SEM Industry

July 1, 2009

Affordable SEO Education Coming Your Way

Photo by Caitlinator

If the sour economy has brought one good thing to fruition, it's that prices for high-quality goods and services have fallen within reach of the average Internet marketer. With the increase in free and discounted search engine optimization reports, webinars and conferences, there's also a decrease in excuses for not taking advantage of such deals.

Search Engine Land is one of the premier news sites of the SEO industry. Search Marketing Expo - SMX is one of the must-attend conference series of the SEO industry. Exclusive content from this power-duo of education and information could elevate your learning to another level. So what if you could get VIP access to Search Engine Land newsletters and archives, exclusive videos and podcasts from every SMX show and discounts to SMX conferences? It turns out you can, and for a price that will fit almost any budget. Now at the special offer of $149 per year, you can become a Search Engine Land Premium Member.

There are two exciting benefits that deserve a quick highlight. First, there's the video sessions from Search Marketing Expo. Video and podcast coverage of SMX conferences bring expert search engine marketing speakers and their presentations right to your computer screen. Premium members will also get special profiles on Search Engine Land, which come with the exclusive ability to put live hyperlinks in your comments. Not too shabby, and it can't hurt your SEO either.

You can also jump on special deals from the folks at Search Engine Strategies. Held near the home of many major players in search and technology, SES San Jose is one of the most anticipated search engine marketing conferences of the year. Coming up in August, the conference is fast approaching! Luckily, it's never been so affordable to attend. Registering to attend sessions is easy on the pocketbook when you register with the 20 percent discount code BC20. Sign up before July 24 and you'll get a $200 savings for registering early. By the way, Bruce Clay's SEO training will take place the Monday before SES San Jose. Talk about extending your conference value.

At the end of the day, wouldn't it be nice to multiply all that dough you saved? The IM Charity Party has been a regular event at SEO conferences, raising money for causes like Ronald McDonald House and giving Internet marketers a noble reason to rally. The party is in need of sponsors for the San Jose shindig, and with the event having raised more than $100,000 for charities since 2007, you can be sure your donation will help out and spread the love. Because pinching pennies and sharing the wealth are both causes worth your time.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 07/ 1/09 at 12:25 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in SEM Events, SEM Industry, Search Engine Optimization

June 22, 2009

Has the Wild West Web Reached the End of the Line?

Photo from freeparking via Creative Commons

In any society there are rules that govern the citizens. Many of the rules we follow in our communities today are explicit, spelled out in the form of laws or regulations. Others are implicit, coming out of necessity and an understanding of social norms, such as etiquette. Explicit rules are often formed as a reaction to events that have already taken place. For instance, a new law may prohibit acts that, through the hindsight of past events, are recognized as potentially harmful or damaging.

It's long been believed that the Web is a land of lawlessness, notoriously hard to police, and comprised of communities inclined to do what they want without concern for rules. Over the last 20 years the Web has evolved from a small, undeveloped infant to a rebellious youth testing his limits. In many cases, the Web is governed by implicit rules, such as netiquette, while explicit rules are slowly finding their way onto the books. A parallel has been drawn between the Web and the American Wild West of the 1800s -- a time when citizens knew better than to rely on those in uniform to protect them from the corrupt and the codeless. I've heard the Web referred to as the realm of cowboys and bandits on blogs, in articles and at search conferences, and it's been a pretty reliable analogy in that time. Even the common "white hat", "black hat" terminology has its roots in the Hollywood heyday of Western films. But is it possible that the Web has reached a new era of liability and law?

Photo from anyjazz65 via Creative Commons

At Search Engine Watch, online marketing expert Frank Watson wrote a thought-provoking piece last week called The Web's Wild West Days Are Gone. Frank points to evidence that the Internet is moving toward a more explicit model of governance. Close to home, we've seen legislation on behaviorally targeted ads, appointment of the U.S.'s first tech czar, and antitrust filings against search engine monopolies, to name a few examples. Abroad, we've watched the U.K. publish an Internet action plan, South Korea pass legislation regulating comments on YouTube, and the Iranian and Chinese governments control content via state-run ISPs.

Certainly there have been many earnest attempts to regulate what is made available online and what is accessible online, but I'm not convinced we've reached a time of law, enforcement and personal responsibility. Despite the best efforts of lawmakers at home and abroad, I see at least a few more obstacles that will need to be overcome before the Web transcends the Wild West. One significant challenge is that the Web is a global phenomenon, hard to subject to local or even national laws. This was pointed out by commenter ProfJonathan on Frank's article:

The challenges have been figuring out which law(s) apply, and how to enforce them. [...] the biggest challenge remains the borderless nature of the Internet and the conflicting legal regimes it crosses; a true international "Law of the Net" is clearly needed.

Additionally, lawmakers face a challenge in their lack of understanding. Remember when the National Association of Realtors (NAR) tried to convince their members that Google was a scraper site? Due to a technical misunderstanding and some convoluted assumptions, the NAR almost took their members' sites out of the search game entirely. If the organization had followed through and established the guideline, real estate professionals would likely be hurting more than they already are.

In the end, we find that laws which aren't grounded in understanding end up to be poorly written and ineffectively enforced. Any judgments that come out of such rules or legislation can hold no weight. Furthermore, laws that reach beyond their jurisdiction can hold no sway, and it's a global Web we're working in today. Until understanding and global enforcement are attained, I expect to see a familiar and untamed Web in the immediate future.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 06/22/09 at 4:56 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in International, SEM Industry

June 15, 2009

Audio of Matt Cutts's Nofollow Comments in Today's SEO Newsletter

It's the 15th of the month and we just published the latest edition of the SEO Newsletter. Subscribers can expect to find the fresh new newsletter in their inboxes tomorrow, and the Web version is available now. Here's a quick preview of the exciting stories you'll find.

This month's Back to Basics article offers up seven tips on SEO for nonprofit organizations. While basic optimization strategy is the same for both nonprofit and for-profit sites, there are some additional opportunities available to nonprofit organizations. Included in the article is info on Google Grants, the YouTube Nonprofit Program and how to get your hands on free accounts and software.

Meanwhile, the Feature article should help eliminate some of the confusion over what Matt Cutts said at SMX Advanced regarding nofollow-based PageRank sculpting. Throughout the article there are embedded clips from the SMX Advanced You&A with Matt Cutts. Questions about Matt's exact words and intent are addressed with direct quotes from Matt and expert analysis from Bruce. Care for a taste?

Question: Matt, previously you seemed to support PageRank sculpting and it seems to me that is not something that you're supporting or not going to use anymore. Why is that, and is that going to be considered a negative indicator?

Matt Cutts: No, definitely not. Don't think about it like... It's your site. However you want to do the links within your site, you're welcome to do. What I'm trying to communicate, and what Maile and Nathan and a lot of people have been communicating -- in fact, if you look at the nofollow page that we've put up on our webmaster help documentation, we say, you can use it to eliminate links to sign-in pages and things like that, but it's a far better use of your time to have information architecture, or a site architecture, that makes it so that the pages that you want to have PageRank, the pages you want to be crawled, are fairly close in terms of number of links from, say, the root of your site.

From this quote we can gather that:

• The behavior of the nofollow attribute has changed, and Matt later says "the behavior could change in the future."
• Nofollow-based PageRank sculpting is not the most efficient use of an SEO's time.
• The nofollow link element is not a negative indicator for Google.
• The nofollow link element can be used to cut off PageRank flow to pages you don't want to rank.
• The best kind of PageRank management occurs when a site's architecture directs PageRank to intended pages.

The full article includes four more clips of Matt during the You&A. It also includes Bruce's recommendations for the selective use of nofollow, as well as info on a site architecture solution that manages the flow of PageRank. It's called siloing. Maybe you've heard of it?

All kidding aside, there's still time to sign up for the email version of the newsletter before it hits inboxes Tuesday. The newsletter sign-up form is in the right rail on this very page. Or, just click through to the SEO Newsletter from the links in this post. Either way, we think you'll be glad you did.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 06/15/09 at 4:44 PM | Comments (4)
See more entries in Google, Linking Strategy, SEM Industry, SEO Tips & Tricks

June 9, 2009

I Don't Like Conflict (But Google Doesn't Think SEOs are Criminals)

Photo by David Cox via Creative Commons

SMX Advanced was a whole week ago but that doesn't mean we're done with the controversy. Today, the SEO community is buzzing about how Matt Cutts sat up on that stage and, in Lisa Barone's words, "openly stated that Google profiles SEOs like common criminals." I'll be honest, that sentence shocked me to the core -- Matt Cutts stated anything openly? It must have been a pod person.

Clearly we need to get to the bottom of this. Our fearless leader, Bruce Clay, was also in the audience that day, making like the livebloggers and getting awesome notes. I asked Bruce what happened to cause this shocking statement. Why on earth would Matt stop being vague long enough to call a room full of SEO professionals criminal?

What did Matt say exactly?

Well, first off, that's not what Matt said. (You already knew that was coming.) It's actually what Michael Gray asked. Matt's reply was:

The closer you get to money and the closer you get to people who are doing it deliberately for links -- and there's a certain segment of people who are doing whatever they can just to get those links -- that's a higher risk endeavor in our opinion.

You know, even though what Matt said was rather mild and nothing we haven't heard before, there's a couple good lessons here for SEOs to remember.

On Twitter, when this all started, I casually stated that I could sum this whole thing up in one sentence. (I still could. Brevity is the soul of wit, but not of blog posts.)

Here's my one-sentence blog post:

Yes, SEOs are held to a higher standard than mom and pop shops; SEOs are professionals.

See, sometimes people get really good at something and then they start selling that something and making a lot of money doing it. Other people might learn to do the same thing but it isn't their job and they don't want it to be.

For example, Lois Lane is an ace reporter for the Daily Planet. Sometimes when she's on a story, she'll take pictures to go with it. But everyone knows that Lois isn't a photographer -- that's Jimmy Olsen. If Lois takes a bad picture for the paper, oh well, that's not really her job, even though it's related to her story. If Jimmy takes a bad picture, people are going to judge that more harshly.

SEOs and webmasters are pretty much the same. SEOs are Jimmy Olsen, sent out there to get the shot, make it awesome, and win that Pulitzer for photography. Webmasters are Lois Lane; they're just supposed to get some kind of picture that will go with their stories.

Photo by Scott/adjustafresh via Creative Commons

But wait! It's not just about webmasters taking bad pictures (or making bad sites). It's about how they get away with stuff that SEOs can't, like giving away pizza and getting back thousands of backlinks. And that's not fair! That's a good point.

Let's look at Lois and Jimmy's friend Superman. He stands for truth, justice and the American way. He can outrun trains, stop bullets, blah blah blah, you know the story. His job is to do the right thing all the time. If Superman starts breaking the law, no one will put up with it. He's supposed to uphold the law, help the innocent, play by the rules.

But what about Google?

All right, I'm done with the superhero analogy for a minute. What about Google not holding itself to the same standard? They know the rules too and they're ignoring them. How come Google can give away brand new Android phones but Michael Gray can't do the same without warning the recipients that they can't link back without a nofollow attribute?

Michael's got a point, and it's a different one than Lisa's. Why does Google get to manipulate their SERPs with giveaways that would have any SEO on the planet slapped for suspicious intent? Unfortunately, the answer here sucks because it's that life isn't fair. Google isn't the government (yet) so they don't care about the First Amendment. You don't have a right to free speech and if you want into their clubhouse, you have to play by their rules.

These are the hard truths:

1. It's Google's index, they set barrier to entry wherever they want to.
2. Google gets to play by its own rules, like with the Android phones giveaway.
3. Google gets to change the rules when it wants in order to improve its SERP quality, not to make SEOs' lives easier.

But come on, we know all this. We've always known this. This same conversation has been going on since before I got into the industry four and a half years ago and it's never ever going to change. So relax, because in the end, it doesn't matter.

Forget fighting Google. Make good sites.

Look, if Google really thought that SEOs were common criminals, that they hated the whole industry, that SEOing a Web site was a show of bad faith, why would optimized sites be ranking well? Maybe this is a chicken and egg question but it really does baffle me. It's not like it's hard to tell if a site has been touched by the sticky fingers of SEO. Heck, I'm just a writer and I can tell when a site has been optimized. I'm sure the big brains at Google can do it if I can.

Photo by Andrew Magill via Creative Commons

If SEOs are making sites that rank and are following guidelines that Google considers "good for users", why would Google hate that? Google wants things to be good for their users because that's what makes them money. They're a multi-billion dollar company that relies on their search engine to keep customers coming back and clicking on those oh-so-important text ads on the right rail. They don't do it with flashy branding or look-at-me gimmicks. They do it by consistently delivering results that their customers are happy with. Make sites that make customers happy and you're on the right track.

Now go forth and optimize. Oh, and don't forget -- there are other engines out there too. Maybe give them some love.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 06/ 9/09 at 3:54 PM | Comments (36)
See more entries in SEM Industry, Search Engine Optimization

June 3, 2009

Data Visualization Dresses Up Search - SEM Synergy Extras

Recent developments, like Microsoft Bing, Google Search Options and Yahoo's Web of objects strategy, are moving search engines toward more sophisticated models of data visualization. As new, useful ways to present information to the general public are developed, search marketers are reminded that improved data visualization models could benefit the community in many ways.

Photo by Jesslee Cuizon via Creative Commons

During today's weekly podcast of SEM Synergy, we explored data visualization applications in the search industry. My guest was Richard Zwicky, founder and CEO of Enquisite. Enquisite provides analytics solutions that visually organize and structure data, with paid and organic search professionals in mind. Involved in Internet marketing tracking solutions for almost a decade, Richard has seen an evolution in the display capabilities of analytics solutions, as well as in the expectation of search marketers regarding those display capabilities.

But data analysis is just one of several applications that could be improved through enhanced visualization. Data analysis, data reporting and visual search engines are three platforms in the search industry that will undoubtedly see changes within data presentation in the future.

Visual Data Analysis

Eye-tracking studies, long-tail graphs, map overlays -- data can be gathered, parsed and presented in a myriad of visually enhanced ways. The exciting thing about analyzing data visually is how the right format can make hidden trends and findings readily apparent. Knowing that X number of visitors came to your site in a week is great. But seeing the number of visitors to your site over a year represented in a timeline graph? The latter is clearly more valuable. Of course, that same data would be less suited for something like a pie chart or word cluster. The right visual application can relieve an Internet marketer from having to sift through mountains of data in order to locate the important stats and trends.

Visual Data Reporting

As a relatively new profession, Internet marketers can find themselves evangelizing to their clients or company executives about the opportunity of search. With data in hand, the potential of search marketing ROI can be very convincing. Proof is what company execs are looking for, and data makes a great argument. But overzealous search evangelizers should steer clear of overloading listeners with excessive data. It's important to only present the most useful data in an easy-to-understand visual format. If the person watching the presentation has to decipher how to read the data in the first place, there's a problem. But if the person watching immediately understands the data by simply looking at the projector, the point has been made.

Search Visualization

Along with data analysis and reporting, data visualization has the potential to aid in the understanding of many topics and concepts. Data visualization uses of the general public are being addressed by a number of visual search engines, like Viewzi and Searchme. About a year ago, Danny Sullivan saw visual search as little more than "eye candy", explaining that the shortcomings of traditional search were not being addressed by available visual search products; in fact, most of them introduced new problems all their own. Where we're likely to see real progress in visual search is within the mainstream engines. Google Squared could potentially change searcher behavior and Yahoo's updated image search demonstrates an improvement on the old standard.

The possibilities for data visualization are endless, and as technology advances, we're sure to see a growth spurt in the industry. Enquisite is certainly one of the innovators of data visualization for Web analytics, and with a new platform, Enquisite Campaign, now available, do yourself a favor and check them out. Thanks to Richard Zwicky for coming on the show to explain how visualization of data can help with analysis and reporting amongst search practitioners. To find out more from Richard, you can read the Enquisite blog or attend his weekly Ask the Expert round table discussion beginning June 16.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 06/ 3/09 at 3:37 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Analytics, SEM Industry, SEM Synergy, Search Engines

May 28, 2009

SEMJ.org Promotes Semantic Search Education

As a full-time media junkie, I like to keep up with the news in the search industry. One resource I rely on is the Search Engine Marketing Journal. SEMJ.org is a quarterly academic journal with papers on just about every aspect of doing business online. Topics like conversion and landing page optimization, SEO, analytics, international search, paid search, Web development, social media and mobile marketing are all there.

SEMJ.org was founded by Sean Golliher in 2007 and quickly became an industry authority, attracting renowned experts like Tim Ash, Avinash Kaushik and Eric Enge as editors. [Ahem? --Susan] Oh yes, Bruce and Susan too! Recently Google's Maile Ohye joined SEMJ.org's advisory board. Considering the blue blood and sweat running through the pages of the journal, you can understand why I pay attention to what Sean and the SEMJ.org crew are doing.

Well, today my antennae perked up when I saw that SEMJ.org was promoting and planning to attend the Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose mid-June.

I talked to Sean and he helped me see why semantic search education is such an important investment today:

"As a company that does search marketing research we try to look forward as much as possible, and we follow papers by researchers and conferences very closely. There has been a large movement developing with internet researchers over the last couple years regarding the semantic web. Microformats, linked data, resource description framework (RDFa), etc. Like Tim Berners-Lee has been preaching, web documents that link to each other through hyperlinks are 'just the tip of the iceberg.' There are an estimated 25 billion triplets (RDF descriptions) of data on the web now and this is supposedly a 50 x increase from the previous year. Multiply this again by 50 and you can see where this may be going."

Sean's aim has always been to advocate research and education in the search marketing industry and to give SEMJ.org readers an edge in the marketing environment of the future. Partnering with the SemTech Conference serves both those goals.

The five-day conference will take place June 14-18 at the Fairmont in San Jose. In its fifth year, the annual conference boasts that it's the most extensive event on semantic technologies, spanning from business to government to consumer activity. With semantic technologies and linked data promising to hold a prominent place in the future of search and the Web, software developers and marketers would be well served to learn about semantic Web technologies.

Sure, I don't yet understand what makes the semantic Web tick. Like most, I've heard the term bandied about a lot in the past few years, but listening and understanding are two different beasts. Luckily, it's still early in the life of semantic Web technology, and getting in on the SemTech Conference couldn't be easier or less expensive than it is now. SEMJ.org is offering registration for Semantic Search Day, June 17, at a cost of $95 when you register with the code SEMJ. While semantic search technology is still emerging, we can do ourselves a favor and give our understanding a jump-start.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 05/28/09 at 2:54 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in SEM Events, SEM Industry

May 20, 2009

Niche Search, New Search Features and Who Out There Cares - SEM Synergy Extras

Photo by Paolo Camera via Creative Commons

On SEM Synergy this afternoon, our WebmasterRadio podcast on all things search, we dedicated some time to Wolfram Alpha and the crop of search solutions that constantly challenge Google's market share dominance. Barbara Baker of Kolbe Market Consultants took some time to talk about what a search engine would have to offer before it was considered a threat to Google. Certainly there was a time when Google wasn't on the radar, but once there, Google has never been content as runner up.

It may be this hypercompetitive approach to being all things to all people which has led to Google conspiracy theories and mafia parallels. But no one can deny that the search leader continues to guide the pack in innovation. For example, several new products and features were introduced at last week's Searchology 2009 that raised the bar for search engine offerings.

So, hanging out with friends the evening after Searchology, I thought I'd launch a rousing conversation about the cutting edge of information retrieval technology by showing them the latest evolution of search. (You know you'd want me at your party.) Instead, all I got was, "Google changed their interface? Cool."

Call me devastated. [It takes a few years to train them up right. Don't get discouraged. --Susan]

No one I know outside of the search marketing industry seems more than mildly interested in the new features. Giddy about the Wonder Wheel, filtering by time, and results that show images right on the SERP, search geeks are apparently alone in their enthusiasm.

So I have to wonder, if a new feature is rolled out by Google and no one ever uses it, is it actually useful?

I tried to locate stats on how much use Google's niche and vertical search products get. I could only find this HitWise report from 2006. (If anyone can point to more recent data, I'd love to find it.)

In 2006, image search lead the way, receiving less than 10 percent of Google's traffic. The following year Google launched Universal Search. A big part of the decision to launch Universal may be that average users didn't even know what was available to them via search verticals. Google had to shove it in their face before anyone noticed.

In that case, have Google and the other engines invested too much in search verticals that get little use and even less visibility? Will an engine like Wolfram Alpha awaken users to the possibilities of alternate data gathering services? Or, are users likely to continue missing out because they're content with the pragmatic search service they're accustomed to?

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 05/20/09 at 4:06 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in SEM Industry, SEM Synergy, Search Engines

May 6, 2009

SEM Synergy Extras - Niche Services Stand Out

One of my favorite things about planning and co-hosting Bruce Clay, Inc.'s weekly WebmasterRadio show, SEM Synergy, is getting access to the top minds in the Internet marketing industry. Every week is a new adventure into a special field, be it local business with Patrick Sexton, interest-based ads with David Szetela, analytics with Richard Zwicky, or information retrieval with David Harry. Even if slightly intimidated, I'm always awed by the depth of my guests' knowledge.

Today my guest was Jordan Kasteler, co-founder of the Internet marketing company Search & Social. After working as an in-house SEO and SEO director for several companies, Jordan decided he had collected the experience and expertise needed to start a new company specializing in, what else, search and social media marketing. Jordan is also a host for the WebmasterRadio program Mobile Presence along with Cindy Krum and Kim Dushinski. Jordan has found the niche marketing platforms that he excels in and has made a name for himself there.

This isn't intended to be a post all about how totally cool Jordan is -- although there's no denying that he is -- but rather, it struck me that Jordan has figured out the secret to successful marketing, not only for clients, but also for himself.

Photo by Nai. via Creative Commons

There are a lot of Internet marketing companies that offer to do it all. It makes sense because it's common for an SEO client to say, "Hey, can you add some link building to that contract of ours?" or "I was reading the other day about Facebook. Is that something you can manage for us?" The needs of each client are different and so every project evolves with its own unique demands. It doesn't make sense to reject a client's request if the request makes sense, right? And the tight economy has increased the frequency of such dilemmas because turning away work just isn't an option.

But this kind of necessity can lead marketers down a precarious path where they spread themselves too thin amongst services that aren't their strong suit. Contrary to intuition, the best thing for a marketer in this position might be to narrow the focus of their services rather than broaden them. By specializing in one field you can devote more time and energy into being the very best.

At Web Marketing Today, Dr. Ralph Wilson wrote a great guide to finding and defining your niche. Although it was published in 2004, the lessons it holds are evergreen. Ask yourself what you enjoy most. Brainstorm a list of keywords that describe those fields. Research the supply and demand of those keywords and the average bid price. And, finally, check out the competition in that field. If something jumps out that you like to do and are good at, that is a newly emerging field with great potential or that isn't saturated with competitors, you've found yourself a winner. Then again, you can flourish in even the most established and competitive fields if your determination and expertise rise above the rest.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 05/ 6/09 at 5:20 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in SEM Industry, SEM Synergy, Social Media

April 29, 2009

Internet Marketing Trends - SEM Synergy Extras

In an industry that's as keen on data as ours, there are always reports being released about the state of the trends of the surveys, if you know what I mean. Not to knock data or anything -- I realize as well as the next blogger that attention to numbers is no passing fad. But sometimes it's difficult to keep up with the figures. Sometimes more than one conclusion can be drawn from the same set of data. And more often than not, the data is different from one day to the next. Today on SEM Synergy, our weekly WebmasterRadio podcast, we tackled some online marketing trends -- namely, those in search advertising, social network advertising and consumer behavior.

On the show we took a look at an Efficient Frontier report on search engine marketing performance over the last quarter. The conclusion was that, while ad spend was down, there had been a rise in return on investment. Bruce outlined his argument against the organization's findings, and I'd encourage you to listen to the episode to get his thoughts on what he considers to be flawed logic.

Of course, search marketing firm Efficient Frontier was not alone in releasing a study over the last month. Here are a few more white paper reports that may be worth dissection and consideration.

Paid Search During the First Quarter

SearchIgnite, an SEO reporting solution, researched paid search performance in the first quarter. The following are the highlights of their findings:

• Overall, search ad spend was down two percent year over year. However, paid search spend made a significant rebound in March with an 11 percent increase over last year. In contrast, January recorded a 14 percent decline when compared to search ad spend last year.
• The average time between clicking on an ad and making a conversion grew more than 23 percent in the first quarter when compared to last year. The number of times a user clicked on an add also increased 28 percent year over year.
• The analysis concluded that consumers are still buying but are doing more research and comparison shopping before making a purchase. Meanwhile, advertisers are showing signs of cautious confidence in the paid search space.

SEMPO Annual State of Search Survey

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization released its annual State of the Market Survey, reporting its findings for last year. A full report is available for SEMPO members and a summary report (pdf) is available for everyone else. The findings covered a range of topics, including behavioral targeting, local search, video search, mobile search and social media:

• Of those surveyed, 75 percent said they would pay more for clicks targeted to their specific market or within a certain demographic. They are also willing to pay more for demographic and behavioral targeting.
• Of marketers who are engaged in branding through social media channels, more than 80 percent use Facebook. More than two-thirds of the group report using Digg for brand marketing, followed by Delicious, StumbleUpon, Reddit and Technorati.
• More than 60 percent of marketers reported a willingness to pay more for local targeting, versus 40 percent last year. Mobile search and video search are gaining ground, with 48 percent expressing interest in contextually targeted mobile ads and 54 percent interested in contextually targeted video ads.

Consumer Behavior Report

Comparison shopping company PriceGrabber teamed with market research firm Market Reporter to survey U.S. consumers' online shopping behavior (pdf). Generally, the study indicates that consumers are steadily increasing their shopping budgets and are spending more time online:

• Compared to last year, 94 percent of online shoppers are spending more or equal time comparing prices. 93 percent of online shoppers are spending more or equal time shopping. 67 percent of online shoppers are spending more or equal time looking for coupons. And 52 percent of online shoppers are spending more or equal time on social networks.
• Consumers are willing to buy big ticket items online, and online merchandising is a driving force. 30 percent of respondents would purchase electronics online, 20 percent would purchase home improvement items, and 12 percent would purchase kitchen items or indoor furniture.
• The number of consumers who cut their spending declined from 59 percent last October to 50 percent in March. However, the number of consumers who reported that they are trying to save money regardless of the economy rose from 25 percent in October to 27 percent last month.

Yes, that's a lot of data to go through, but in short, consumers are spending more time online, shopping more than before, clicking on more ads than before and spending more time comparison shopping. Advertisers are increasing their ad spend after an early first quarter drop and are showing a willingness to move into the mobile, video and social advertising spaces.

And speaking of social, I'd like to thank my guest Tim Kendall, director of monetization at Facebook, for coming on the show to talk about Facebook Advertising and the opportunity of social network ads. With attitudes changing and trends moving fast, keep up with the numbers to stay ahead of the curve.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/29/09 at 5:26 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in E-commerce, Pay Per Click / Online Ads, SEM Industry, SEM Synergy, Search Engine Optimization

April 27, 2009

Do You Yahoo?

It appears that Yahoo and Microsoft are still in the grips of a tangled tango, their long talks about a search advertising partnership remain hot and heavy. For more than a year now, the two companies have been in on-again/off-again discussions about a merger, partnership or some other strategic opportunity that would give the duo an edge against Goliath, aka Big G.

The two search platforms have historically struggled in the face of steadily shrinking market share. And in light of the current deliberations, it would seem that leadership on both sides of the table are looking for the windfalls that cooperation might garner. But rather than face the painful breakup of an all-or-nothing deal gone south, this time the couple is taking it slow with talks of partnership rather than marriage proposals.

In MarketingSherpa last week I read a primer on advertising with Yahoo! Sponsored Search. It just so happens that Yahoo's paid search program has a number of perks compared to Google's AdWords program -- not the least of which is a higher average return! A typical comparison for a single advertiser looks something like this.

Investment in Google: 80%
Investment in Yahoo: 15%
Investment in other engines: 5%
Average conversion rate with Yahoo: 3.42%
Average conversion rate with Google: 3.39%
ROAS with Yahoo: 2.85
ROAS with Google: 1.85
Percent of Google-driven online sales: 80%
Percent of Yahoo-driven online sales: 7%

Obviously, Google has a substantial advantage of market share and overall number of eyeballs, which leads many advertisers to ignore the solid ROI that Yahoo can provide. But as Kevin Lee explained during the Advanced B2B session at SES New York this year, "If you're not in Yahoo and Live, you're missing a chunk of your audience."

In the Bruce Clay offices, we see that our own clients are just as set in their ways. After talking to SEM analyst and BCI guest blogger James Kim, I learned that only 20 percent of our PPC clients are advertising in Yahoo. But as abysmal as that sounds, it's in line with the norm.

Why, I asked James, are so many clients missing the opportunity available through Yahoo and other engines? In his opinion it comes down to two things: market share and maneuverability.

"It is too early to say what effect a partnership would have on the advertisers. I think it will really depend on its interface and data reporting for PPC accounts. This is where Yahoo and MSN are seriously lacking right now. Google has made a lot of improvements to their PPC management, while Yahoo and MSFT are still trying to catch up on the basics. Once they collaborate, if they do it right with the right management tools, they may see an increase in advertisers."

Understandably, the day-in-day-out interaction an advertiser has with his PPC management tools can make the difference between a good day and a migraine. Google's intuitive interface is easier to navigate and includes more robust management tools.

As for the two areas Yahoo and Microsoft have to get right before they get anywhere, the companies will gain great strides in market share if they combine forces. A partnership might also result in the power players of each team coming together to design better management tools. With both market share and management tools wrapped up, we could be witnessing the debut of the next Silicon Valley power couple. They've already got the silly contracted name and everything.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/27/09 at 5:15 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Google, Live Search, Pay Per Click / Online Ads, SEM Industry, Search Engines, Yahoo

April 21, 2009

Tracking the Tech Transformation, Part Two

Photo by Curtis Palmer via Creative Commons

In part one of Tracking the Tech Transformation I made the point that the rapid pace of technological innovation today is unique throughout human history. President Barack Obama's selection of the nation's first chief technology officer corresponds with the character and challenges of our time. By improving our standard of living and simplifying important tasks, technology will play a significant role in managing our lifestyles and achieving our goals for the future.

I've identified three manifestations of the tech revolution which signal a fundamental paradigm shift. The first is the use of the online cloud, similar to referred memory, a central storage location for all of human knowledge. The important change to keep in mind here is that advancements in hardware or operating systems have lost their relevance because both are simply means to an end -- a connection to the Web.

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar via Creative Commons

The Dead Tree Society

The next paradigm shift is currently in transition, and that is the end of print in favor of Web-accessible content. As newspapers and other print media focus their energies on adapting to the Web, the American public has witnessed the end of the major print era.

Steven Johnson writes in The Wall Street Journal, How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write, electronic book readers will add complex dimensions to our reading habits.

I knew then that the book's migration to the digital realm would not be a simple matter of trading ink for pixels, but would likely change the way we read, write and sell books in profound ways. It will make it easier for us to buy books, but at the same time make it easier to stop reading them. It will expand the universe of books at our fingertips, and transform the solitary act of reading into something far more social.

With the advent of the Internet, books became the "dark matter" of the content universe; "because books have largely been excluded from Google's index -- distant planets of unlinked analog text -- that vast trove of knowledge can't compete with its hyperlinked rivals." That is, until the Kindle and Google Book Search hit the scene. Now, not only are readers able to find a book in moments, they can also purchase that book as well. The impulsive purchase of a book mentioned in a movie or by a friend in passing conversation is just as convenient as downloading a song on iTunes.

In such a world, books made from paper will be reserved for memorabilia and nostalgia. Fiction and non-fiction alike, books have long been considered an art form. But now they hold that distinction even more as the physical book takes on the characteristics of a trophy, or as the New York Times writer Noam Cohen puts it, a vinyl record "admired for its look and feel, its cover art, and relative permanence -- but not so much for convenience."

Books and print media have undergone a kind of puberty since the advent of the Internet. And we have taken the journey on the hormonal wave of change -- complete with uncertainty, emotionality and, in the end, adaptation.

In part three, I'll chronicle the shift toward free or open source solutions. With all the advancement we've experienced during the information revolution, it's interesting to see how we continually demand more for less.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/21/09 at 2:47 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in New Media, SEM Industry

April 20, 2009

Tracking the Tech Transformation, Part One

U.S. President Barack Obama, in the interests of restructuring his administration to meet the needs of the modern world, introduced a new position to his Cabinet over the weekend. Aneesh Chopra was appointed chief technology officer of the nation, a role dedicated to making government more efficient through the use of technology.

Image by iLoveButter via Creative Commons

It's a digital world that we live in, and the online revolution has affected some of the most basic human tasks. Easy-to-use tools have improved efficiency and the next great device or program is always waiting on the horizon, poised to push the old way of life into the obsolete. I enjoy living in such a dynamic and progressive world. And the exponential speed with which today's changes are occurring is remarkably unique in all of human existence.

The early evolution of tools through stone (the first humanoids appear to have used stone tools roughly 2.5 million years ago) to bronze (beginning more than 5,000 years ago) to iron (just 3,500 years ago) seems to have taken eons compared to the rate of current innovation. Now, riding on the shoulders of giants, it has become easier to break barriers and creatively overcome obstacles in record time.

And while I love being part of this historically unique and awe-inspiring age, it can be hard to keep the new technology straight. In a single lifetime, my parents and grandparents have watched their way of life morph dramatically. My grandmother was born before television. My father was born before the Internet. The possibilities for advancement in just the next few years are unlimited.

Today it's a challenge to decide which platform to adopt, which social network to join, which medium to market through, because the vast majority of platforms/networks/communication mediums fall by the wayside in favor of the single solution that finds dominance. It's impossible to predict with certainty where the future of technology lies. Still, upcoming technological advancements are worth studying in order to prepare for tomorrow.

I've pinpointed three trends in breaking technologies to consider as you craft your plans for the future. Following is the first. Points two and three will be detailed in their own posts later this week.

Photo by tipiro via Creative Commons

Life in the Clouds

On ZDNet today, Jason Hiner asks have we arrived in the post-Windows era? He explains how computing technology moved from the text-based operating system of DOS to Apple's graphical user interface. Then he takes us to the time when Microsoft took on the battle of the browser war, recognizing that the Web would eventually take over people's task management needs. As Hiner tells it, Windows Vista and Windows 7, the most recent incarnations of Windows operating systems, have added nothing to the market because the OS has "reached a point of diminishing returns."

And, of course, the other thing that's going on is that the Web browser is finally usurping the OS as the universal platform that was envisioned back in the mid-1990s. [...] What we're seeing is that many businesses are using the Web browser as the front-end application to access private, back-end systems, from databases to CRM to ERP to payroll to corporate portals. [...] If you combine that with the fact that many users now keep their personal e-mail and files in Web-based systems such as Yahoo Mail and Google Docs, you have a situation in which the average user spends most of her computer time in a Web browser.

Consider the fact that the new national CTO is known for his initiatives during his service as Virginia's secretary of technology. Chopra's programs included "Virginia on iTunes U", in which teachers and publishers made free educational material available on iTunes. He also promoted a competition to get developers to create math applications for middle schoolers, made available in the iPhone App Store.

Nearly any and every tool we need in our lives has found its way online, ready to be located in the cloud, opening society in a way never before possible. There are two more ideas I want to share with you about transformative possibilities of technology in our lives. Check in for part two tomorrow and my thoughts on the Dead Tree Society (part two) and Rocking in the Free World (part three).

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/20/09 at 5:24 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in SEM Industry, Search Integration

April 16, 2009

Copy Cats and Wannabes of Web 2.0? The Social Media Expert

It's mind boggling. MarketingSherpa's chart of the week indicates that two-thirds of marketers with no social media experience consider themselves somewhat knowledgeable or very knowledgeable about social media strategy.

How Knowledgeable Are Marketers With No Social Media Experience?

Social media is today's big thing, finding its way onto every other blog, being used by everyone and their dog. I find myself reading about social media constantly. So, forgive me for adding to the cacophony, but this new study makes me wonder...

If I had no firsthand experience in social media marketing, it's possible that I might still answer yes to the question, provided a couple assumptions. First, I'd have to assume that knowledge does not require experience. And, of course, that's true. I can have knowledge of an historical phenomenon, the Rain of Fishes, for instance, but that doesn't mean I've experienced it. With me on this?

Second, we can't see the exact question our surveyed group was asked. As far as I can tell, the question could have been, "How familiar are you with social media?" in which case, being a regular user of Facebook and Twitter qualifies me to answer that I'm a somewhat knowledgeable social media user. If, on the other hand, the question was, "What is your expertise level of social media marketing strategy?" then that's another can of worms. I'm willing to give the surveyed group the benefit of the doubt, but that would be really boring for the purpose of this analysis, so let's not.

Assuming that our group of misguided marketers really thinks that because they're on Facebook they're a bona fide social media strategist, MarketingProf's conclusion would follow:

Clearly, there is a disconnect between personal exposure and professional ability that is unique to social media. And this disconnect is one of the most critical dangers to the successful adoption of social media as a marketing strategy.

If unqualified members of the marketing industry indeed are going around claiming the title of social media expert, well, we're in trouble. The social media guru is the next snake oil salesman and the truly experienced have to defend their services from such threats. But if the recession has brought one good thing, it's the fact that the true experts will stand high above imposters as intense scrutiny is projected on results and the bottom line.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/16/09 at 5:03 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in SEM Industry, Social Media

April 15, 2009

Brands and Search Engine Rankings Revisited

Today on SEM Synergy, our weekly podcast on WebmasterRadio, Susan and Chris gave everybody the lowdown on IM Spring Break and Scott joined the convo to look at how the demand for conferences is growing and changing.

My guest was Danny Sullivan, one of the power figures behind the conference series Search Marketing Expo, and we talked about trends on the conference circuit and the increasing demand for search marketing education. In fact, next week the interactive marketing conference ad:tech is taking place in San Francisco and one day of the show will feature a search marketing track in partnership with SMX -- SMX @ ad:tech. The winds of change are a blowin'.

I've written before about how I think developments in SEO conferences will play out. So instead of your regularly scheduled diet of SEM Synergy Extras, I wanted to point out some other exciting news of the day -- that SEO Newsletter sitting in your inbox! (If, by chance, you haven't subscribed, do your self a favor and sign up already! See where it says "Subscribe to our SEO Newsletter" in the right-hand side bar? No, right under the "Follow Us on Twitter" graphic. Yeah, there. Sweet!)

Photo by Clydehurst via Creative Commons

So, right, the newsletter. There's a great feature piece this month about one SEO's opinion of January's branding update, a.k.a. the Vince update. Fernando Chavez was one of the hosts of the SEM Synergy episode where we dedicated significant time to the topic. While we were recording I remember watching, gape jawed, as Susan and Fernando passionately debated whether the change was indeed targeted toward brands or if the boost brands saw was merely a side effect of a greater goal. Fernando took the opportunity to lay out his argument in further detail in his article. Here are a few of the highlights:

• He doesn't think that Google intentionally increased the rankings of branded sites.
• If Google had made changes to reduce the effectiveness of spam as well as changes to increase certain SEO factors, the combined effect could have easily resulted in increased rankings for branded sites for certain queries.
• Matt Cutts has responded by saying, "We don't really think about brands. We think about words like trust, authority, reputation, PageRank [and] high-quality." Fernando believes that while Google representatives are usually vague, they don't lie outright. What Matt said in his video amounts to a fairly direct statement.
• Tweaks to the algorithm that increase the value of link age or domain age or the text surrounding a link are all alternative possibilities that could have caused such a shift in rankings.
• In the end, an SEO won't need to change his or her strategy as a result of the algorithm change. Recommendations for branding a site are just as important as they were before.

Based on years of search engine optimization experience, Fernando's article is heavy with opinion and theory. I'm just guessing here, but I bet you've got your own, too. Was Google targeting brands with the update, even if only in their round-about way? What are some of the value shifts that could have occurred to lead to a brand boost? Has your strategy shifted at all since you learned about the change? Since comments can't be left on newsletter articles, let's open up the conversation here on the blog.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/15/09 at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Branding, Google, SEM Industry, SEM Synergy

April 14, 2009

Search Marketers and Web Developers Meet in Santa Monica

Update: Coverage of the topics and tactics shared during the event can be found on Search Engine Land.

Last night I attended L.A.'s very first Jane and Robot Web dev and search meetup. Nathan Buggia of Live Search and Vanessa Fox of NineByBlue.com have teamed up to bring the search and Web dev community a great resource in JaneAndRobot.com.

Nathan and Vanessa have presented a number of events like last night's all along the West Coast. Now they're gearing up for O'Reilly Found, a two-day conference dedicated to helping the Web development community understand their vital role in search acquisition.

I wanted to tell you about the good stuff that happened last night, but of course, pictures speak louder than words. So I'm thrilled to bring you photos by search documentarian Wm. Marc Salsberry.

To start us off, the host of the evening, Tony Adam, SEO manager at Yahoo, treated the 40 or so people in the crowd to yummy appetizers, cold brews and pizza!

Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry - Entrepreneur/Photographer

Then Vanessa and Nathan powered up the projector and gave a presentation on how to diagnose a site's SEO issues. While half of the audience tweeted their up-to-the-minute thoughts via BlackBerrys and smart phones galore, this little blogger blogged.

Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry - Entrepreneur/Photographer

Once the official Q&A had ended, it was time for the fun to begin. Vanessa, Nathan, Tony and the crowd headed to The Parlor for informal discussion and more good ol' fashioned networking.

Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry - Entrepreneur/Photographer

Marc Salsberry is clearly crafty with the camera, but as an entrepreneur and photographer, he's also interested in marketing his photos and optimizing them for search. Marc has been posting his photos to Flickr and Facebook to allow for easy findability and open access to the community. But during Q&A time, he asked Nathan and Vanessa about the best way to get analytics and metrics for images.

It just so happens that Vanessa wrote an article on effectively using images on Jane and Robot.

Nathan also explained that the ideal situation for Marc would be to host the images himself. By hosting the images on his server he would be able to access the metrics and analytics he was interested in. If he linked from his site to the Flickr pages, Marc would potentially be able to secure two results in the SERP. And for branding and marketing purposes, Nathan suggested that it's important to have ownership of the URL where the image is located. All this occurs after deciding what primary goals and conversions he has for his images.

That was just a small piece of what went down at the Yahoo! Center last night. Bummed you couldn't make it to the Jane and Robot Santa Monica Meetup? It's not too late to sign up for the O'Reilly Found Conference going on June 9-11 in Burlingame, CA. Use the code FD09PC to receive 15 percent off the cost of registration! Thanks to everyone who made last night's great event happen and thanks to the talented Wm. Marc Salsberry for sharing your amazing images with the search community.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/14/09 at 5:01 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in SEM Industry, Search Engine Optimization, Web Development, Yahoo

April 9, 2009

Ask.com Asks What You Know About Autism

The Internet marketing community is a generous one.

The ever-popular IM Charity Party has raised more than $100,000 since the first even was held one year ago today. I've had the opportunity to contribute to efforts taken upon by folks in the industry; Casey Yandle is doing his part in the Relay for Life (just $30 more, kids!) and last month Rebecca Kelley made the unfathomable journey up 69 flights of stairs as part of the Big Climb. Those are just a few of the selfless acts made by Internet marketers every day.

April is Autism Awareness month. The always evolving Ask.com has partnered with Autism Speaks to raise money and awareness for the advocacy organization. The search engine will donate $0.50 every time a user chooses a designated skin to personalize their Ask home page throughout the month of April. Just click on the little "peel me" in the top left corner and your page will be transformed:

Additional pennies can be added by correctly answering questions displayed on the page. Regardless of whether you answer right or wrong, you can find out more from a link on the page, adding the important dimension of education and awareness to the program.

The questions you answered incorrectly can be re-answered after you've found out the facts, meaning that the organization won't lose any cents because you didn't know better.

The extra clever part is that Ask is also getting a little extra awareness for their search engine as well. Drawn in by the "find out why" prompts, I'm discovering handy features I never knew about. Looks like Ask is really getting somewhere with its semantic strategy.

In the end, Internet marketers aren't the only one's happy to give back. Our search engines are as well. Contributing to such causes is a win-win, after all -- you get good press, warm fuzzies and the opportunity to give to the future all at once.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/ 9/09 at 5:19 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Ask, SEM Industry

April 7, 2009

Who Owns What on the Web?

Photo by foxypar4 via Creative Commons

It's a tricky question that's found its way into the spotlight yet again. As newspapers cry foul and the Associated Press goes for the kill (whether murder or suicide is yet to be seen), Danny Sullivan's response to traditional media publishers' misunderstanding of the Web environment shines a clear new light on the conversation. With the Web we've created a virally propagated content staging ground and, like a germ during flu season, it can be hard to figure out the point of origin.

I don't have any new answers to the media's desires to have their cake and eat it too -- how to maintain full ownership and receive search-driven traffic at once. But, at the risk of adding to the echo chamber, I'd like to play a little connect the dots. Let's see how tangled our Web of online content has become.

Traditional Media

Photo by Matt Callow via Creative Commons

As Danny points out in his piece above, Google has continually introduced features and implementations aimed at rewarding the old-schoolers of the news world. The ACAP, admittance into Google News long before anyone else, and even the Vince algo update are all measures that give more control and credibility (a la rankings) to long-established publishers. The truth is, the search giant just can't keep everyone happy -- no matter what they do.

The AP, not satisfied taking aim at only bloggers, is concocting schemes, like charging Google to obtain licensing agreements. Fortunately, it appears there are a few level-headed publishers left:

At a time when newspaper revenue is collapsing and some papers are closing, the prospect of a share of revenue from Yahoo or Google is more tempting than ever. But executives at some news organizations have called the ire at the search engines misguided, saying that much of their own Web traffic arrives through links on search pages.

Social Media Networks

Image by Mathias Pastwa via Creative Commons

As I see it, the social media space is host to two different content ownership dilemmas. The first is similar to that of traditional media -- the content producer vs. the traffic generator. Social bookmarking Digg set the standard for ethical content aggregation; that is, until they introduced DiggBar this week. The new feature directs users to the content through iframes hosted on the site, keeping users and spiders on Digg. Content creators are frustrated after losing many benefits from the traffic Digg previously generated when linking directly to the site.

On the other side of the social media content puzzle is the question of who owns the account -- the employee or the company? The advent of social media has hit some companies unexpectedly, and the challenges of the new communication technologies are still being sorted out. Company time vs. personal time and company accounts vs. personal accounts can fall under fuzzy designations. The obvious solution is to set out ownership beforehand, but if your company was scrambling to catch up in the social media realm, that conversation may not have happened. Regardless of what occurred when the account was created, it's likely that a lot of value and resources were invested in that account by all parties involved, so cut-and-dry ownership can be hard to determine.

User Content

Photo by Michell Zappa via Creative Commons

When one Pennsylvania couple sued Google for taking pictures of their private property for use in Street View, the judge ruled that the images did not constitute invasion of privacy. Kinda throws into question the concept of private property, doesn't it?

Then there's the content generated by users on the Web in what are believed to be "private" spaces. Facebook did a little hokey pokey dance when it changed its terms of service and then changed them back again. At first the social network wanted to claim ownership of users' data, but an angry mob convinced Facebook that wasn't the best idea. Now a project in the UK will attempt to archive Internet traffic over the next year. E-mails, VOIP telephone calls and Web history are all subject to the directive.

Obviously there are complex ownership issues that have emerged among search engines, content producers, social networks and individual users online. The Web is so named because everything is connected, but all the sticky situations seem pretty fitting, too.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/ 7/09 at 5:15 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in Google, New Media, News & PR, SEM Industry, Search Engines, Social Media

April 6, 2009

SEO Conferences' Sexy Makeover

There is a new breed of conference popping up. They offer the convenience of attending from your desk. Or the in-depth education received from small-group settings. And they usually boast registration costs far below those of the large events we're used to.

Up Close and Personal

Susan returned from Florida this weekend, but I didn't need to wait for her account to know that something special was going on in the Sunshine State. At IM Spring Break, an in-your-face group of about 100 gathered for sun-soaked learning and laughing. With a performance by David Szetela and Jeff Quipp's SEO Band and platters of cookies served pool-side, there's no denying the fact that attendees were playing just as hard as they worked.

IM Spring Break

As Shana Albert of Social Desire explained, the size of the conference meant that attendees built lasting relationships because of intimate conversations. That's quality networking right there. And during presentations and keynotes, attendees weren't just another person in the crowd. The Q&A after presentations were an integral part of sessions and speakers responded to specific and targeted questions.

After Q&A there were table discussions where the group of eight or so sitting at each table digested the information by throwing out their ideas and debating different implementations. That kind of discussion is difficult to generate at a large conference. All for a registration cost under $400. [The discussions are under NDA, so I can't tell you anything more about them than this: Holy Immediately Applicable Knowledge, Batman. --Susan]

Electrified

Then there are the purely digital conferences. Last Wednesday MarketingProfs held its annual Digital Marketing World conference. Considering that #mpworld was the number two trending topic on Twitter that day, it's easy to see how the growing popularity of Twitter added a new dimension to this year's event.

Digital Marketing World show floor

And the digital format is remarkably functional for a conference. There were nine sessions offered throughout the six hour event and even if you missed it last week, everything is available on-demand until July 1. Did I mention that the conference is free?

About 14,000 people registered for the event and while no one was turned away, it never felt crowded. There was a lounge area designated for networking. There was a hall where exhibitors offered white papers and reps were ready and waiting to answer all your questions. Presentations included the slide shows and Q&A periods expected of any good webinar.

The Bottom Line

In the tight economy we're facing, it makes sense that companies are looking to cut costs. Travel is one of the target areas, with some replacing business class with coach and others trimming conference attendance. During the summer of last year, OrbitzForBusiness.com reported that "companies are reducing trade show and conference travel, with 44 percent either sending fewer people or simply not attending shows this year." This month BusinessWeek reported a surge of interest in videoconferencing as a way to reduce travel budgets.

So what do you think? Are these new conference incarnations the future of industry events?

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 04/ 6/09 at 5:15 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in SEM Events, SEM Industry

March 26, 2009

Independent SEM/SEOs: Issues & Answers

I've moseyed over to the Issues & Answers track. The moderator is David Hoffman, founder of Search Smart Marketing. The speakers are: Patricia Hall, managing partner of Hallmark Capital; Yuval Marcus , counsel at Gottlieb, Rackman & Reisman, P.C.; Heather Rogers-Symon, assistant director of business development, HUB International, Northeast; and Kathleen Fealy, president of KF Multimedia & Web, Inc.

David says that we often forget to pay attention to our business needs as we try to take care of the needs of our clients. Kathleen is up first.

When it came time to renew her E&O insurance, her insurance broker said that SEO was a high risk profession. They considered SEO irresponsible. Kathleen argued the opposite so she asked her contacts who they were insured with. The problem was that smaller companies were hurting their clients and getting in trouble. From that situation she learned the importance of education, not only for her clients but for her insurance provider as well.

It took about three emails and contracts with indemnification clauses and warranty clauses that explained she couldn't control algorithms but she would try to improve visibility. She had to make it clear there was no guarantee of placement. As a smaller agency she had to be prepared to answer all the questions. Even her attorneys didn't understand SEO well enough to help her prepare her answers. Make enough time to help your attorneys, brokers and accountants understand SEO so they can help protect you.

Heather Rogers-Symon is going to present on the Xs and Os of insurance for search engine optimization and marketing companies. Most people she deals with don't know about insurance.

The Bracket:

• Business property
• Business disability
• Business general liability
• Umbrella or excess liability
• Worker's compensation
• Professional liability
• E&O

There are a lot of different insurance coverages available.

Ask your contacts and get your questions answered. Protecting your business from risk is the foundation of success. Take the time to investigate your insurance needs from professionals and peers.

Get your head in the game:

How is your business prepared for an interruption? Or damage to your firm's repuration?
Are you covered for copyright and trademark infringement? Other media activities?
How would you handle business errors?

First Half: Business Owners' Policy

• A BOP offers building, property and general liability coverage under one policy.
• Protects your company's computers, networks, valuable papers and office furniture.
• Provides coverage from damage from fires, electrical surges, business interruptions, water damage, and even embezzlement by an employee.

It's cheap and covers a lot of things.

Second Half: Professional Liability

Errors and Omissions are not covered under a GL or a BOP policy. A SEO or an SEM can be sued by a third party that suffers an economic loss as a result of their company's actions or errors.
As clients' expectations of performance increase, lawsuits against professionals increase accordingly.

Wrap Up: Insurance is not one size fits all.

You may be put inside a box, but figure out a plan with your broker that fits you at the best price.

David asks how many in the audience owns their own business. Most raise their hand. He asks who has the insurance Heather was talking about. Maybe two people raise their hand.

Yuval is next and will talk about basic intellectual property and trademark concerns that come up in this industry.

Ask yourself:

• If a competitor tarts using a similar name, domain name and/or logo, what can you do?
• Does your company have the right to use its name, domain or logo for SEM services?
• Does the company own its Web site, logo and domain properties?

Trademarks are brands and source identifiers. It can be a word, a logo and even a smell. Copyrights cover creative expression and give owners the right to prevent copying by others.

The benefits of trademarks:

• A brand with proper trademark protection has value and can be sold, licensed to generate revenue or used as collateral to secure financing.
• Owners of trademarks have the right to prevent others from using confusing or similar marks.
• They can be extended indefinitely.

There are trademarks that are better than others.

1. Arbitrary and fanciful (strongest): For example, Apple computers or Kodak
2. Suggestive (weak): For example, Coppertone sunscreen
3. Descriptive (weak): For example, Fish Fri fish batter mix
4. Generic (incapable): For example, the name of the category

How to acquire trademark rights:

• Common law rights
  • Use of mark on goods or in connection with services
  • Use without registration limits rights to areas where use takes place
• State registrations
  • Protection in state where registration obtained
• Federal
  • Nationwide
  • Must use mark in commerce
  • Unlimited duration

To avoid trademark infringement, conduct a trademark clearance search for company name, domain name and logo. The availability of a corporate name or domain name does NOT mean you can use that name. Trademark clearance searches cover:

• PTO database
• State trademark databases
• Common law uses:
  • Internet
  • Business names
  • Domain names

Copyright protects original and creative works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright protection is automatic when it is fixed (this can be written or recorded in video, for example).

Promotional materials, logos, software and training materials are all included. The person that creates the work owns it and can reproduce copies, create derivative works, distribute a work to the public, and perform/display the work publicly. Even if you contract the creation of a logo, you need the artist to transfer the copyrights to you.

By creating strong trademark rights, you increase the value of your company and can stop competitors from using confusingly similar brand names, domain names and logos. Always conduct a trademark clearance search. With copyrights, if you retain a non-employee to create your content, be sure to get all the rights transferred to you.

Pat is going to talk about the outlook for mergers and acquisitions in this economy. She's going to cover the M&A market in 2009. Is this the year to hunker down and ride out the storm, sell out, combine with other firms or seek acquisitions? How have the valuations of independent SEOs been impacted by the turmoil in the financial markets? What is the outlook for revitalized business activity in 2009? Regarding competitive positions, how do you enhance the value of your company in case you're looking toward M&A in 2009?

Hunker Down, Sell Out, Merge or Acquire

Risks in 2009: The main risk is do you have financial reserves? If there's a dip in client business can you hold out?

Opportunities in 2009: There may be companies out there now that never considering selling. Sometimes you can find very good companies that happen to be in trouble, but it has nothing to do with the quality of their operations.

Know your strategic options and figure out where you stand in the equation. What paths are available to you and how would they impact your business. Should you play it safe or go for gold: What is your risk tolerance? It's a risk/reward equation with no right answer.

How Have Valuations Been Impacted?

Demand drives value: Generally, valuations are down 20 percent. Good companies' values are holding steady. Great companies are still seeing premiums, although not as high as in the past.

Strategic buyers are looking: Companies are looking for help in SEO and SEM fields and are prepared to pay to get it quickly.

Value is in the eye of the beholder: If you want a better value, create a better story for why you're different than competitors.

Outlook for revitalized business in 2009

U.S. online ad spending will double over the next five years. She has seen a stronger tendency this year for a "wait and see" approach. But she views this as an artificial approach. People still need your business so it's really pent up demand and there will be a catch-up phenomenon she predicts to see by the end of the year.

The good news is that SEO is here to stay. To enhance businesses, adjust your tactics. Instead of trying to see increased budgets from clients, maybe you want to keep the budgets and make your work more efficient. Among clients there are always smart leaders and slow followers, but in 2009, both parties can be good for your business this year. Be patient with slow followers and the business will come back. At the end, the impact of SEO on the bottom line is what will give you buyers.

Competitive positioning enhances your company's value.

Client lists are more important than ever. Sustainable revenue generation reduces the perceived risk. A unique market niche or a technology hook can help you differentiate yourself. What is it about your company that will carry you through downturns and into the future.

Take aways:

• Know your strategic options.
• Strategic buyers are looking.
• SEO is here to stay.
• Your client list is golden.

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 03/26/09 at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Liveblog, SEM Industry, SES New York 2009

March 19, 2009

Five Questions with Jason Ciment

For the final day of interviews with SES New York speakers, I had a chance to talk to Jason Ciment, co-founder of LaDezign.com. Jason will be presenting during a session on the search and the fear economy track, Survival of the Fittest 2.0. Can his survival story put our fears at ease? Let's find out.

1. In this session, Internet marketing veterans are going to share their experience of weathering the dot-com bust. Can you give us a brief insight into the situation you faced in 2000/2001?

A. My funding from our incubator disappeared. They were only halfway into their funding and even when they did put money in, they were always behind or reducing the amounts they had put in.
B. I was staffed for an Internet marketing push towards driving consumer traffic but now I had no money to pursue this and we were stuck with 3 revenue channel approaches of which only one had produced any significant revenues.
C. We also faced heavy spending from a competitor like www.enews.com (now out of business) which by its demise had spent $100MM dollars apparently. So we realized back then that we could not match their marketing budgets.
D. It was also the dawn of affiliate marketing from an adoption sense which meant that we had a possibility here to make some inroads.
E. Because of the perceived lifetime value of subscriptions, our competitors were also giving away almost all their revenues just to get customers. This is why enews for ex. went bust because the model could not sustain itself.
F. So to sum it up the situation we faced was how to sustain the company with SUSTAINABLE, PREDICTABLE, PROFITABLE CASH FLOW.

2. What do you look back on as the best thing you did that allowed you to stay on your feet in the Internet sector? Is this something you think worked only for your situation or can it be applied by others who have been hit by a layoff in this recession?

A. First thing we did is to adopt a FOCUSED attitude towards dominating a NICHE. So since we were located in LA, we started aggressively marketing on an outbound basis to local companies within one niche. And we started winning accounts with talent agencies like ICM and CAA (which Magmall still services today). We also picked up related companies like public relation firms (like PainePR) and advertising firms.
B. I hired people with experience rather than trying to train from scratch and directed this effort to targeted customers/prospects.
C. I reduced my fixed overhead dramatically and pared down staff to match cash flow sustainability.
D. I also increased spending on the web site technology in order to improve our search engine traffic capability and our customer service transactionality. Our catalog online was easy to access and customers could at that time really quite easily keep track of subscriptions from year to year. We focused on one message. Aggregating subscriptions purchase under one roof. We weren't selling a commodity anymore. We were selling an "Aggregation (ie. Consolidation) Service". This transformed us from a below the radar company selling a commodity like magazines, to an HR solution that would enable companies to reduce direct and indirect costs related to subscription purchases. Directly, we could offer bulk discounts. Indirectly we could reduce expenses by providing one access gateway for all orders and one bill rather than paying multiple vendors.

Editor's note: The rest of the response to question number two was added after the initial publication as Jason wanted to add a few more thoughts on this point.

This strategy of focusing on technology had two unintended consequences. The first is that I ended up partnering with 3 Israeli/Russian scientists to form a new software company (www.Adrecom.net) that had a strategy for converting a Rapid Deployment Interface Architecture they had developed independently into a hybrid ecommerce platform combined with a full-blown content management system (CMS). They wanted more than giving web stores a speed to market advantage. They wanted a platform that would focus some serious attention on creating an interactive customer portal as part of the web store interface. What this meant is that registered users would have a fairly comprehensive self-service platform where they could access things like printing receipts, making address changes online, renewing subscriptions to multiple orders from one screen and other things which made them sort-of feel in control of their online experience). More importantly, the customer portal was interactive (like a blog) and it gave customers the ability to contribute to the growth of a site's content (the holy grail in search engine optimization) by leaving reviews, editorials, ratings and comments. Suffice it to say that this not only helped us improve overall satisfaction but it blew our search engine ratings through the roof because we embedded all the optimization techniques right into the platform at the same time and because of the rapid deployment stuff, we were able to introduce things like private labeling really quickly into the marketplace.
E. The last thing we did was actually to work with Bryan and Jeff at Futurenow back when they were just getting their company off the ground. I think we were one of their first customers. When we engaged with them our conversion rate was at one point hovering around 1.2% and after working with them to measure our traffic and start profiling our visitors with just basic demographic profiling, we raised conversion rates considerably to almost 5%. That is probably one of the reasons we were able to make the transition to focus on the B2B arena as well because we started to realize that the looky-loos existed more among consumer (B2C) buyers more than business buyers and thus even though traffic went down, our conversion rates went up as we got more targeted traffic.

3. How do you think this economic environment compares to the situation in 2000? Is it better or worse this time around for those in the Internet marketing field?

A. It's better and worse.
B. It's better because we are more sophisticated now and through the hard times have come to respect the value of a profitable sale.
C. It's worse because the economy is a mess and people are scared to spend a penny. We've heard it described this way to get a sense of what the economy really looks like. In the first quarter after the "meltdown" people at companies will still have cash in their budgets so they will spend whatever they can before "corporate" pulls away their budgets. In the 2nd quarter there will be some money left as "corporate" was still hopeful, plus revenues being reported in Q2 will still reflect the increased spending in Q1. By Q3, the budgets are gone and Q2 reporting will reflect much lower spending. So the question is now that we are at the end of month 6 since the meltdown, what will Q3 look like.

4. What's your basic strategy for making it through the tough economic environment we're currently facing? Does your experience match up with the theory that tough economic times are the times to be aggressive with growing your business?

1. Adopt a niche focus again. Target users that are hungry and give them a better meal or a cheaper meal. Don't try to sell something that someone isn't already looking for UNLESS it is something they never considered before (and that would be a paradigm shift type of product or service).
2. In our search engine optimization and web software business, we are targeting manufacturers for 2 reasons. First, it's an underserved market since it is so fragmented. Second, it is likely to have less red tape and we can reach the decision maker who can sign the check. Now that we have achieved top rankings for a variety of companies that fall under ONE category, it is easier to approach other companies within the niche and say "we are the best FOR WHAT YOU DO".

5. What recommendations would you give to those who have lost an in-house or agency position? If you were in that position, would you start looking for a position with a company or try independent consulting? What do you see as the pros and cons of each in an economically unstable environment?

1. DEVELOP YOUR Rolodex. Personal connections are vital and therefore LinkedIn or Facebook are great to maintain connections but you need to establish a PRESENCE online and that means you need a web site for your professional self where you can WOW people. This is one of our new initiatives to "train" people on how to use the Web to create value for YOU.
2. Companies still need to be educated on the value of SEO or PPC. We know from our clients how busy CEOs are and going down the corporate food chain, as we progress as a society, we are reverting to the days of old where your name reflected your role in society. Today it is about specialization again and therefore, people are being pushed into becoming "experts" at a particular process or field of interest. Therefore, if you have lost your position, then the first recommendation is to approach competitors of your old business and put yourself out there as "experienced" in that marketplace or arena. It gives you more value to "already speak the lingo."

Some wise words to think about as we position ourselves in these uncertain times. Jason also added a postscript encouraging those interested in developing their niche to check out Search Engine Roundtable's article Are SEOs That Specialize in Industry Verticals Better? Thanks for sharing your story here on the blog, Jason!

Don't forget; there will be lots more presentations posted here on the blog while I'm liveblogging Search Engine Strategies next week. I'm also looking forward to a live episode of SEM Synergy on Wednesday, so don't touch that dial!

Posted by Virginia Nussey on 03/19/09 at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Interview, SEM Industry, SES New York 2009