Online Marketing Blog

On day two of the Search Engine Strategies conference the expo hall has opened and I found my way past two floors of exhibitors to find the SEMPO booth staffed by the famous “free agent” and SEMPO board member, Sara Holoubek. In this video interview, Sara talks about the local SEMPO groups that are forming as well as her insight on the new SEMPO Institute Agency Certification.

You can read the reviews of SEMPO Institute’s “Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing” formerly known as the “Fundamentals of Search Marketing” and the Advanced SEO Course Review by TopRank’s Dana Larson.

SEMPO Institute released their online training program for SEO and PPC late 2007. TopRank has previously written a review of the “Fundamentals Course” now known as the “Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing”. SEMPO Institute students that complete the Insider’s Guide can then move on to the two advanced training courses, one of which is the Advanced SEO Specialist course. I’ve recently completed that training and have the following review:

The Advanced SEO Course builds on the basics covered in the Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing, and then expands into research and execution of many SEO tactics including: keyword research, web page construction, link building tactics and writing appropriate website copy.

I’m sure this will be well covered on the search marketing news blogs but I wanted to make a post because a good number of the new SEMPO board members are people I have known for years and respect a great deal. It can be a big commitment to donate your time to an association and SEMPO has proven itself to be a great resource for the search marketing industry.

• Chris Boggs - SEO Manager, eMergent Marketing / Brulant, Inc.
• Jessica Bowman - In-House SEO Expert
• Massimo Burgio - Global Search Expert, Global Search Interactive

Late in 2007 the SEMPO Institute released several search marketing-focused online training courses. The first course, Fundamentals of Search Marketing, offers 14 different lessons encompassing the basics of SEM and SEO. To get a sense of what was offered, our CEO Lee Odden asked my coworker Jeff Nolan and I to take the Fundamentals course and write up a blog post.

The SEMPO Institute Fundamentals SEM course is designed for people who are new to the search industry and those who have been in traditional marketing and are now opening up to search marketing as a new career.

The 4th annual SEMPO State of the Search Marketing Industry survey is now open. If you work client side, agency side or independent, be sure to take this survey and make your voice heard.

Online Marketing Blog has a category on SEMPO including observations from the results of previous surveys including: “Search Marketers to Spend $5.7 Billion - 2005” which seems so small now compared to the $18 billion or so.  There’s also,  “SEO More Popular than Paid Search” which was not so much an indication of budget allocation, but of the percentage of companies using SEO compared to PPC at the time.

The opportunities in the search marketing industry are as good now as they’ve ever been. With a new year many people working for agencies, just getting out of college or the military will be looking for careers and training that fits their need for a technical yet creative job that also doesn’t stagnate.

To help fulfill the growing demand for training and education in the search marketing industry, SEMPO Insitute has been created to provide structured, peer reviewed educational opportunities. The Institute is led by dean, Terry Plank and Online Marketing Blog is pleased to provide readers with this interview about how SEMPO Institute was created as well as the challenges and opportunities facing the search marketing industry.

With increasing demands in opportunity, budget and training with search marketing, the benefits of networking and advocacy have correspondingly increased. Informal networks are prevalent within the SEO business connected by IM, email, private forums etc.

However, as more formal SEM budgets and cost centers are created within organizations looking to expand their search marketing effectiveness, the platform for harvesting collective wisdom and resources often comes in the form of an Association.

SEMPO and IAB are great examples of national organizations (U.S. based) that have had a significant impact. The eMarketing Association has also been around quite a while.

Online Marketing Blog is fortunate to have readers all over the U.S. and world wide, but this post is geared towards search marketers here in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. Although, it would be great to hear opinions from others that have been in a similar situation as what’s described here.

There’s been a bit of buzz over the past year, very slight at first, and recently it’s been picking up around the idea that the midwest or Minnesota at least, needs a dedicated search marketing association. I know there are many, many super talented, experienced SEOs as well as paid search pros that have either kept their networking and collaboration to very small, tight circles or rely on national events and the connections that technology has brought through IM, social network sites and the ever unproductive microblogging formats like Twitter, to stay connected, collaborate, network and share.

Here is a collection of short video interviews taken during day one of the DM Days conference in New York. The Direct Marketing Association has a variety of special interest groups called “councils”. One of them is focused on search marketing and appropriately named, the Search Engine Marketing Council, or SEMC.

I serve on the operating committee of that organization as does Heather Lloyd Martin of SuccessWorks, Mike Moran of IBM, Andy Wetzler of More Visibility, Jeanette Kocsis of Harte Hanks, Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit, Doug Garfinkel from Epsilon, Detlev Johnson of Position Technologies and Lisa Merizio Smith from the DMA.

The winds of change are blowing in the search marketing conference scene this year with more offerings than ever. The big conferences persist, while new challengers as well as smaller and more practical seminars emerging.

SEO and Paid Search education is not limited to conferences with the DMA Search Engine Marketing Certification and the SEMPO Institute launching recently. However, conferences and seminars offer the added benefit of networking, prospecting and the kind of after hours education on topics that simply are not publicly available.

Which leads me to this week’s Reader Poll on conferences or seminars that offer search engine optimization and/or paid search marketing content.

SEMPO sent out an announcement email this morning announcing the new board of directors for 2007. There were 37 nominees on the ballot and this year there was a 100% increase in the number of voters.  Congrats to all!

Chris Boggs - Search Strategist, Avenue A/Razorfish
Massimo Burgio - Global Search Expert, Global Search Interactive
Fionn Downhill - President/CEO, Elixir Systems
Dave Fall - VP Product Management - Search Technology, DoubleClick, Inc.
Duane Forrester - Manger - Search Marketing, Sports Direct
Sara Holoubek - Free Agent
Gord Hotchkiss - CEO/President, Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc.
Bill Hunt - CEO, Global Strategies International
Kevin Lee - Executive Chairman/Co-Founder, Did-it.com, LLC
Jeffrey Pruitt - President of Search Operations, iCrossing
Tanya Rietze - Global SEO Program Manager, Hewlett Packard
Dana Todd - Co-Founder/Principal, SiteLab
Dave Williams - Chief Strategist/Co-Founder, 360i, LLC

SEMPO has announced the list of nominees for the 2007 board of directors.