is a FREE Desktop Tool. What makes Acquisio more valuable than the Adwords Editor?

Answer: AdWords Editor is a great tool. But it only works for AdWords. That's a big problem right there!

We offer an almost exact replica of Google AdWords editor. It is built using Flex, so it works in your browser. I mean it really is just the same. You can edit your keywords, negatives, text ads, adgroups and campaigns exactly the same way you would in AdWords Editor.

It is "better" than AdWords editor because it also supports YSM and adCenter, in the same model. No learning curve. You can move things from one engine to the next with ease. It's a great tool.

Then of course, AdWords editor doesn't save you hundreds of hours of error prone grunt work by automatically generating private label client-ready reports at the end of each month

It also doesn't keep an eye on things for you while you sleep, triggering changes or pausing items, or even sending out alerts. Building intelligent makes a significant difference in the ROI of most campaigns.

Question #4: During this Economic down-turn, is Acquisio concerned at with the overall decline of PPC Budgets? If so, what strategies are in place to try and make the best of the situation?

Answer: Up until very recently we didn't notice anything at all, probably because we are still in hyper-growth and adding so many new clients all the time, and growing our revenue each month, it's been hard to see any downside to anything.

However last month we poured over some numbers and one of the things we did notice is that overall agencies are losing some accounts, a significant number of PPC advertisers have either gone out of business, or are in such a bad situation that they even stop spending money on paid search. It's not good.

Question #5: Can you provide our PPC audience with anything new and/or exciting enhancements in Acquisio's Development Pipeline? Are there any announcements that you would like to make to this search marketing audience? Answer: Sure, one of them is that we just completed our first acquisition. We will be announcing all the details later on this week, but I can say it is the coolest landing page application we've seen ;-)

Some of the things coming down the pipe in the next few weeks are third party data integration. As part of this new capability comes something that has been keeping us busy for a while now: conversion and revenue attribution. Question #6: Acquisio, as well as many other PPC Applications such as Omniture SearchCenter use API tokens to communicate to the Search Engine Accounts in real-time. What makes Acquisio's API interface any better than it's competitors?

Answer: Yes we interface with these APIs all day long, but this is the common foundation we all have. I mean maybe one thing that may differentiate us is we have several large local search agencies as clients, and some of them are Google AdWords resellers. This gives them several benefits, such as not having to pay their AdWords Quotas. Our API implementation supports API quota management for AdWords resellers.

Another thing that may be interesting is that we try to interface with the tools marketers use every day, we already have API integration with Wordtracker and some other keyword recommendation tools, and we want to continue in that direction with competitive analysis tools, web analytics tools, ad servers, and call tracking platforms.

Also, API integration to other ad networks are in the works, such as 2nd tier search engines, B2B engines, shopping engines, and when it becomes possible, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (if they ever go there).

Finally, we will offer access to the main display ad networks when they provide API access.

Question #7: What would you say is the "secret sauce" of the Acquisio's Platform? Is it a specific tool or a combination of functions?

Answer: Acquisio SEARCH is the only productivity platform for SEM agencies. We literally save SEM agencies around the world tens of thousands of hours of grunt work every month. We are down to earth people, and we come from the world of SEM agencies.

It has always been our goal to make the business of serving SEM clients as easy as possible, and to free up as much time as we can so our clients can focus on the strategic things that make a difference for their clients.

For Acquisio, the "secret sauce" is pretty much to bring immediate and evident value to your customers. We do that pretty well I would say.

For a free demo of Acquisio please visit: http://www.acquisio.com/contact-for-demo.php

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

125,000 People Have Attended NACA's Save the Dream Events

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, NACA says 40,000 people attended its Save the Dream event in St. Louis last weekend. KTVI Fox 2 in St. Louis reported the same figure in their coverage below.

According to NACA, 50,000 people attended it's event in Chicago the weekend before that. Gailann Jarocki of the Chicago Residential Examiner listed 16 lenders who were going to be on-site at the event. And WLS-TV ABC 7 in Chicago was there to document the event.

And according to NACA, 35,000 people attended the Save the Dream event in Cleveland. Although some were disputing this number, Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-11th District), who brought NACA to Cleveland, bristled at the mistrust and skepticism over NACA and the Save the Dream event.

"This is jealousy of the worst kind," she told WKYC in a phone call from Washington. "Every time we get something good going that's helping people, there is somebody to try to tear it down."

Now, I find it interesting that most of the people who are questioning the numbers are from organizations that should have been doing something to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates -- but got upstaged by NACA, a national non-profit community advocacy and homeownership organization headquartered in Boston.

According to NACA CEO Bruce Marks, "The NACA homeownership program, which is without cost to those participating, is our answer to the huge subprime and predatory lending industry. NACA has conclusively shown that when working people get the benefit of a prime rate loan, they can resolve their financial problems, make their mortgage payments and become prime borrowers. NACA's track record of helping people who have credit problems become homeowners or restructuring a predatory loan debunks the myth that high rates and fees are necessary to compensate for their credit risk."

But, I also have my own reality check. My wife looked at the list of cities on the Save the Dream tour and didn't see Boston, where NACA is headquartered. But she knew a friend that needed their help, so she recommend that she call NACA's toll-free number: 1-888-302-NACA. According to my wife, her friend got help with her predatory or unaffordable mortgage.

NACA has now arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, where they will hold another Save the Dream event from Friday, August 7, until Tuesday, August 11. In other words, they've added an extra day to deal with the volume of people expected to turn out.

So, quibble about the numbers, if you want to. The reason I'm going to feature NACA's case study at the "How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community" session in the Search & Community Track at SES San Jose 2009 on Tuesday, August 11, at 10:30 a.m. I'm doing this because NACA has exceeded the combined total of 25,000 homeowners, who participated in the first three Save the Dream events in Columbia, SC, Stamford, CT, and Washington, DC.

They've done this with an integrated marketing campaign that includes search engine optimization, public relations, social media, and video marketing.

That's a story worth telling.

And I'm going to showcase "Documentary: NACA's 'Save the Dream' - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners" during the session entitled, "What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video," which will be held at the San Jose Marriott at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum on Tuesday, August 11 at 3 p.m.

That's because this is a story worth retelling.

Documentary: NACA's "Save the Dream" - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)

August 4, 2009

SES San Jose 2009 to Feature Search Engine Foosball Smackdown Rematch

If you attended SES San Jose last year, you may have seen the Search Engine Foosball Smackdown. It was a heated event between Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! Each search engine sent some of its best foosers to see who would dominate (well, at least who would dominate the foosball table).

Microsoft was knocked out in the elimination round, although that was before Bing. This left Google and Yahoo! to battle it out in the finals.

The Yahoo! team of Daniel Wong and Jake Rosenberg took home the coveted Stonetemple Cup after a tough finals match. Check out the photo by Kelsey Jarboe to see just how seriously everyone took this event.

But, that was then, and this is now.

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft will be meeting for a rematch at SES San Jose 2009. According to Eric Enge, the president of Stone Temple Consulting, the teams have been changed as each search engine has brought in their best and brightest foosers -- and there's no telling if some of them are ringers.

Who will take home the the coveted Stonetemple Cup this year?

Will this match tell us what will be the dominant search engine of the future?

Will the matches tell us anything about the working relationship of the new tag-team wrestling team created by the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal?

Will Adam Lasnik or Maile Ohye of Google show up in cheerleading costumes?

You need to be there to know the results before everyone else has tweeted about them in the Twittersphere, posted the news for the blogosphere to comment on or Digg, or uploaded a video for the YouTube community to discover, watch and share.

In other words, don't wait to see the story on ESPN 8, "The Ocho" along with everyone else. Be in the front row to document the outcome yourself. The Tweeter, blogger, or YouTuber who posts the story first has the greatest chance of getting the most links.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

July 29, 2009

Search and Community Case Study at SES San Jose: NACA's Save the Dream

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) Save the Dream tour will arrive in St. Louis on Thursday, July 30. Their buses will pull in front of St. Louis University's Chaifetz Arena at 2 PM filled with hundreds of staff and volunteers. St. Louis is the third stop on NACA's 10-city tour to help homeowners take advantage of an historic opportunity to make their mortgage affordable.

About 35,000 people attended the first Save the Dream event in Cleveland. About 50,000 people attended the second Save the Dream event in Chicago. This is a dramatic increase over the 25,000 people who attended NACA's first two Save the Dream events last year in Columbia, SC, and Washington, DC.

One of the reasons why turnout has increased this year is NACA's use of optimized press releases, blog outreach, and YouTube videos to let people know that the national non-profit community advocacy and homeownership organization offers unprecedented solutions for homeowners caught up in the current mortgage and economic crisis. During the Save the Dream events, borrowers can get mortgages restructured the same day.

The Obama administration just finished its meeting with mortgage servicers this week to get them to modify hundreds of thousands of home loans for Americans so borrowers can avoid foreclosure. But even before that, NACA secured legally binding agreements with all the major servicers to restructure loans to what homeowners can afford based on a documented affordability analysis.

I will be showcasing this case study during the session, "How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community," which will kick off the Search & Community Track at SES San Jose 2009. During the "What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video" session at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, I'll also be taking a closer look at the documentary video about last year's tour that was uploaded to YouTube on July 1 of this year.

Documentary: NACA's "Save the Dream" - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners

To date, there have been 338 posts about NACA's Save the Dream events -- 170 on Twitter, 151 in blogs, 10 in mainstream news, 3 comments, 3 forum replies, and 1 video. In other words, NACA's story has been retold 338 times this month.

But NACA's success story isn't over. After spending July 31 to August 3 in St. Louis, NACA's Save the Dream tour continues to the World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA, August 7 to 10. For more information, go to NACA.com.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

20 Authors of Business, Marketing, PPC and SEO Books Speaking at SES San Jose

Bring a couple of book bags to Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2009 because there will be more than 20 authors of business, marketing, PPC and SEO books and speaking at the conference. I should disclose that I'm one of them.

Now, there are a lot of great conference speakers who haven't written a book -- yet. I should know. I've been speaking at SES conferences since 2003, six years before I wrote a book. And writing a book isn't like Doc Ostrow getting a Krell brain boost in the movie Forbidden Planet (1956).

Nevertheless, getting a book published does indicate that you've got more than 12 minutes of PowerPoint slides to share with attendees. And, it's "something that never looks bad on your permanent record," according to Greg Marmalard in the movie Animal House (1978).

As a new author, I'm also beginning to learn that tracking where you rank on Amazon.com is almost as addictive as tracking where you rank in Google. Now, Google guidelines do not recommend the use of products to check rankings. However, Amazon.com welcomes them. For example, Rankforest provides sales rank tracking for authors and publishers. They can view historical charts, export rankings, compare items, create alerts, and more.

So, as you look over the agendas for SES San Jose, the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, and the Local Search Summit, you might want to know about the subjects that the conference speakers have written about as well as the topics that they are going to address. Here are the 20 authors that I know will be speaking at one or more of these events:

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.

Tim Ash, author of Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions.

Optimizing Landing Pages -- Tim Ash's Tips and... Footwork

James Colborn, author of Search Marketing Strategies: A Marketers' Guide to Objective Driven Success from Search.

Bryan Eisenberg, co-author of Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results, Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing, and Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer.

Bryan Eisenberg Always be Testing: Google Website Optimizer

Mona Elesseily, author of Mastering Panama.

Eric Enge and Stephan Spencer, co-authors of The Art of SEO.

Dave Evans, author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Andrew Goodman, author of Winning Results with Google AdWords.

Andrew Goodman- Winning Results with Google AdWords

Mike Grehan, author of Search Engine Marketing: The Essential Best Practice Guide.

Bill Hunt, co-author of Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site.

Greg Jarboe interviews Bill Hunt about his new book

Greg Jarboe, author of YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour A Day. http://www.amazon.com/YouTube-Video-Marketing-Hour-Day/dp/0470459697

Greg Jarboe - Mysteries of Online Video

Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day.

Rebecca Lieb, author of The Truth About Search Engine Optimization.

Rebecca Lieb, eConsultancy, on her new book about search engine optimization at SES NY 2009

Lance Loveday, co-author of Web Design for ROI: Turning Browsers into Buyers & Prospects into Leads.

Robert Scoble, co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.

Ayat Shukairy, co-author of Landing Page Optimization: The Complete Guide.

Shari Thurow, author of Search Engine Visibility and When Search Meets Web Usability.

Amanda Watlington, co-author of Business Blogs: A Practical Guide.

Now, I'm probably missing a few authors -- especially a couple of conference speakers who are still writing books that haven't been announced yet. Still, if you review the list above, you could fill a bookshelf with all the titles that have already been written by speakers at SES San Jose, the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, and the Local Search Summit.

So, if you will be attending Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2009 for the first time, then imagine entering Flourish and Blotts for the first time. It's the popular bookstore in Diagon Alley where most Hogwarts students purchase their schoolbooks.

Who knows. Maybe famous wizard author Gilderoy Lockhart will be holding a book signing at the store.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

July 22, 2009

Lee Odden of TopRank Chats About Intersection of Search and Social Media

Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing and a member of the SES Advisory Board, discussed the intersection of search and social media today with AdWeekMedia Connect. The chat topic: How marketers are leveraging the SEO and search advertising opportunities within social media.

Odden has embedded the recorded chat stream on his Online Marketing Blog.

At SES San Jose 2008, I challenged Odden to wear his best Tommy Bahama shirt at this year's event. He may have forgotten the challenge, but I haven't. That's right, the Tommy Bahama shirt challenge is still on.

Odden is teaching a DMA Certification Workshop entitled, "Social Media Marketing and SEO - Working Together for Dramatic Results," on Monday, August 10.

He will also be moderating a session at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum on Tuesday, August 11, entitled, "In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing."

On Wednesday, August 12, Odden will be speaking at a session at SES San Jose entitled, "Social Media: White Hat vs. Black Hat."

He will also be speaking at a session at SES San Jose entitled, "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds," on Thursday, August 13.

At SES Toronto last year, I asked Odden and Dave Snyder, search strategist and marketer for JRDunn, whether Twitter was the ultimate time waster, or a great tool? You'll want to check out their answers below.

Twitter and its Uses & Abuses for Marketing at SES Toronto

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Search and Community Track at SES San Jose: NACA's Save The Dream Tour Update

I've just been told that 35,000 people attended NACA;s Save the Dream event in Cleveland July 17 - 20. And the Search Engine Watch community played a role in the record turnout.

On Friday, July 3, I posted "Search and Community Track at SES San Jose: NACA's Save The Dream Tour" to this blog. In my post, I embedded a documentary video created by DigiNovations of Concord, MA, that provided background on NACA's Save the Dream program, which has helped homeowners across America restructure and renegotiate home mortgages and home loans they can no longer afford.

Documentary: NACA's "Save the Dream" - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners

Despite the fact that this was the Friday before the July 4th holiday, more than 75 of your tweeted about the post.

Then, on Saturday, July 18, I posted an update: "Thousands Turn Out for NACA's Save the Dream Event in Cleveland." I mentioned that Jeff Maynor of WKYC-TV, Channel 3 in Cleveland, had reported that thousands turned out for NACA's Save the Dream event.

Again, despite the fact that fewer people read this blog on weekends, more than 45 of you tweeted about that post.

And, since the event continued through Monday, July 20, the "thousands" that had already turned out ended up becoming 35,000. To put this in context, a combined total of 25,000 homeowners participated in the first three Save the Dream events in Columbia, SC, Stamford, CT, and Washington, DC.

Oh, and NACA's Save the Dream tour isn't over. It's now headed to McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, where over NACA 500 staff and volunteers will help homeowners from July 24 to 27 avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates. Then, it continues to Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, MO, from July 31 to August 3. After that, NACA's Save the Dream tour heads to the World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA, from August 7 through 10.

Simeon Lewis of Chicago is one of the thousands already helped by NACA. "My home was all but lost until NACA stepped in and reduced my adjustable interest rate from 8.625% to 2% fixed. I'm saving nearly $600 a month."

If you know friends or neighbors who need mortgage relief, then spread the word. Tell them to go to the Neighborhood Assistance Corporate of America website at NACA.com and sign up.

At SES San Jose 2009, attend the How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community session on Tuesday, August 11, at 10:30 a.m. I'll feature NACA's Save the Dream tour in my solo presentation. You'll learn how a national non-profit community advocacy and homeownership organization headquartered in Boston used YouTube videos, optimized press releases, blog outreach, media relations, and Twitter to offer unprecedented solutions for homeowners caught up in the current mortgage and economic crisis.

It's a story that deserves to be retold.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Measuring the Marketing ROI of Attending SES San Jose

If you register to attend SES San Jose 2009 by Friday, July 24, you can save up to $200. But you already knew that.

The bigger question that you -- and other Chief Marketing Officers -- are looking to answer is this: How do you measure the return on investment in going to a search engine marketing conference?

Now, measuring marketing ROI isn't a hard science. It's more of a social science. But there some reasonable approaches that you can use to figure out the value of attending SES San Jose 2009.

Ask yourself this question: Can I afford to skip this event? The answer will depend on how rapidly you think the search engine marketing industry is changing. And, unless you've been cryogenically frozen for the past year, you'll know that a lot has changed since SES San Jose 2008.

That will be the theme of the Opening Keynote by Clay Shirky, the author of the new book, "Here Comes Everybody." Shirky is a writer, educator, and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He is an adjunct professor at New York University in the graduate interactive telecommunications program, where he teaches courses on the interrelationships of social and technological networks, particularly how they shape culture and vice versa. He consults to a variety of organizations on network technologies, and is an acknowledged expert on collaboration tools, social networks, peer-to-peer sharing, collaborative filtering, and open source development. Shirky has spoken and written extensively on the Internet since 1996, with regular columns in Business 2.0, FEED, OpenP2P.com and his own shirky.com blogsite. He has appeared in The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and others. In his new book, Shirky explores how organizations and industries are being upended by open networks, collaboration, and user appropriation of content production and dissemination.

Shirky's keynote will be followed by a session on Day 1 of the conference entitled, "The Adaptive CMO: A New Paradigm for Digital Marketing." This session sets the stage for the C-Suite track and provides a strategic view of how marketing is constantly evolving and will define the critical role that search must play. The rules have all changed and all bets are off. Brian Featherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide, will present his point of view on how brands are built, why the "four Ps" are no longer valid, how corporate cultures are created, and what happens as the world goes digital.

The next session in the C-Suite track is entitled, "The View From the CMO's Office." Search marketers and non-search marketers have traditionally had difficulty communicating in the language of their disciplines, often creating friction and unnecessary conflict. This session will walk you through the day-by-day challenges of the CMO from two viewpoints: the traditional CMO and the CMO who has made the move to digital. This session will explore how both disciplines can educate each other and explore such issues as the nominal percentage of marketing spend that is allocated to search.

During the afternoon on Day 1, there is another session in the C-Suite track entitled, "Integration: The New CMO Imperative." With the popularity of sites like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter, brands increasingly need to engage with their customers outside their website. The portability of content and viral connectivity that occurs online requires a new approach to branding. If you attend this session, you will learn strategies for increasing brand awareness and protecting brand equity in today's socially connected web as well as tactics that can be implemented in today's resource and budget constrained environment.

Next in the C-Suite track is a session entitled, "Budget Migration: Going Digital Without Impacting Your Brand." The move to a predominantly digital marketing strategy can be overwhelming. Migrating from staid traditional channels to the open waters of the web can be daunting -- especially for companies that are unsure of how to properly measure search, display, email and social media. This session will arm you with the information you need to know about migrating budget to digital without impacting your brand awareness or the equity you have built up in your brand. If you attend, you will learn from companies that have started moving significant resources away from TV, radio and print and into search, social, display and email. Lessons learned will be discussed as well as the metrics and tools need to gauge the success of a balanced digital marketing program.

Finally, the C-Suite track wraps up on Day 1 of SES San Jose 2009 with a session entitled, "Performance Pricing Models: What Every CMO Must Know!" With many marketing organizations feeling the pain of financial pressures, pay for performance pricing models are gaining popularity in search today. At this stage of the game, chances are that you've either thought about trying this type of pricing model but held back because you were unsure of what's involved or perhaps you tried to pursue it in the past, but had trouble making it work for you and your vendor. Designed to maximize results, a performance based compensation model can truly be a win/win for you and your search engine marketing partner. Not only will it help to drive results and bring your partners' goals in alignment with your own, it will also allow you to reward your search partner for superior performance while keeping your overall ROI in mind. In this session, the panelists will cover the keys to developing a successful pay for performance pricing model including a thorough overview of the concept, how it can be applicable to both PPC and SEO, the chief benefits it offers, and why marketers should consider it. In addition the panelists will delve into what marketers need to know before adopting a pay for performance model, including how to assess if it's right for you, popular misconceptions, and the common problems that can arise along the way. If you attend, you will be provided with actionable advice on the critical success factors needed to make a pay for performance model work, including the role of goals, benchmarking, performance metrics, historical data, scenario analysis, and tracking.

So, what's the marketing ROI of attending the first day of SES San Jose? Well, ask yourself this question: What's the cost of skipping this event?

Now, if you've done the risk benefit analysis of attending SES San Jose for a day, what are the incremental costs and benefits of attending for two days?

Take a close look at the SES San Jose agenda overview for Day 2 and you'll see lots of sessions that a CMO who is making the move to digital should attend.

Here are a few that I would recommend:

Igniting Viral Campaigns: Leveraging Consumer-Generated Content -- How can businesses leverage social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and more to break through and create buzz, encourage word of mouth, and establish relationships with potential customers? This session unveils the secrets of Web 2.0 techniques and technologies that enable companies to stand out and be talked about.

Facebook Ads: Reaching Prospects Earlier In The Decision Cycle -- You know how powerful search marketing ads are. They get in front of consumers who are already raising their hands for more information about your business. But wouldn't it be great to influence that decision earlier to a much larger target audience? With over 200 million active users sharing authentic information, you can precisely reach the right people before they start searching. Learn how to target your exact audience, create compelling ads, optimize for the greatest ROI and generate demand for your business on Facebook.

Afternoon Keynote -- Nicholas Fox, a business product management director on Google's AdWords team, is giving the afternoon keynote. Fox leads product management for Google's ads quality efforts, focused on optimizing the end user experience with ads displayed through Google's AdWords program. He is responsible for the development and improvement of the algorithms that determine the display, ranking, and pricing of AdWords ads on Google and its partners. Fox also leads product management for AdWords bidding features, which enable advertisers to maximize their ad performance and simplify their bid management. Prior to joining Google in 2003, Fox was a consultant with McKinsey & Company in Palo Alto, Calif., focusing on corporate finance and strategy for technology companies. He studied economics at Harvard College, from which he graduated magna cum laude.

Four Paths to Success in a Tough Travel Economy -- Travel marketers discuss the challenges of smart search marketing in tough economic times, when leisure travelers are hard to come by and businesses slash budgets. Experts in four key areas of travel search marketing - Organic, Paid, Social and Local/Mobile - share successful strategies and creative campaign ideas to attract and increase traffic, proving that it is possible to generate positive ROI with limited resources.

The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns -- A major B2B research initiative, conducted by Enquiro with input from Google, Business.com, Covario, Marketo and DemandBase, showed that most marketers aren't effectively leveraging online assets to their best potential. Among other things, the notion of a strictly followed, traditional buying funnel is simply not accurate in many instances, risk dictates buying behavior, search is incredibly important as an integrator across online and offline channels and face-to-face persuasion is still necessary in many high risk, complex purchases. The BuyerSphere project looks at how online strategies became artificially separated from traditional best practices, how they can be more effectively integrated and the part search plays as a major influencer. This panel will review the research from over 100 face-to-face interviews, hundreds of eye tracking sessions and over 3,000 survey responses in total. The project represents a major step forward in understanding B2B buyer patterns and the part online marketing can play in influencing them.

Okay, if you are in for a penny, are you in for a pound? What is the marketing ROI of attending SES San Jose for a third day?

Again, take a close look at the conference agenda and decide for yourself. Nevertheless, here are some sessions that you might want to consider attending:

How to Prepare for the Future of Search -- The morning keynote will be given by Charlene Li, an influential thought leader on emerging technologies, with a specific focus on social technologies, interactive media, and marketing. She is the co-author of the business best-seller, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, published by Harvard Business Press in May 2008. Named "one of the most influential women in technology" by Fast Company, Li is the founder of Altimeter Group, which provides speaking and consulting services to organizations looking to understand and thrive in a new economy driven by social media tools and techniques. She is one of the most frequently-quoted industry analysts and has appeared on 60 Minutes, The McNeil NewsHour, ABC News, CNN, and CNBC. She is also frequently quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, and The Associated Press. A sought-after public speaker, she has presented frequently at top technology conferences such as Web 2.0 Expo, SXSW, and ad:Tech. Most recently, Li was a VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research. She joined Forrester in 1999, after spending five years in online and newspaper publishing with the San Jose Mercury Newsand Community Newspaper Company. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and received a magna cum laude degree from Harvard College.

SEO Through Blogs & Feeds -- Not yet running a blog? Not syndicating your content through web feeds? Then you're missing out on an important area that can help your overall SEO efforts. Learn more about the unique advantages blogs and feeds offer to search engine optimization.

The New Search ROI: Measuring More than Conversion -- Search marketing has a great advantage over other forms of marketing: It is extremely measurable and actionable. Advertisers have access to detailed click and conversion data about their campaigns, so they know which keywords are leading to the most sales. But smart search marketers today realize it's not enough to simply measure conversion to get an accurate picture of the overall ROI of their paid search programs. Internet sales typically account for 5 to 20 percent of a company's revenue (depending on the industry), but influence as much as 40 percent of sales. Therefore, measuring paid search ROI in relation to only online transactions significantly underreports SEM's overall contribution to company revenue. Also, remember that paid search conversions are influenced by more than just the last click; many times a conversion happens a few hours, days, or weeks after a series of clicks and searches. This practical and informative session will focus on best practices and practical techniques that marketers can use to get started with "multi-conversion" measurement. If you attend, you will walk away with actionable strategies for using industry-tested approaches that can help you effectively analyze key performance metrics of their campaigns -- whether a click results in a purchase online, a purchase offline, a call to a call center, or another conversion metric. You'll learn how to use freely available techniques to make sure you're measuring the real effectiveness of every click, to make better, more accurate keyword buying decisions, and more accurately gauge the real ROI of search programs.

Advanced Keyword Research -- Mark Twain famously said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. When it comes to effective keyword research, nothing could be more true. Carefully tailored keyword research not only helps determine the success or failure of your entire search marketing campaign, but it can also provide a way of better understanding your visitors and their intentions. This in-depth discussion will move beyond the basic keyword research tools to zero in on advanced tips and techniques for taking your SEO or PPC campaign to the next stage.

Extreme Makeover Live! Why Am I Not Making Enough Sales? -- There are many companies out there for which traffic is not a problem. Are you one of those companies that gets plenty of visitors but only about 2% of those that visit convert into a sale or a lead? This session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their websites live to show you why you aren't making enough sales. Do you know the main issues holding your website from converting visitors? The panel of experts will make sure you walk away from this session with a great deal more insight about the factors that cause your website to act like a leaky bucket and what to do about them.

Okay, spending three days at a search engine marketing conference is a serious investment of your time. And measuring the marketing ROI of attending SES San Jose isn't trivial.

But that's why CMOs get paid the big bucks. And with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke seeing signs of an economic recovery, now is the time for you to chart a course to the digital world that is reshaping marketing as we know it.

So, if you are going to attend SES San Jose 2009, then register by Friday, July 24. Save up to $200. But that's small potatoes compared to the even bigger benefits to be gained from learning how to navigate through the ever-changing search engine marketing industry.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 20, 2009

All Work and No Play at SES San Jose? Not!

I know, I know, I've been focused on what you will learn by attending SES San Jose 2009 from August 10-14, the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum on August 11, and/or the Local Search Summit:09 on August 13. You'd think that I was some kind of Puritan from New England!

Well, there will be a number of special events, too. For those who want to be certified in search marketing, there's a Live Certification Gauntlet on Tuesday, August 11 at 4:30 p.m. And for those who believe (correctly) that all work and no play make Homer something, something, there's WebmasterRadio.FM's SearchBash on August 11 at 8:30 p.m.

WebmasterRadio.FM will be throwing its largest, wildest and most dazzling SearchBash ever! At least, that's what I've been told. Even if this turns out to be hype, SearchBash San Jose'09 will be the premier party event of Search Engine Strategies San Jose -- at least on Tuesday night. But, hey, it's all inclusive and always fun.

Now, for those first time SES attendees who want a preview of SearchBash, click on the link above and check out the photos from other events around the country. Or, play the video below -- which doesn't show people at SearchBash, but it does capture the Zeitgeist of WebmasterRadio.FM's event at SES New York earlier this year.

The SearchBash 2008 Jim Hedger of Webmaster Radio

And if you don't get enough networking done at SearchBash, then check out the hottest networking party for internet marketers on Wednesday, August 12: The IM Charity Party at SES SJ, which gets underway at 6 p.m. Most of the conference speakers and top internet marketers will be there and all the money raised goes to charity! So, make business connections, have fun, and help save the life of a sick child.

And if you look a little beat up when you get back to work, just tell your boss that it happened while you were running the Live Certification Gauntlet.

Get it? Got it? Good!

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 18, 2009

Thousands Turn Out for NACA's Save the Dream Event in Cleveland

Back on July 3, I posted "Search and Community Track at SES San Jose: NACA's Save The Dream Tour." The story resonated with many of the readers of this Search Marketing News Blog, because it generated 75 tweets over the following 24 hours.

Well, I want to update you on the story as it unfolds. As Jeff Maynor of WKYC-TV, Channel 3 in Cleveland, reports, thousands turned out for NACA's Save the Dream event.

Accordiing to Maynor, "Everywhere you looked in the arena at the CSU Wolstein Center downtown, there were cheers. And there were tears. People facing foreclosure on their homes learned that their mortgages were being modified to something they can afford, and they will not lose their homes."

Check out his news video, which is embedded below.

Cleveland: Thousands turn out for NACA 'Save the Dream' event

So, yes, I plan to feature this case study in my solo presentation at SES San Jose 2009, "How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community." But, the story doesn't end in Cleveland.

If you go to the NACA home page, which has been updated to make it easier to find information about the nationwide Save the Dream Tour, you'll see there will be more Save the Dream events in Chicago, IL, July 24 - 27, at McCormick Place; St. Louis, MO, July 31 - Aug 3, at Chaifetz Arena; and Atlanta, GA, Aug 7 - 10, at the World Congress Center. And NACA is still working on locations and dates for Save the Dream events in nine more cities around the country.

And there are lessons here for attendees of SES San Jose 2009 as well as attendees of the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum and Local Search Summit:09.

The biggest lesson is that NACA didn't rely on just SEO, or video, or press release optimization, or blog outreach to generate these kind of results. They used a combination of marketing tactics -- in what can be called "an integrated marketing strategy."

Search engine marketers, YouTube directors and entrepreneurs have always demonstrated a talent for out-of-the-box thinking. Well, the top out-of-the-box thinkers may be speaking at one of the other three events being held in San Jose August 10-14, 2009. It won't hurt to look beyond the McEnery Convention Center to check out what's being presented at the San Jose Marriott.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 17, 2009

Local Search Summit:09 Joins SES San Jose and Social Media & Video Strategies

Right after I posted Optimized Schedule for SES San Jose Plus Social Media & Video Strategies I discovered that there's going to be another event that week. It's was like hearing Ron Popeil tell me, "But wait! There's more!"

That's right, I just found out that Local Search Summit:09 will be held on Thursday, August 13, 2009, at at the San Jose Marriott. To put this in context, SES San Jose 2009 will be held next door at the McEnery Convention Center from Monday, August 10, to Friday, August 14. Meanwhile, the first Social Media & Video Strategies Forum will be held on Tuesday, August 11, at the San Jose Marriott.

Get it? Got it? Good!

The featured sponsors of Local Search Summit:09 are Localeze, which powers some of the most successful Internet Yellow Page companies on the net, and Citysquares, one of the premier local community sites on web. Other sponsors who made the event happen include:Search Influence, Universal Business Listing, David Mihm, and eLocal Listing.

The speakers at Local Search Summit:09 include: Atif Rafiq from Yahoo! Local, Steve Stukenborg from Google TV, Steve Espinosa from LocalSearchNews, and Jason Calacanis of Mahalo. Other featured speakers include: Greg Sterling, a local search analyst and blogger, Andrew Shotland, former VP of Product of InsiderPages and former head of Showtime.com, and Court Cunningham, CEO of Yodle.

The agenda for Local Search Summit:09 kicks off at 9:00 a.m. with a keynote by Stukenborg. At 10:30 a.m., there is a session entitled, "Local Search Ranking Factors." At 11:05 a.m., there is a session entitled, "What Kind of Online Products do SMBs Need?" At 12:45, there is a panel discussion entitled, "Q&A: Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, and Bing." At 1:30 p.m., there is a panel discussion entitled, "Using Facebook and Twitter to Drive Local Leads." At 2:15 p.m., there is a session entitled, "LBS and Mobile: What to Realistically Expect." At 2:50 p.m., there will be a conversation entitled "Up Close and Personal with Yelp!" And at 3:45 p.m., the final session is entitled, "Local Search: Where Are We Today?"

Okay, so there's going to be a lot going on in San Jose that week. Earlier this week, I joked about getting a Segway Personal Transporter in order to ride back and forth between the co-located events. Well, now I'm actually looking into renting one!

But, if you think about it for a moment, the multiple events reflect both the growth and segmentation of the market. We've come a long, long way since my first Search Engine Strategies, which was held in Boston in the Spring of 2002.

Back then, everything you needed to learn fit into one keynote and 27 sessions, organized into three conference tracks over two days. Today, SES San Jose 2009 consists of three keynotes, 65 conference sessions, and 12 training workshops organized into five conference tracks over five days. Add to that the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, which consists of a shared keynote and six conference sessions, plus the Local Search Summit, which consists of one keynote and seven conference sessions.

Yes, this makes optimizing your schedule even harder, but it also reflects the expansion and specialization of our industry. What it really drives home is this message: You can't do it along anymore.

Let me try to put this in human terms: A team of three people could attend Search Engine Strategies 2002 Spring and learn everything an organization needed to know in two days. Now, a team of seven people could attend SES San Jose 2009, the first Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, and Local Search Summit:09 and learn everything an organization needed to know in five days.

Frankly, I think this is a good thing ... even if it means that I have to start looking for a Segway PT.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 16, 2009

Optimized Schedule for SES San Jose Plus Social Media & Video Strategies

One of my Twitter followers, b_young of California, asked me to put together an optimized schedule for both the Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose Conference & Expo, which will be held at the McEnery Convention Center August 10-14, 2009, as well as the Social Media & Video Strategies forum, which will be held next door at the San Jose Marriott on August 11.

My first optimization tip is to get a Segway Personal Transporter ("Segway PT") in order to ride back and forth between the two co-located events. If that's not possible, then look closely at the agendas for the two events because it's going to be hard to schedule every session that you will want to attend.

It's also important to understand that an optimized schedule for you may differ significantly than an optimized schedule for b_young. The SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch, which organized SES San Jose, as well as ClickZ, Google and YouTube, which organized Social Media & Video Strategies, have tailored different tracks for people with different levels of experience and different search or social media specialties.

So, which sessions would I recommend for b-young, who is interested in advanced-level search engine optimization (SEO)?

On Monday, Aug. 10, I'd recommend checking out a couple of the Partnered Training Workshops. One is a full-day Search Engine Optimization Training workshop taught by Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay, Inc. In addition, I'd recommend the two half-day DMA Certification Training workshops taught by Matt Bailey of SiteLogic and Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing.

On Tuesday, Aug. 11, I'd recommend "Search: Where to Next?" at 10:30 a.m. (SES San Jose); "In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing" at 11:45 a.m. (Social Media & Video Strategies); "How to Turn Your Web Analytics into a Money Making Machine" at 1:45 p.m. (SES San Jose); "Meaningful SEO Metrics: Going Beyond the Numbers" at 3:00 p.m. (SES San Jose); and "Launching a Global Website" at 4:30 p.m. (SES San Jose).

On Wednesday, Aug. 12, I'd recommend "Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues" at 9:00 a.m.; visit the Expo Hall and take in the added bonus of an Express Site Clinic at 10:45 a.m.; "Google Analytics and Website Optimizer, Secrets Revealed!" at 2:30 p.m.; and "The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns" at 4:00 p.m.

On Thursday, Aug. 13, I'd recommend "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds" at 10:30 a.m.; "News Search SEO" at 12:45 p.m.; "Advanced SEO Roundtable: What is it Really? And Where is it Going?" at 2:15 p.m.; and "In-House SEO: Structuring the Organization for Success" at 3:45 p.m.

Finally, on Friday, Aug. 14, I'd recommend two SEM/SEO training workshops. One in the morning is the "Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop" taught by Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive, and the other in the afternoon is "Managing Complex Search Programs" taught by Bill Hunt, formerly with Global Strategies International.

The conference sessions and workshops should provide the advanced SEO best practices and techniques that b_young needs to remain a top performer in the field.

Remember, your mileage may vary. So, look at the SES San Jose agenda and the Social Media & Video Strategies agenda very closely.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 13, 2009

Sign Up for Chance to Win Extreme Site Makeover at SES San Jose

You know you need it. So, what are you waiting for?

SES San Jose, which will take place at the McEnery Convention Center on August 10-14, 2009, is offering extreme makeovers for the sites of three contest winners. The drawing will be held prior to the event and entries must be received by this Friday, July 17.

Now, the winners will be featured at a session entitled, Extreme Makeover: Conversion Edition. Maybe that's why you are hesitant to enter. You are afraid people will see what you site looked like "before" it had an extreme makeover. But, image what people will see "after" the experts -- Bryan Eisenberg, the Co-Founder of Future Now, and Ethan Giffin, CEO of Groove Commerce -- have analyzed your metrics, usability, and persuasion ability.

If anyone laughs at the "before" pictures of your site, remember, living well is the best revenge.

The conversion experts will work with three companies pre-selected for the session to redesign a key page and then set up that redesign in an A/B test. Session attendees will learn how to identify the crucial barriers to success on the sites selected and how Eisenberg and Giffin would remedy them in less than 48 hours.

So, who will look "wicked smart" to be featured in one of these rags to riches stories? That's right, you will.

So, enter the drawing for a free site makeover by visiting the SES San Jose website and filling in the extreme makeover form by July 17. All paid conference attendees are eligible to become one of three lucky companies whose sites will be optimizing right there during the presentation. Winners of the drawing will be notified prior to the event.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 12, 2009

Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition Interviews on Webmaster Radio

Brandy Shapiro-Babin, the co-founder of Webmaster Radio, and Jorge Hermida (aka Brasco), the director of programming and production, asked me to cover the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) in Boston last month.

Now, I'm more comfortable with a video crew in tow behind me. But, once upon a time, I was a radio reporter and newscaster. So, I figured that I could figure out how to use the digital audio recorder that Brasco shipped me before the event. Wrong!

Nevertheless, with apologies for my tendency to blink at the dawn of the digital media era, the folks at WebmasterRadio.FM just posted my eight interviews from IRCE. You can check them out by clicking on Internet Retailer.

In you scroll to the bottom of the list, you'll find Keynote Overview Part 1 and Part 2. I interviewed Nacho Hernandez, CEO and Founder of iHispanic Marketing Group, to do color commentary and analysis of the keynote presentations. This included opening remarks by Kurt Peters, Editor in Chief of Internet Retailer, plus keynotes by Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, Gian Fulgoni, Executive Chairman and co-founder of comScore, as well as Jeff and Bobby Beaver, co-founders of Zazzle.

In Part 2, Nacho and I discuss Fulgoni's presentation, which included data that showed unemployment-related searches spiked in March 2009 compared to the same month in 2008. He added that consumers feel it will take more than a year before the unemployment rate will begin to show signs of improvement.

Fulgoni also presented data that showed older mid-to-upper income households are showing softness in online spending, presumably reflecting an increased savings rate. However, younger households continue to spend incrementally. This means internet retailers should segment their audience and target those 18-44 years old.

Finally, Fulgoni said search engines remain the most important sites when shopping, but online coupon sites and jumped into second place ahead of comparison shopping sites.

You will also hear my interview with Hernandez about MexGrocer.com at the end in Part 2. MexGrocer.com is the largest online grocery store for authentic Mexican food. Nacho, who is a regular speaker at Search Engine Strategies conferences, talks about the family business founded by his father.

But wait, there's more!

I interviewed Bizresearch President Laura Thieme, who discusses her new web-based search analytics platform called Bizwatch.

I asked Angela Nguyen of Microsoft to give a verbal demonstration for WebmasterRadio.fm listeners about the four things to "look for" in Bing.

Abe Mezrich, Communications Manager for Didit, discusses display search retargeting, why he recommends you do it, and how it works for considered purchases and/or impulse buys.

Stephan Spencer of NetConcepts, tells us about GravityStream 2.0, search engine optimization software for online retailers.

Matt Pace, managing director of retail and consumer products for Compete discusses the latest retail trends coming out of the IRCE 2009 conference.

And Michael Briggs, VP Search Strategy at @WebsitePublicity, discusses pay-per-click trends, and his background of PPC going back to the sale of Overture.

Now that I've listened to it, I did do as bad a job as I had feared. Who knows, maybe I "look good" on radio ... in my blue shirt. (Now, that's a funny story that I'll save for another time and another place.)

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 10, 2009

The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns

One of the session that I plan to attend at SES San Jose is "The ByerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patters" on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 4:00 p.m.

The moderator of the session is Gord Hotchkiss, President & CEO, Enquiro. I started speaking on panels with Gord way back at SES New York 2004.

And I can't tell you how many search engine marketers -- including me -- have taken his eye tracking research and presented it to their clients over the years. Although I always give Enquiro credit for the findings, if Gord were getting residuals, he'd be rich.

At SES San Jose 2009, the speakers at Gord's session are: -- Mark McMaster, Senior Planner of B2B and Technology Markets, Google -- Ben Hanna, VP Marketing, Business.com -- Chris Golec, Founder and CEO, Demandbase -- Jon Miller, VP Marketing, Marketo -- Dr. Matthias Blume, Chief Analytics Officer, Covario

All of them have just concluded a major B2B research initiative, which was conducted by Enquiro with input from Google, Business.com, Covario, Marketo and DemandBase. The so-called BuyerSphere Project showed that most marketers aren't effectively leveraging online assets to their best potential. Are you shocked, shocked by these findings?

Among other things, the notion of a strictly followed, traditional buying funnel is simply not accurate in many instances, risk dictates buying behavior, search is incredibly important as an integrator across online and offline channels and face-to-face persuasion is still necessary in many high risk, complex purchases. The BuyerSphere Project looks at how online strategies became artificially separated from traditional best practices, how they can be more effectively integrated and the part search plays as a major influencer. That's worth knowing, don't you think?

Now, this panel at SES San Jose will review the research from over 100 face-to-face interviews, hundreds of eye tracking sessions and over 3,000 survey responses in total. The project represents a major step forward in understanding B2B buyer patterns and the part online marketing can play in influencing them.

So, I couldn't wait get a "sneak preview" because, well, I'm a competitive kind of guy. And if Enquiro's research is worth borrowing, I mean, worth understanding, then it's worth finding out about ahead of time.

So, I was delighted when Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Gord Hotchkiss earlier this week and uploaded the video to SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Gord discussed Enquiro's three phase research project that incorporated interviews with more than 100 BtoB buyers before the survey was even put together. The goal was to discover how purchasing decisions get made within a company.

Gord says it was previously thought that BtoB purchasing is based on rational decision making but this is not always the case. He says influences maybe online or offline but they all play a part in determining how purchasing decisions are made.

Gord also discusses the advance of a generational shift in behavior, described as the "digital natives" and the "digital immigrants." Online usage differs between the two segments. Hey, you might as well watch the video interview below to hear for yourself what he has to say.

Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro, on the BuyerSphere Project in advance of SES San Jose 2009

And if you want even more details, the head over to the Enquiro site and click on New Research on B2B Buying: The BuyerSphere. You will find White Papers, webinars, and other information.

Why am I plugging this now when you could just attend the The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns at SES San Jose 2009? Let's just say that I -- like many, many other search engine marketers -- owe Gord big time for all the research we've borrowed from Enquiro to persuade a B2B client to rethink his or her assumptions.

Hey, a plug and a link is the least that I can do to "repay" Gord for his groundbreaking research on B2B buying and B2B marketing. And it's a lot more affordable than paying residuals.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 9, 2009

SES San Jose Offers Sessions for Veteran Search Engine Marketers

Last week, I said "SES San Jose Offers Conference Sessions for First Time Attendees." This year's Search Engine Strategies conference offers lots of sessions for veteran search engine marketers, too.

SES San Jose 2009 can cover both ends of the spectrum because it has five concurrent tracks. So, whether this will be your first show or the fourth SES event that you've attended in 2009, you'll find tons of new content worth learning.

For example, sessions oriented toward advanced marketers include: • Search: Where to Next sums up what the future holds for the search industry with a veteran panel of industry insiders. • The Next Wave for Online Video presents the importance of optimizing for video search and looks into tactics for copywriting, keyword research and more. • Don't Call it a Comeback: Semantic Technology and Search focuses on the reality of true semantic technology and the recent application of the "Web 3.0" tag. • Beyond Googling: Where Will Your Customers Be Searching in Five Years? presents a long-view look at weak signals and trends that appear to point in new directions. • Launching a Global Website presents key issues critical to successfully developing, optimizing, and launching the global websites that meet next generation marketing goals. • Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues explores the potential problems and pitfalls of running mirror sites and offers solutions. • Landing Page Testing and Tuning discusses how to twist and tweak your landing page to covert site visitors into buyers. • Real World Multivariate Testing helps attendees understand how landing page optimization, through multivariate testing, can quickly affect the success of any online acquisition campaign, and how simple changes to a landing pages can dramatically increase online sales. • Ads in a Quality Score World looks at quality factors and studies how to increase the perceived relevancy of your campaigns. • Follow the Carrot: Cool Mobile Apps examines the effect of mobile applications, their usefulness from a business point of view, and where they may be going in the future. • Images & Search Engines: Getting the Full Picture explores image searching along with image-links, geo tags and other considerations for capturing targeted traffic. • Search Becomes the Display OS includes a discussion and case studies focusing on the idea that the only thing that can save display advertising is making it more like search.

Although I should disclose that SES is a client, I'm not the only one who thinks that there is lots of sessions for veteran search engine marketers at SES conferences. For example, Lee Odden, an SES Advisory Board member and CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, says, "Search Engine Strategies in San Jose is the epicenter of what's current and useful in the search marketing industry when it comes to advancing internet marketing knowledge. I've attended SES events for years as a delegate, speaker, moderator, and now as an Advisory Board Member. That continued investment for me and my agency staff has resulted in bottom line growth of our digital marketing consulting business by staying current with search strategies and tactics, attracting new clients and talented staff. We've gained tremendous value from SES San Jose as a source of content for our top rated blog and of course, priceless networking with search engine employees, vendors and other smart internet marketers."

And earlier in the year, Odden did an escalator pitch -- which is like an elevator pitch, only faster -- at SES New York. Check out what he had to say at SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube or by watching the video below.

Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, on the benefits of attending SES New York 2009

Okay, so Odden was talking about SES New York in his escalator pitch, but he could have said the same things about SES San Jose.

For more information about the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, go to the SES San Jose 2009 website. Register through July 24 to save up to $200 with the early bird rate.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 8, 2009

YouTube Biz Blog Touts Social Media and Video Strategies Forum

How cool is this? On Monday, I posted "Social Media & Video Strategies To Be Held With SES San Jose:. It broke the news that ClickZ, YouTube and Google will be holding an event on August 11, 2009, in conjunction with SES San Jose 2009.

Then on Tuesday, the YouTube Biz Blog posted "Join Us at the SES Social Media & Video Strategies Forum." Kristin Kovner, the Industry Marketing Manager at YouTube, said, "We're excited to be a part of this first-time ever event. SES is one of the best places for businesses to learn about search; now that YouTube has millions of searches each day, it's only fitting that ClickZ and SES are expanding the agenda to include a full day dedicated to video and social media."

Just as importantly, the YouTube Biz Blog embedded the featured video on the SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Views of the video, which was uploaded four months ago, shot up immediately. You can see the video for youself below.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

This illustrates the link between search and social media that I mentioned on Monday and Mike Grehan writes about in his cover story in the latest issue of SES Magazine.

Additional evidence can be found in research conducted by TubeMogul entitled "How do people discover videos online?" Here's the gist of what they found:

-- 45% of all videos are found on a video site, i.e. going to YouTube and doing a search or clicking around featured and related videos. -- 44% of all videos are found embedded in blogs. -- 6% of all videos are found with search engines, like Google. -- 2% of all videos are found in social networks, like Facebook. -- 2% of all videos found in social bookmarking sites. -- Less than 1% of all videos are found with video search engines, like Google Video.

So, optimizating the title, description and tags of your YouTube video is half of the success formula. But the other half is engaging what Google calls "the buzzing blogger community."

I mentioned this a year ago at SES San Jose 2008 during a video interview with Liana Evans, who was then with KeyRelevance and is now with Serengeti Communications. Looking at it again a year later, I wouldn't change a word. (And I can't anyway.)

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe at SES San Jose 2008

So, stay tuned. Because this year's events -- as you can see in the SES San Jose 2009 agenda and the Social Media and Video Strategies agenda -- are likely to demonstrate the link between search and social big time.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

July 6, 2009

Video about NACA's Save the Dream Tour Wins TELLY Awards

On Friday, I posted a story about the "Search and Community Track at SES San Jose: NACA's Save The Dream Tour." It seems to have connected with readers of the Search Marketing News Blog on Search Engine Watch because there were 75 Tweets about it on Friday and Saturday.

Well, the YouTube video embedded in my blog post just won two TELLY Awards. The documentary video chronicles the background and success of a the Save the Dream events in cities across America, in which homeowners with unaffordable mortgages can renegotiate or restructure their home mortgages and keep their homes. The Save the Dream tour is being organized by a community advocacy and homeownership organization called Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA).

The video won a Bronze TELLY for Social Issues productions and another Bronze for Charitable/Non-Profit productions. No, I didn't have anything to do with the video's production. It was produced by Mont Fennel and Michael Kolowich of DigiNovations, filmed principally by the video production company's Director of Photography Bill Charette, and edited by Dan Roth and Michael Kolowich.

It features numerous stories of homeowners whose lives were changed by the Save the Dream process. You can watch "Documentary: NACA's "Save the Dream" - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners" on the NACAmedia YouTube channel.

Oh, and if you have friends and neighbors who are struggling to avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates, let them know about NACA's Save the Dream events in Cleveland, Ohio, July 17 - 20 at the Wolstein Center; Chicago, Illinois, July 24 - 27 at McCormick Place; and St. Louis, Missouri, July 31 - August 3 at Chaifetz Arena.

If they go to NACA's website for more information or to pre-register for one of the events, tell them to hunt for and click on the Save the Dream Tour bar in the middle of the page. The information and sign up process appears in a pop-up window. Yes, this non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization could use some help with usability, design, copy, link development, and other technical issues that prevent their website from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions.

I might suggest that they attend Shari Thurow's Express Search Usability Clinic at SES San Jose 2009. Or, I might just donate that advice myself -- because SES San Jose 2009 takes place August 10-14, after the three upcoming Save the Dream events.

Heck, I already seem to be involved in this cause. If there are other search engine marketers who want to get involved, just mention that in your comments below. Maybe this will turn into a search industry effort.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Social Media & Video Strategies To Be Held With SES San Jose

The cover story by Mike Grehan in the latest issue of SES Magazine is entitled, "Is there a link between search & social?" Well, there's a new link -- with the posting of the agenda for ClickZ's Social Media & Video Strategies Forum.

This forum, which is brought to you by ClickZ, YouTube and Google, will explore "the successes and failures companies, celebrities, and politicians have had in the social sphere online and will deliver actionable tactics and strategies so that you can prosper from them." This one-day event at the San Jose Marriott on August 11, 2009, is taking place in conjunction with the Search Engine Strategies San Jose Conference & Expo, which is being held at the McEnery Convention Center August 10-14, 2009.

Being side by side will enable attendees of both events to hear the keynote speech by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

It also enables attendees of both events to visit the grand opening of the SES San Jose exhibit hall.

Then, attendees of Social Media & Video Strategies can attend sessions on: -- Marketing in a Social Media World; -- Going Social: Effective Advertising via Social Networks; -- In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing; -- What Works: Online Video Advertising Made Easy With Google & YouTube; -- What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video; and -- A Social Visit: CMO Fireside Chat.

So, the link between search and social just got stronger.

I've just finished writing a book entitled, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour A Day," which will be published by Wiley in mid-August. No, I didn't know that Social Media & Video Strategies would be held in conjunction with SES San Jose 2009 when I started writing last fall. But I did know that YouTube.com was on its way to being the destination where 107.1 million Americans went to watch 6.8 billion videos each month, according to comScore Video Metrix. I also knew YouTube was on its way to becoming the #2 property where search activity is observed, with 3.2 billion search queries a month in the U.S., behind only Google, with 9.8 billion search queries a month.

So, it appears that I've been fortunate to skate to where the puck's going, to borrow a line from Wayne Gretzky. But, it also appears that I'm not the only one headed in that direction. Obviously, Clay Shirky anticipated this move, too. And so did Mike Grehan, SES Advisory Board Co-Chair & Global KDM Officer of Acronym Media, and Stewart Quealy, the other SES Advisory Board Co-Chair & VP of Content Development for Incisive Media. And so has ClickZ, YouTube and Google.

And I know others who are also looking closely at the link between search and social. For example, Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Jeff Quipp of Search Engine People at SES Toronto 2009 about social media's impact on search, and more importantly, about social media's ability to create awareness of great content.

Jeff Quipp, SearchEnginePeople, on the past, present and future of SEO

John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Eric Qualman of EF Education at SES New York 2009 about the future of search and social media.

Erik Qualman, EF Education on the future of search and social media at SES New York 2009

Li Evans of Serengeti Communications interviewed me at SES London 2009 about the spike in views that the SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube saw when Matt Cutts of Google embedded my video interview with him on his Gadgets, Google and SEO blog.

Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR discusses YouTube and Video Marketing at SES London 2009

So, now all of us can find the link between search and social in the same place at the same time. Sweet.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 3, 2009

Search and Community Track at SES San Jose: NACA's Save The Dream Tour

At SES San Jose 2009, I've been asked to make a solo presentation to kick of the Search and Community Track. The title of the session is "How to Optimize for Search & Engage the Community."

I've been working on my presentation, but it lacked a compelling case study that illustrated how a community organization had used search engine optimization and YouTube video to generate measurable results. I had planned to show examples of videos created by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Monty Python, and Blendtec, but plans have a way of changing.

Then, I got involved with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), a national non-profit community advocacy and homeownership organization headquartered in Boston.

NACA is organizing a series of Save the Dream events to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates. They have already held events in Columbia, SC, Stamford, CT, and Washington, DC. And NACA plans to hold more Save the Dream events in Cleveland, OH, July 17 - 20 at the Wolstein Center; Chicago, IL, July 24 - 27 at McCormick Place; and St. Louis, MO, July 31 - August 3 at Chaifetz Arena.

Although I don't have my case study wrapped up just yet, I do see one in the making. And it offers lots of lessons to search engine marketers, YouTube directors and entrepreneurs about how to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community.

For example, we issued an optimized press release yesterday announcing that NACA CEO Bruce Marks and Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) will hold a joint press conference on Monday, July 6, at the Wolstein Center at 11:30 am to discuss the upcoming Save the Dream event in Cleveland. You can get the gist of the news at NACA and Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (Oh-11) Announce Same Day Solution for Homeowners with Unaffordable Mortgage.

But we also embedded a documentary video created by DigiNovations of Concord, MA, in the optimized press release. It provides background on NACA's Save the Dream program, which has helped homeowners across America restructure and renegotiate home mortgages and home loans they can no longer afford.

Documentary: NACA's "Save the Dream" - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners

Now, the press conference hasn't even been held yet -- and the Save the Dream event in Cleveland is still two weeks away. But I was stunned yesterday when one Twitter user near Memphis, TN, said "this is fantastic news" but she couldn't afford to wait, had called NACA and was "on hold" waiting to talk with someone.

I initially tweeted back that NACA will have over 500 staff and volunteers at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, including over 250 counselors providing counseling from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from Friday July 17 through Monday July 20. Then, I realized that this information wasn't helpful today, this minute, now. So, I sent her a direct tweet with the cell phone number of the person I was working with at NACA -- in case she needed it.

I got a direct tweet back saying, "Thanks for the info... my process is well underway - so I'm all set (I hope!)"

So, something extraordinary is happening. And as I prepare for my presentation at SES San Jose 2009, I hope you won't mind if I share the story as it unfolds. That's one of the lessons I've already learned: You can't plan a search campaign and expect the community to wait to respond when you are ready -- especially if you are offering an answer to the huge subprime and predatory lending industry.

This is bigger than a case study. This is people's homes.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 1, 2009

SES San Jose Offers Conference Sessions for First Time Attendees

I've been attending SES San Jose every year since 2003. And each year a healthy proportion of attendees are attending their first search engine marketing conference ever.

This is healthy because it expands the number of marketers who "get it."

I can't tell you the number of times when prospective clients mistakenly assume that search engine marketing (SEM) isn't rocket science. Or they mistakenly believe that search engine optimization (SEO) is something their information technology (IT) department took care of years ago. Or they mistakenly think that a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign takes 15 minutes to set up. Or they mistakenly hope that their public relations (PR) people have a good handle on social media marketing.

So, I'm delighted to see the large number of first time attendees at Search Engine Strategies conferences -- because after they've sat in on a dozen sessions over three days they come away knowing how much more there is to learn.

Hey, if it were easy, we'd all rank #1.

So, with SES San Jose 2009 coming up August 10-14, I thought I'd highlight some of the conference sessions that I'd recommend to first time attendees. I've been doing this for several years -- and even spoke along with Matt Bailey of SiteLogic in a few "First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM" sessions at some events.

But, most marketers like to plan ahead. So, look over the SES conference agenda and check out some of the sessions that address your needs and your organization's issues.

If you want some suggestions, here are sessions specially focused on search fundamentals for first time attendees: • Introduction to Search Engine Marketing provides a clear and concise overview of the concepts involved in search engine marketing. • Successful Site Architecture offers a fresh look at topics on how to successfully design a site for search engines, including JavaScript, robots.txt use, frames, secure area usage and much more. • Turn Brain Science into Bucks: Incorporating Persuasive Messaging into Your Content Strategy showcases current online content campaigns and explains the best content strategies to help persuade buyers, build trust, and get great search engine listings using Twitter, white papers, optimized web pages and more. • SEO Tools of the Trade: What's in YOUR Toolbox? describes the tools that will help accomplish tasks, including indexing, competitive analysis, site ranking, diagnosing and remedying problems and much more. • Search Advertising 101 describes the basic principles and applications of paid placement. • Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations presents an overview of the important keywords customers are searching for and how to target the right terms in paid and organic search marketing. • Discover the Power of Linking: Link Building Basics focuses on the role of link analysis in search engine site rankings and how to increase site traffic by building quality links. • The Findability Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach to SEM features search engine guru Heather Lutze taking a fresh look at how search engines find content and what steps to take to ensure a successful online marketing campaign. • Extreme Makeover is a series of four sessions held throughout day three of the conference. Volunteers are taken from the audience, their websites are examined and feedback is provided. Sessions include: Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic provides general feedback about improving websites and gaining more traffic from search engines. Extreme Makeover: Live Twitter & Blogging Clinic provides general feedback about how to improve your website's use of Twitter and blogging. Extreme Makeover: Live Landing Page Clinic provides feedback on how to improve landing pages. Extreme Makeover Live! Why Am I Not Making Enough Sales? covers the most common reasons many sites have low conversion rates and gives tips on how to turn more site visitors into paying customers.

I think you can see from the suggestions above that there is more to SEM, SEO, PPC and social media than a handful of tricks that you can pick up by reading a blog post. Oh, and if the folks over in finance are still cutting travel budgets these days, ask them this rhetorical question: "If I don't learn how to improve our search engine marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, or social media marketing, then how will the company be able to pay your salaries next year?"

Okay, so maybe you don't want to actually say that to their faces. And you don't want to start calling finance the "department of sales prevention." They are just doing their job.

But you can show them the SES conference agenda and let them know that you've picked out sessions to attend that will provide your company with a return on its investment (ROI) in marketing. Finance folks love it when you talk about ROI. Your talking their language.

Or, ask them to watch the video below. Yes, yes, it makes the case for going to Search Engine Strategies. But it also demonstrates visually that SES San Jose, which is the largest search engine marketing expo on the West Coast, will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes, and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, and more.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 30, 2009

Enter the Search Engine Watch Awards by July 17, 2009

You only have a couple of weeks left to submit an entry to this year's Search Engine Watch Awards. The deadline is July 17, 2009.

The objective of the SEW Awards is to recognize excellence, as well as inspire innovation and encourage new ideas in search marketing. The SEW Awards will honor 14 outstanding search marketers, search engines and technology providers, as judged by a panel of industry experts and the Search Engine Watch editorial staff.

The categories are: * Search Engine with Most Relevant Results * Most Innovative New Search Engine * Best Search Engine Ad Platform * Technology Platform Search Marketers Can't Live Without * Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs * Best Social Media Platform for Marketers * Best Web Analytics Platform * Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization * Most Innovative Paid Search Campaign * Best Social Media Marketing Campaign * Best Business-to-Business Search Marketing Campaign * Best Use of Local Search * Best Integration of Search with Other Media * Most Effective Use of Web Analytics

And who are the judges? They are: * Chris Boggs, Director, SEO, Rosetta * Jessica Bowman, SEO Strategist and in-house SEO Expert, SEMinhouse.com * Eric Enge, President, Stone Temple Consulting * PJ Fusco, Natural Search Director, Netconcepts * Bill Hunt, President, Back Azimuth Consulting * Mark Jackson, SEW Expert & President/CEO, VIZION Interactive * Ron Jones, President/CEO, Symetri Internet Marketing * Cindy Krum, Chief Executive Officer, Rank-Mobile, LLC * Sage Lewis, President, SageRock.com * Melissa Mackey, Online Marketing Manager, Fluency Media * John Marshall, SES Advisory Board & CTO, Market Motive * Lee Odden, SES Advisory Board & CEO, TopRank Online Marketing * David Szetela, CEO, Clix Marketing * Brian Ussery, Director of SEO, Search Discovery * Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster

By the way, in case you think I'm sucking up to the judges by listing their names, my firm can't enter because SES is one of our clients. This wasn't in the rules a year ago, but now that it has, I am free to comment on the process and the outcome.

Entrants may submit nominations for multiple categories, but each submission must focus on the four key areas of consideration:

1. Overall approach and category relevance 2. Innovation in methodology and execution 3. Excellence in tactical execution 4. Achieving success goals

Submissions will be accepted through July 17, 2009. There is an application fee of $145 per entry. Up to four award finalists will be determined for each category. Finalists will be notified by July 27, 2009, and will receive 1-day passes (limit 3) to the SES San Jose sessions and Orion panels on the day the winner in their category is announced. Winners will be announced during Search Engine Strategies San Jose, August 10-14, 2009.

Submitting companies will be recognized at the event, as well as in the SES Magazine and on Search Engine Watch. I also plan to interview as many winners as possible for SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube.

Oh, there is one other thing you should know about the Search Engine Watch Awards. The winner of the 2000 SEW Award in the "Outstanding Search Service" category was a little known start-up named Google. And Google was also the winner in the "Most Webmaster Friendly" category, as well.

Not bad for a company that had just announced a $25 million round from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins a year earlier. Where are they now, I wonder?

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 22, 2009

SES Toronto 2009 Gets Rave Reviews from Attendees

We conducted more than half a dozen video interviews with attendees at SES Toronto 2009 -- to get feedback on the conference. Basically, the event got rave reviews with comments ranging from "excellent" to "bloody fantastic."

A couple of attendees mentioned the Monday keynote by Tara Hunt, author of The Whuffie Factor. The Tuesday keynote by Emanuel Rosen, author of The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited, was also mentioned.

A couple of attendees mentioned the "Canadian focus" of the conference or the new information on the "Canadian landscape."

Also mentioned were the session, Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions.

Each of the video interviews runs from 14 to 56 seconds long, so check them out below.

Debbie Wheeler on SES Toronto

Nick Eng on SES Toronto

Michelle Agudera, Microsoft on attending SES Toronto 2009

Estee Langis, Yellow Pages Group, on attending SES Toronto

Susan Hurell, Modern Earth Web Design and BinaryCanary on SES Toronto

Helen Faber, WebFuel, on SES Toronto

Cecilia Tamez, XE.com on attending SES Toronto 2009

So, congratulations to Andrew Goodman, the SES Advisory Board and SearchEngineWatch.com, who organized and programmed SES Toronto 2009. Based on the feedback, it appears that the keynoters and mix of sessions in the Nuts & Bolts, Corporateville and Geek Tracks appealed to both first time attendees and SES veterans.

Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up. Oh, and check out the crowd at the bing booth at SES Toronto 2009. Yes, with close to 1,200 attendees, the exhibitors were happy, too.

Crowds at the bing exhibitor booth at SES Toronto 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 17, 2009

Nicholas Fox of Google AdWords to Keynote at SES San Jose

It seems like I've just returned from Search Engine Strategies Toronto and it's already time to look ahead to SES San Jose. Wow, time flies when you're having fun.

And it is worth noting that Nicholas Fox, the business product management director for Google's AdWords team, will be one of the keynote speakers at Search Engine Strategies San Jose. The event, which will be held August 10-14, 2009, is expected to attract approximately 6,000 marketing professionals this year. Since there were close to 1,200 attendees at SES Toronto 2009, which was about the same number that attended last year, it seems likely that Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2009 will also attract roughly the same size crowd as last year. And that was approximately 6,000 marketing professionals.

I've just returned from the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston, which attracted 5,000 attendees, approximately the same number as last year. So, while trade shows and events in other industries may have been hit hard by the global recession, it appears that conferences and expos on the Internet marketing side of the fence are holding their own.

And that's a good thing. Or, as I heard at the Specialized Information Publishers Association conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, "Flat is the new up."

SES San Jose 2009 is being organized and programmed by the SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch. The event, now in its 11th year, is the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast and will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, parties and more.

I should disclose that SES became a client in late 2007, but I started writing for Search Engine Watch in early 2002 and speaking at SES conferences in mid 2003.

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, said in a press release yesterday, "I can tell already that this year's SES San Jose is going to be a special one. The speakers, training programs, panels and sessions are all up there with the best we've ever had. Throw in over 150 exhibitors and some great networking events and parties, and we're looking at what very well may turn out to be the most exciting SES San Jose ever."

I interviewed McGowan during SES London 2009 back in February. He provided an overview of the SES Conference and Expo series for the upcoming year, which seems very clairvoyant now that we have about four months worth of 20/20 hindsight.

Matt McGowan, VP Publishing, Incisive Media, elaborates on SES shows in 2009

In yesterday's press release, McGowan also said he was thrilled to have Fox speaking at SES San Jose 2009. McGowan said, "It's not often that we get to hear from a management director at one of the most respected companies in the search industry. Anyone who's used Google AdWords in the past knows its value to the advertising field and this August, SES San Jose attendees are going to have the opportunity to hear the thoughts and ideas of someone who's been on the AdWords team since day one."

Fox is the business product management director for Google's AdWords. He also leads product management for AdWords bidding features. Before joining Google in 2003, he was a consultant for McKinsey & Company.

Go to the SES San Jose 2009 website for more information about the event. If you register through July 24, you can save up to $200 with the early bird rate.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2009

Top Stories from SES Toronto: Day 2 (Belatedly)

I should have posted the top stores from Day 2 of SES Toronto yesterday, but I have some really lame excuses for why I didn't get around to posting this until today. Let's just say I watched the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees last night instead. Mea culpa (but my team won 6-5).

In other news, the top story on Tuesday was clearly the keynote presentation by Emanuel Rosen, author of The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited. After his keynote, I interviewed Rosen, who discussed the lessons learned about Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" videos which have been viewed close to 77 million times by YouTube users. Rosen said more than 1,000 people asked Blendtec to blend an iPhone, and as a result, they did so -- and emailed those people when the video was uploaded to YouTube. It is also worth noting that Blendtec's sales are up 700 percent.

Emanuel Rosen on generating buzz in the online and offline communities

Another one of the top stories is "Putting the M Back in SEM" by Kevin Newcomb of Search Engine Watch. According to Newcomb, "Just about every session offered the same general advice: stop chasing algorithms and build a site that people will trust; build links that will drive qualified traffic, and the SEO benefits will follow."

Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Stacey Jarvis, Search Lead, Consumer & Online, Microsoft Canada about search engine marketing and bing! Jarvis spoke on the Orion Panel: Is PageRank Broken? - The Future of Search. According to Jarvis, more than 60 percent of Canadians are using multiple search engines.

Stacey Jarvis, Microsoft Canada, on search marketing today and bing!

Tyler Calder of the Search Engine People Blog posted "SES Toronto 2009: Canada Specific SEO & PPC Issues." According to Calder, "Many SEO matters are common around the globe, but Canadian companies face some unique issues."

Mitch Joel, Twist Image, interviewed Nick Papsiopolis of Yahoo Canada about the state of mobile applications. Papsiopolis said the growth of mobile apps has been phenomenal over the past year.

Nick Papsiopolis, Yahoo Canada, on the adoption of new mobile applications

Evan Carmichael of the Entrepreneur Blog posted "SES Toronto - Day 2 - SEO University." According to Carmichael, "Just like I did yesterday, today I wanted to share with you some of the highlights from today's workshops. I again stayed mostly to the Geek Track to get really deep on technical issues and tactics to build more traffic."

Nick Cox of Semantec Monkey posted "SES Toronto." According to Cox, "If you've never done it, you'd be amazed at the havoc a 3 hour PST to EST timezone change can play with your body clock."

Patrick Landry of Ressac Media posted "Retour sur Search Engine Strategies Toronto 2009." According to Landry, "l'industrie du Search garde sa pertinence, un domaine d'innovation et d'avancée technologique qui ne cessera de me surprendre."

Finally, if you want to see what the event looked like, check out "SES Toronto - Photos Day 2." According to Alexandre Bussiere of NVI, "More expert wise words were spoken during a day full of speaker sessions, these and the first day's all captured here in live blogging form."

Or, you can also go to the SES Conference Series' photostream on Flickr. My favorite photo is the crowd at the bing booth at SES Toronto 2009.

Crowd at the bing booth at SES Toronto 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 8, 2009

Top Stories from SES Toronto: Day 1

It wasn't hard to find the top stories from the first day of SES Toronto. All you had to do was conduct a search in YouTube, Google News, and Google Blog Search.

On YouTube, you could find a video interview by Byron Gordon of SEO-PR with the keynote speaker entitled, "Tara Hunt on 'green' shampoo and whuffie!" Hunt, the author of The Whuffie Factor, discusses the key principles of Whuffie, or how you go about generating brand for yourself by citing a fictional example of a "green" shampoo.

In Google News, I found "Signals: What Relevancy Indicators are Search Engineers Watching for Today? SES Toronto Day 1." According to Paul Teitelman of Search Engine People, "Seems befitting that one of the first sessions here at SES Toronto will focus on the future of search, and more specifically, what relevancy factors search engineers will need to look out for as the ever changing Google & other search engine algorithms continue to shape our industry."

I also found "Submit Your Entries for the 2009 Search Engine Watch Awards" on Search Engine Watch. According to Kevin Newcomb of Search Engine Watch, there are 14 categories for the 2009 SEW Awards. Submissions will be accepted through July 17, 2009. Winners will be announced at SES San Jose in August.

Gordon also uploaded "Nick Cox, Senior Product Manager, SearchMonkey on univeral/blended search" to YouTube. According to Cox, SearchMonkey is currently live in 23 markets; it's a free platform and publishers are getting much better clickthrough rates.

Using Google Blog Search, I found "SES Toronto 09: SEO Then & Now." According to Eric Amzallag of NVI, "Here is the what has changed and stayed the same in the SEO world."

According to "Notes From SES Toronto 2009" on Toronto Mike's Blog, "I still think they should rename this show the Google Strategies. Yahoo! Canada is exhibiting, as is Microsoft Bing, but it's all about The Google. Over 80% of all Canadian searches now happen in Google."

Garry Przyklenk at PPC-Advice.com wrote, "SES Toronto: Day 1 Recap." He said, "You know: given the current economic crisis, turn out for SES Toronto is actually better than I suspected, and so is the production value."

Manny Rivas at the aimClear Search Marketing Blog wrote, "Evolution of SEO: A Decade of Perspective At SES." He said, "The same tactics that worked in 1999 simply won't cut it anymore."

Meanwhile, Dev Basu of Search Marketing Insights wrote "SES Toronto 2009 Day 1 Recap." According to Basu, "My first day at SES Toronto was info packed, networking wild, and quite interesting to say the least."

And Francis Vallières of Go-Referencement.org wrote, "Résumé SES Toronto 2009 : jour 1 partie 1." He wrote, "Comme à chaque mois de Juin, NVI visite Toronto pour l'évenement SES Toronto, une conférence réunissant la plupart des acteurs importants dans le domaine du référencement et du marketing de recherche au Canada. Plusieurs conférences ont été donné aujourd'hui sur plusieurs sujets et je vasi tenter de vous en faire un résumé."

Last but not least, you'll also find "Jeff Quipp, SearchEnginePeople, on the past, present and future of SEO" on YouTube. Quipp discusses Google's dominance in Canada, and references a surprising statistic about Google's monthly keyword search.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SES Toronto 2009 Kicks Off Today in Canada

The largest search engine marketing conference and expo in Canada kicks off today at the Sheraton Centre Toronto. And Search Engine Strategies (SES) Toronto 2009 marked the occasion by announcing the addition of Express Site Clinics in the Expo Hall, which will be taught by Shari Thurow, Jennifer Slegg and Ken Jurina.

The event is organized and programmed in cooperation with the SES Advisory Board, Search Engine Watch and Andrew Goodman, the founder and president of Toronto-based Page Zero Media.

In a press release, Goodman said, "Don't miss the opportunity to visit the Expo Hall and take in the added bonus of an Express Site Clinic! No need for appointments as these PowerPoint-free, interactive clinics are 'first-come, first-served' offering you a rare chance to get your Web site reviewed live by one of our SES experts."

The Express Site Clinics will be held at Booth #6 in the Expo Hall. They are:

Express Search Usability Clinic -- Get one-on-one advise from Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director, Omni Marketing Interactive, for usability, design, copy, link development, and any technical issues that may prevent your Web site from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions.

User Friendly Sites That Monetize Well -- Is your site user friendly or are visitors wandering around lost before finally hitting the back button? How clean is your content and is it engaging for your readers? Are your on-site ads suffering from banner blindness or can they be placed in a better position to increase revenue without alienating visitors by being too blatant? Get tips from Jennifer Slegg, CEO, JenSense.com, on how to make the best user friendly website that also monetizes well for you and your advertisers, so you can find the happy medium between a well optimized, user friendly site and one that monetizes well.

Is Your Website Clicking On All Cylinders? -- Are you scratching your head as to how to further improve the SEO or usability of your website? The Express Clinic with Ken Jurina, President and Co-founder, Epiar, will help you get an on the spot audit of your website identifying the good, bad and the ugly. Learn what you're doing right and where there's room for improvement. Some small changes could get you some big results!

For more information about SES Toronto 2009, go to rates and registration details. To follow news about SES Toronto 2009 on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/SES_Toronto.

Or, check out the video interview below. Byron Gordon of SEO-PR talked with Goodman at SES New York earlier this year and asked him to give a sneak preview of SES Toronto.

Andrew Goodman, Page Zero Media, previews SES Toronto 2009

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 4, 2009

SES Names Three New Advisory Board Members

This morning, Search Engine Strategies announced that three new members are joining the SES Advisory Board: Brett Crosby, Group PPM, Google; Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing; and Stewart Quealy, VP, Content Development, Incisive Media.

The three new members are joining 11 current members, who will continue to serve on the SES Advisory Board: * Matthew Bailey, President, SiteLogic * Ron Belanger, Vice President of Worldwide Agency Sales, Omniture * Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now, Inc * Jeff Ferguson, Senior Director of Online Marketing, Local.com * Andrew Goodman, Principal, Page Zero Media * Mike Grehan, Global KDM Officer, Acronym Media * Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner, Beyond Ink * John Marshall, CTO, Market Motive * Pauline Ores, Senior Marketing Manager, Community and Collaboration Strategy, Global Small & Midmarket Business, IBM * Erynn Petersen, Senior Manager, Advertising Platform Evangelism, Microsoft * Randy Peterson, Search Marketing Innovation Manager, Proctor and Gamble

The three new members of the SES Advisory Board replace thee original members who are rotating out: * Chris Henger, Group Product Manager, Google. * Jeff Levick, Head of Global Advertising and Strategy, AOL. * Kevin Ryan, SES Advisory Board Chair and CMO, WebVisible, Inc.

In addition, SES announced that Grehan and Quealy would be co-chairs of the SES Advisory Board.

In a press release, Ryan said, "I enjoyed the years spent with SES and SEW yet the demands on my time are tremendous with WebVisible and the companies I advise. I am so pleased to be passing on the baton to Mike Grehan, SES has a bright future,"

Grehan said, "I'm proud to have been a primary speaker with SES for many years--and even prouder to be taking on this new role with the global advisory board." He added, "I'm much looking forward to working more closely with my friend and colleague Stewart Quealy and the ever innovative SES content team."

Quealy said, "I look forward to working closely with Mike Grehan and the rest of the advisory board in shaping the future direction and ongoing growth of SES."

Now that Ryan has passed the baton to Grehan, the next logical question to ask is: What will Grehan do with the shoehorn that he normally waves around at SES conferences? Will he hold the baton in one hand and the shoehorn in the other? Will Quealy get the shoehorn?

I can't want to find out the answer at SES Toronto 2009 next week.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 3, 2009

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Training Workshops Offered Following SES Toronto Conference

This just handed me: Search Engine Strategies is offering search engine marketing training workshops following next week's SES conference and expo in Toronto. In case you've been pre-occupied by other news and events, the largest search engine marketing conference and expo in Canada will be held at the Sheraton Centre Toronto June 8-10, 2009.

According to the folks at comScore, there were 3.5 billion expanded searches in Canada during March 2009. Google Sites had an 80.7 percent share, Microsoft Sites had 4.9 percent, and Yahoo! Sites 4.5 percent. During the same month, there were 21.0 billion expanded searches in the United States. Google Sites had a 58.8 percent share, Yahoo! Sites had a 14.7 percent share, and Microsoft Sites a 5.9 percent share.

The event is organized and programmed in cooperation with the SES Advisory Board, Search Engine Watch and Andrew Goodman, the founder and president of Toronto-based Page Zero Media. According to Goodman, "These workshops provide the practices, applications, and hands-on exposure you need to become and remain a top performer in your field. This in-depth training in a small class setting ensures that your instructor is accessible for informal one-on-one or small group discussions. Regardless where you are in the SEO and SEM process, you will leave these intensive workshops with the necessary skills to improve your business results and take your search engine marketing to another level."

The SEM training workshops will be held on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. They are:

Search Marketing Boot Camp (8:00am-5:00pm): This search engine marketing training workshop will be taught by Jennifer Evans Laycock and Matt Bailey of SiteLogic. With search engine marketing quickly expanding beyond the simple realm of keyword research, on-page optimization and traditional paid search campaigns, it's becoming more and more difficult for businesses to know how and where to break into the mix with their own search related marketing efforts. If you are planning on attending Search Engine Strategies Toronto, but are not yet familiar with the nuances of search engine marketing, link building, viral marketing and online reputation management, this workshop will provide you with a crash-course in all things search marketing related.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop (8:00am-12:00pm): This SEO training workshop will be taught by Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive. A search-engine friendly Web site is a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers. In order for a site to be search-engine friendly, it must meet the terms and conditions set forth by Google and the other search engines. Additionally, the site must satisfy the needs of site visitors. Ultimately, the site must be profitable for the Web site owner. Can a single site satisfy all of these groups? This workshop will demonstrate that these skills are essential for building a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers.

Google AdWords Tactics to Improve Your ROI (1:00pm-5:00pm): This Google AdWords training workshop will be taught by Brad Geddes, bgTheory.com. Learn how to spice up your AdWords account by applying tactics learned in this session. You will first dive into the Psychology of Search that shows how consumers think and act throughout the search process. Next, you will learn how to choose the correct keywords to take control of when your ad is displayed. Then, you will study how effective ad copy can generate more clicks and increase your conversion rate. The landing page is fundamental to increasing conversions, and the session will cover usability and conversion optimization. Finally, you will learn everything you need to know about optimizing your account for Quality Score.

For more information about SES Toronto 2009, go to rates and registration details. Tell them the hoser from the Search Marketing News Blog at Search Engine Watch sent you. No, it won't get you a discount. But it will let me know if anyone is reading this post.

Participants may register for training in addition to the SES Toronto conference or independently, as workshops take place on the Wednesday after the event. To follow news about SES Toronto 2009 on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/SES_Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 1, 2009

SES Toronto Adds Copywriting, Landing Page and Twitter Sessions

SES Toronto gets underway June 8-10, 2009, at the Sheraton Centre Toronto. With just a week to go, largest search engine marketing conference in Canada today announced the addition of copywriting, landing page and Twitter sessions to the already packed conference agenda.

The event is organized and programmed in cooperation with the SES Advisory Board, Search Engine Watch and Andrew Goodman, the founder and president of Toronto-based Page Zero Media.

In a press release distributed this morning, Goodman says, "Although most of the conference agenda was set months ago, we kept a couple of slots open for sessions that covered topics that needed to be addressed. I'm excited that we found one for each of our concurrent tracks: Nuts & Bolts, Corporateville, and Geek Track."

The three new conference sessions are:

Copywriting: 45-Minute Boot Camp: Copywriting requires special skills in the search marketing world. Writing ads for paid search requires three parts science, two parts audience research, and at least one part creativity. SEO copywriting requires a mix of skills, including an understanding of the balance between a natural flow, and the importance of keyword research. And improving conversion rates on landing pages may require testing long versus short copy, headlines, benefits copy, tone, call-to-action text, and more. Our experts share their top tips to maximize your search campaign performance by choosing the right words to connect with customers and bots alike.

Search Ads & Landing Page Clinic: Does your PPC ad make a promise that your landing page can't keep? Make sure that your ad copy and landing page contents are in alignment to ensure a smooth and profitable visitor experience. This clinic will examine actual ads and landing pages offered up by volunteers from the audience.

The Ins & Outs of Twitter: Of all emerging social media platforms, Twitter is perhaps the most talked (or should we say tweeted) about today. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Twitter's exemplary ability to offer real-time search capability is shaking up the search world. And surely, retweets, follower counts, and mentions on Twitter should be factored into the search algorithms of the very near future. There are also downsides and even dark sides to improper use. Panelists discuss, with a longer Q&A period to take your posts, as submitted on Twitter to #sestortweet.

Goodman likes to remind me that the search engine market in Canada is similar but different than the one in the United States. For example, Google received 80.2 percent of all Canadian searches conducted in the 12 weeks ending April 25, 2009, according to Hitwise. MSN search properties, Yahoo! search properties and Ask search properties received 8.8 percent, 7.3 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. By comparison, Google accounted for 72.7 percent of all U.S. searches conducted during that period, according to Hitwise. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com received 16.3 percent, 5.7 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.

At SES New York, Byron Gordan of SEO-PR asked Goodman to provide a preview of SES Toronto. Goodman said he expects many new faces to the search marketing field to attend this year's conference.

Andrew Goodman, Page Zero Media, previews SES Toronto 2009

For more information about SES Toronto 2009, go to rates and registration details. To follow news about SES Toronto 2009 on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/SES_Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 22, 2009

Lisa Buyer on Twitter damage control 101 at SES New York 2009

I had just finished posting "Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles" this morning when I was notified that my video interview with Lisa Buyer, President and CEO of The Buyer Group, had just been uploaded to YouTube.

I had interviewed Buyer at SES New York 2009 about a Twitter damage control case study. She describes the story this way: one of her staff members tweeted about a blogger who posted a negative post about one of their clients. The blogger reacted negatively and hours later a story appeared in Google and Google news about how someone was trying to hire The Buyer Group and had a bad experience.

Buyer says she later contacted the blogger to notify her that this was not part of The Buyer Group's corporate culture and apologized. The blogger took the story down. But the case study illustrates the need to have policies in place before something like this happens in your organization.

Lisa Buyer, The Buyer Group, on Twitter damage control 101 at SES New York 2009

I want to thank Buyer for sharing this story -- which shows a lot of class to talk about mistakes made and lessons learned. And I want to apologies for missing this obvious view interview that should have been included with this morning's "Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles."

Consider this additional example a "baker's dozen."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles

Andrew Goodman, the editor of Traffick, has posted "Is Guy Kawasaki Singlehandedly Ruining Twitter (Part 2)." Goodman takes a deeper look at the tactics could turn Twitter into a "digital trailer park."

This prompted me to take a second look at what others in the search engine marketing industry have been saying about Twitter tools, tips, tricks, and techniques. And I found twelve video interviews conducted at SES London and SES New York this year that provide wide spectrum of divergent opinions.

Since there's going to be a session on "The Ins and Outs of Twitter" at SES Toronto next month, I suspect we'll add even more video interviews on the "Twouble with Twitters," as SuperNews describes it.

So, sit back, relax, and watch "Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles."

I interviewed Mikkel deMib Svendsen, Creative Director, deMib.com, at SES London 2009. He says most companies are still not aware of just how important it is to monitor their reputation online. And he shares some tips about using Twitter, including the importance of featuring a high quality photo of yourself when tweeting.

Mikkel deMib Svendsen on reputation management at SES London 2009

I interviewed Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOMoz, about the future of SEO panel at SES London 2009. He says people are using more social elements and direct methods of getting information rather than using the traditional search engines. He says people today who want to converse or learn more about social media don't use Google but use such applications as Facebook or Twitter.

Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz, on the future of SEO in 2009

I also interviewed David Naylor, Founder of Bronco Internet, about reputation management. He shares a few tips. He recommends using such social media tools as Twitter to monitor reputation of brands, products, company name.

David Naylor, CEO, Bronco Internet, on reputation management at SES London

I also interviewed Twitter lover Guy Kawasaki, author of the new book Reality Check and keynote speaker at SES New York 2009. He discusses the social media marketing potential of Twitter. For him, content is king of the hill.

Guy Kawasaki Tweets About Twitter Twits & his Reality Check at SES New York 2009

I also interviewed Jeffrey K. Rohrs, Vice President, Marketing, ExactTarget, about Kawasaki's keynote on Twitter at SES New York 2009. Rohrs expresses concern that if Kawasaki's use of Twitter were adopted by most Tweeters, it would create an avalanche of Twitter spam. Rohrs says one of the major concerns about Twitter is how the Twitterati benefit greatly from its expansion but at the cost of reducing it to strictly a marketing spam tool. He also shares his own newly coined Twitter term, "Twangst."

Jeffrey K. Rohrs, ExactTarget, on Twitter spam at SES New York 2009

John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Aaron Lazansky-Oliva of Sohnup Industries, who live-twittered at SES New York 2009. The two discuss social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and run through some of the best practices, tricks, and tips Aaron picked up as a first-timer at the conference.

Aaron Lazansky-Oliva Twitters and Tapes SES NY 2009

Mulligan also interviewed Eric Qualman, Global Vice President of Online Marketing for EF Education, at SES New York 2009 about the future of search and social media. Qualman describes the future of search as a competition between the major search engines and the various new social media applications such as Twitter and Facebook. As a result, he says the value of social media will only help to improve search.

Erik Qualman, EF Education on the future of search and social media at SES New York 2009

Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Hollis Thomases, CEO of WebAdvantage.net, about Twitter and its social media applications at SES NY 2009. Hollis discusses how Twitter can be used effectively for building customer relationships and brand reputation. She goes on to describe Whole Foods as a success story in how they use Twitter and then describes a "horror story" that happened to Exxon Mobile when their Twitter handle got hijacked. She recommends several key Twitter tools for young companies just starting out to build their Twitter presence.

Hollis Thomases, WebAdvantage, on Twitter and brand building at SES New York 2009

Gordon also interviewed Brian Cray of Nearby Tweets, who discusses his social networking utility, which brings together Twitter and local search functionality at SES New York 2009.

Nearby Tweets, Twitter Tool, Brings Local Search to Twitter at SES New York 2009

Gordon also interviewed Michael Evans of Talent Magazine, an entertainment and emerging alternative artists and media publication, at SES New York 2009. Evans sees the need for the entertainment market to focus more on in-home activities, especially in a down economy, in order to reach consumers more focused on saving money and tailoring their own private media experiences, especially with the potential of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to offer what Evans calls a StayCation.

Staycationing, Social Media, & the Economy: Talent Magazine at SES New York 2009

Gordon interviewed Bas van den Beld, founder of SearchCowboys, a European focused search website at SES New York 2009. Beld discusses the merits of Twitter and the future of search in tough economic times.

Bas van den Beld, founder, SearchCowboys, discusses highlights of SES New York 2009

Rebecca Lieb, eConsultancy, interviewed Michel Leconte, SEO Samba, about the value of integrating twitter into your analytics measurements to get more value out of your feeds.

Michel Leconte, CEO, SEO Samba, on RSS feeds and blog optimization at SES New York 2009

There you have it: Twelve Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles. Try saying that quickly three times at SES Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

May 19, 2009

Twelve bloggers blogging about SES Toronto 2009

I know, the above headline above looks like a parody of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and it's only May! But I've seen a dozen bloggers blogging about SES Toronto, which will be held June 8-10, 2009, at the Sheraton Centre Toronto. So, I can't get the song out of my head.

Maybe if I focus on what they're writing about, then I won't slip into "11 tweeters tweeting...."

It all started innocently enough when Andrew Goodman wrote, "My Top Three Tips for SES Toronto 2009." See, when he said, three "tips are 100% guaranteed to help you get the most bang for your buck, and reduce headaches." I just couldn't stop thinking, will they get me "a ranking in the top three"?

And I read "Ruud Questions: Mike Grehan." Now, Ruud Hein questions were totally understandable. But Grehan's answers....Is it just me, or does Grehan sound like he has a bit of a Newcastle accent?

Then, there was Garry Przyklenk's "SES Toronto Pre-Show Interview: Janice Hatch, Google" and his "SES Toronto Pre-Show Interview: Julie Batten, Klick Communications." I know what you're thinking. These are two posts, but one blogger blogging. No, I'm not counting him twice.

I also read Marty Weintraub's "Jeff Quipp Interview: SEO, Canada & Killer Coffee." Although, I did have to head to Wiktionary to find out what "quintessential multifaceted search marketing agency owner" means. But, right next to the definition was Quipp's photo, so Weintraub nailed it.

And I read the "Tara Hunt Interview: True Community Marketing" by Manny Rivas. See, two bloggers, but the same blog. So, things have a way of balancing out.

I had no problem understanding Shane Schick's "What IT pros need to know about search engine strategies." I learned to read Computerworld back in the 1980s when I worked at Data General, so the dialect of techie used by IT World Canada is easy to translate. A "data centre" is just a "data ceter," right?

And I read Manoj Jasra's post "SES Toronto 2009: Interview of Mitch Joel - Twist Image." And the photo of Joel's left eye even looks like his left eye.

I read Tami's post, "Emanuel Rosen to Give Keynote at Search Engine Strategies Toronto," so I know she is as interested as I am in reading the sequel to "The Anatomy of Buzz."

Then I tried to read Patrick Landry's post "Ressac Media au Search Engine Strategies (SES) Toronto 2009." It's in French. Now, I studied French back in high school, but I never learned words like "Whuffie". So, I'll need to brush up on my grandmother's native language before I fly into Toronto next month. However, I had no trouble with the "Last Minute Interview with Tim Schigel CEO of ShareThis Live via Ustream." Schigel is from Ohio, and I understand his midwestern dialect, even though I grew up in Michigan.

Speaking of French, Sarah Benmaza posted "SES Toronto 2009 - Entrevue avec Bryan Eisenberg." I don't know how she did it, but she got Eisenberg to speak slowly -- so I was finally able to keep up with his train of thought which rockets along at Acela speed.

Christoph C. Cemper wrote about his "SEO Event Plans for 2009." Hey, that's in English. Although, Christoph has been to Rio, Berlin, New York City, Munich, Amsterdam, Hanover, and Seattle during the past few months, so obviously language isn't a barrier for him.

I also enjoyed reading Evan Carmichael's "New forum - online businesses!" Okay, okay, so technically this is a forum, not a blog. But his interview with Amanda Watlington looks sort of blogger-like -- if you are a stickler for details. Besides, I was one short of a dozen, so I'm counting him.

There you have it, 12 bloggers blogging.

Now, all together, let's sing the final chorus: "In the first month of summer, Toronto gave to me: 12 bloggers blogging, 11 tweeters tweeting, 10 speakers speaking, 9 Diggers digging, 8 searchers searching, 7 linkers linking, 6 vendors vending, 5 Google things, 4 conferences, 3 key trends, 2 journalists, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 5, 2009

Charlene Li, Co-Author of "Groundswell", to Keynote at SES San Jose

Charlene Li, the co-author of "Groundswell," will be one of the keynote speakers at SES San Jose 2009. The event, which will be held August 11-14, 2009, is expected to attract approximately 6,000 marketing executives, managers, professionals, specialists and consultants this year.

SES San Jose 2009 is the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast. The event will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, parties and more.

Li is an influential thought leader and guide on emerging technologies, with a specific focus on social technologies, interactive media, and marketing. She is the co-author of the business best-seller, "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies", published by Harvard Business Press in May 2008.

Named "One of the Most Influential Women in Technology" by Fast Company magazine, she is the founder of Altimeter Group which provides speaking and consulting services to organizations looking to understand and thrive in a new economy driven by social media tools and techniques. You can also read her insights on the firm's blog, "The Altimeter."

Li is one of the most frequently-quoted industry analysts and has appeared on 60 Minutes, The McNeil NewsHour, ABC News, CNN, and CNBC. She is also frequently quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, and The Associated Press.

Most recently, she was a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. She joined Forrester in 1999, after spending five years in online and newspaper publishing with the San Jose Mercury News and Community Newspaper Company. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and received a magna cum laude degree from Harvard College.

In a press release distributed this morning, Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, said, "More than 60 percent of the content at SES San Jose 2009 will be focused on topics that search engine marketing (SEM), pay per click (PPC) advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, specialists and consultants need to know. That's what makes SES San Jose a must-attend event year after year."

He added, "As more and more businesses move ever greater amounts of their traditional marketing budgets into social media, we've also seen growing interest from marketing executives and managers in sessions that tackle a broader set of social technologies. That's why we're delighted to have Charlene Li as a keynote speaker at our conference in San Jose, which is home to the largest concentration of successful internet and high-tech companies in the world."

For more information about the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, go to the SES San Jose 2009 website. Register through May 8 to save up to $600 with the early bird rate.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 30, 2009

Clay Shirky, Author of "Here Comes Everybody", to Keynote at SES San Jose

Okay, I understand that it's hard to think beyond the current quarter. But, looking ahead to August could save you up to $600. Let me explain.

Search Engine Strategies San Jose will be held August 11-14, 2009. It is expected to attract approximately 6,000 marketing executives, managers, professionals, specialists and consultants this year.

Now in its 11th year, SES San Jose 2009 is organized and programmed by the SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch. The event, which is the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, parties and more.

And, if you register through May 8, you can save up to $600 with the early bird rate.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Now, it has just been announced that Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody," will be one of the keynote speakers at SES San Jose.

Shirky is a writer, educator, and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He is an adjunct professor at New York University (NYU) in their graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, where he teaches courses on the interrelationships of social and technological networks, particularly how they shape culture and vice-versa. He consults to a variety of organizations on network technologies, and is an acknowledged expert on collaboration tools, social networks, peer-to-peer sharing, collaborative filtering, and Open Source development.

Shirky has spoken and written extensively on the Internet since 1996, with regular columns in Business 2.0, FEED, OpenP2P.com and his own shirky.com blogsite. He has appeared in The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and others. In his new book, "Here Comes Everybody", he explores how organizations and industries are being upended by open networks, collaboration, and user appropriation of content production and dissemination.

In a press release issued this morning, Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, which includes Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and the ClickZ Network, said, "More than 60 percent of the content at SES San Jose 2009 will be focused on topics that search engine marketing (SEM), pay per click (PPC) advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, specialists and consultants need to know. That's what makes SES San Jose a must-attend event year after year."

McGowan added, "As more and more businesses move ever greater amounts of their traditional marketing budgets into search engine marketing, we've also seen growing interest from marketing executives and managers in sessions that tackle a broader set of business issues. That's why we're delighted to have Clay Shirky as a keynote speaker at our conference in San Jose, which is home to the largest concentration of successful internet and high-tech companies in the world."

So, if you plan to attend the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, then register through May 8. If you do, you can save up to $600 with the early bird rate.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2009

Emanuel Rosen, Author of "The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited", to Give Keynote at SES Toronto

I'm looking forward to interviewing Emanuel Rosen, the author of "The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited", who will give a keynote presentation at SES Toronto 2009. I also look forward to reading his book.

Rosen is the author of the national bestseller "The Anatomy of Buzz" (Doubleday, 2000) and "The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited" (Doubleday, 2009) has more good stories.

Prior to writing these books, he was VP Marketing at Niles Software, where he was responsible for launching and marketing the company's flagship product EndNote, which spread to a large extent by word of mouth. It was during this time that he became interested in buzz and especially in how it can be accelerated.

Rosen started his career as a copywriter in Israel. For his work in advertising, he won the Bronze Lion from the Cannes International Advertising Festival, as well as several national awards including two gold medals. He holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco and lives in Menlo Park, California. The Anatomy of Buzz "has managed to generate quite a bit of buzz itself" as BusinessWeek Online noted. The book hit The Wall Street Journal's business best-seller list and is now available in 12 languages.

This year, SES Toronto 2009 will be held at the Sheraton Centre Toronto June 8-10, 2009. The largest search engine marketing conference in Canada is organized and programmed in cooperation with the SES Advisory Board, Search Engine Watch and Andrew Goodman, the founder and president of Toronto-based Page Zero Media.

According to Goodman, "This year, SES Toronto is being held at the Sheraton Centre on Queen Street West. As always it promises to be the digital marketing event of the year in Canada. With the help of the Incisive Media team, great speakers, and sponsors, we're teeing up another great program to help companies forge through these choppy economic waters with the ultimate in targeted, accountable marketing. And as always, the networking, rooftop tanning, and cultural opportunities are just icing on the cake."

For more information about SES Toronto 2009, go to rates and registration details. Register through May 22 to save $150 CAD with the advance rate. To follow news about SES Toronto 2009 on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/SES_Toronto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 23, 2009

Q&A with Rob Swick of Atlantic Canada Internet Marketing Association

SES Toronto 2009 is coming up June 8-10 and one of the event's association sponsors is the Atlantic Canada Internet Marketing Association (ACIMA).

ACIMA is an industry association dedicated to unifying the Internet Marketing community in the Atlantic Provinces (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland), as well as to promoting and sharing Internet marketing knowledge and best practices. The association mandate is comprised of Education and Training, Networking, Information Sharing, Representation and Profile Raising.

To learn a little more about ACIMA, I interviewed the association's President, Rob Swick. As founding President of ACIMA, Swick coordinates the overall association activities. He also leads the charge for the association's promotion and growth.

Jarboe: ACIMA is a relatively new trade association, dedicated to unifying the Internet marketing community in the Atlantic Provinces (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland) and to promoting best practices in this growing field. What are Canadians in this region most excited about in this Web 2.0 world? Any particular tools or developments that stand out?

Swick: Not on thing in particular. But Atlantic Canadians are famous talkers. It's a very social culture, so Web 2.0 in general has a high appeal. One thing I was surprised to see that even government seems to be shifting to Web 2.0 press releases. Usually government would be slow to adopt things like that but there's a real sense of understanding of this particular sea change.

Jarboe: How would you characterize Canadian search habits or queries? Or for that matter, in the Atlantic Provinces? Do search trends hover more heavily around generic keywords?

Swick: It's amazing how persistent broad search queries are, but the numbers show that search tail is producing better visitors, lower bounce rates, more time on the site, so we target those and we target more broadly and with more depth. I imagine it's the same all around.

Jarboe: Canada's population is about 1/10th of that of the United States. How underdeveloped is e-commerce in Canada and where do you see ACIMA's role in expanding it?

Swick: Until a few years ago this was a real issue. People still talked about whether ecommerce was safe and reports kept showing that the smaller percentage of Canadians who DID want to shop online couldn't find Canadian etailers to shop from. Things have changed a lot - and quickly. I think Canadians gravitated first to things like online banking and paying bills online. Maybe it's the cold! Canadians love doing things from the comfort of their homes. And now that they've made the leap numbers for even big purchase items are showing that Canadians are catching up quickly and embracing the convenience and value you can get through ecommerce. Kijiji apparently is growing more rapidly here, and especially in Atlantic Canada, than in the US.

Jarboe: How important is the .CA domain when creating a Canadian website? Is .COM considered an affront?

Swick: Both are fine in Canada. They're the most common extensions. Dot-ca is what a lot of companies have because it allows Canadian companies to actually get their name as a domain. Dotcom is just as acceptable if you happen to have it. Either - or. We're practical people. I don't think anyone sees dotcom as 'American'. It's just 'Internet'. You even see some provincial extensions (for Nova Scotia for example it's domain.ns.ca) though most people find those cumbersome and irritating. They're more common in Quebec which has a more nationalistic leaning. You've probably heard a little about that - remember the time on the Simpson's that Homer was reading the newspaper and said "hmmm...they're holding a referendum in Canada". Okay, probably not.

Jarboe: Social media tools are all the buzz right now. Twitter, in particular, is receiving lots of attention. What's your take on Twitter? Do you see the Internet marketing community in the Atlantic Provinces using it effectively to market their business?

Swick: I think it's still mostly for early adopters, though they're a passionate, active, and involved group and I think it's the actual personalities - I could name a handful of names - that are building networks of Tweeting friends and followers and they're taking the message into their companies that this is a cool and efficient way to get the word around on what's happening now. As a mainstream tool... Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, each one I think currently has a thin slice of influence. At our AIM conference we have three different talks on Social Media. The interest is there. The adoption.... just starting.

Jarboe: What do you look forward to most in attending SES Toronto? Any particular panels or sessions?

Swick: I always enjoy meeting and seeing the speakers I haven't seen before. I'm also more interested in optimizing for different countries and languages so will be looking forward to hearing and talking about that. I first worked in Montreal so have done a lot of optimizing for French engines - but now many of our projects are truly global so there's a lot to learn about specific engines in other countries, usage and behavioural patterns. Lots and lots to learn - it's a big globe.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 16, 2009

Tara Hunt, Author of The Whuffie Factor, to Give Opening Keynote at SES Toronto

The conference agenda for SES Toronto 2009 introduces some new terms and unique phrases to the search engine marketing industry. For example, the opening keynote on June 8, 2009, will be given by Tara Hunt, the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Citizen Agency and author of "The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business." In addition, SES Toronto will feature 18 sessions organized into three tracks entitled "Corporateville", "Geek Track" and "Nuts & Bolts".

The event is organized and programmed in cooperation with Andrew Goodman, the founder and president of Toronto-based Page Zero Media, as well as the SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch. I should also disclose that SES Toronto is a client.

But I didn't realize how much my vocabulary would expand working with Goodman.

In a press release distributed this morning, Goodman quips, "Robin Williams once quipped that Canada's like a loft apartment over a really great party. But what the people at the big party don't realize is that in our loft party upstairs, we're quietly plotting global domination. Of the world of ideas, of course. 'The medium is the message'? Marshall MacLuhan. 'Gen X'? Douglas Coupland. Whuffie? Cory Doctorow to Tara Hunt. Canadians, all! So, Tweet your followers that the must-attend event will be SES Toronto. We'll get things started with Tara, the author of a book that shows how any business can increase their Whuffie, the store of social capital that is the currency of the digital world. Then, we'll follow with conference tracks that read more like blog headlines and less like title tags."

Now, I have uncovered evidence that Goodman has been plotting this takeover of the industry's thought leadership for months. Check out the interview with him that was conducted last month by Byron Gordon of SEO-PR during SES New York 2009. Listen closely and you'll hear Goodman was already using terms like "Nuts and Bolts" and "Corporateville" and "Geek Track" as if they had already become the lingua franca of search engine marketers.

Andrew Goodman, Page Zero Media, previews SES Toronto 2009

Seriously, having conference tracks that read more like blog headlines and less like title tags just reflects where the industry is headed. As Google itself says in its Webmaster guidelines, "The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community."

As for Hunt, she is co-founder and chief marketing officer of Citizen Agency, an Internet consultancy specializing in community-centric strategies. She is also the author of "The Whuffie Factor," which is due out this month.

An online marketing pioneer, Hunt is a leading authority on online communities. She specializes in community marketing, which is not about pushing messages or creating strong brands, but building relationships and engaging communities.

Hunt has more than 11 years of experience in web design, eight years in online marketing and over four years of blogging at HorsePigCow. She was named by Fast Company to their list of the Most Influential Women in Technology.

As for the other new words I'm adding to my vocabulary, check out the names of some of the conference tracks and sessions at SES Toronto 2009:

• Corporateville Track: On Monday, June 8, conference sessions include: "Internationalizing Your Campaigns & Sites" and "Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions." On Tuesday, June 9, conference sessions include: "Analytics for Search: ROI, Engagement, Attribution & More"; "The Canadian Agency Landscape"; "Social Media: Do Big Companies Get It?" and "How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively with Your IT Department to Get Things Done".

• Geek Track: On Monday, June 8, conference sessions include: "Signals: What Relevancy Indicators Are Search Engineers Watching Today?" and "Optimizing for Video Search: Virgin Territory?" On Tuesday, June 9, conference sessions include: "Follow the Carrot: Cool Mobile Apps"; "Information Architecture, Site Performance Tuning & SEO"; "Paid Search Quality Scoring: 201, 301"; and "Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic".

• Nuts & Bolts Track: On Monday, June 8, conference sessions include: "SEO Then & Now: What's the Same? What's New?" and "Universal & Blended Search: Comprehensive Visibility Challenges". On Tuesday, June 9, conference sessions include: "Introduction to Paid Search"; "Campaign Performance Tracking: Basic Tips"; and "Tool Time: The Search Marketer's Free-to-Cheap Goodie Bag".

And on Wednesday, June 10, SES is offering a full-day workshop, "Search Marketing Boot Camp", as well as two half-day workshops, "Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop" and "Google AdWords Tactics to Improve Your ROI". Ah, finally some terms that I've been using for years.

For more information, click on SES Toronto 2009 rates and registration details. If you register through Friday, April 17, you can get the early bird rate and save $370 CAD.

You also get to increase your vocabulary at no additional charge.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 13, 2009

Q&A with Piera Palazzolo, SVP of Dale Carnegie Training

One of the new tracks at SES New York 2009 was focused on "Search & the C-Level Executive." As I pointed this out during the "First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM" session, I was asked what a C-level exectutive was. I quipped it was any executive who could keep his or her head above water in this economy. No one got the joke.

Seriously, a C-level executive is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Finanancial Officer (CFO), Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Chief Learning Officer (CLO) or any of the other chiefs that us Native American Indians report to.

But it's noteworthy that some search engine marketing (SEM) specialists, search engine optimization (SEO) consultants, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers aren't familiar with business jargon like "C-level." Hey, it's a search term that costs $2.19 a click.

Apparently, some of us have been burried so deeply in our organizations that we don't talk the talk of the "C-suite", another search term that costs $1.39 a click. But that was changing before the recession, which is now in its 16th month, although it has rapidly accelerated as executives revised our budgets during the most severe recession in 70 years.

Today, all of us in the search engine marketing industry need to talk the talk of the C-suite and walk the walk of calculating our marketing return on investment (ROI). That's why Search Engine Strategies added the "Search & the C-Level Exectuve" track.

One of the sessions in the track was entitled, "Implementing a Digital Corporate Governance Program." When I was asked during the "First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM" session what that would cover, I had to lamely explain, "Hey, that's why I come to SES events: To learn things that I didn't know already."

Nevertheless, I vowed to find out what "Implementing a Digital Corporate Governance Program" was all about by interviewing Piera Palazzolo, Senior Vice President of Dale Carnegie Training, who was one of the speakers at the session.

Dale Carnegie Training is the oldest training company in the world, originally based on Dale Carnegie's world famous best seller: "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Dale Carnegie has 200 offices, both franchised and company owned, in over 70 countries on six continents.

As its first woman senior executive, Mrs. Palazzolo joined the Company in 1993 and was elected to the Senior Leadership Team in 2002. Previously, she was VP of Account Services at J. Walter Thompson (JWT). During her tenure at JWT, Mrs. Palazzolo oversaw both consumer and business to business accounts. In 1986, she helped launch Prodigy -- a pioneering company in online services. She serviced a variety of marketers including GE Capital and Ford Motor Company.

Over the last 15 years Mrs. Palazzolo has overseen the company's foray into online marketing, print and radio advertising and direct mail and sales support. Here are my questions and her answers:

Q: First of all, Piera, tells us a little bit about Dale Carnegie Training.

A: "Dale Carnegie partners with middle market and large corporations, as well as organizations, to produce measurable business results by improving the performance of employees with emphasis on leadership, sales, team member engagement, customer service, presentations, process improvement and other essential management skills. Recently identified by The Wall Street Journal as one of the top 25 high-performing franchises, the Dale Carnegie Training programs are available in more than 25 languages throughout the entire United States and in more than 75 countries. Dale Carnegie includes as its clients 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. Approximately 7 million people have experienced Dale Carnegie Training."

Q: I understand that you are migrating your marketing efforts from print to digital media. Can you tell us what Dale Carnegie Training is doing?

A: "Paid Search, Organic SEO. Paid search and organic SEO have proved to be the most cost effective way of driving leads online. We also use e-mail marketing to the leads we generate which has been very successful."

Q: As companies migrate their marketing efforts online, can the costs of implementing an effective program skyrocket quickly if a proper governance program is not in place?

A: "Yes, when dealing with multiple business units it is imperative that a governance program is in place to prevent duplication of effort and cannibalization of terms in paid search. In order to maximize budget a centralized approach has worked well for Dale Carnegie and allows us to provide very strategic marketing support to our franchisees."

Q: What can companies that have multiple business units or franchisees do to avoid the common pitfalls of cannibalization of budget and dilution of brand?

A: "Implement a corporate governance program and enforce it. It serves no useful purpose to run multiple campaigns with the same goals and compete against yourself."

Q: What are some of best practices for implementing a governance program that coordinates marketing efforts and optimizes budget across lines of business, geographic regions and organizational "fiefdoms"?

A: "Dale Carnegie has been in business for over 96 years and has always believed that a centralized marketing approach with clear brand messaging and guidelines works best. We simply took that same belief and strategy to the Web and have not run into some of the problems other major brands have faced in their online migration."

Jason Ferrara, SVP of Sales & Marketing at Elixir Interactive, moderated the "Implementing a Digital Corporate Governance Program" session at SES New York 2009. Following the session, he also interviewed Mrs. Palazzolo for SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube.

Piera Palazzolo, Dale Carnegie Training, on implementing a corporate governance program

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 6, 2009

Amber Naslund of Radian6 on Social Media for the Little Guy

One of the sessions at SES New York that I had to attend was "Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy."

Why did I have to attend? Well, Amber Naslund, the Director of Community for Radian6, was on the panel and I was afraid that she'd spill the beans about how Radian6 gives you a complete platform to track millions of blogs, tweets, videos, and comments.

It's one of my "secret weapons."

But she was so intent on helping helping small companies with even smaller budgets freely tap the world of social media to improve their business and increase sales that she almost didn't mention what company she was from.

I should have been selfish and let her keep my "secret weapon" secret. But, when we got to Q&A I had to ask her about Radian6 -- because it's too good a product to keep under wraps.

We've been using it to track the surprising relationships between people who use blogs, video sharing sites (YouTube), photo sharing sites (Flickr) and microblogging sites (Twitter) as well as Social networking sites (Facebook). What continually amazes me is how frequently the person who Tweets this morning is blogging about the same topic this afternoon and then uploading a video about the subject tomorrow.

If you use different tools to track each of these social media, then you will often miss the connections.

To illustrate this point, I interviewed Naslund after the session, have embedded the video interview below and will Tweet about in a minute. Get it? Got it? Good.

Amber Naslund, Radian6, on the importance of social media for small businesses at SES New York

At Radian6, Naslund is responsible for client engagement, community building, and helping companies tap the potential of online reputation management, customer engagement, and social media monitoring. She's spent the last decade or so raising over $60m for non-profit organizations, building brands for companies large and small, and messing with all things online.

Naslund blogs at Altitude Branding, focusing on brand building and social media marketing for business. She's also an author of Radian6's PowerShift blog, where she's just posted a great story about Southwest Airlines, an old client of mine. And she is a contributor to the popular MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog, and she keeps her personal blog at Innacurate Reality.

Oh, and if you contact Naslund, you'll discover that she's is passionate about helping companies and customers build and share brands, together. Yes, yes. That's wonderful. But, ask her to give you a demo of Radian6. If you don't see the product, you'll be missing one of the marketing tools that should be in your social media toolkit.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

April 2, 2009

Matthew Liu Discusses YouTube Insight and Sponsored Videos

At SES New York last week, one of the speakers at the conference session, "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 & Beyond," was Matthew Liu, the the lead product manager on YouTube Sponsored Videos. You may remember him from such hits as the "YouTube Sponsored Videos Overview."

Well, enough about the past. Liu spoke about some of YouTube's newest applications, including YouTube Insight and YouTube Sponsored Videos, at SES New York. For example, he discussed how Insight, an analytics tool, allows users and advertisers to learn more about their videos and how much traffic they are receiving.

Liu also discussed how you can use Sponsored Videos to promote your videos on YouTube. He said Sponsored Videos is like "AdWords" for Youtube.

And just like Matt Cutts of Google, who always draws a crowd after he speaks at a session, Liu also drew a crowd after he spoke last week. Check out the video interview below.

YouTube Product Manager Matthew Liu on YouTube's Insight and Sponsored Videos

As the lead product manager on YouTube Sponsored Videos, Liu focuses on building an advertising platform that allows video creators -- from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser -- to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos. Previously, Liu led numerous other projects at YouTube for advertising, content partnerships and rights management, and community engagement.

Liu has a MS in Management Science & Engineering and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 1, 2009

Is Your IT Department the Department of SEO Prevention?

Although I conducted this interview with Jill Whalen, the CEO of HighRankings, in February at SES London 2009, I've been saving it for April Fool's Day. Why? Because we talk about the IT Department, which is often called the Department of SEO Prevention in many organizations.

One of my tips to get the IT folks on board with that an SEO consultant recommends and your organization needs to make is to buy pizza for everyone who claims to be too busy to implement them. Check out some of the other practical advice that Whalen shares in what has become an ongoing mission of hers.

Jill Whalen, HighRankings, on building better relationships between marketing and IT

By the way, High Rankings is offering new intermediate-advanced 1/2 day SEO workshops on April 2 and 3, 2009, in Framingham, MA. One is on keyword research, another on SEO copywriting, a third on social media marketing, and the fourth is about web analytics.

If you tell Jill that you're from the IT Department, you could get a slice of pizza. Then again, this could be an April Fool's joke that I just made up and all you'll get is an in-depth website marketing workshop.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 31, 2009

Andrew Goodman to Guy Kawasaki: You are Ruining Twitter!

At SES New York last week, I was amazed that the buzz generated by Guy Kawasaki's keynote about "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media" lasted more than 24 hours. Well, now it's a week later and everyone's still talking about the implications of what the author of Reality Check and Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures said in his bully pulpit.

For example, check out Andrew Goodman's latest post in Traffick: "Is Guy Kawasaki Singlehandedly Ruining Twitter? (Part I)." Goodman says, "I'm relatively new to Twitter, but then again, I'm not slow :), so I have seen these kinds of trends come and go. Mostly, since the late 1990's, what we've seen are spammers in various channels tell us that they're the cool ones and not really spamming."

And then as quietly and calmly as someone who is about to take you to the woodshed, Goodman adds, "I'd love to be able to make the point that it's not about the man, it's about the tactics. As honorable as that might be, it's impossible to separate the two... as you'll see."

You're going to have to read Goodman's next 17 paragraphs for yourself. I haven't seen this kind of outburst by a mild mannered Canadian since Molson ran its extremely popular ad, "The Rant", in 2000.

However, let me give you one small sample: "If everyone listened to Guy Kawasaki and admired his Twitter tactics, Twitter would start looking more and more like a digital trailer park."

I'm just glad that I don't live in Buffalo anymore. Or, I would have been blistered by the heat from nearby Toronto.

Maybe everything on the Twitter front will have cooled down by the time SES Toronto is held June 8-10, 2009. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Remember, Molson's commercial, "The Rant", was a remarkable success, spawning a number of parodies and copycats. This includes William Shatner's variation, "I am not a Starfleet commander."

So, I don't think we've seen the last of this.

I know that Twitter has an 140-character limit. Now, if only we could limit responses to Kawasaki's keynote to 140 Tweets.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

March 27, 2009

Big Stories from Day 3 of SES New York 2009

There were just as many big stories on Day 3 of SES New York 2009 as there were on the first two days of the event. Since I took the Acela back to Boston last night, I'm only getting around to reporting on them this morning.

The big story was the morning keynote by John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer at Young & Rubicam Group and author of "The Brand Bubble." In her post, "Morning Keynote: John Gerzema," Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media wrote, "John starts off. Marketing is your way out of the recession. In 2008, there was a credit crisis that shook the world to its core. Now we're seeing a confidence crisis."

Another one of the big stories was "Tips for Better Business Blogging - SES New York" by Lee Odden of TopRank's Online Marketing Blog. Before covering the session, Odden observed, "SES New York did pretty well considering many conferences are feeling the effects of business budget cuts. Publisher and VP Matt McGown stated that over 5,000 people attended 2009 SES New York."

Among the big stories was "Search Goes Global," by Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Watch. According to Ryan, "As if people didn't have enough issues with communicating, extending a search initiative beyond the borders of the United States represents its own unique challenges, not the least of which is that it looks easier than it is."

Another big story was "Where Social Media Fits Into the SEO Equation," by Chris Crum of WebProNews. According to Crum, "I thought it would be interesting to explore social media and how it relates directly to search engine optimization. I sent a couple of questions to several online marketing experts to get their thoughts on the subject."

Another one of the big stories was "HuffPo Blogger Brad Balfour Dishes on News Search Optimization from a Journalist's Perspective," an interview of Brad Balfour of the Huffington Post and BMB Media by John Mulligan of SEO-PR. Balfour discusses his own experiences blogging for the Huffington Post and the optimization strategies he has deployed in the search and social realms.

HuffPo Blogger Brad Balfour Dishes on News Search Optimization from a Journalist's Perspective

One of the other big stories was "Ads All Up In Yo Facebook @ SES New York" by Manny Rivas of the aimClear Search Marketing Blog. Rivas asks, "Why is Facebook so attractive to advertisers? Users are sharing personal information that make efficiently targeting a particular audience simple. BOOYA!"

Another big story was "SEO: Where to Next? At SES NY" by Brian Cosgrove of Search Marketing Gurus. Cosgrove reported, "On Day 1 of SES New York, the Where to Next panel was among the first in the track portion of the show. As you will read, the session was a conversation that migrated from topic to topic in fairly nonlinear path."

Another big story was "News Search SEO" by Virginia Nussey of Bruce Clay's SEO Blog. According to Nussey, "Off to the organic track for some news and SEO learning."

Yet another one of the other big stories was "Twitter Influence - Guy Kawasaki at SES NYC" by Sally Falkow of Social Media Today. According to Falkow, "On Day one of SES New York Guy Kawasaki's keynote certainly stirred the audience and caused a flurry of tweets on Twitter."

The final big story is "SES NY: Mysteries of Online Video Revealed," an interview by Mike McDonald of the WebProNews Video Blog with, ah, me. According to McDonald, "Why is video so hot right now? According to Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR, the reason people are creating videos right now is because so many other people are as well. It is simply a chain reaction."

More WebProNews Videos SES NY: Mysteries of Online Video Revealed

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 25, 2009

Top Posts and Stories from SES New York Day 2

In case you tuned in late, half of the top posts and stories from Day 2 of SES New York were a continuation of the top story from Day 1: Guy Kawasaki's opening keynote, "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media."

To catch you up, in case you missed my post, "Ten Top Stories from Day 1 of SES New York. Better yet, read Lisa Barone's post in Outspoken Media entitled, "Guy Kawasaki: Twitter As a Tool for Social Media." Here's a sample that will give you a flavor of the Barone's point of view: "He thinks Twitter is a tool (I think Guy is a tool)."

Why go straight to Barone's post? Because it appeared in Sphinn under a new title, "Guy Kawasaki: Twitter As a Tool for Social Media (or Guy Kawasaki is a Twitter Tool?)" This prompted a comment by Danny Sullivan, who asked, "Geez, forget Twitter. Someone explain to me how Alltop gets to run what appears to be hundreds of subdomains for various topics in a fun SEO play with Google giving them a free pass?"

This in turn prompted the post entitled, "Search News: What Can Guy Kawasaki and Danny Sullivan Tell Us About Relevance?" Written By Noah Mallin of Searchviews, the company blog of Reprise Media, it recapped yesterday's top story and added, "The raging debate in the search salons at the SES New York conference this week...(was) about a hornet's nest stirred up in the aftermath of Alltop founder Guy Kawasaki's speech to the assembled legions yesterday....Many of these concerns were shared by Lisa Barone who wrote a wonderfully snarky, yet fair, recap of Kawasaki's speech for her blog. The fun really started however, when her post made it to Sphinn and attracted a comment from Search Engine Land main man Danny Sullivan. Sullivan asked the broader question of why Google seems to turn a blind eye to link aggregators like Kawasaki's Alltop when they are much more aggressive in burying other sites that might be considered link spam but which were started by no-names." http://www.searchviews.com/index.php/archives/2009/03/search-news-what-can-guy-kawasaki-and-danny-sullivan-tell-us-about-relevance.php

Meanwhile, other stories focused on Kawasaki's tips. For example, one was entitled, "10 Steps to Terrific Twittering." Written by Lauren McKay of destinationCRM.com, it said, "Guy Kawasaki has taken social networking micro-blogging site Twitter to the extreme."

Now, there were other top posts and stories from Day 2 of SES New York.

One of these stories was the interview of SEO-PR Aaron Lazansky-Oliva of Sohnup Industries by John Mulligan of SEO-PR. Lazansky-Oliva is live-tweeting SES NY 2009. The two discuss social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and run through some of the best practices, tricks, and tips Aaron picked up as a first-timer at Search Engine Strategies and New York local.

Aaron Lazansky-Oliva Twitters and Tapes SES NY 2009

Okay, enough about Twitter. Let's talk about some of the other social media that were featured at SES New York 2009.

For example, one of the other top stories on Day 2 of SES New York was entitled "Using Social Media For Your Small Business." Written by Mike Sachoff of WebProNews, it said, "Social media is being used by small businesses to help build their brand and attract loyal customers while on a modest budget. The SES session "Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy" focused on ways smaller companies can improve business and increase sales."

Another one of the top posts was by Mike McDonald of WebProNews Videos, who interviewed im Kendall, the Director of Monetization at Facebook, walks us through Facebook's advertising system in this video from SES NY.

More WebProNews Videos SES NY: Advertising Based on Factual User Data

Another top post was by Mel Carson of the Microsoft adCenter Blog for Advertisers was entitled, "Day 2 Recap - Search Engine Strategies - New York & Video!" That's right, in addition to his observations and photos, Carson's post included a video. How do I describe the video? I can't. It defies description. You have to see it for yourself. Video: Day 2 Recap - Search Engine Strategies - New York Day 2 Recap - Search Engine Strategies - New York & Video!

This brings us to the interactive portion of our coverage. Lee Odden of the TopRank Online Marketing Blog asks that you please take his quick poll about integrating SEO and social media marketing. To participate, click on "Poll: Integrating SEO & Social Media Marketing."

Finally, if you want to listen to SES New York, check out the WebmasterRadio.FM coverage of the event. For example, you can listen to "Guy Kawasaki on Twitter during SES New York 2009." In fact, skip right to their preview of Day 3 at New York 2009.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ten Top Stories from Day 1 of SES New York

The Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York 2009 Conference and Expo started a Tweet storm earlier today. The opening keynote was by Guy Kawasaki, a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures, who spoke about "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media."

1. Andrew LaVallee of The Wall Street Journal Digits Blog captured the top story of SES New York in his headline, "Guy Kawasaki Can Handle Being Called a Spammer." LaVallee wrote, "To kick off his keynote speech at SES, a marketing conference in New York, Guy Kawasaki asked how many people in the audience were on Twitter at that moment. Hands shot up across the packed ballroom."

2. Mel Carson, Microsoft's adCenter Community Manager for Europe, posted photos of the event on his blog in a post entitled, "SES New York Photos -- Day 1." One of his photos shows the volume of Tweets about Kawasaki bringing down Twitter during his keynote.

3. Anna Maria Virzi of ClickZ focused on the Twitter tips and tools that Kawasaki shared in his keynote in her story entited, "Twitter Tips: Advice from Evangelist Guy Kawasaki."

4. I was able to interview Kawasaki after his keynote and asked him how Alltop, the "online magazine rack" of popular topics, has used Twitter to promote itself. Despite some audio problems (which have since fixed), I also asked Kawasaki abut a new term he had coined called "UFM."

Guy Kawasaki Tweets About Twitter Twits & his Reality Check

Although Kawasaki's keynote about Twitter was the top story at SES New York, there were others.

5. For example, Mike McDonald of WebProNews interviewed Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, about highlights from SES New York 2009. According to McGowan, SES NY will house more than 5,000 people this week including over 100 exhibitors and sponsors in the Expo Hall.

More WebProNews Videos Highlighting SES NY 2009

6. Another top story was the session, "SEO: Where to Next?" Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media covered this session in a post appropriately entitled, "SEO -- Where to Next." According to Barone, "You know what my favorite thing about SES is? It comes with Mike Grehan."

7. Another top story was the session on "Budget Migration: Going Digital Without Impacting Your Brand." John Gaffney of the Econsultancy Blog covered this session in a post entitled, "Century 21, Avon ring up total digital makeovers."

8. Peter Provost of the AimClear Blog covered the "Survival of the Fittest 2.0" session. His post is entitled, "Bad Economy? Party like 1999, Market like 2009."

9. Bas van den Beld of SearchCowboys.com shared several photos from the event in his post entitled, "Looking at SES New York."

10. Finally, one of the ten top stories was the Exhibit Hall traffic visiting the 100 sponsors and exhibitors at SES New York 2009. My post to the Search Engine Marketing News Blog on Search Engine Watch was entitled, "SES New York is a Search Expo as well as an SEM Conference."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 24, 2009

SES New York is a Search Expo as well as an SEM Conference

Most of the attention at SES New York is focused on the SEM conference. But the must-attend industry event is a search expo, as well.

If you look over the list of participating sponsors and exhibitors, you'll see Premier Plus Sponsors like iProspect and Google as well as Premier Sponsors like Ask Sponsored Listings, iContact, Microsoft and WebTrends. But as you scroll down the list of close to 100 sponsors and exhibitors, you'll see lots of other names, too.

As I mentioned yesterday, I plan to visit the booths of the SES sponsors and exhibitors. I always find useful products and services -- not to mention the trade-show tchotchke and promotional swag.

In fact, I generally discover a couple of under-reported stories in the Expo Hall.

For example, at SES New York 2008, I thought one of the under-reported stories was LifeTips, which is a content design and content development company working on ebooks and other products. They had just launched an SEO content grader. So, I invited Byron White, the founder of LifeTips, to give us his escalator pitch. (This is a lot like an elevator pitch, except the escalators at the Hilton New York are a lot faster than the elevators.)

Lifetips Escalator Pitch, SES NY 2008

However, there's no way to know in advance which booths will contain under-reported stories at SES New York 2009. (Although, it won't hurt to check out Booth #1302, because WebTrends and Business.com are sponsoring the ultimate conference give-away: A brand new Smart Car.)

Nevertheless, it turns out that some of the exhibitors have submitted proflies to Business Wire's Virtual Press Office (VPO). So, that increases the odds that there is gold in them thar hills. Check it out for yourself.

Company: Click Forensics, Inc. Booth: 1108 Click Forensics is the industry leader in scoring, auditing and improving traffic quality for the online advertising community. By optimizing every step in the online advertising process, Click Forensics maximizes ROI for advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. Click Forensics' traffic quality management solutions are relevant for advertisers seeking to reduce costs and improve conversions rates, ad networks seeking to attract and retain advertisers and improve overall eCPM, and publishers seeking to attract quality advertisers and increase earnings per click. For over 5 years the online advertising industry has relied on Click Forensics as the independent authority on traffic quality and click fraud.

Company: DOCLIX Booth: 225 DOCLIX owns and operates AdSide, a pay-per-click ad network which brings search-level performance to content-targeted ads. It provides advertisers and publishers with tools to maximize revenue and growth. AdSide places user-activated text ads on premium sites. Its patent-pending Two-Step Click™ lead qualification model ensures that advertisers pay only for twice-qualified leads, generating higher conversion rates and ROI. AdSide expands publishers' real estate, providing them with a new revenue stream that does not dilute user experience. Our custom ad formats and yield optimization technology maximize click-through rates and effective CPMs. Premium publishers are pre-screened for content and are required to have over 1 million unique visitors. Company: Ektron Booth: 120 Ektron, a global leader in Web content management software and services, empowers organizations to maximize their business performance online. With tools and functionality that maximize SEM, SEO and social media optimization strategies for SMBs and enterprises alike, Ektron CMS400.NET delivers organizations' valuable content to the people who are looking for it. Ektron empowers developers and non-technical business users. Developers can take advantage of built-in Server Controls to deploy a Web site out of the box or customize the deployment using CMS400.NET's API, addressing all of the business's SEO needs. Business users benefit from an intuitive user interface for managing Web site content and messaging. In addition to SEO tools and core content management, CMS400.NET ships with a wide array of functionality, including social networking, Web 2.0, SEO and synchronization tools.

Company: Emailvision Booth: 322 Emailvision has become the global market and technology leader in on-demand software for email marketing automation. Used daily by over 1500 companies worldwide, the Emailvision flagship product, Campaign Commander, is the benchmark tool for e-commerce and publishing. Sold as a subscription service it enables clients to improve message deliverability, lower costs and focus on their online retention marketing strategies without important technology investments. The company has offices in major international markets including the US, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Spain. Emailvision (ALEMV) was founded in 1999 and is listed on the Euronext/Alternext stock exchange.

Company: eZanga Booth: 121 eZanga (www.eZanga.com), a search engine marketing company and search engine founded by Beth and Richard Kahn in 2003, provides online advertisers with local, regional, and national advertising focused on generating high return on investment and users with access to a search engine powered by eZanga's proprietary Meta Search technology, which pulls data from numerous, unique content sources and displays the results in an easy-to-read and relevant fashion. In 2008, eZanga was recognized by Inc. magazine's Inc. 500 as the fastest-growing company in its home state of Delaware.

eZanga Escalator Pitch, SES NY 2008 Company: GoECart Booth: 213 GoECart is the clear choice for serious merchants focused on creating and rapidly growing a successful online business. With integration with industry-leading partners like Google Checkout, Paypal, Amazon.com, Linkshare, UPS, Google Analytics, Campaigner and LivePerson, GoECart is the most connected e-commerce solution on the market. GoECart combines 250+ powerful features and On-Demand Tier 1 hosting with a delightful shopping experience for customers - all at a surprisingly affordable price. GoECart is THE MOST Search Engine Friendly Ecommerce Software on the market, bar none! GoECart serves a diverse customer base ranging from small- and medium-sized enterprises to Fortune 500 companies. www.GoECart.com

Shopping Cart Software SEO with goecart.com

Company: iCrossing Booth: 100 iCrossing is a global digital marketing company that combines talent and technology to help world-class brands find and connect with their customers. The company blends best-in-class digital marketing services - including paid search, search engine optimization, Web development, social media, mobile, research and analytics - to create integrated digital marketing programs that engage consumers and drive ROI. iCrossing's client base includes such recognized brands as Epson America, Toyota, Travelocity and 40 Fortune 500 companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and Office Depot. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company has 580 employees in 12 offices in the U.S. and Europe.

Company: ideaLaunch Booth: 202 Valuable, relevant content is what your company needs to attract and retain customers. ideaLaunch offers a suite of content marketing services that hundreds of clients are using to gain the trust and win the business of online customers. From content creation to content optimization to content testing to content performance to content sponsorship, ideaLaunch offers a full range of content marketing services, solutions and resources. Start delivering fresh, relevant content to your customers with the revolutionaries at ideaLaunch. And improve your company's mind share, market share and profit share.

Company: Ingenio Inc. Booth: 315 Ingenio, Inc. pioneered Pay Per Call in 2004 as a way to connect millions of buyers and sellers around the world through the combination of the Internet and the telephone. Today Ingenio partners with leading providers in Web and mobile search, online directories, vertical content, and directory assistance to deliver live phone leads to any type of business. For more information, please visit www.ingenio.com.

Company: Local.com Booth: 1110 Local.com (NASDAQ: LOCM) is the largest local search network in the United States. The company uses patented technologies to provide over 19 million consumers each month with the most relevant search results for local businesses, products and services on Local.com and over 700 regional media sites. Businesses can target ready-to-purchase consumers using a variety of advertising products. To advertise, visit http://corporate.local.com/advertisewithus or call 1-888-857-6722. For more information visit: www.local.com or http://corporate.local.com/.

Company: Marchex, Inc. Booth: 201 Marchex, Inc. is a leading local search and performance advertising company. Marchex's innovative advertising platform delivers search- and call-based marketing products and services for local and national advertisers. Marchex's local search network, one of the largest online, helps consumers make better, more informed local decisions through its content-rich Web sites that reach tens of millions of unique visitors each month.

Chad Schott of Marchex on Local Search at SES NY 2008

Company: Onward Search Booth: 309 Onward Search is the nation's leading provider of internet marketing and creative services talent. Onward Search specializes in placing search marketing, graphic design, web development, and related creative services and technology professionals to companies nationwide. Onward Search provides their customers with the ability to rapidly source the best talent in the marketplace, so they can successfully deliver against their creative services, online marketing, and technology initiatives. Onward Search offers a full range of recruiting, staffing, and talent management solutions to include temporary staffing, consulting, and permanent placement options to ensure our customers have access to the right talent to get the job done.

Company: SearchIgnite Booth: 320 SearchIgnite is a leading provider of paid search and performance media optimization solutions that enable large, sophisticated marketers to achieve their online goals faster and smarter. The company's platform gives advertisers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on their paid search campaigns in one central dashboard. In addition, marketers who use SearchIgnite have the ability to gather insights into the relationship between media channels, enabling them to spend smarter. Some of the world's leading brands and advertising agencies depend on SearchIgnite technology to power their online marketing campaigns. More information can be found at http://www.searchignite.com/.

Company: SLI Systems Booth: 303 SLI Systems provides site search, site navigation and user-generated SEO services for online retail and content-rich websites. These solutions are built with patented Learning Search technology - an intelligent search system that learns from customer behavior to increase sales and conversions. Learning Search enhances the user experience while delivering valuable insights on visitor activity, and provides ecommerce sites with advanced merchandising capabilities and intuitive navigation. SLI's Site Champion service creates optimised pages to increase a retailer's visibility in natural search engine listings and increase site traffic. Customers like FTD, Tupperware, ULTA, and hundreds more benefit from SLI Systems' search technology.

Company: TMP Directional Marketing Booth: 209 TMP Directional Marketing (TMPDM) is the largest local search marketing agency, offering online, offline and mobile local advertising solutions to top national brands. Providing clients search with a local focus, the agency understands the local nuances that help national merchants reach local customers. Combining its years of success in Yellow Pages advertising with online search expertise gained as a former unit of Monster Worldwide, TMPDM serves hundreds of national advertising clients, including nearly 100 Fortune 500 companies. TMPDM (www.tmpdm.com) is headquartered in New York with more than 500 employees and 15 offices in the U.S. and Canada.

Company: Wpromote Inc. Booth: 112 Wpromote prides itself in Superior Search Engine Marketing. From two employees in 2001 to over forty the company has experienced unwavering growth and continuous recognition for its exceptional service to each and every client. As a two-time Inc. 500 honoree, Google Adwords Qualified Company and recipient of countless other accolades, clients are assured that The Best Search Starts Here, at Wpromote. Since its inception Wpromote has dedicated itself to a single mission statement: help businesses succeed on the web. With unmatched experience in search marketing and an unrivaled dedication to our clients' results, Wpromote always stands out above the crowd.

Company: YELLOWPAGES.COM Booth: 321 "Need something?" For more than 125 years, consumers have trusted the Yellow Pages to deliver comprehensive local business information. And today, wherever, however and whenever they "Need something" local, they use YELLOWPAGES.COM. YELLOWPAGES.COM connects consumers to local businesses across the three screens they use most - Web, mobile and TV through AT&T U-verse services. As one of today's leading local search sites, YELLOWPAGES.COM provides comprehensive local business information, maps, driving directions, videos, user reviews and more. And new mobile features make it easier than ever to find information on the go.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 23, 2009

Q&A with Bev Thorne, SVP Marketing, Century 21 Real Estate

In 2008, Century 21 Real Estate LLC spent less than 10% of its advertising budget online. But, earlier this year, the franchisor of the world's largest residential real estate sales organization said it would cancel most of its offline advertising in favor of ads placed on the Web.

On Tuesday, Bev Thorne, the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Century 21, is speaking at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York conference during the session entitled, "Budget Migration: Going Digital Without Impacting Your Brand."

The session is part of the Search and C-Level Executive Track. The moderator is Jason Ferrara, SVP of Sales and Marketing for Elixir Interactive, and the other speakers on the panel are Pattiann McAdams-Russell, Executive Director of Avon's Online Division and Crispin Sheridan, the Senior Director of Search Marketing Strategy at SAP Marketing.

According to the latest SEMPO Annual State of Search Survey, search engine marketing is poaching budget from other marketing channels, especially from offline marketing channels. This represents a marked difference from 2005, when budget was shifted mostly from online media such as web development and affiliate marketing, but is consistent with spending in the past two years.

The SEMPO survey also found a shift in terms of what budgets are cannibalized in favor of search engine marketing. Over a quarter of advertisers report they are shifting budget away from print magazines and another 21% report their budget is shifted from direct mail. Rounding out the trend towards cannibalizing print, 19% of advertisers report they are shifting budget from their print newspaper advertising.

All this puts Bev Thorne at the epicenter of one of the most significant industry trends.

In her role as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Century 21, Thorne leads the planning and execution of the domestic marketing strategies in support of market share growth for the largest real estate franchise organization in the world. She is responsible for leading the strategy development and program execution of all consumer, broker and agent marketing programs.

Thorne earned her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and has worked extensively in the areas of consumer marketing, strategic branding and event marketing management over her 20-plus year career. Before joining Century 21, she was with JPMorgan Chase & Company, where she served as senior vice president, customer marketing for the Home Finance business unit. Prior to that, Thorne worked at AT&T for nearly two decades in a series of increasingly senior roles, planning and executing marketing and communications strategies nationwide.

I interviewed Thorne late last week via email. Here are my Qs and her As:

Q: You're speaking at the session, "Budget Migration: Going Digital Without Impacting Your Brand." What information do you need to know about migrating budget to digital without impacting your brand awareness or the equity you have built up in your brand?

A: As we planned our marketing campaign for 2009, we made a firm commitment to spend our advertising dollars where they would be the most effective in driving leads to the nearly 100,000 sales professionals within the CENTURY 21 System. First we looked at our own data with regard to ROI on our online spend. The data made the decision to transition our national television advertising to online a very easy decision. From 2007 through 2008, our online advertising yielded a 237% increase in leads and a 62% reduction in cost per lead year over year.

Q: The move to a predominantly digital marketing strategy can be overwhelming. What advice to you have for other marketers planning to go digital?

A: Plan enough time to socialize the benefits of going digital with your key stakeholders to ensure you have maximum buy in before announcing the move to the general public. By empowering key stakeholders with information through effective communication you can help them to understand that online marketing enables a more targeted approach to the consumer.

Q: Migrating from staid traditional channels to the open waters of the Web can be daunting. Did it take courage to start moving significant resources away from TV, radio and print and into search, social, display and email? A: As you may know CENTURY 21 was the first national real estate franchise on television and now we continue our forward-looking market leadership as we enhance our online advertising. Market leaders must be willing to make the decisions necessary to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace for their products, services and sales professionals. We are confident that increased online advertising will benefit our brokers, agents and most importantly, the consumer.   Q: How does Century 21 Real Estate measure results -- especially for search, display, email and social media? A: We carefully track and measure our cost per lead in every channel where we advertise and market. Our goal is to maximize our investment by continually increasing our leads and reducing our costs per lead. The greatest thing about online advertising is that it enables us to track the effectiveness of our ads which helps us to better understand what is working and rapidly respond and make corrections and enhancements where our messaging is not as effective.

Q: Are there any lessons that you learned as well as any metrics or tools needed to gauge the success of a balanced digital marketing program that you'd like to share?

A: Given the fluid nature of technology and its applications for real estate marketing, the only constant is change. If there is one lesson to be learned, it is that by constantly innovating in the online marketing space you can develop a more agile marketing platform to effectively insulate your brand from dynamic shifts in how consumers prefer to be reached; thereby, cogently positioning your product, service or sales professionals for long-term success.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

SES New York 2009 Offers an Expo Only Pass (Free in Advance)

Check it out: If you read the fine print in the rates and registration details for SES New York 2009 you will see an Expo Only Pass -- which is free in advance or $50 on-site.

Today is Monday, which is "in advance" of the conference sessions, which start tomorrow on Tuesday. Get it? Got it? Good.

So, what can you see with an Expo Only Pass?

First of all, you can get into the keynotes and Orion Panels. So, if you attend SES New York on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, then you can get into hear the opening keynote by Guy Kawasaki, the author of "Reality Check" and Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures. And why might you want to do that? The title of his keynote is "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media." That's worth schlepping over to SES New York to hear.

Now, here's the stuff that is hidden in the agenda that you'll also want to know about.

The Expo Only Pass gets you into the Expo Hall (duh) and the "free events."

This includes the Express Site Clinics. This means you can walk right up to Booth #1122 and get your Web site reviewed live by one of the SES experts at these PowerPoint free, interactive clinics. This includes: • An "Express Search Usability Clinic," which will be held from 1:00 to 2:00 pm by Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director of Omni Marketing Interactive. Get one-on-one advise for usability, design, copy, link development, and any technical issues that may prevent your Web site from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions. • A "Power PPC Advertising Clinic," which will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 pm by David Szetela, CEO of Clix Marketing. Get your Google AdWords PPC advertising campaigns and landing pages expertly analyzed, with specific recommendations for improvement and optimization. Or just come to watch and learn a wide range of tips and best practices! • And a "CPA Optimization Station," which will be held from 3:00 to 4:00 pm by Jonathan Mendez, Founder and CEO of RAMP Digital. With advertising dollars more accountable than ever optimizing your Cost Per Acquisition or Cost per Action (CPA) has never been more important. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to sit with an optimization guru as he finds ways to improve your ROI.

But wait, there's more!

From 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, you can go to the Outrider Career Center. Yes, you can bring your resume to SES! Outrider is hosting on-site interviews for senior, mid-level and entry-level positions. To schedule an interview in advance or submit your resume, visit www.outrider.com. On-site sign-up, walk-ins and informational interviews welcome. It is located in the Bryant Suite at the Hilton New York.

Or, head over to the Lyris booth (#1004) in the Expo Hall and simplify your marketing efforts and optimize campaign ROI. While you're there, pick up their FREE guide, 9 Tips for Organizing Your PPC Campaigns, and enter for a chance to WIN a $100 gift card.

From 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., attend the networking cocktail reception sponsored by OnDialog. It's being held in the Expo Hall.

And at 6:15 pm, head over to Sutton South in the Hilton New York for another networking party being held by SEMPO.

If Tuesday isn't good for you, then how about Wednesday, March 25, 2009?

An Expo Only Pass will get you into the "Orion Panel: The State of Search - A Maturing Marketplace or Poised for More Growth?" Is the search marketplace on the verge of maturing in North America or will advertising dollars continue to flow into search? As ROI and performance become increasingly important, will search gain a larger share of advertising revenues or is search generally or at least across some categories, becoming too expensive and competitive? Can search make an argument for value beyond pure performance and results? Will further insights and performance gains be realized as they relate to an overall SEM+SEO strategy for a brand or has the industry discovered most of the tricks?

This panel takes a hard look at the current value proposition of search and what the future holds for the North American search marketplace. The moderator is Kevin M. Ryan, SES Advisory Board Chair and CMO of WebVisible, Inc. The speakers are: -- James Colborn, Director of Microsoft Advertising at Microsoft. -- Robert Murray, CEO of iProspect. -- Steven Kaufman, SVP Media Director of Digitas. -- Jon Diorio, Group Product Manager of AdWords & Monetization Products at Google. -- Jeffrey Pruitt, President of SEMPO.

And there is also a second batch of Express Site Clinics on Wednesday. This includes: • "Small Changes, Big Results," which will be held from noon to 1:00pm by Matthew Bailey, an SES Advisory Board member and President of Site Logic Marketing. If you are particularly daring, bring the access to your analytics (if they are hosted online), and Matt will really dive in! • "Your Baby Is Ugly - Landing Page Mini-Critiques," which will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 pm by Tim Ash, President of SiteTuners. Yes, these complimentary mini-critiques are by the same by landing page optimization expert who wrote the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization from Wiley Press. • "Dave Naylor Search Marketing," which will be held from 3:00 to 4:00 pm by, wait for it, David Naylor, SEO of Bronco. Ever wanted the chance to have an industry leading SEO take a look at your website, to get an honest and often brutal opinion on whether it is any good? Well, Dave is available to do a mini site clinic for you. Does that work for you?

Meanwhile, you'll still have a chance to go to the Outrider Career Center on Wednesday.

And if you go over to Booth #1302 on the Expo Hall, you'll have a chance to win a brand new Smart Car! WebTrends and Business.com are sponsoring the ultimate conference give-away. One winner will be selected by random drawing. Open to all conference and expo hall attendees. Winner must be present at the time of the drawing.

There you have it. And while you're there, visit the booths of the approximately 100 sponsors and exhibitors. Hey, I plan to. I always find useful products and services -- not to mention the trade-show tchotchke and promotional swag that I used to bring home. (My wife has declared "No more t-shirts" and my kids have more freebies than they know what to do with.)

But, before I sign off, let me circle back to Tim Ash one more time. He seems to be everywhere this year. But, I don't want you to think that I'm plugging his book -- without making him dance for the plublicity.

In fact, at SES New York 2008, I made him do just that. Check it out below.

Optimizing Landing Pages -- Tim Ash's Tips and... Footwork

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 20, 2009

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter at SES New York! Oh, my!

Why are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter featured on the SES New York agenda? Isn't this a natural as finding lions, and tigers, and bears in the forest?

According to comScore qSearch 2.0, there were 2.7 billion expanded search queries conducted on YouTube and 206 million conducted at Facebook in February 2009. And according to Hitwise Intelligence, the top websites visited after people use Twitter are...wait for it...Google, Facebook, TwitPic, MySpace, Twitter Search, Yahoo! Mail and YouTube.

Okay, so Twitter's clickstream profile is much closer to a social network than to a search engine. But I could say that about YouTube, too. And Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in October 2006. And last April Fool's Day, InfoWorld joked about Google buying Facebook, because Google was losing too many of its top people to Facebook. Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, the Motley Fool has just published an article entitled, "Google, Just Buy Twitter Already."

So, it's really not that surprising to find Facebook, and YouTube, and Twitter at SES New York. We're not in Kansas anymore.

In fact, social media has worked its way into the agenda in lots of places and over several years.

On Monday, March 23, there is a training workshop entitled, "Corporate Blog Strategies: Blog Your Way to Success." It's being taught by Jennifer Evans Laycock, Director of Social Media at SiteLogic, and Matt Bailey, an SES Advisory Board member and the President of SiteLogic.

On Tuesday, March 24, the opening keynote at SES New York 2009 is entitled, "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media." It's being given by Guy Kawasaki, the author of Reality Check and Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures.

Pauline Ores, an SES Advisory Board member and Senior Marketing Manager of Social Media Engagement at IBM Corporation, is speaking at the "Beyond Googling: Where Will Your Customers Be Searching in Five Years?" session.

And Matthew Liu, the Product Manager for YouTube Sponsored Videos, will be speaking at the "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond" session.

On Wednesday, March 25, the "Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy" session is another example of social media working its way into the agenda. And the speakers include: Amber Naslund, the Director of Community at Radian6; Jennifer Evans Laycock, Christina Kerley, Marketing Specialist at ckEpiphany; and Tim Kendall, Director of Monetization at Facebook.

And there is a session entitled, "Social Media Marketing for Brand Building" that features Dave Evans, VP at Digital Voodoo; Hollis Thomases, Founder of WebAdvantage.net; and Harry J. Gold, CEO of Overdrive Interactive.

Oh, and there's a "Facebook Workshop: Harnessing the Social Graph." The speakers are Kasey Galang, Product Marketing Manager of Facebook and Rebecca Sawyer, Online Sales Operations Manager of Facebook.

On Thursday, March 26, there isn't even an effort to disguise the social media sessions. In fact, there is a "Social Media and Blogging Track." • The first session in this track is entitled, "An Update on Social Media Optimization." And one of the speakers is Dave Snyder, Co-Founder of Search & Social. • The second session is entitled, "4 Views of Social Media: Planning a Successful Social Media Strategy." The moderator is Pauline Ores. • The third session is entitled, "Online Communities: A Bonanza of Content for Searchers and Search Engines." • The fourth session is entitled, "Online Communities: Blogging for Business." One of the speakers is Jennifer Evans Laycock.

That's right. They walk among us!

And it's hard to tell when you're talking with a search engine marketing expert and when you're talking with a social marketing expert. It's sort of like Americans and Canadians or people from the East Coast and people from the Left Coast. If it wasn't for a few trick phrases, you'd never be able to tell them apart.

So, to help you navigate this socially awkward situation, here's an SEM guide to Facebook, and YouTube, and Twitter. Oh, my!

Block: A Facebook term that means to prevent someone from searching for and viewing your profile. This is not to be confused with a "text block," a term that SEMs might use describe various elements that are considered parts of normal text.

Block: A YouTube term that means certain content which violates YouTube's Content ID usage policy will not be allowed on its network. This is not to be confused with the phrase "around the block a few times," which might mean an SEM remembers the "Florida" update of November 2003.

Block: A Twitter term that means discovering new people on your Twitter Block by navigating through this animated three dimensional visualization of who follows whom. This is not to be confused with the expression "chip off the old block," which might mean a young SEM submits to DMOZ just like his old man did.

Hmmm. We may need to call for backup.

Okay, I didn't want to do this, but I'll use YouTube to illustrate the difference between a search engine marketing expert and a social marketing expert.

In the example below, a Canadian interviews an American. Can you figure out which one is a search engine marketing expert and which one is a social marketing expert?

Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008

Here's another example. An East Coast guru interviews a Left Coast guru. Can you tell which one is a social marketing expert and which one is search engine marketing expert?

John Battelle on Google Universal Search at SES NY 2008

If you still can't tell the difference between a search engine marketing expert and a social marketing expert, then we may need to "Test Your Awareness." This is something that I learned about at SES London last month. Watch the video below and count the number of passes the team in white makes.

Test Your Awareness: Do The Test

Now, did you see the moonwalking bear?

That's what I'm talking about. If you are focused on search engine marketing you may not see social marketing -- until someone calls your attention to it.

Okay, that's as much help as I can give you. At Search Engine Strategies New York, you may need to develop your own techniques for sorting this out. But whatever you do, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 19, 2009

Search for SEM conference and find SES New York 2009

When I conducted a search yesterday on Google for "SEM conference", the top sponsored listing was for Search Engine Strategies New York. However, the top organic listing was for the Society for Experimental Mechanics.

Welcome to the real world. The organic search engine results don't always reflect the way we'd define a three-letter acronym (TLA).

And that's why the SES New York 2009 agenda overview features a ton of conference sessions and training workshops devoted to search engine marketing (SEM) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Sometimes, PPC ads are the only way you can get found for a TLA.

If you are wrestling with similar, real-world challenges, then you have two options. First, you can read Andrew Goodman's book, Winning Results with Google Adwords. (The photo on the left is Andrew signing his book at SES London 2009.) Second, you can get over to the Hilton New York next week and register for what should be the leading SEM conference by anyone's definition. (Of course, you can do both.)

If you select the first option, here are the sessions and workshops that you should attend:

Monday, March 23

8:00am-12:00pm -- Making Pay Per Click Pay - Best Practices in Pay Per Click Advertising

1:00pm-5:00pm -- Landing Page Testing Crash Course Tuesday, March 24

10:30am-11:30am -- First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM 11:45am-12:45pm -- Introduction to Search Engine Marketing

1:45pm-2:45pm -- Pay Per Conversation

3:00pm-4:00pm -- Publishers & Agencies: New Business Models for Changing Times 4:30pm-5:30pm -- The Dozen Most Common Search Marketing Mistakes That CMOs Make

6:15pm -- SEMPO Networking Event

Wednesday, March 25

9:00am-10:15am -- Search Advertising 101

10:45am-12:00pm -- Google Workshop: Preview the new AdWords interface

1:00pm-2:00pm -- The State of Search - A Maturing Marketplace or Poised for More Growth?

2:15pm-3:30pm -- Slash Your Search Budget: What Are Your Alternatives?

4:00pm-5:15pm -- Wpromote Workshop: 8 Things You Aren't Doing That Will Boost Your SEM Results

Thursday, March 26

9:00am-10:00am -- Morning Keynote by John Gerzema, Author of The Brand Bubble 10:30am-11:45am -- Advanced Keyword Research 12:45pm-2:00pm -- Advanced Paid Search Techniques 2:15pm-3:30pm -- Ads in a Quality Score World 3:45pm-5:00pm -- Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: Black Hat PPC Tactics Of course, search engine marketing means more than just pay-per-click advertising, even if it commands the lion's share of most SEM budgets. And SEM needs to be integrated into the rest of a company's marketing mix. Last month, I interviewed Bill Hunt, the CEO of Global Strategies Inc. and Director of Global Search Strategy at Neo@Ogilvy, about this topic at SES London 2009. Listen to his insights below.

Bill Hunt, Global Strategies Int., on collaborative marketing at SES London 2009

Bill is just one of the many SEM experts who will be speaking at the SEM conference that our industry calls SES New York. How do I know that he's also a top thought leader on Search Engine Marketing? Bill is the co-author of the best selling book "Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Traffic to Your Companies Web Site" from IBM Press. And Bill, you magnificent SEM, I read your book!

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 18, 2009

SES New York is SEO Conference for Search Engine Optimizers

For the past few days, I've outlined the sessions at Search Engine Strategies New York that should appeal to newbies and veterans next week. But at its core, the event remains the premier SEO conference that was launched a decade ago. And there will be plenty of content at SES New York 2009 for budding search engine optimization specialists and experienced SEO consultants to see and hear.

Here are some samples of the sessions and workshops that should appear to search engine optimizers:

Monday, March 23

8:00am-12:00pm -- How to Create a Successful In-House SEO Program

1:00pm-5:00pm -- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop Tuesday, March 24

10:30am-11:30am -- SEO: Where to Next

11:45am-12:45pm -- Key Points in Launching a Global Website 1:45pm-2:45pm -- Beyond Googling: Where Will Your Customers Be Searching in Five Years?

3:00pm-4:00pm -- Universal and Blended Search: An Update 4:30pm-5:30pm -- Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond Wednesday, March 25

9:00am-10:15am -- Discover the Power of Linking: Link Building Basics 10:45am-12:00pm -- Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations 1:00pm-2:00pm -- The State of Search - A Maturing Marketplace or Poised for More Growth?

2:15pm-3:30pm -- Turning Simple Change into Big Profit 4:00pm-5:15pm -- Google Workshop: Maximizing Your Website's ROI Thursday, March 26

10:30am-11:45am -- SEO Through Blogs & Feeds 12:45pm-2:00pm -- SEO Tools of the Trade: What's in YOUR Toolbox?

2:15pm-3:30pm -- Google Website Optimizer: Radically Improve your Conversion Rate!

3:45pm-5:00pm -- The Importance of Usability and Accessibility in Search Friday, March 27

8:30am-5:30pm -- SEO Training Course in partnership withBruce Clay.

To figure out which conference package is right for you, click on the rates and registration details.

Or, if you want a sample of the things you will learn from the experts at SES New York 2009, check out my interview with Rand Fishkin, the CEO of SEOMoz, below. I interviewed Rand about the future of SEO at SES London 2009 last month.

Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz, on the future of SEO in 2009

Get it? Got it? Good.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 17, 2009

SES New York Veterans Don't Need No Schedule Optimization

With Search Engine Strategies getting underway next week, veterans of SES New York don't need no stinking schedule optimization services -- even if I do offer them for free. A quick look at the conference agenda will reassure them that there is enough content to make a return trip worthwhile.

Actually, alumni of previous events may scan the schedule for more than a few minutes looking for market trends and business opportunities hidden in plain sight among the 65 conference sessions, six search engine marketing training workshops, six express site clinics, two keynotes, one Orion Panel, a one-day SEO training course, and a one-day web analytics training course.

I know, because that's what I do. And I've been attending Search Engine Strategies New York each and every year since 2004. Over the years, I've seen the changes in the search engine industry reflected in the new content added to the agenda each year.

Looking over the SES New York Agenda Overview for March 23-27, 2009, here are the significant developments that I seen hidden in plain sight:

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

9:00-10:00 am -- Twitter As A Tool For Social Media Twitter was barely mentioned at last year's conference, and now it's featured in a keynote.

10:30-11:30 am -- SEO: Where to Next? Certain industry pundits have been heard to say that SEO is dead, but I'd say it's alive, well and kicking.

11:45am-12:45 pm -- Thinking Outside Your Website: Branding Without Borders With the popularity of sites like YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook, brands increasingly need to engage with their customers outside their website.

1:45-2:45 pm -- Budget Migration: Going Digital Without Impacting Your Brand Companies have started moving significant resources away from TV, radio and print and into search, social, display and email.

3:00-4:00 pm -- Publishers & Agencies: New Business Models for Changing Times Okay, so I'm moderating this panel. But it still looks very interesting.

4:30-5:30 pm -- Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond And, yes, I'm speaking at this session. But according to comScore, YouTube surpassed 100 Million U.S. viewers in January 2009.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

9:00-10:15 am -- Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy Amber Naslund, the Director of Community of Radian6. Damn, now the rest of the search engine industry will learn about this complete monitoring and analysis solution for PR professionals.

10:45 am-12:00 pm -- Google Workshop: Preview the new AdWords interface All session attendees will receive priority access to the new interface, so be sure to bring your AdWords Customer ID.

1:00-2:00 pm -- The State of Search - A Maturing Marketplace or Poised for More Growth? I don't know about you, but I want to take a hard look at the current value proposition of search and what the future holds for the North American search marketplace.

2:15-3:30 pm -- Facebook Workshop: Harnessing the Social Graph Are you wondering how to effectively advertise on Facebook? I am.

4:00-5:15 pm -- Political Search: Preparing for Search in 2010 Okay, so I'm a political junkie. But so are lots of other YouTubers.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

9:00-10:00 am -- The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It Yes, pinch yourself, an ad agency exec is talking about brand strategies at Search Engine Strategies.

10:30-11:45 am -- An Update on Social Media Optimization Are Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft Tagspace, Wikipedia and new sites allowing content to be shared through "tagging" a great way to tap into links and search-driven traffic? Inquiring minds want to know.

12:45-2:00 pm -- News Search SEO Yes, yes, this panel has been around since 2004. But I'm presenting a brand new case study (about building over 700 inlinks in just 7 weeks) and the other panelists are presenting new content as well. So, don't let the title fool you.

2:15-3:30 pm -- Google Website Optimizer: Radically Improve your Conversion Rate! Now you know why certain industry pundits have been heard to say that SEO is dead. Google Website Optimizer killed it.

3:45-5:00 pm -- Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: Black Hat PPC Tactics I know about Black Hat SEO tactics, but there's also Black Hat PPC! Who knew?

In addition to all this new content, SES New York 2009 will also feature a number of special events where SES veterans can network with approximately 5,000 other attendees. And on Monday, March 23, there's the IM Charity Party at SES NY from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. And on Tuesday, March 24, there's the SEMPO Event at 6:15 p.m.

If you want a flavor of what "networking" looks like, check out the highlights from Search Engine Strategies New York 2008. Based on this YouTube video, it appears that dancing and yodeling. (Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up.) See for yourself.

Search Engine Strategies New York 2008

Tomorrow, we'll look at the sessions for search engine optimizers. Stay tuned.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 16, 2009

Schedule Optimization for Newbies at SES New York 2009

Search Engine Strategies gets underway next week. If you've never been to SES New York before, then navigating the conference agenda can seem almost as complex as planning your search engine marketing strategy for 2009.

Actually, that's what the Search Engine Strategies conference is supposed to help you do.

But, first time attendees often try to learn everything they need to know about SEM in just three days. If search engine optimization were just a handful of tricks and pay-per-click advertising consisted of only a couple of short-cuts, then there wouldn't be 65 conference sessions, six search engine marketing training workshops, six express site clinics, two keynotes, one Orion Panel, a one-day SEO training course, and a one-day web analytics training course.

Yes, there is that much to learn.

And you can't learn everything -- because there are five concurrent conference sessions and you can only attend one of them in each time slot. If you bring a team of five to SES New York 2009, then you can get together afterwards and compare notes. But if you are coming on your own, then you need to figure out which sessions will help you the most.

Now, I've attended Search Engine Strategies each and every year since the spring of 2002. And last year, I started providing a free service to Search Engine Watch readers: Schedule optimization for SES New York.

So, if this is your first Search Engine Strategies, then here are the conference sessions that I'd recommend you attend:

Tuesday, March 24, 2009:

9:00-10:00 am -- Twitter As A Tool For Social Media

10:30-11:30 am -- First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM

11:45 am-12:45 pm -- Introduction to Search Engine Marketing

1:00-2:00 pm -- Express Search Usability Clinic

2:00-3:00 pm -- Power PPC Advertising Clinic

3:00-4:00 pm -- The Imperative: Successful Site Architecture

4:30-5:30 pm -- The Dozen Most Common Search Marketing Mistakes That CMOs Make

Wednesday, March 25, 2009:

9:00-10:15 am -- Discover the Power of Linking: Link Building Basics

10:45 am-12:00 pm -- Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations

1:00-2:00 pm -- The State of Search - A Maturing Marketplace or Poised for More Growth?

2:15-3:30 pm -- Facebook Workshop: Harnessing the Social Graph

4:00-5:15 pm -- Google Workshop: Maximizing Your Website's ROI

Thursday, March 26, 2009:

9:00-10:00 am -- The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It

10:30-11:45 am -- Extreme Makeover: Live Ad Copy & Continuity Clinic!

12:45-2:00pm -- SEO Tools of the Trade: What's in YOUR toolbox?

2:15-3:30 pm -- Extreme Makeover: Live Site Clinic!

3:45-5:00 pm -- Extreme Makeover: Live Search Advertising Clinic!

Feel free to make your own selections. These are just suggestions to help you navigate your first SES New York. After you've attended this event for a couple of years, you'll see that the agenda is constantly changing to keep up with the latest developments in the search engine industry.

That's right. This is an example of lifelong learning. To get a sense of what you'll learn, check out the 5-minute video below. It is one of 238 videos posted on SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

Of course, if you don't want to be found when 13.1 billion core searches -- or 19.2 expanded searches -- are conducted each month in the U.S., then you can afford to skip a Search Engine Strategies conference now and then.

What's the difference between a core search and an expanded search? That's what you're going to SES New York 2009 to discover. Hint: According to comScore, the 2.7 billion search queries conducted at YouTube each month are considered "expanded searches."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 13, 2009

Enter Today To Win an Extreme Makeover at SES New York 2009

I'll take a closer look at the SES New York conference agenda next week, but there is one deadline that you don't want to miss. You need to enter today to win an Extreme Makeover.

So, sign up for a chance to have your site receive an extreme makeover in real time during SES New York. Conversion experts Bryan Eisenberg, Tim Ash and Ethan Giffin will perform 3 makeovers during their Extreme Makeover: Conversion Edition presentation on Tuesday, March 24, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The winners of the drawing will be notified prior to the event. But entries must be received by Friday, March 13.

That's today!

Only paid conference attendees are eligible for this drawing. Winners must have a valid conference pass on the day of the session.

If you haven't met Eisenberg, Ash or Giffin, let me introduce you. Eisenberg of Future Now interviewed Ash of SiteTuners at SES San Jose 2008. The two AB testing gurus talked about landing page testing shop on the conference floor. They discussed the crucial nature of testing for the bottom line with the triple threat of increased online competition, rising PPC costs, and a recession economy.

Check out the video below.

AB Test Experts Tim Ash and Bryan Eisenberg

There is much, much more going on at SES New York 2009. I'll optimize the schedule next week. But I didn't want anyone to miss out of the chance to win an Extreme Makeover.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 9, 2009

Well, raise my rent. Microsoft is the good guy!

There is a memorable moment in Blazing Saddles, when Sheriff Bart says, "Well, raise my rent. You are the kid."

I had a similar ephiphany last month at SES London 2009, when David Naylor of Bronco said that Microsoft is the good guy in the search engine industry during a session on "Brand & Reputation Management."

Now, I should disclose that I was the director of corporate communications at Lotus Development Corp. back in the late 1980s, when our relationship with Microsoft was -- ah -- "complicated." They provided the operating system that our applications ran on; while they offered applications that we competed with.

During the 1990s, I was the director of corporate communications at Ziff-Davis. And our relationship with Microsoft was also -- ah -- "complex." On the "church" side of Ziff-Davis, our 400 editors and reporters wrote comparative, lab-based, product reviews that treated Microsoft "without fear or favor," like any other vendor. On the "state" side of Ziff-Davis, Microsoft bought a ton of advertising in our magazines, on our websites and for our cable TV channel. Plus, Bill Gates was a frequent keynote speaker at our conferences, and Microsoft paid a chunk of money for big booths at our trade shows. So, when I got into the search engine industry in early 2002, I admit that I had some preconceived notions about the folks from Redmond. And I secretly chuckled when I heard that Google's informal corpate motto was "Don't be evil." I knew which company they were taking a jab at.

But that was then and this is now.

During the past seven years, Microsofties have been model citizens. Heck, even the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has impressed me by working globally to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and working locally to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology.

Still, it came as a surprise to me when Naylor said such nice things about Microsoft. It reminded me of another memorable quote from Blazing Saddles, "I think Mongo here's taken a liking to you."

So, I interviewed Naylor right after the "Brand & Reputation Management" session. In the early part of the video interview, he shared a few tips. He also emphasized the importance of identifying who is posting negative material about your company or brand. But half way through the video interview, I asked to Nayor discuss Microsoft's reputation and why it has improved. He says Microsoft now excels at handling not just business to business but business to consumer and Google has challenges they have not yet resolved.

David Naylor, CEO, Bronco Internet, on reputation management at SES London

As luck would have it, one of the people who attended the "Brand & Reputation Management" session was Mel Carson, the adCenter Community Manager in Europe for Microsoft. Carson joined Microsoft back in the summer of 2005, so we never crossed swords in the old days. As part of Microsoft Advertising, his role is to build relationships within the online advertising community to support, educate and evangelise through Microsoft adCenter industry forums, and to speak about internet marketing at conferences, trade shows and other events.

For the last year Carson has been writing a digital blog for Media Week and at his own site, Mel Carson. You can also follow him at http://Twitter.com/MelCarson. He is a credit to his company.

In the best tradition of ambush journalism, I interviewed Carson about his favorite panel sessions from SES London. He cited panels on topics such as social media, SEO, search behavior, and keyword research. But about half way through the interview, I asked Carson about the changing reputation of Microsoft and why Microsoft is now seen in a more positive light.

Mel Carson, Microsoft adCenter, highlights panels at SES London 2009

So, there you have it. You may have noticed this before. But that was the first time that I recognized that Microsoft wasn't evil. It's the good guy.

Both Naylor and Carson will be speaking at SES New York 2009 in two weeks at the "Extreme Makeover: Live Ad Copy & Continuity Clinic" on Thursday. So, you can ask them about this topic, before or after they examine your ads and landing pages "without fear or favor."

Well, don't just stand there looking stupid, grasping your hands in pain. How about a round of applause for the Redmond Kid?

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 6, 2009

Guy Kawasaki says Twitter is Marketing Weapon in SES Webcast

Guy Kawasaki and Matt McGowan just finished their SES Webcast. More than 500 people registered to hear them talk about Kawasaki's new book, "Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition."

But most of the 60 questions during Q&A were about "Twitter As A Tool For Social Media," which is the subject of Kawasaki's opening keynote at SES New York on Tuesday, March24, 2009.

Here are just some of the realtime results on Twitter for Kawasaki's SES Webcast:

kandeezie: @la_panique It's just that there are so many on Twitter like Guy Kawasaki that use it well...at least follow a few more people...

ByronG: Best takeaway from Guy Kawasaki webcast: Use TwitterHawk to generate specific search conditions!

Vanessa_Bright: All top - http://alltop.com/ - an "online magazine rack" of popular topics (including marketing) - from webinar with Guy Kawasaki

markivey: guy kawasaki:3 people tweeting 5-10 Tweets/day, "the rest is me." His resources: Alltop Science, Psy, marketing, most popular;stumbleupon

shonali: I've never heard Guy Kawasaki speak before, so that was the most interesting part of #sesguycast for me. He can get snarky, eh?

jyo_ca: wow - this is like mini Twitter U with Prof Guy Kawasaki - very practical, useful stuff

inflatemouse: Guy Kawasaki thinks you should have to pay for Twitter like SMS. #idisagree

ohltweets: getting a little chuckle out of guy kawasaki on twitter. #sesguycast

johnsantangelo: listing to guy kawasaki. love his response to that dumbass question

GregLiveBrand: Watching a Guy Kawasaki video... this is awesome!

patratu: guy kawasaki :use twitter to aggregate coverage on your brand - "online magazine rack" on topics of interest

kirkhateswork: Listening to Guy Kawasaki on SES speaking about twitter, "The only other way to reach thousands of people directly are super bowl ads" $$$

tezindenver: listening to Guy Kawasaki streamed from Search Engine Strategies Conf. guykawasaki

lookadoo: Guy Kawasaki says, "Twitter is a great marketing weapon to reach thousands, millions of people absolutely free."

AuldHouse: reading the Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. Thinking of making my personal mantra the same for AuldHouse....Teach, Learn, Cause Trouble.

The Guy Kawasaki SES Webcast was recorded and will be posted at http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/webcasts/. These search engine marketing (SEM) and interactive marketing and advertising webcasts are FREE and available for up to 3 months On Demand.

Since only a handful of people with questions had the opportunity to get answers during the 60-minute SES Webcast, we're going to try to get answers and post them on the Search Marketing News Blog here on Search Engine Watch. Nevertheless, based on today's event, I expect that the Q&A after Kawasaki's opening keynote at SES New York will also be very active.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Engine Industry has its own Version of March Madness

It's that time of year again. The search engine industry has its own version of March Madness, squeezing multiple events into the same month.

If I were to create brackets, then Search Engine Strategies New York would rank as my #1 favorite. (Hey, I've been attending this conference and expo since 2002, when it was still held in Boston. And I'm speaking at three sessions at SES New York 2009 and moderating a fourth. So, I voted with my feet a long time ago, although I should disclose that SES is now a client.) But there are other conferences and forums that are also vying for your attention.

You can't attend them all, so choices need to be made. So, without further ado, here are the four top seeds in this year's March Madness -- the Final Four, if you will, in the 2009 search engine marketing conference tournament:

#1 Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York, March 23-27, 2009.

I think this is a must-attend event. And approximately 5,000 marketers, corporate decision makers, web developers and search engine marketing (SEM) specialists and rookies, including pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers and search engine optimization (SEO) consultants, attend SES New York each year to network and learn the tips, tactics and strategies that aren't covered online.

If you're still on the fence about attending, today is the day to get off the fence. If you register by March 6 (that's today), then you can save up to $200. And if you want a sneak preview of the opening keynote, listen to Guy Kawasaki speak during his Free Webcast at 10 a.m. (PST), 1 p.m. (EST), 6 p.m. (GMT).

Or, check out the video below, which provides an overview of Search Engine Strategies.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

#2 SES Amsterdam Forum, 16-17 maart, 2009

Okay, so you need to read Dutch to find out more details about this event. But, if you can read Dutch, then this Forum is targeted at you.

For those of you who want a hint in English about this event, SES Amsterdam will feature a number of workshops designed to educate the beginning SEO/SEM in addition to advanced maximizer sessions for those with years of experience. Topics such as Web 2.0 trends, social media and blogging will also be covered.

The Chair of SES Amsterdam is Henk van Es and the Programming Director for it is Joost de Valk. And this event is actively supported by Taskforce Search the Dutch branch of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

#3. PubCon South, March 11-13, 2009

WebmasterWorld's PubCon will hold its first-ever Texas event celebrating all things search related under the sunny skies of the state's capital Austin. The leading search and Internet marketing gurus will gather for three exciting days of cutting-edge multi-track sessions at Austin's Norris Executive Conference Center.

I interviewed Brett Tabke, the founder of WebmasterWorld, at Search Engine Strategies London last month. Brett talked about his participation on the "SEO: Where to Next?" panel and also gave a quick preview of PubCon South.

Brett Tabke, WebmasterWorld, on the future of SEO

#4 Search 2009, 13 mars 2009

Okay, so you need to read French to find out more details about this event. But, if you can read French, then this conference is targeted at you.

I interviewed Marianne Dabbadie, the CEO of Evalir last month at SES London. Marianne discussed her favorite panels and also mentioned Evalir's partnership with Veille Magazine and Abondance in organizing Search 2009, which is dedicated to vertical and enterprise search and is opening its doors to search marketing and optimizing.

Marianne Dabbadie, CEO, Evalir, on SES London and Search 2009

There are other events, including ad:tech Syndey, March 10 - 11, 2009, the International Search Summit in Oslo, March 13, 2009, the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, March 29-April 1, 2009, and SMX Sydney, April 2-3.

These are the Elite Eight in my March Madness metaphor. So, check out their agendas and see what they offer. No one can attend them all -- unless, of course, they own a private jet.

Starting next week, I plan to focus on SES New York 2009. Since this event features two keynotes, an Orion Panel, 65 conference sessions, six SEM training workshops, SEO training, and web analytics training, I'm planning to drill down into the choices facing attendees. You can't attend everything -- unless, of course, you bring a team of five of more people to the conference and expo.

(That's what my firm is planning to do. But that's another story for another day.)

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

February 27, 2009

The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate

Back in May 2005, Linda Rutherford sent me an email with the subject line: "Demise of the fourth estate." Linda is now the Vice President of Communications and Strategic Outreach at Southwest Airlines, but she is a former a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper.

In her email, Linda wrote, "If you have a few moments, please take a look at this short video. It's an interesting short movie from the Museum of Media History predicting the demise of the fourth estate.

"The scenario is entertaining, a bit frightening and not too far-fetched.

"It hints at the monumental changes afoot in how consumers will learn about news and form opinions about brands.

"Thought given your role you would enjoy this creative prediction of what's to come."

Linda was right. The 8-minute video by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson is a bit frightening. And the scenario it depicted was not too far fetched: "In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline. The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned. What happened to the news?"

The same day that Linda sent her email, The New York Times Company announced a "targeted staff reduction program that will include approximately 190 employees at The New York Times and the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe."

While the staff reduction represented less than 2% of the New York Times Company's total workforce back in 2005, the cuts didn't end there.

In its report on The State of the News Media 2006, the Project for Excellence in Journalism, asked, "Will we recall this as the year when journalism in print began to die?"

In December 2007, I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "Blogs are the new trade press." I observed, "In many industries, the trade press has imploded." In our industry, I reported that online publications and group blogs generated close to 88 percent of the coverage of SES Chicago and PubCon. (The remaining 11 percent was - you guessed it - press releases.)

A year later, I reported on the battery of online video crews interviewing speakers between sessions at SES Chicago 2008. I also interviewed Abby Johnson of WebProNews about this trend. Abby is a pioneer in the field and has been producing videos for the WebProNews Video Blog for years.

Abby Johnson, WebProNews, discusses the top trends at SES Chicago

We're now halfway between 2004, the year that Museum of Media History made its predection, and 2014, the date when it predicted the demise of the fourth estate. So, I think it's time to declare: The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate!"

Yes, print journalism continues to implode. The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado's oldest newspaper, is publishing its last edition today. The Chicago Tribune and LA Times have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Christian Science Monitor is going "all digital." US News & World Report is now published every other week. PC Magazine is going "all digital."

Even in my home town, The Boston Globe is cutting 50 jobs in its newsroom, fifth newsroom staff reduction since 2001. At its peak in 2000, the Globe newsroom had 552 full-time jobs. When the latest cuts are complete, there will be about 300 full-time newsroom and editorial employees, plus another 29 news employees at Boston.com.

At the same time that print media are imploding, blogs are exploding into a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. According to eMarketer, there were 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12 percent of Internet users) and 94.1 million US blog readers (50 percent).

And comScore Video Metrix reports that Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos per viewer in December 2008, or a record 14.3 billion online videos during the month. This means 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in December. The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes. So, the average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.

Now, this doesn't mean that all of the predictions in the Museum of Media History video turned out to be right. For example, it predicted that Google would acquire TiVo. It didn't. Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion instead.

Still, I predict that you'll be able to see the new fourth estate for yourself at SES New York 2009. There will be lots of bloggers and a bunch of videographers. And, who knows, we might even see a print reporter or two -- attending sessions like "Publishers & Agencies: New Business Models for Changing Times", "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond" and "News Search SEO."

I'll be at all three of these sessions, so I'll let you know if my prediction comes true.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 26, 2009

Stress Tests for SEO, SEM, PPC at SES New York

Regulators are putting banks through stress tests to determine whether they have adequate capital. And if you look at the SES New York conference agenda, you'll see that you can put your SEO, SEM and PPC programs through some pretty rigorous stress testing at six express site clinics that will be held in the Expo Hall.

Now, why would you want to do that? For starters, you can get some free advice from SEO, SEM and PPC experts. In addition, you'll get an honest opinion from search engine marketing specialists who will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, even if it hurts.

For example, the first clinic is being taught by Shari Thurow, the Founder and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Director at Omni Marketing Interactive. I first met Shari at Search Engine Strategies Spring in Boston -- back in 2002. And I've learned that she'll tell you exactly what she thinks -- without fear or favor.

And you'd be a fool to ignore her recommendations. Shari has a 100% success rate for getting client sites ranked at the top of search engines -- and her clients include Yahoo, Microsoft, America Online, ABC News, HSBC, Expedia, Deloitte and Touche, National Cancer Institute, and WebMD.

Shari is holding an "Express Search Usability Clinic" on Tuesday, March 24, from 1 to 2 p.m. You can get one-on-one advice for usability, design, copy, link development, and any technical issues that may prevent your Web site from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions.

Need another example? Check out the "Power PPC Advertising Clinic" being taught by David Szetela, the CEO of Clix Marketing, on Tuesday, March 24, from 2 to 3 p.m. I've known David even longer than Shari. Back in the 1990s, we both worked together at Ziff-Davis Publishing.

I've never known David to pull a punch -- on his company's blog, in his weekly Profitable PPC column published by Search Engine Watch, or at search and advertising industry events. And Clix is also one of the few agencies paid according to their performance -- as a percentage of profit or a commission per sales lead generated.

You can get your Google AdWords PPC advertising campaigns and landing pages expertly analyzed, with specific recommendations for improvement and optimization. Or just come to watch and learn a wide range of tips and best practices!

The third Express Site Clinic is being taught by Jonathan Mendez, Founder and CEO of RAMP Digital. It is entitled, "CPA Optimization Station," and will be held on Tuesday, March 24, from 3 to 4 p.m.

Now, I don't know Jonathan as well as I know the other presenters, but here's what I do know: Jonathan authors the popular marketing blog Optimize & Prophesize. And he has provided expert pre-click and post-click strategies and execution for online testing, targeting and optimization to some of the world's leading brands and businesses, including Amazon.com, Ameriprise, Disney, Citibank, H&R Block, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Monster.com, Sears, and T-Mobile.

With advertising dollars more accountable than ever, optimizing your Cost Per Acquisition or Cost per Action (CPA) has never been more important. So, you should take advantage of this rare opportunity to sit with Jonathan as he finds ways to improve your ROI. He will perform strategic evaluations and provide actionable insights on the consumer touch-points in your conversion path -- keywords, ads, landing pages and registration/checkout. Jonathan will also offer test ideas for use with Multivariate & A/B testing and advice on how to use emerging marketing technologies to further improve your results.

These stress tests will let you know if your SEO, SEM and PPC programs can do heavy lifiting. But wait, there's more!

On Wednesday, March 25, Matthew Bailey, the President of Site Logic Marketing, will hold a clinic entitled, "Small Changes, Big Results," in the Exhibit Hall from 1 to 2 p.m. Now, what can I tell you about Matt that I haven't already revealed -- in about 120 articles, blog posts or video interviews? (Those of you who know that I went to the University of Michigan understand how hard it is for me to say warm, fuzzy things about a guy from Ohio, but I'll try. Hey, the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is even a Wikipedia listing.)

Matt and I are both members of the Market Motive faculty, which has been called the "Internet marketing dream team." He is the primary trainer and developer for The Direct Marketing Association's Search Engine Optimization Certification program, and the trainer for the DMA's 2-Day Website Marketing Seminar. This year, Matt was selected as the Direct Marketing Association's emissary to France because of his expertise in search marketing. (Coming from a Wolverine, that's high praise for a Buckeye.)

If you need some help, or just another pair of eyes to check your website, then the Express Clinic with Matt will help you identify minor changes in your website that could provide major results. If you are particularly daring, bring the access to your analytics (if they are hosted online), and he will really dive in! (Actually, we are good friends and are both co-presenting the First Timer's Guide to SES and SEM at SES New York. So, we don't let football get in the way of our friendship ... except on one Saturday each fall. Oh, and maybe on New Year's Day.)

Now, I mentioned earlier that the SEO, SEM and PPC experts holding these Express Site Clinics will tell you the truth, even if it hurts. My fifth example of this is the title of the next clinic: "Your Baby Is Ugly - Landing Page Mini-Critiques." It will be held on Wednesday, March 25, from 2 to 3 p.m. by Tim Ash, President of SiteTuners.

Tim Ash is the author of the bestselling book "Landing Page Optimization," published by Wiley. He is a contributing columnist to several publications including Search Engine Watch. And he has also worked with Verizon Wireless, American Express, Sony Music, American Honda, COMP USA, Harcourt Brace, Universal Studios, HomeGain, Fair Isaac, TransUnion, Rand McNally, Red Envelope, Black & Decker, and Coach to develop successful Internet initiatives.

If your landing page has severe and fundamental problems or if you think it could have a much higher conversion rate, join Tim on the exhibit show floor for complimentary mini-critiques. His firm offers consulting, full-service flat-fee guaranteed-performance tests, and advanced software tools for landing page optimization. (Tim's Salsa dancing is pretty impressive, too.)

Finally, you'll want to attend the clinic entitled, "Dave Naylor Search Marketing," which will be taught by none other than David Naylor, SEO of Bronco, on Wednesday, March 25, from 3 to 4 p.m.

David, more commonly known as DaveN, is constantly developing new optimization techniques and has the uncanny ability to see algorithmic changes before most other SEOs. He has a proven track record of successes in some of the most competitive markets. And his blog is well known for its down to earth, yet informative approach on all SEO issues.

If you have ever wanted the chance to have an industry leading SEO take a look at your website, if you want to get an honest and often brutal opinion on whether it is any good, then Dave is available to do a mini site clinic for you. You'll be amazed at the information you will glean within seconds of the analysis.

A few final words of warning for those who put their SEO, SEM and PPC programs through one or more of these stress tests at SES New York. First, these PowerPoint free, interactive clinics are "first-come, first-served." Second, if you can't handle the truth, don't get your Website reviewed live by one of these SES experts.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

February 25, 2009

Obama Speech to Congress Relevant to SES New York Delegates

President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on last night contained a number of relevant messages to the delegates planning to attend SES New York next month.

For example, President Obama said, "We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity." And the search engine marketing industry has lived through years when it was easier to launch pay-per-click campaigns than it was to launch search engine optimization programs.

In fact, Fredrick Marckini, the chief global search officer of Isobar, made this point during his keynote speeches at SES London 2008 and SES Toronto 2008. According to Marckini, "Paid search alone does not constitute a search engine marketing program. I interviewed Fredrick a year ago about the importance of natural search in search engine marketing campaigns, which is still a potent issue as we wrestle with a global recession.

Greg Jarboe & Fredrick Marckini on SEM at SES London 2008

Another line by President Obama that still resonates a day later is this: "The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest working people on earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure."

And today, I received an email from Search Engine Strategies that said, "Bad news can easily derail you from your goal. Don't fall flat on your Q2 achievements. Stay on top of your marketing plan and learn how you can ride through the troubled economy and stand tall in the end. Search Engine Strategies New York is your survival guide to the unsteady economy. From Web 2.0 strategies for small businesses with small budgets to winning online campaigns on a dime."

And the email backed that up with specific suggestions of conference sessions to attend at SES New York: • The Impact of Today's Economy on the Search Landscape • Survival of the Fittest 2.0 • Every Day, In Every Way: Search Marketing as a Business Activity • Publishing: New Business Models for Changing Times • Lower Your Marketing Costs with Vertical Search • Four Paths to Success in a Tough Travel Economy

Or, take a close look at the SES New York conference agenda and you'll discover more sessions that "confront boldly the challenges we face." This includes: • The Dozen Most Common Search Marketing Mistakes That CMOs Make • Search on a Dime • 8 Things You Aren't Doing That Will Boost Your SEM Results • Extreme Makeover: Live Ad Copy & Continuity Clinic! • SEO Tools of the Trade: What's in YOUR Toolbox? • Google Website Optimizer: Radically Improve your Conversion Rate!

And if you register for SES New York by March 6, you can save up to $200. Plus, you have a chance to win an extreme makeover of your website in real time during SES New York! And there are other bonus offers.

So, if you think "the time to take charge of our future is here," as President Obama does, then check out the conference agenda for SES New York, which will be held March 23-27, 2009, at the Hilton New York. To borrow a phrase, "So often, we have come to view these documents as simply ... laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it ... as a blueprint for our future."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search Engine Strategies Names 5 New Members to SES Advisory Board

This afternoon, Search Engine Strategies announced that five new members are joining the SES Advisory Board. The new advisory board members are: Matthew Bailey, President, SiteLogic; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now, Inc.; Andrew Goodman, Principal, Page Zero Media; Mike Grehan, Global KDM Officer, Acronym Media; and John Marshall, CTO, Market Motive.

The five new members join eight current members, who will continue to serve on the SES advisory board, which is chaired by Kevin Ryan, CMO, WebVisible, Inc: • Ron Belanger, Vice President of Agency Development, Yahoo Search Marketing; • Jeff Ferguson, Director of Online Marketing, Napster; • Chris Henger, Vice President, Affiliate Marketing, Performics; • Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner, Beyond Ink; • Jeff Levick, Director, Global Industry Development and Marketing, Google; • Pauline Ores, Senior Marketing Manager, Community and Collaboration Strategy, Global Small & Midmarket Business, IBM; • Erynn Petersen, Senior Manager, Advertising Platform Evangelism, Microsoft; and • Randy Peterson, Search Marketing Innovation Manager, Proctor and Gamble.

In a press release, Matt McGowan, the Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, which includes Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and ClickZ, said, "Over a year ago we created an advisory board consisting of individuals from the industry and beyond to help our programming and operations teams guide the direction of future conferences. The board has made significant contributions to the success of SES. We want to thank seven of the original advisory board members, who are now rotating out of the lineup, as well as welcome five new members who are joining the board members as we chart our way in this rapidly changing industry."

The members of the originaly advisory board who are rotating out include: • Sandeep Aggarwal, Senior Equity Research Analyst, Oppenheimer & Co.; • Jocelyn Griffing, Senior Vice President, Online Media, Icon International; • Steven Kaufman, Senior Vice President, Media Director, Digitas; • Carol Kruse, Vice President, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Co.; • James M. Lamberti, former Senior Vice President, Search and Media, comScore Networks; • Jeannie Moran, eCommerce Marketing Director, AutoNation; and • Gregg Stewart, Senior Vice President, Interactive, TMP Directional Marketing.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 23, 2009

Guy Kawasaki and John Gerzema to Keynote at SES New York

I've just returned from Search Engine Strategies London and it's already time to get ready for SES New York 2009. Fortunately, most of the content for the two keynotes, Orion Panel, 65 conference sessions, and nine training workshops will be brand new and even the format for the show is significantly different, so it won't feel like I've "been there, done that, got the t-shirt."

You can see the changes in the industry reflected in the two keynote speakers.

On Tuesday, March 24, 2009, Guy Kawasaki, Author of "Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition" and Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures, will be giving the opening keynote, which is entitled: "Twitter as a Tool for Social Media."

Now, Twitter was barely mentioned last year at Search Engine Strategies New York 2008. (The honor of being ahead of the curve goes to Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder of Future Now, who discussed Twitter during his session on "Redefining the Customer.")

And last summer, there was a debate at SES Toronto 2008 about whether Twitter was the ultimate time waster, or a Great tool? I interviewed Dave Snyder, Co-Founder Search & Social , and Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, about Twitter back then.

Twitter and its Uses & Abuses for Marketing at SES Toronto

And now at Search Engine Strategies New York 2009, the social networking and micro-blogging service is the topic of a keynote speech.

The rapid elevation of Twitter's importance is also reflected in recent articles.

On Jan. 26, 2009, Erik Qualman wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "10 Ways Twitter Can Make Money." Eric asks, "How can Twitter make money? That's the billion-dollar question. This question is important for Twitter, as well as its users and global advertisers."

On Feb. 6, 2009, Anna Maria Virzi wrote an article for ClickZ entitled, "Twitter's Glory Days." She wrote, "As Facebook evolves as a place for friends and family to connect, Twitter continues to penetrate the mainstream as a grassroots consumer-complaint bureau and a virtual business network. Giving the microblogging platform even more oomph is its search tool, which can give a quick snapshot of a developing event and instantaneously connect Twitter users."

On Feb. 13, 2009, Frank Watson wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "Should Google Buy Twitter?" According to Frank, "Left to its own devices, Twitter could create a large chink in Google's armor. It generates traffic and is far more accurate on building TrustRank."

Twitter's emergence as a major topic is just one example of who even veterans of the Search Engine Strategies conference and expo series come back year after year to this must-attend event to get updates on the major topics.

Another major topic that will put "butts in seats" is the morning keynote on Thursday, March 26, which will be given by John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer of Young & Rubicam Group and the best-selling author of "The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How To Avoid It."

Now, "brand" was the subject of two conference sessions at SES New York 2008. The first was "Big Brand Search Strategies: Build Connections and Fuel Online Promotions, which featured Carol Kruse, Vice President of Global Interactive Marketing for The Coca Cola Company. The second was "Oldtimers: The Impact of Search on Brand Health Metrics."

And "brand" is also the topic of two conference sessions at Search Engine Strategies New York 2009: "Thinking Outside of Your Website: Branding without Borders" and "Brand & Reputation Management."

But bringing in Gerzema, who has designed brand strategies for clients for almost 25 years, to give a keynote address underscores the value of brands -- especially in a recession.

Last summer, I interviewed Gord Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, about Enquiro's online branding and search industry research. Hotchkiss told me about his recent work on the relationship between brand lift and SEO search rankings, essentially contending that high web search rankings are a necessary but not sufficient component of strengthening a brand online. Although established brands do receive lift from winning on relevant web searches, it has yet to be established that unknown brands receive any lift for their high rankings.

Web Search, Branding, & Brand Lift with Gord Hotchkiss

At SES New York 2009, Gerzma, a pioneer of account planning in American advertising agencies, will take the topic of brand value to the next level. This is just another reason why this an event you can't afford to miss.

And if you register for Search Engine Strategies New York by March 6, 2009, you can save up to $200.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

February 21, 2009

Ten Top Stories from SES London 2009

Last week, I attended SES London 2009. For those of you who couldn't attend this must-attend event, here are the ten top stories from the conference and expo held at the Business Design Centre in Islington:

1. The top story was the opening keynote by Matt Mason, author of The Pirate's Dilemna: How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism. Chloe Temple of Tamar covered the keynote in her post, "SES London 2009 - Day 1 summary." She wrote, "SES London 2009 kicked off to a flying start, with an interesting choice in keynote speaker, Matt Mason, who gave us a summary of his book The Pirate's Dilemma. Not specifically targeted to an SEM audience, Matt presented his idea that businesses should embrace piracy rather than going to war with it."

Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Mason after his keynote about the history of piracy as well as its pros and cons. Mason reiterated why it is important for companies today to embrace piracy by competing with it. Mason also talked about the future of piracy and how he would like to see copyright laws changed to reflect the new information economy.

Matt Mason - Author: The Pirate's Dilemma, speaks on piracy at SES London

2. The second top story of SES London 2009 was the Orion Panel on SEO -- Where to Next? Paul Madden, an SEO Consultant in the UK also known as SEOidiot, covered the session for Search Marketing Gurus in a post entitled, "SES London - Orion Panel - SEO Where to Next?"

3. The third top story of SES London 2009 was the Orion Panel on Measuring Success in a 2.0 World. David Wilding of the Epiphany Search Marketing Blog captured the news in his roundup of "Search Engine Strategies London 2009 - Day One." He observed, "One point that may surprise many that don't work day to day in the world of SEO is the view of Google Analytics that came across in this question and answer session." It was called, a "jack of all trades" and a "one size fits all solution."

I interviewed John Marshall, the CTO of Market Motive, who was one of the panelists in this session. Marshall said Google analytics is a limited tool. John indicated that in a 2.0 world, there are details on your website that don't actually live on the website, such as YouTube videos, and Google analytics doesn't analyze this data. Marshall advocated a more realistic approach to measuring data and is a big believer in using competitive analysis. John also cited particular competitive analysis vendors that he likes.

John Marshall, CTO, Market Motive, on measuring success in a Web 2.0 world

4. The next top story was written by Mel Carson, Microsoft's adCenter Community Manager for Europe. He wrote a post for the Microsoft adCenter Blog and Forum Community entitled, "IAB Search Engine Marketing Best Practice Session - SES London." In his post, Carson said, "Islington's Business Design Centre is a hive of search marketing activity, with sessions on SEO, PPC and Social Media all contributing to a vibrant learning pot."

5. Another top story was by Magne Uppman of Uppman.net, which was entitled, "The Twitter Wave At SES London." According to Uppman, a Norwegian online marketer, "Since the last time I attended a major conference, Twitter has really grown big. In fact, you can now get a pretty good glimpse of the news and tips presented only by following the conference on Twitter."

6. The next top story was Rand Fishkin's post on the SEOmoz blog, "Some Interesting Tips and Tidbits from SES London Day 1." According to Fishkin, the CEO of SEOmoz.org, "For the first time in a good while, I managed to spend a few hours sitting in sessions here in London, re-absorbing some information and even picking up a few new bits here and there. Short post, but I figured if it's new/interesting to me, it might also be enjoyable to others (hopefully)."

7. Another top story was written by Philippe Schaillée of SearchCowboys, entitled, "Social Media Optimization - SES London 2009." The Dutch blogger wrote, "Everyone's on the Social networks. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and MySpace have become household names."

8. The next top story was written by Zac of the Apple Pie & Custard blog. It is entitled, "The foundations of Video SEO." According to the UK blogger, "Yesterday at the SES Conference in London Amanda Watlington and Joseph Morin discussed the best practices for optimising your video content." 9. Another top story, which appeared in the Efficient Frontier Blog, was entitled simply, "SES London." It said, "London this week saw the spectacle that is Search Engine Strategies. As the first big search conference gracing the 2009 London Calendar, industry analysts observed it with a keen eye as the benchmark for confidence in the sector. Delegate numbers certainly looked healthy on both advertiser and agency side."

10. Last, but not least, was the blog post by Andrew Girdwood entitled, "PRWeb UK launches during SES London." According to Birdwood, "Search Engine Strategies was a good event to launch at. PRWeb now have a UK offering."

These were just the ten top stories from SES London 2009. For a comprehensive list, go to the Search Engine Strategies Blog. And these are just the initial video interviews to be posted to SESConferenceExpo's Channel on Youtube. If you want to be alerted when new videos are uploaded, just subscribe.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

February 13, 2009

Apple Pie & Custard Shares Recipe for Success at SES London

I’m getting ready to fly over to attend Search Engine Strategies London next week. But before I left Boston, I checked the latest blog buzz and found Apple Pie & Custard’s recipe for success at the must-attend event.

What is Apple Pie & Custard? It’s a UK Blog about search engine marketing, social media and pay per click marketing. And I’ve just added the blog to my bookmarks.

Written by more than half a dozen members of the Site Visibility team, the blog has gone above and beyond the call of duty to prepare its readers for next week’s conference and expo, which will be held at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, from Feb. 17 to 20.

Just check out some of the posts from the past few days:

Kelvin Newman posted, “How To Justify The Price Of Your Ticket to SES London 2009 With Just One Question.” According to Kelvin, if you’ve already done the hard work and convinced your boss to buy you a ticket to SES London, then you need to make sure you come back and convince them it was worth the money. And he gives you tips and how to do that.

Gareth posted, “Tête-à-tête with the President of Trellian Europe Maxime Grandchamp.” Gareth interviews the president of Trellian Europe, who is also co-author of an SEO book “le guide de’l optimization” and will be speaking at Search Engine Strategies London next week.

Zac posted, “E-interview with the SEO Don of Cheapflights.co.uk, Richard Baxter.” This is another great preview of what one of the SES conference speakers plans to tell us.

Nikki Ashley posted, “Beginners guide to SES London.” If you are attending SES London for the first time, read her tips on making the most of the time you spend at the conference.

Zac posted, “Candle Light Email Chats with the Conversion Rate Expert Ben Jesson.” Yet another sneak peak of what one of the Search Engine Strategies conference speakers plans to say, it concludes that conversion rate optimization is the most important opportunity for the majority of web businesses.

Finally, Zac posted, “Electronic Fireside Discussions with Napster Marketing Director Jeff Ferguson.” This is the final in the series of interviews with SES conference speakers.

After reading this, I’m ready for Search Engine Strategies London 2009. I’ve got a good sense of what the top stories will be at the show and who the top newsmakers are that I should interview for the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel on YouTube.

Thanks, Apple Pie & Custard for sharing your secret recipe for success.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 11, 2009

SES London 2009 Squeezes Mini Site Clinics into Crowded Agenda

If you think next week’s conference agenda for SES London 2009 was already packed with sessions, check out the trade show floor. The organizers have added Mini Site Clinics during the networking lunch and afternoon break in the Expo Hall.

Shari Thurow, the Founder and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Director at Omni Marketing Interactive, will be holding an “Express Search Usability Clinic” on Tuesday, Feb. 17, from noon to 1 p.m., and again on Wednesday, Feb. 18, from 3 to 4 p.m. You can get one-on-one advice for usability, design, copy, link development, and any technical issues that may prevent your Web site from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions.

Matt Bailey, the President of Site Logic Marketing, will be discussing “Small Changes, Big Results” on Tuesday, Feb. 17, from 3 to 4 p.m., and again on Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 1 to 2 p.m. If you need some help, or just another pair of eyes to check your website, the Express Clinic with Bailey will help you identify minor changes in your website that could provide major results. If you are particularly daring, bring the access to your analytics (if they are hosted online), and he will really dive in!

Both Mini Site Clinics will be held in the exhibit hall in Booth 101. As you prepare to take advantage of this added bonus, all you need to do is figure out how to grab lunch and then get to these PowerPoint free, interactive clinics, which are “first-come, first-served.”

But if you can successfully navigate your way around Piccadilly Circus, then you are up for the challenge of the Business Design Centre. Don't miss the opportunity to visit the Expo Hall, take in an Express Site Clinic, and get your Web site reviewed live by one of the SEO experts at SES.

And while you are in the exhibit hall, check out the growing list of sponsors and exhibitors. There are companies like Adfero DirectNews, Efficient Frontier, MakeMeTop, and WebCertain, which exhibited last year are back again this year.

For example, last year I interviewed Andy Atkins-Krueger of WebCertain about multilingual tongue-twisting, polyglot poker, and the more serious aspects of organic seo and paid search optimiztion when operating internationally. Oh, and Kia from the PR team finished the video with a flambouyant Finnish flourish of a finale.

Andy Atkins-Krueger, WebCertain, at SES London on YouTube

And this year, there are a whole bunch of new companies exhibiting at SES London 2009, including: Acquisio, Digital Clarity, Direct Traffic Media, IAB Search Council, Indus Net Technologies, Jellyfish, Microsoft AdCenter, Platform-A, PRWeb, SCL Analytics, and WebTrends. I plan to interview some of these exhibitors next week for the SESConferenceExpo’s Channel on YouTube.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 10, 2009

UK Media and SEO Blogs are Buzzing about SES London

If you are on the brink of the verge of the edge of going to SES London 2009 next week, check out the buzz in the UK Media and SEO blogs about next week’s must-attend event, which will be held at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20.

Kevin Gibbons of SEOoptimize has written a quick post entitled, “5 reasons to attend SES London 2009,” about why this is “one of the search conferences you should definitely consider attending this year.”

And read Duncan Bloor’s post, “Search Engine Strategies London ’09,” in CutTheMustard. He writes, “Apart from a lack of American buzz and razzamataz, the UK show is set to impress with substantial speakers and details released yesterday of an SEO ’round table’ event on day two where businesses, SEO’ers and anyone else with a vested interest in ranking highly on the search engines can access industry leaders thoughts and opinions.” Don’t worry, Duncan. American buzz and razzamataz is on the way.

Microsoft Advertising’s Mel Carson conducted an interview of Matt McGowan from Search Engine Strategies for Media Week’s DigiTales Blog. There’s even an incentive for reading the interview in these lean economic times. Hint, hint. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

Or, check out Kasumi DeMarco’s “Amanda Watlington Interview for SES London 2009” in Kasumi’s sexy SEO blog. Although Kasumi started blogging on the theme “sex sells,” she’s discovered that Search Engine Optimisation helps you get noticed, too. Who knew?

And Lyndon Antcliff (aka Lyndoman) will be covering SES London 2009 this year for Cornwallseo.com. He writes, “My intention is to interview interesting people and get them to say interesting things. I will use my trusty mp3 recorder and microphone to squeeze juicy comments out of attendees. Mostly I am interested in the theme of how social media marketing is changing the online marketing world.”

Next, read Bas van den Beld ‘s post in Searchcowboys.com, entitled, “Exclusive: SES opens its doors in Amsterdam.” Yes, SES Amsterdam will be held for the first time. Nevertheless, the Searchcowboys will also be covering SES London 2009 as well as informing attendees, speakers, and exhibitors about their event in Holland on March 16 and 17, 2009.

And now for something completely different
.The Yanks are coming! (I’m pretty sure you’ve heard that one before.)

Read Virginia Nussey’s “Six Questions with Greg Jarboe” on the Bruceclay.com SEO Blog. Virginia twists my arm and gets me to divulge the SES London sessions that I don’t want to miss. She also tricks me into revealing where people can catch up with me. Don't you just hate it when that happens.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

January 30, 2009

Higher Education and Travel Industry Headed to SES London 2009

According to the organizers of SES London 2009, it looks like attendance will be up this year. While this may come as a surprise to some, Matt McGowan, Publisher of the conference series in addition to its sister sites ClickZ and Search Engine Watch, says, “Attendance figures are up 11% compared to last year, which is not surprising as businesses invest more of their budgets in digital marketing.”

He adds, “Whatâ’s noticeable this year however is the increase in representation from the education and travel industries. Delegates from these two sectors have increased by 10% (Education) and 16% (Travel). Many of Europeâ’s leading universities are sending people to SES London – from web managers to researchers. Similarly, established travel companies and tour operators are, as always, well represented, but this year has seen an increase in representation from the smaller, more niche, travel companies. The figures suggest that these two sectors will see significant growth in digital marketing spend this year.”

On this side of the pond, universities have seen grad school applications and enrollments increase as government funding and endowments have declined. This prompted Brandeis University to announce it would close the Rose Art Museum and turn it into a study and research center.

So, I can see why higher education on both sides of the pond is interested in finding more cost-effective ways to drive traffic to college and university websites than mailing out more college brochures. One of the first things Iâ’d recommend is registering for the Google Online Marketing Challenge, which is open to any higher education institution, anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, here in Boston, weâ’ve had 49 inches of snow dumped on us – more than double the normal snowfall at this point in the winter and even more than the normal snowfall for the entire winter season. So, I can also understand why the travel industry sees search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) turning “the winter of our discontent” into “glorious summer” in the coming year.

Despite last yearâ’s economic conditions, travel spending by domestic and international visitors in 2008 increased 5.2%, to $778.2 billion, according to the Travel Industry Association. Heck, I canâ’t begin to describe the looks I get from my wife when I lamely explain that I “have to” go to London to speak at conference, blog about the event for Search Engine Watch, and conduct video interviews from the show. Hey, itâ’s a business trip.

So, when we all get together Feb. 17-20, 2009, at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, I need a little help. For the European universities in attendance, my daughter is planning to spend a semester abroad next year. What do you have for an art major? And for the travel companies who will be at SES London 2009, my wife is looking for someplace sunny, where she can forget about the sleet, wind and bitter cold. (If Iâ’m lucky, she might even bring me along.)

Iâ’m speaking at the sessions on Online Video Update - The Next Wave, News Search SEO, and Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online. Just come up after the session and introduce yourself.

If we haven't met before, Iâ’ve been called “the bearded guy you'd vote least-likely-to-be-in-public relations” by one industry observer. Or, I'm the bearded buy below who was interviewed by Li Evans of Key Relevance at SES San Jose 2008.

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe

Oh, and if you are from an art school in a sunny place like Spain or Italy, let me know all about the programs you offer. Who knows, I may even be able to come back from SES London 2009 a hero, instead of a zero.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2009

UK PR Firms Should Learn SEO at SES London 2009

Back in December, I posted two items to the Search Engine Watch Blog that encouraged UK PR firms to learn SEO at SES London 2009. With the Search Engine Strategies conference just three weeks away, I figure that now is a good time to remind my UK public relations colleagues why they must attend this must-attend event – even after official confirmation that Great Britain is in recession.

My first post was entitled, “Half of British and Irish Marketers Use SEO for PR Purposes.” It reported on new research by Citigate Dewe Rogerson that found 51.4% of marketers in the UK and Ireland use search engine optimization (SEO) tactics for public relations (PR) purposes. However, the research also found that over four in 10 marketers in the UK and Ireland said that they did not have the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy.

My second blog post was entitled, “Online PR Industry in UK Can Learn Lessons from SEO Industry.” It reported on a new Online PR Industry Benchmarking Report by E-consultancy that found about half of companies that outsource online PR are using PR agencies, but the other half are using search marketing agencies or web development agencies to develop and deliver their online PR strategy. The report also found, “Agencies and specialists should note that levels of client satisfaction are not encouraging and they may need to improve their Online PR knowledge and offering.”

So, if UK PR firms and UK public relations specialists want to do more than muddle through Britain's economic downturn, then they need to attend Search Engine Strategies London, which will be held Feb. 17-20, 2009, at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington.

Now, I would urge public relations specialists to attend the opening keynote by Matt Mason, Author of “The Pirate's Dilemma”, and the Orion Panel, “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World”, on Tuesday, Feb. 17. And I would recommend that they attend the Orion Panel, “SEO: Where to Next?”, on Wednesday, Feb. 18. But I'd advise UK and European marketers, corporate decision makers, webmasters and search engine marketing (SEM) specialists, including pay per click (PPC) advertisers and search engine optimization (SEO) consultants, to attend these sessions, too.

However, if I were organizing a virtual track for just my PR peers, there are a number of sessions that I'd strongly encourage them to attend.

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, they should go to: • Universal & Blended Search • WebTrends Workshop • Online Video Update - The Next Wave • Analytics: Data Into Action

On Wednesday, Feb. 18, they should go to: • SEO Through Blogs & Feeds • News Search SEO • Video & Podcast SEO • Link Building Basics • Keywords & Content: Search Marketing Foundations

On Thursday, Feb. 19, they should go to: • Brand & Reputation Management • Social Media Optimization • Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues • Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online • Local Search Marketing Tactics

On Friday, Feb. 20, they should register for these training workshops: • Reaching Your Audience Through Blogs • Link and Reputation Workshop

UK PR firms and UK public relations specialists will also want to visit some of the exhibitors that will be at SES London 2009. This includes PRWeb, which is recognised as a leading online news and press release distribution service worldwide.

John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Jiyan Wei of PRWeb at SES San Jose 2008. Wei talked about the public relations benefits of providing press materials online and the ease with which PRWeb customers can set up their own newsrooms complete with releases and other media.

PRWeb NewsRoom Launch Preview with Jiyan Wei

All this should convince UK PR firms and UK public relations specialists that they must attend this must-attend event. (And if they register for SES London 2009 by Monday, Feb. 2, they can save £100!)

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

January 23, 2009

It's NOT Business as Usual at SES New York 2009

According to Google Trends, the search volume and news reference volume for “hope” are greater than they are for “fear.” And it's worth noting that the search volume for “recovery” is greater than it is for “recession,” although the news reference volume is the other way around.

Still, this is NOT the time for “Business as Usual.” And you can see that reflected in the agenda for Search Engine Strategies (SES) New York, which includes a new track dedicated to “Search & the Fear Economy.” Thousands of the nation's marketers are expected to attend this year's event, slated for March 23-27, 2009, at the Hilton New York.

The new conference track, “Search & the Fear Economy,” features a line-up of timely themes: -- Searching for a Solution: The Impact of Today's Economy on the Search Landscape; -- Survival of the Fittest 2.0; -- Publishing: New Business Models for Changing Times; and -- Pay-for-Performance: Winning Strategies for Advertisers and Agencies.

And that's not the only change in the conference agenda.

There is a second new track, “Search & the C-Level Exec,” which features these sessions: -- Entrepreneurs and C-Suite Executives: A Fast-Track to Search Marketing Fluency; -- Thinking Outside of Your Website: Branding Without Borders; -- Budget Migration: Going Digital without Impacting Your Brand; and -- Implementing an Effective Digital Corporate Governance Program.

But wait, there's more!

In addition to the search engine marketing training workshops on Monday, March 23, there is also a one-day Bruce Clay SEO Training Course on Friday, March 27. And in between the optional SEM and SEO training are 65 conference sessions, two keynotes and an Orion Panel.

With the search industry rapidly changing, SES organizers are also reserving several sessions for late-breaking topics to be announced closer to the event. All this makes SES New York a must-attend event in the search industry as well as the largest show in the global SES series.

If you want to get a flavor of SES New York 2009, check out the Day 1 highlights from Search Engine Strategies New York, 2008. And it is worth noting (again) that the economy was in a recession back then, even if it hadn't been officially declared.

Search Engine Strategies New York 2008

So, as President Barack Obama said in his inaugural address, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”

And one of the places to start is at SES New York 2009. And if you register by Friday, March 6, 2009, you can save up to $200. Hey, that's equivalent to 40% of the tax cut – or payroll tax credit – that Obama is proposing to give individuals. And even “in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive,” $200 is still $200.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 21, 2009

SEO is Alive and Well and Looking for a Fight at SES London

Yesterday, Mike Grehan wrote a guest comment for Netimperative entitled, “Who says community isn't search?” According to Mike, “SEO's glory days are over. And we should get over it.”

Back on June 11, 2007, Mike wrote a column for ClickZ entitled, “SEO is Dead. Long Live, er, the Other SEO.” Mike said at the time, “In November 2003, the earth moved for a lot of SEO people when Google rolled out a little thing called Florida. If you think that was scary, you're in for a much scarier ride. A couple weeks back, Google rolled out what it calls universal search. And that changes everything.”

As an American SEO (as well as a PR guy), I've always listened intently to Mike's pronouncements, which are usually accompanied with the wave of an extra long shoe horn. The global KDM officer of Acronym Media understands both traditional marketing and search engine algorithms, a rare combination which makes him a highly sought-after SEM conference speaker. It also makes him the perfect organizer and host for SES London 2009.

So, what has Mike gone and done now that will have everyone in the former colonies of the British Empire up in arms…again? Stir up a little controversy about SEO? Nah, he does that all the time. But, now he's gone put together a unique roundtable session that will open the proceedings on day two of the leading global search engine marketing conference series.

Why is this act so diliberately provocative? Because, damn it, it means you need to attend SES London 2009 to hear what Brett Tabke, founder of WebmasterWorld, Rand Fishkin, founder of SEOmoz.com, Chris Sherman, Executive Editor of Search Engine Land, Jill Whalen, founder of HighRankings.com and Kevin Ryan, Chairman of the Search Engine Strategies Board of Advisors, have to say during the keynote Orion Panel entitled, SEO, Where to Next?, a special strategy session moderated by – you guessed it – Mike Grehan.

Oh, the impudence of the man! You'd think he was trying to put “butts in the seats.”

Will he succeed? Can't marketers, consultants and industry leaders from the world's leading businesses miss SES London 2009 and pretend the event is just Europe's leading event for education in online marketing and advertising, including Search (SEM/SEO)?

Oh, sure. And everyone on this side of the pond could pretend that World War II was just a regional conflict that they could miss...until “the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.”

(Germans? Forget it. I'm rolling.)

Can you afford to skip an all star line-up that has collectively been responsible for generating billions of dollars, Euros and Pounds of business for some of the world's most recognised brands? I think not.

The Orion Panel on February 18, 2009, will enable members of the audience to share issues and problems faced by their own businesses with practical advice provided by the best and most respected minds in search on how SEO will develop this year. How can you afford to miss this not-to-be-missed session?

Can any business looking to build an effective marketing plan to maintain stability and growth through a tough year ahead pretend that what takes place at the Business Design Centre on 52 Upper Street in Islington won't reshape the world?

As Winston Churchill once said, “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.”

So, I'll be going to SES London 2009 myself to monitor the flow of conversation between each member of the panel, who has been monitoring the flow of conversation in the SEO world for up to 10 years and has heard opinions on everything from Black hat/White hat SEO, dynamic delivery, Flash, Google index updates to universal search. In other words, I will monitor the monitors.

And I will attempt to report back what is said there to the readers of the Search Engine Watch Blog who can't be there. And I will also post video interviews with as many of the panels as I can to the SESConferenceExpo's channel on Youtube.

But I know I'll just be scratching the surface. You really need to be there yourself -- if you really want a report as comprensive as Edward R. Murrow's on the CBS Radio Network during the Blitz, which began with what became his signature opening, “This is London.”

How do you convince the folks over in finance that you really need to be there?

Tell them that SES London 2009 features more than 60 SEM and SEO experts, who will be speaking at 50 conference sessions about how Search Engine Marketing can grow your business.

Tell them that this panel has been brought together for the first time to give delegates the unique opportunity to seek business advice from the world's most experienced experts in digital marketing.

Tell them to watch the 3-minute, 27-second video interview with Mike Grehan below and then dare them to try to answer the key questions which will undoubtedly be on everyone's lips this year, “Where is SEO going? How will the market develop? And how can developments in SEO help my business?”

Mike Grehan, Acronym, on the battle of the Internet browsers

If they won't let you go, if you can't attend SES London 2009, if you don't attend this must-attend event, then as Murrow would say at the end of his reports at the end of 1940, “Good night, and good luck.”

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 14, 2009

SEO Training Workshop on Blogs at SES London 2009

One of the four SEM and SEO training workshops that will be held at SES London on Friday, Feb. 20, 2009, will be focused on “Reaching Your Audience through Blogs.” The instructor is Jennifer Evans Laycock, the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Guide, an online publication aimed at educating Small Business owners about search engine marketing, viral marketing, social media marketing and blogging.

There have been a number of studies aimed at understanding the size of the Blogosphere, yielding widely disparate estimates of both the number of blogs and blog readership. All studies agree, however, that blogs are a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream.

This means the opportunities for businesses to speak with their customers is nearly unlimited. That's why more and more companies are turning to the blogosphere to connect with consumers. Businesses have never had such effective access to the frustrations and desires of their target audience.

After attending this half-day workshop, you will have a solid understanding of concepts that are vital to reaching out to consumers via blogs including: • Why blogs are the fastest growing form of consumer generated media. • How blogs can change the way you interact with your customers. • How to engage your target audience in conversation and how to put what you learn into action. • Why blogging works for both B2B and B2C companies. • How to avoid the most common corporate blogging mistakes. • Crisis control tactics in case you encounter negative blogging.

In this workshop, you will learn why so many companies are launching corporate blogs and how they are creatively using them to advance their brand and marketing campaigns. You'll also learn how to leverage other people's blogs to build your company's reputation, address criticism and introduce new products.

The workshop will give real life examples of both good and bad blog campaigns as well are sharing insight on how your business can build their own blog style based on consumer feedback.

During this workshop, you will learn: • How to find your corporate blogging voice. • What resources are needed to launch an effective corporate blog. • How to balance sales and information to build a more loyal readership. • Why pitching bloggers is different than pitching traditional media. • Why companies ignore blog comments at their own peril.

In addition to being the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Guide, Jennifer also operates as an independent online marketing consultant specializing in organic search marketing and viral marketing. Her clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings, Highlights for Children, and Option-Line, a national crisis-pregnancy hotline. She is also the author of the popular e-books "The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing" and "Zero Dollars, a Little Talent and Thirty Days."

During SES London 2009, Jennifer will also be speaking at the “SEO Through Blogs & Feeds” session on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. In 2005, she delivered the keynote presentation at the MIVA Small Business Conference.

Jennifer has been interviewed and quoted by a variety of publications including The Financial Times, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Entrepreneur magazine. At SES San Jose 2008, Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media interviewed her about using social media sites like Linkedin and Twitter to communicate one's marketing message to a dedicated and enthusiastic audience.

Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008

And check out the other three SEM and SEO training workshops at SES London 2007. Participants may register for