Online Marketing Blog

Next week starts one heck of a week starting with DMA07 in Chicago, the largest marketing conference in the world.  On Tuesday afternoon I am speaking on a panel called “Desperately Seeking Links Baiting, Buying and Socializing for Links” with Stephan Spencer, Seth, Besmertnik and Eric Ward.

Then on Thursday, I will be presenting as part of a post conference workshop on new media, specifically social media, with Joseph Jaffee of Crayon. Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning Joseph is covering blogs, podcasting, video casting and Second Life/virtual worlds. Thursday afternoon I will be presenting on social bookmarking and SEO as well as a grab bag session on Yahoo! Answers, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. I might have picked a slightly different mix of applications to talk about but then again the topic selection wasn’t my call.

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On the cusp of one amazing week, TopRank’s blogging team brings you another fine batch of SEO/SEM blogs to be inducted into the BIGLIST.  There are a few gems in here so be sure to fire up your RSS reader and start subscribing.

• Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog - The team at Vancouver BC based Elastic Path, an ecommerce platform, blog all angles of conducting tansactional business online ranging from general marketing to usability to social media. There’s are also a series of podcasts from last summer worth checking out.

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The buzz in the search marketing media and increasingly, the business press, on the importance of unified or universal search is gaining momentum and is unavoidable. Small and medium sized business web site owners and webmasters are now presented with the challenge of making sense out of the recent rash of search engine interface and functional improvements and how to adjust their online marketing efforts accordingly. Many are not sure what to do. Hopefully this short guide will shed light on the fundamentals and give some basic direction on next steps.

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About every 2 weeks we get calls from companies that feel their growth opportunities are so significant, outside marketing vendors are expected to be paid based only on performance. I know there are some search engine marketing consultants that take on pay for performance or marketing partnership deals, but very few agencies that do.

It’s one thing for a consultant with low or no overhead to be able to spend the time it takes to build momentum on such a project but another thing entirely for an agency with capital expenses, salaries, etc to pay while the PFP program gets off the ground. While those issues can be overcome as part of the cost of the venture or risk, not having full control over web site functionality and design, after the sale actions and content can be problematic.

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October is by far my favorite month here in Minnesota, and unfortunately I have to leave it for a couple of days. However, the time will be well worth it as I will be representing TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog by blogging the SMX Social Media conference in New York City on October 16^th and 17^th.

Being in the thick of marketing and promoting web sites using social media my entire time at TopRank has given me a sincere appreciation for those who have achieved real expertise with results to back it up. With Danny Sullivan’s SMX conference, the interactivity of it all and getting to know others with similar interests who may actually be able to add value to my own knowledge is something I am looking forward to.

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Spotlight on Search Interview with Danny Sullivan of Third Door Media and Neil Patel of Advantage Consulting Services

Next week the next of the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) conference series kicks off in New York: SMX Social Media. Developed by search engine industry legend Danny Sullivan and social media guru Neil Patel, the agenda for this event mixes strategic direction with plenty of practical advice sessions ranging from social news to social bookmarking to social networking with a double dose of Wikipedia on day two.

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I’ve had the idea in my head for a few weeks now to do some querying of people in the search, PR and social media marketing industries to get an idea what sorts of charities and non-profit causes they’re spending time, resources and money with. In the past, a lot of this kind of activity seems to get the most attention when it’s a response to a terrible event as opposed to a persistent effort. I’m an optimist on this in thinking that a large number of SEM related agencies are actively involved in a variety of such activities.

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Editor’s Note: I am excited to introduce the next in our series of guest articles from IBM Distinguished Engineer Mike Moran.

The credentials list on Mike is a mile long including 20+ years experience in search technology, co-author of the best selling book “Search Engine Marketing Inc” as well as his recent book, “Do It Wrong Quickly“, 4 patents on search and retrieval technology, a sought after speaker at SES, DMA and AMA events and a great blogger with Biznology. Even though he’s one of the busiest people I’ve ever known, Mike stole some free time on a plane to write this post on the difficulties of search marketing for readers of Online Marketing Blog.

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Editor’s Note: Wednesday this week was the annual MIMA Summit held downtown Minneapolis. With our current workloads and schedules, I wasn’t planning on having TopRank staff attend, but received some last minute encouragement so I had Thomas and Dana attend the whole day and was able to slip in for the last 3-4 hours myself. The attendance nearly doubled over last year to 700+ attendees (an estimate I heard at the event). Hats off to MIMA members for a great job spreading the good interactive marketing word.

The following are wrap-ups from MIMA Summit veteran attendee Thomas McMahon and first-timer Dana Larson.

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Can you believe it’s Friday already?  Like clockwork, TopRank brings dear readers of Online Marketing Blog yet another nice roundup of search marketing blogs we lovingly like to call the BIGLIST.  Fire up your favorite RSS reader and start clicking.

• Metamend SEO Blog - Without question, one of the most prolific and talented writers in the SEO space is Jim Hedger who also consults with the Metamend agency in Vancouver.
• johnmu.com - Software engineer Johannes Mueller works with Google Webmaster Tools as a Webmaster Trends Analyst in Switzerland in addition to being exceptionally helpful on the Cre8asite forums and Google Groups. He writes a variety of deep insights into SEO, search engines and the technical side of search marketing.

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When talking with TopRank or M&O Account Teams about new clients, it is inevitable that I will ask if there is a blog involved. There are simply too many advantages to enabling a web site with fresh, themed content that is well structured for SEO benefits and that also offers a great platform for creative promotion, not to consider it in the online marketing mix. However, the mis-perceptions about what a blog is and is not abound, even with self-described “blogging experts”.

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At SES San Jose I was able to sit down with Vanessa Fox to talk briefly about some of the basic features of the Google Webmaster Central service and posted that interview but was also able to do a second video about her new role at Zillow.

We talked about what she’s doing with Zillow and their advertising platform for marketers that want to reach local audiences as well as what the future may hold in terms of social networking /community building features and laying search over user generated content.

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