Online Marketing Blog

“I was surprised when getting involved with this conference how many people could not distinguish between strategy and tactic,” stated Kevin Ryan at the top of my final session of a whirlwind SES Chicago.

“Kevin Ryan Unplugged” was a chance for Kevin Ryan, the man behind it all, to share his own personal thoughts on the conference and for attendees to offer compliments or suggestions.

It also served as a great bookend for my coverage of this excellent conference.

If I were to sum up the conference as a whole, I would, as Scott Miller did in a previous session, break it down to three C’s:

• Conceptuality
• Communication
• Coordination

Focus is a tricky thing. Especially when describing a product that has so much too it. How can you possibly explain a detailed product, like a customized laptop, for instance – in just a few bullet points? The ideal prospect will want to read about every last feature – that’s simply their demeanor.

Let’s take a different, broader product. Pizza, for example. It’s absolutely fantastic that major pizza chains allow you to order pizza online using landing pages, and I truly hope that the best pizza in the Twin Cities will not only begin doing so soon – but call TopRank Online Marketing immediately to provide their site with the treatment their pie deserves.

Well, do you?

If you’re reading this, and you’re not a relative or friend of mine trying to figure out just what it is I do, the answer is probably affirmative.

A more accurate question could read, “Should You Want to Be a Search Marketer?”

The answer could be found in this aptly labeled “Just For Fun” track on Day 4 of SES Chicago.

The panel, moderated by Kevin Ryan, included:

• Dave Davies, CEO of Beanstalk
• David Wallace, CEO and Founder of SearchRank
• Nicole St. Martin, Search Marketing Analyst for HotGigs
• David Hoffman, from Search Smart Marketing

So should you?

“Managing PPC for Multiple Clients” had for me the pleasure of being a “slow-burn” of a session at SES Chicago.

For those unfamiliar with a term I may or may not have created, it means that it did not leave an immediately strong impression on me, until I later was fortunate enough to review the notes I had taken.

The session, moderated by the always exceptional Kevin Ryan featured a panel of:

• Joe Rosza, President of SEO Columbus
• Matt Naeger, VP & General Counsel for Impaqt
• Christopher Upkes, Director of Agency Business Development for Adapt Technologies
• Craig Macdonald, VP of Marketing for Alliances & Product Management

So what was is it that resonated with me most about this session upon further reflection?

What’s great about working in a new and constantly changing industry, that still manages to adhere to several of the rules of the past, is that you can take an old adage and play around with it and try to coin it to fit our new world.

For example, “An image is worth a thousand words,” could turn into:

• “An image is worth a thousand links”
• “An image search result is worth a thousand text search results”
• “A properly branded image is worth a thousand non-branded images’
  And so on…

So were the themes of the hyper-paced “Images & Search Engines” today at SES Chicago.

Moderated by Anne Kennedy, the panel featured:

• Shari Thurow, Founder & SEO Director at Omni Marketing

Oftentimes, the birth of one technology, while dubbed a death-knell or replacement for an existing technology, instead simply means an evolution.

Television, for example, was not a death-knell for film nor for radio. In fact, film & radio have evolved to not only exist in their original environments, but spill over into the newest technical mediums.

The web is perhaps the strongest example of this, as film, television, and even radio have migrated over to this medium.

So was the starting point for my first session at SES Chicago – Day 3 titled “Podcast & Audio Search.”

The session, moderated by Danny Sullivan featured on its panel:

• Amanda Watlington, Owner of Searching For Profit
• Daron Rabin, From WebMaster Radio

It seems nearly every conference will have an overarching theme to it. (Rather, it seems the sessions I choose to attend at any given conference will have an overarching theme to them).

The final session I attended during Day 2 of SES Chicago, “SEO & Development: Get It Together” spoke further on what I had been seeing throughout the day, and served as a nice bookend to my first conference session, “Usability & SEO”.

The conference, moderated by Chris Boggs, included on its panel:

• Geoff Karcher, President/Owner of The Karcher Group
• Sage Lewis, President of SageRock.com
• Colton Perry, SVP of Technology at NetPlus Marketing

The session continued on the overall theme of SEO & design working together from the conception of a website and through each of its days to ensure a powerful blend of creative and SEO best practices.

Truly, is there anything in the world more beautiful than a perfectly designed website?

One that is easy to find, easy to navigate, all while burning its design into the heart of its visitors?

Like a perfect marriage, it contains seamless and complimentary aspects of all that have a stake in its creation to the point that its union seems almost too easy.

Our nation’s high divorce rate serves to remind us that it’s truly not as easy as it looks. My first session at SES Chicago, “Usability & SEO” served as a reminder that these two complimentary concepts do not blend seamlessly without a bit of work.

“Usability & SEO”, moderated by Jeffery Rohrs, included on its panel:

• Shari Thurow, Founder & SEO Director from Omni Marketing

By 2010, 70% of all content online will be developed by individuals, so claims iCrossing’s Adam Lavelle, articulated during the session “Actionable Social Media” today at SES Chicago.

The session, moderated by Anne Kennedy, included on its panel:

• Lavelle
• Todd Parsons, cofounder of Buzz Logic
• Jennifer Laycock, Editor in Chief of Search Engine Guide
• Tamera Kremer, Wildfire Strategic Marketing
• Steven Marder, CEO Eurekster

The panel’s discussion reviewed the most popular social media methods, tying everything back to the main notion that we humans, truly, are social animals. The web has evolved naturally, but a breakneck pace to support this type of behavior.

Everything from blogging, to image submissions, to social bookmarking facilitate our tendency to sort ourselves into likeminded communities, either by finding them or creating them.

While I am not native to Chicago (regular readers are well aware that TopRank Online Marketing is native to one of the 50 toughest states in the union – Minnesota) – it is a far more local journey than my last two excursions, to SES San Jose and the Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Conference in DC.

My objective at SES Chicago next week will be to both cover sessions for the benefit of our valued readers here at Online Marketing Blog and to learn as much as is possible in a short week about topics such as universal search and marketing with social media – what are best practices, what are the most powerful tactics?

Early in my marketing career I sold classified advertising for a large and influential alternative weekly newspaper in the Twin Cities.

A true benefit of this job was experienced by friends of mine, met through occasional dabblings in the local comedy scene, who turned to me to get the word out about an upcoming show via a line ad on our back page.

Anyone familiar with an alternative news weekly’s back page is certainly no stranger to the type of ad typically represented there. Without providing too much in the way of detail, let’s just say that anyone – ANYONE – will say anything – ANYTHING – just to get found.

It was this type of environment that fostered a good friend’s idea for an ad regarding his upcoming sketch comedy show – which appears word for word, minus identifiable info, below:

Day 3 at SES San Jose found me assigned to cover the session “Link Baiting & Viral Search Success.”

Those who’ve read my previous posts should find it as no surprise that my level of excitement for this session superseded any residual aches and pains left over from last night’s “decadence based in relevance” superbash Google Dance.

(Personal Note: None of the stories you’ve heard regarding the TopRank team at this event are accurate. Except the one about how we met up with AC/DC’s tour bus afterwords and partied with them all night – that one’s true**)

This session, moderated by SES co-chair Chris Sherman included on its panel:

• Chris Boggs, Search Strategist, Avenue A
• Jennifer Laycock, Editor-In-Chief, Search Engine Guide