TopRank Online Marketing has been fortunate to present at the Direct Marketing Association annual conference for 4 years in a row and a 5th appearance several years before that. (See photos from DMA07 here) Over 10,000 marketers attend the DMA show making it the largest marketing conference in the world and with this year’s show being held in Las Vegas, it should be another great event.

The DMA has traditionally been known as an organization steadfast in marketing principles and rooted in traditional marketing education but has made quite a bit of progress in the online marketing space with it’s Search Engine Marketing Certification program and upcoming attention to social media.  In fact, this year’s DMA08 show includes online marketing sessions on:

• Affiliate marketing
• Consumer generated content
• Blog marketing
• Email marketing
• Pay-per-click advertising
• Online public relations (TopRank)
• Search engine optimization
• Social networking
• Web analytics

That lineup of conference programming is really filling out and offering companies that “get” direct marketing, an opportunity to really dig in to many aspects of internet and search marketing you could only previously get at events dedicated to SEM.

People speaking on Internet and search marketing topics at DMA08 include: Heather Lloyd Martin of Successworks, Graeme McLaughlin of BCAA, David Berkowitz of 360i, Olivier Lemaignen of Intuit, Randy Peterson of Proctor & Gamble, Dave Lloyd of Cisco, Paul Bruemmer of Red Door Interactive, Craig Macdonald of Covario, Duane Forrester of Microsoft, Jeremy Schoemaker, Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts and Andrew Beckman of Location3 Media.

I do plan on a bit of blogging during the week, so hopefully I can get a few interviews in along with session liveblogging.

On October 16th, Matt Bailey and I will be presenting a series of Search Engine Marketing primer workshops (actually, mostly Matt) on SEO, blogs and online PR.  Post conference workshops are smaller and give attendees and speakers a much better opportunity to get specific and get into meaty Q/A.

Matt will be talking about SEO and Blogs and I’ll be focusing on none other than online public relations. But of course, I couldn’t leave out some aspect of blogs as marketing and PR tools since they can be applicable to just about any digital marketing effort.

If you’re attending the DMA08 conference in Las Vegas this year, be sure to check out these post conference intensives. I suspect many attendees will be able to justify the expense of at least part of the conference just by the information we’ll be providing. Here’s more info on the session I’m presenting:

Search Marketing and Online Public Relations
The future of organic search optimization is heavily influenced by the effect of combining SEO and online public relations tactics. Online marketers stand to gain a distinct competitive advantage by leveraging media consumption trends and understanding how SEO and PR intersect through optimizing news content such as press releases and online newsrooms. Learn results-focused PR tactics such as pitching bloggers and online media as well as proactive online reputation management and PR analytics.

Date/Time 10/16/2008 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Room LV Hilton Conference Room 7-8

There’s obviously a lot more going on at DMA08 than search and internet marketing with hundreds of sessions, keynotes, pre and post conference events and special activities.  You can read our past coverage of DMA here and while I don’t think there’s anyone officially blogging the event, there is a frequently updated news feed at MyDMA365.

Please let me know in the comments below or via Twitter if you’re attending and we can have a DMA08 Tweetup!

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | DMA08 Las Vegas Internet Marketing Roundup | http://www.toprankblog.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | SES NY Video: Sara Holoubek on SEMPO | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

SEMPO Institute’s Advanced SEO Course is divided up into 5 learning modules:

• Advanced Keyword Research
• SEO Diagnostic & Audit
• Advanced Link Building
• Editing & Optimizing pages
• Reporting & Analytics.

Each module is split up into 3 lessons to cover a different section falling under the module umbrellas.Similar to the Insider’s Guide to SEM course, each lesson provides an online course packet and resources available for more information on the specific topic. There are also mini-quizzes placed in between key topics in each lesson to test the reader’s understanding of the previous materials and to highlight the important facts learned thus far.

There is a 20 question test at the end of each lesson covering the topics learned in the lesson. The questions are in a true or false, multiple choice, fill in the blank and matching format, and a score of 75% or higher is needed in order to pass. The tests can be retaken as many times as necessary to achieve a passing score, and once all tests are passed, a Certificate of Completion is issued for display and recognition of passing the SEMPO Institute course.

The difficulty level of the questions vary to make sure the reader pays attention to even the smallest detail in order to pass the test. In the Advanced Link Building module there are questions such as “Match the link building tactic channel with its category” referring to using del.icio.us as part of your social media marketing mix. There are also questions stating a problem and asking for the best ways to solve the problem, such as using industry-specific directories and blogs to gain appropriate reputable inbound links.

The Advanced Search Engine Optimization Course differs in structure slightly from the Insider’s Guide in that it is a lot more interactive. The Advanced Keyword Research module explains how to create a segmented keyword glossary, and offers 30-day trial memberships to Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker to aid in the development of the keyword glossaries.

There are also many of valuable resources available in the Advanced SEO Course. At the end of the Advanced Link Building module, the readers are provided a list of popular link building blogs, such Debra Mastaler’s The Link Spiel, to continue the linking education. The link building module was clear in that the linking tactics highlighted were some of the current tried and true methods, but that linking tactics change frequently.

Due to the changing nature of the industry, consumer search behaviors and the search engines themselves, SEO professionals must keep up on industry news and spend time experimenting with new tactics in order to stay current with productive linking tactics.

The Advanced course provides up and coming SEO professionals with the resources to take their work to the next level by demonstrating what tools to keep in one’s SEO toolbox. It also can help seasoned SEO professionals brush up on their knowledge of certain research and strategies.

While online training and formalized instruction on SEO and paid search tactics are certainly helpful, there is no substitute for hands on learning through concepting, implementing, measuring and refining your own search marketing campaigns – which is exactly what we do with new employees at TopRank. Formal training, conferences, reading blogs and hands on learning provide the best mix.

If your interests and responsibilities lie more with online advertising, then SEMPO Institute offers an Advanced Search Advertising course focusing on the creation and maintenance of pay per click campaigns. If you are just beginning your SEO career, the Insider’s Guide to Search Engine Marketing course is a good place to start.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Advanced SEO Course Review – SEMPO Institute | http://www.toprankblog.com

• Chris Boggs – SEO Manager, eMergent Marketing / Brulant, Inc.
• Jessica Bowman – In-House SEO Expert
• Massimo Burgio – Global Search Expert, Global Search Interactive
• Bruce Clay – President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
• Dave Fall – VP Product Management – Search Technology, DoubleClick, Inc.
• Duane Forrester – Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
• Sara Holoubek Free Agent Consultant
• Gord Hotchkiss – President, Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc.
• Bill Hunt – CEO, Global Strategies International
• Ron Jones – President and CEO, Symetri Internet Marketing
• Kevin Lee – Executive Chairman, Didit
• Jeffrey Pruitt – Executive Vice President, iCrossing
• Dana Todd – Chief Marketing Officer, Newsforce

Congratulations to the 2008 SEMPO Board of Directors!

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | SEMPO Announces 2008 Board of Directors | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

Composed of 14 lessons that range from “How Search Engines Work” to “SEO Web Design”, the lessons provide useful tips and real-time examples as well as supporting tools such as those used for keyword research or pay per click.

Each lesson provides study materials and an online course packet. The course materials present basic concepts, ideas and examples that are used daily by search engine marketing professionals. Throughout the lessons, the reading is broken up by short mini-quizzes that keep you on your toes and reinforce what you’ve been reading.

At the end of each lesson a 20 question test is given on the course material just read. Questions on the tests are composed of true or false, multiple choice, matching and fill in the blank. A score of 75% or above is necessary in order to pass, but tests can be retaken as many times as necessary in order to receive the passing score. The Certificate of Completion is not issued until all lessons are passed.

Because this course covered a variety of topics, the test questions ranged from simple to difficult, testing how well the section is read and making sure the reader pays attention. There was a lot of in depth information provided on how to set up a successful PPC campaign, and the amount of test questions on this topic and the difficulty of those questions reflected what was learned. In the SEO Web Design section, tags such as <nofollow> and <noarchive> were described, as well as the appropriate situations in which to use these tags.

Also covered in the fundamentals course is directory submissions and how they can benefit any website, basics of good copy writing and the tracking and reporting of an SEM campaign. One of the last sections in the course was called “Current Innovations” where the rise and implementation of universal and personalized search were covered. The course rounds out with an informative section on intellectual rights and which written information available on the web belongs to whom.

While some of the questions seemed unnecessary for performing search marketing consulting services (“What year did Yahoo! officially become a search engine?”), the basics were covered to educate a broad audience of users, and offered tips that can benefit even the most seasoned SEM professional. (The answer is “2004” in case you didn’t know.)

For anyone interested in beginning a search marketing career or for those who need to brush up on their basic knowledge of search marketing, this course is a good foundation. Even for those working in an offline marketing field, this course will help bridge the gap between traditional advertising and search marketing.

If you already have experience working in the search marketing industry, the SEMPO Institute also offers an Advanced SEO Specialist course for more in depth training on SEM and SEO, as well as an Advanced Search Advertising course, focusing on developing and maintaining successful PPC campaigns.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Learn the Fundamentals of Search Marketing – SEMPO Institute | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

In exchange for taking the survey you’ll also get an advanced peak at results plus there are a few giveaways including:

• 8 Gb iPod Touch
• One free pass to a North American Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference

SEMPO has an official announcement and you can take the survey here.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | SEMPO State of the Search Marketing Industry Survey 2008 | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

How did you get involved with search marketing (and the SEMPO Institute) and where does the intersection of search and education come into play for you?

Thinking about beginnings, it was almost a birth of triplets: Web, search engines, search engine marketers.

I launched a website the first year the Web went commercial. Within that first year I had to run to keep up with developments in the search industry to become successful with my sites and the ones I was developing for others.

Usually in an industry there is a time lag from its inception and the development of training and education. But, the Web is one of those unique industries that necessitated an immediate need for training and education.

There was not much training or education initially, you had to jump in the water and learn to swim or you drowned.

As you well know Lee, the need hasn’t lessened, everyone must keep up on changes in the industry to be successful whether you just having one web site, work for a company with one or many, or are employed in an Agency.

In previous careers I was involved as an educator so it was natural for me to team up in 1999 with Robin Nobles to form one of the first online training companies in SEM. After 4 years I returned to focus on my SEM consulting until the SEMPO Board of Directors hired me in August 2006 to oversee the development and launching of SEMPO Institute. Now with Katie Donovan or Business Development Manager taking on everything else I’m able to just focus on the curriculum and overseeing the professional content authors.

Can you describe how the SEMPO Institute program was built? How did it work with content authors and peer reviews? How will the content stay updated?

I’m glad you asked that Lee because this is one of the major strengths of our education and training; professionals teaching others from their own experience and expertise. With SEMPO Institute training you aren’t getting just one person’s perspective or expertise, you are getting a complete faculty.

4 prominent SEM professionals in SEMPO developed the first lesson outlines: Dana Todd, Paul Bruemmer, Fionn Downhill, and Anthony Mueller. I enlisted a handful of top SEM professionals to add to those outlines what they thought might be missing.

Then with the SEMPO Management Team we selected over 30 working SEM professionals associated with SEMPO. They wrote first drafts in their specific area of SEM expertise. These drafts were sent to a different group of peer SEMPO professionals to edit, evaluate, and make further recommendations for additional content.

We finished with a professional editor editing every lesson to ensure consistency within the lessons before I passed them on to a development person to create each lesson and publish in our robust online Learning Management System.

A final group of SEM professionals went over the finished online product to edit and make any final recommendations for changes.

As for updating, that’s been going on from the first students until now. As students, graduates, and some selected evaluators recommend areas that need attention we make updates when appropriate.

Two times a year we will perform a more formal updating of the lessons to ensure that everything is still correct based on changes made in the industry since the last updating.

Once a year we are going to return to each lesson and determine what new areas have arisen that should be added into the lessons. We will go through the same process as I outlined before when we make those changes. You don’t want to do that too often or too quickly because new things that come up in the industry have to get some “legs” before you want to start teaching people about them.

From the web site, it seems the SEMPO Institute course material is targeted towards people that want to become search marketers. Have you seen any trends in distribution of students in terms of being client side, agency side or independents? Who is the ideal candidate for this program?

The original idea for SEMPO Institute was to meet the need of our general and circle SEMPO members who could not find a big enough pool of trained search professionals for the openings they had and continue to have. So the web site is targeted towards individuals who want to get into the industry.

During this first year we have learned much. One lesson is that agencies, eTailers and corporations have a need to purchase courses for their current employees and interns who are entry level as well as the experienced search marketers. With our three courses, we do have a course that fits all these demographics and the ones you mentioned.

Fundamentals of Search Marketing is a perfect start for someone who plans to become a search marketing practitioner but has little or no experience/knowledge. We have full-time students and career changers who have taken or are taking the courses on their own in preparation to enter the job market.

Others who benefit from this course are people who are not the day-to-day practitioners but whose work is associated with search, i.e. agency sales reps, account managers, client services, and marketing managers who outsource search and search advertising.

Advanced SEO, designed for people who have some understanding of search marketing, is the course search optimization practitioners and the people who want to become practitioners would take. Agencies have purchased this course for employees to bring new employees up-to-speed quickly while establishing a consistent level of knowledge for all search optimization practitioners. Agency personnel, in-house personnel, and independents have taken the course with agencies personnel representing a slight majority.

Advanced Search Advertising is comparable to the Advanced SEO course. It is designed for the practitioners or soon-to-be practitioners in paid search. Once again, people employed at agencies, corporations, and independents have taken the course, but agency personnel have taken the vast majority of this course.

What are the goals for SEMPO Institute for 2008 in terms of content offered and students?

First, keep the current three courses, Fundamentals of Search Marketing, Advanced SEO, and Advanced Search Advertising updated and current. As for additional courses, we decided to get the first three offerings firmly established before extending our reach too far. The final decision for new course offerings has not been made as of yet.

There’s a huge demand for search marketers within pure play SEM agencies, other types of agencies expanding their services into search marketing and also companies that are building out their in-house search teams. Is SEMPO Institute designed to address the training needs of all those scenarios or just a segment?

SEMPO Institute’s courses do not focus on where you work but on the goals of search and search advertising. Our courses cover everything necessary to understand the elements of SEO or search advertising that a professional needs to work individually or within an agency or an in-house corporate team. The specific strategies of SEM agencies and in-house teams are going to be unique to them and our graduates will be equipped to understand the specific strategies and techniques used. So, yes our training allows the search professional to be successful in whichever venue best fits his/her career goals.

What mix of training experience would you say is ideal for someone brand new to search marketing? Conferences, online courses, blogs, books, forums, networking groups, associations, personal experimentation, on the job training, etc?

The first thing someone new to search marketing needs is a base of understanding. Of course the industry has many means to get indoctrinated, conferences, courses, blogs, etc. Yet, there is no one size fits all in any industry for gaining knowledge. If you survey 100 search professionals about how they got started and where they learned the answers will vary slightly.

A combination of formal and informal learning experiences is important for anyone new to search marketing. I recommend beginning with formal (SEMPO Institute specifically) because the industry is established enough that certain basic knowledge is not going to change.

Learning on one’s own from resources like those I mentioned earlier and just jumping into experimenting with a site does not help with the core knowledge but is a great means to broaden and deepen understanding.

I am a huge fan of networking as well. It helps learning as well as finding out more about the careers options available. How else can someone new to the industry find out about the differences between working at an agency or in-house unless through networking with the people who actually work in these settings? This is why SEMPO Institute established a SEMPO Institute Group on LinkedIn for our students and alumni.

The question I’m often asked is how to get the hands-on experience that hiring managers prefer. One recommendation I make is to provide search marketing to one or two non-profit organizations that the student supports. It helps a cause you believe in while establishing hands-on experience.

As a $10 billion + industry, you’d think there would be more SEM courses offered at universities. Do you think that will change and if so, how fast and in what way?

It may take another five years for such courses to become commonplace but the changes will occur. I think we will see search marketing taught as a subset of other courses first, then established as a full course, and finally multiple offerings in various aspects of search such as SEO, PPC, and mobile search.

SEMPO Institute’s Fundamentals of Search Marketing was used as a required resource in one college for a search marketing course this Fall and will be required at another this Spring for an eCommerce course. College and universities have not been the main focus in our business development but we are excited to work with them and welcome working with others.

The fact that one school, Fanshawe College in Canada, actually has a course entitled Search Marketing and used Fundamentals of Search Marketing is very exciting. I believe we will see more and more schools establishing such courses whether part of their marketing curriculum, advertising curriculum, IT curriculum, or other curriculum.

It’s a pretty big accomplishment to put together the program that’s currently offered through SEMPO Institute. So many people were involved, volunteering their time and have helped promote it. Do you have any “shout outs” you’d like to make? (sorry to put you on the spot

You are so right Lee, until this last updating of lessons where we pay authors everyone volunteered their time except for me, a development person and our editor. I’d encourage everyone to go to www.sempoinstitute.com and see all the people who should be honored but the list is too long to go over here.

To single out just a few I think I have to say that Dana Todd, Fionn Downhill, and Jeff Pruitt should receive golden crowns for following the original vision with hundreds of hours working with me to get SEMPO Institute to the place of prominence we now have as one of the foremost SEM distance learning educational institutions.

I guess the second group to get a big thanks is the 2006 and 2007 SEMPO Board of Directors you’ll find at www.sempo.org. These forward thinking leaders authorized a significant investment of capital to facilitate training the next generation of SEM professionals.

There is one final group to thank. SEMPO has 19 committees who lead our professional organization. One of the committee’s is the SEMPO Institute Committee co-chaired by Fionn Downhill and Jon Schepke. There are 16 members in this Committee who are active in decision making on the Courses and their promotion. Your readers can see a list of those SEMPO Committees and the Members of our Institute Committee at www.sempo.org.

What are some of the top online resources for search marketing would you recommend?

A Well, let’s start with the search engines themselves. They have excellent and important information, even Microsoft. Our lessons refer directly to them repeatedly because we teach best practices acceptable to search engines. Just as importantly, the way they work must be integrated into our broader training in SEM because the search engines are the foundation of the industry.

Next let me recommend that your readers go to www.sempo.org for some important resources we supply in our lessons that the SEMPO Education Committee added to the SEMPO site.

First, there is an excellent Glossary from our Lessons and links to other Glossaries that are important.

Second, if you follow Resources and Links you’ll find many of the resources we refer to in our SEMPO Institute Lessons; Blogs (like your excellent toprankblog.com blog), Discussion Forums, Newsletters, Tools and Software. This great resource area spins your head around as you realize how much is out there. One would have to read through much more if you didn’t take a set of courses like ours to orient yourself and be prepared for using these resources effectively.

Thanks Terry!Â

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2008. | Interview With Terry Plank SEMPO Institute | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

A few years back, there weren’t many regional search or interactive marketing associations and some have disbanded. However, I think it’s safe to say there’s been a bit of a spark the past two years and especially in 2007. I’ve had a post planned about this for several months but it was an email from Li Evans about the newly formed Internet Marketers of the Delaware Valley that got me thinking a bit more about it.

I’ve even wondered in the past whether it would make sense to have a Search Marketing Association for Minnesota, knowing it’s not something I could not devote much personal time to. There’s already MIMA which has grown by leaps and bounds, with SEM programming competing with all the other disciplines and interests of a vibrant Twin Cities interactive marketing community.

In the interest of developing a good list of search and interactive marketing organizations, I am posting this list of interactive and search marketing organizations as well as a few organized meetups. If you are aware of others, please leave a note and URL in the comments. I’ll review and add them to the list.

• AIMS Canada

• Atlanta IMA

• Baltimore SEO Meetup Group

• SEMPO Arizona

• Austin Interactive Marketing Association

• Boston Interactive Media Association

• Cambridge Search Engine Optimization Meetup Group

• Chicago Interactive Marketing Association

• Dallas Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association

• Dallas Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association

• Internet Marketers of the Delaware Valley

• Houston Ineteractive Marketing Association

• Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association

• Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association

• Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA)

• Search Engine Marketers Organization for New England (SEMNE)

• 212 New York’s Interactive Advertising Club

• Internet Marketers of New York

• New York Direct & Interactive Marketing Association Blog

• Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (North Carolina)

• Cleveland SEO

• The Web Association (NE Ohio)

• Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association (PhIMA)

• Portland Oregon Search Engine Marketing Association

• San Diego iMarketers

• Bay Area Interactive Group

• SF Bay Area Web Site Management & Marketing Meetup

• San Francisco Geek Dinners

• DMA of Southern California

• South Florida Interactive Marketing Association

• Virginia Search Engine Marketing Meetup Group

• WebGuild Silicon Valley

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | List of Regional Search and Interactive Marketing Associations | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

At the same time, there are also plenty of people that are new (less than 2 years) to the field that are looking for more professional collaboration opportunities that are local. Add all the related industry professionals in advertising, PR, web development and interactive that can influence, benefit from or affect a client’s search marketing success and it would seem there may be good reason to have a geographically located and operated entity that can support the needs of furthering SEM interests.

The local interactive marketing association (MIMA) does a great job and has hit record numbers of members and quality of educational programming the past few years, but there are so many interest areas within interactive it would be difficult to drill down deeply into something like search when there are numerous other disciplines in need of attention such as web design, email, advertising, user experience and many others.

Let’s face it, the budgets allocated to search are more than significant enough to pay attention to. SEMPO reported in their “State of Search Marketing” survey results that $9.6 billion was spent on search marketing in 2006 and that figure is estimated to hit $18.6 billion in the next 5 years.

“Wow” is right.

Speaking of SEMPO, I know they’re doing some testing at the regional level and if that pans out, they might start to launch more in other regions. I think that rather than starting something from scratch as the successful SEM groups in Dallas/Ft Worth, New England and Portland have done, it might be a very desirable option to hook up with a search marketing organization that already has the infrastructure and processes down, not to mention national exposure.

But that’s jumping ahead a bit because I am first curious about opinions on whether a regional organization is needed. It would be interesting to know if the needs of upper Midwest search marketers are being met with current organizations and national associations.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Minnesota Search Marketing Association | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

To give direct marketers who read Online Marketing Blog a sense of what the SEMC is up to in regards to SEO and social media education opportunities, I decided to do a few interviews with those opcom members that I could find at the conference on day one.

Heather Lloyd Martin – President of DMA SEMC

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mike Moran – IBM

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jeanette Kocsis – VP Harte Hanks

Click here to view the embedded video.

Detlev Johnson – VP Position Technologies

Click here to view the embedded video.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Interviews with DMA Search Marketing Council | http://www.toprankblog.com

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.

There are many regional and industry specific conferences I may have not listed, so be sure to mention them in the comments.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | Reader Poll: Best SEO SEM Conferences | http://www.toprankblog.com

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

It’s great to see some client side marketers in there. To be honest, it would be great if there were more. Hopefully with the in-house marketer initiatives SEMPO has successfully been building, there will be more in-house representation on the board next year.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | New SEMPO Board Named | http://www.toprankblog.com

• David Adress  Р  Bitochon Technologies, LLC
• Chris Boggs  Р  Avenue A/Razorfish
• Alan Boughen  Р  NeoSearch@Ogilvy
• Paul Bruemmer  Р  Red Door Interactive
• Massimo Burgio  Р  Global Search Interactive
• BJ Cook  Р  Digital-Telepathy
• Tim Daly  Р  SendTec
• Paul Denhup  Р  SearchRevenues.com
• Fionn Downhill  Р  Elixir Systems
• Kevin Embree  Р  Click Forensics
• Dave Fall  Р  DoubleClick Inc.
• Duane Forrester  Р  Sports Direct
• Darcy Foster  Р  VKI Studios
• Bill Fowle  Р  TMP Directional Marketing
• Rob Griffin  Р  Media Contacts
• Sara Holoubek  Р  Free Agent
• Gord Hotchkiss  Р  Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.
• Bill Hunt  Р  Global Strategies International
• Ron Jones  Р  Symetri Internet Marketing
• Thad Kahlow  Р  BusinessOnLine
• Anton E. Konikoff  Р  Acronym Media
• Frank Lee  Р  The Search Agency
• Kevin Lee  Р  Did-it.com LLC
• Matt McMahon  Р  Fathom Online
• Dana Melick  Р  Beyond Ink
• Stephen Noton  Р  Adverted Internet Advertising Agency
• Dan Perry  Р  Cars.com
• Jeffrey Pruitt  Р  iCrossing
• Tanya Rietze  Р  Hewlett Packard
• Farukh Shroff  Р  Solid Cactus, Inc.
• Matt Spiegel  Р  Resolution Media
• David Szetela  Р  Clix Marketing
• Dana Todd  Р  SiteLab
• David Viney  Р  Alchemy eBusiness Consulting Limited
• Dave Williams  Р  360i LLC
• Tony Wright  Р  Kinetic Results
• Dema Zlotin  Р  SEMDirector, Inc.

Voting begins Tuesday, February 6, 2007 and closes Friday, February 16, 2007.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | SEMPO Board of Directors Nominees | http://www.toprankblog.com

If you want a venue to make a difference and/or an impact on the search marketing industry, a SEMPO board membership might just be the ticket.

All current SEMPO members are eligible to nominate members or themselves for a board position. Nominations are open through Thursday, January 18, 5:00 PM Eastern Time.

To make a nomination, login to sempo.org, click on the “2007 Board of Directors Election” link and you will be presented with an email address you can use to nominate board candidates.

Key dates:
• January 8th Р18th, nominations
• January 25th Рnominees announced
• February 6 Р16, voting
• Late February Рresults announced
• March Рthe new board starts and elects officers

Dana Todd is the current SEMPO President and has served on the board for 3 years. Gord Hotchkiss is the current Chairperson. In the past year SEMPO has made a lot of progress, which is an interesting contrast to some of the drama surrounding the first year or so. SEMPO is without question a formidable entity in the search marketing industry and has launched a formal search marketing education program and an expansion of their market research efforts.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2007. | SEMPO Board Nominations Open | http://www.toprankblog.com

Laura has been a speaker at SES for many years and will be teaching a college level course at a University Business School in Ohio next year. In this short video interview, I asked Laura about the need for consistent information and education on search marketing as well as her thoughts on gender distribution in the industry.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2006. | SES Chicago SEO Videos – Laura Thieme | http://www.toprankblog.com

Also, there’s a giveaway for those of you that need that kind of incentive.¬† “As a thank you to everyone who participates in the survey, each respondent will be eligible to win one free full-conference pass to any Search Engine Strategies (SES) event in 2007.” SES conferences passes are in the range of $1200-$1500 so that is a nice prize.

SEMPO is also promoting a new Webinar, “Starting a Career in Search Marketing” which I have no doubt is a primer for SEMPO’s new initiative at SEM/SEM training, “SEMPO Institute“.¬† Here are the webinar details:

When: Thursday, November 30
Time: 12 PM EST (9 AM PST)
Where: Online web conference
How: Register online
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, November 29
Cost: Free
Who Should Attend: Executives, in-house marketers, SEMPO clients and prospects

Are you interested in a career in search marketing? What kinds of skills does it take, and how can you get started in the business? Join us for an overview of the wide range of opportunities in SEM, and how you can join this exciting field.

Discover everything you wanted to know about careers in SEM:

• Why Search is hot right now and long-term
• Skills you already have that are easily transferable to SEM
• Learning resources and job entry points

SEMPO is definitley catering to the agency side of the search marketing world and I think that’s good. There needs to be an organization for in-house marketers and agency types. The independent webmasters and site owners are still an underserved market from an industry association standpoint.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2006. | SEMPO Survey and Webinar | http://www.toprankblog.com

The DMA06 conference is getting rev’d up with pre conference sessions Satuday and Sunday. The new search engine marketing certification program started on Saturday with Jeannette Kocsis, VP of Digital Marketing at Harte-Hanks, presenting on “Introduction to Search Engine Marketing” and I followed up with “Search Engine Basics”.

Unfortunatley, I was not able to sit in on Jeannette’s session, but Amanda Watlington said there was great feedback. Here’s the description of the module:

Introduction to Search Engine Marketing: Explore search engine marketing and what it takes for a marketer to achieve search engine marketing results. Learn how to identify ethical search engine marketing practices and how search engines define spam. Learn how to shape the business case for search marketing for your business, and how to staff this valuable marketing function.

Next up was my session:

Search Engine Basics: If you have ever wondered how a search engine builds its database, adds new sites to its index or chooses which results to show, this is the session for you. Learn to identify paid from algorithmic search listings and where search listings appear beyond the search results page. You will also learn how the search marketers’ efforts can impact what the user sees on the page.

There were about 100-130 people in attendance. Rather than rows of chairs they had round table seating, which I liked, it’s just different than I’m used to. Michael Bloom from the DMA did a short introduction and then Amanda Watlington did her bit about the certification program. Then it was my turn for about 2 hours.

If you’ve presented at conferences, you know it’s typically 15-45 min max and then Q/A. Doing a 2 hour presentation is a bit of a different animal and a good test of the speaker’s depth of knowledge and ability to hold an audience. I was uncertain how it would go and I’m happy to say it went pretty well. When you look into a crowd as you’re speaking, you can tell if they’re engaged or not by how they’re looking at you, how much they’re taking notes, body posture, etc.

I’ll be looking forward to hearing from the DMA on the feedback attendees provided. The whole thing was recorded as well so participants in the certification program will have access to it as well as to the presentation (95 slides).

Today Matt Baily presents his module:

Site Indexing Challenges and How to Fix Them: Is your site beautiful to behold, but invisible to search engines? This program focuses on the specific page elements and design technologies that can prevent a site from being included in a search engine database. You will learn how to identify the barriers and what must be done to overcome them.

Who will then be followed up by Detlev Johnson:

Search Engine and Directory Submission/Inclusion Tactics: Want to know how to get your Web site indexed in the search engines using the newest and best practices? This session will outline the newest tactics available for ensuring rapid and complete site submissions. Learn how to get your site included in Google using Sitemaps and explore the many features of Yahoo! Site Explorer as well as other highly effective methods.

All in all, a good start to the conference. On Monday I will be participating on a panel with Amanda and Stephan Spencer: Blogs, RSS and Podcasting. Amanda is covering information about the overall market along with blog optimization tips and Stephan provides a large amount of blog optimization and RSS how to’s. My presentation will present an integrated strategy and case study of blogs, SEO and public relations.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2006. | DMA-06 SEM Certification Kickoff | http://www.toprankblog.com

A lot of buzz in the SEO community lately has been focused on the value of creating compelling content as if it’s a new idea. Writing web site copy that satisfies both search engines and users is nothing new to Heather Lloyd-Martin. She’s been an active proponent since the late nineties.

I first came across Heather’s copywriting wisdom a long time ago when explaining the Internet to potential clients was still common and the idea of Internet marketing and optimizing web sites for better search engine rankings was gaining popularity. Since then, Heather has been a very influential force in educating search marketers on the value of copywriting for the web, for SEO and most importantly, for conversions.

If you’ve been to search conferences, Heather is easy to spot. She’s either speaking or you can just pick out the most friendly, positive person in the room. I volunteer with Heather on the Search Engine Marketing Council of the DMA where she is President have been impressed with her leadership and enthusiasm.

On to the interview!

I remember first hearing of you in 2000 when reading the Rank Write Roundtable newsletter that you moderated with Jill Whalen. That seems like such a long time ago. Tell us about your background – how did you get involved with SEO copywriting?

Hehe, it does seem like a long time ago! I have always been involved in marketing and copywriting on some level. Before I started writing for the Web, I had written copy for book jacket covers, created text for brochures, penned product specs…if it was writing, I did it! I quit my “real job” in 1995 to be a full-time online writer ‚Äì and never looked back!

When Jill and I “met” online, I was writing Web copy for some sites (some big-brand, some small business,) and freelancing for Entrepreneur Magazine. Jill wanted her client’s copy to sound good and read well ‚Äì and she knew that writing good content (not just stuffing it with keyphrases) was key. But really, nobody was discussing “SEO copywriting and conversion” back then. It was all getting hits to a site.

“SEO copywriting” wasn’t even a keyphrase in Wordtracker way back in the day….I first checked in 2000 or so, and the phrase didn’t receive any hits! We’ve come a long way!

What are the typical challenges you most often encounter on search engine optimization writing projects?

I see a lot of super-scary keyphrase-stuffed copy with no benefit statements ‚Äì and absolutely no conversion flow. Sometimes, the text doesn’t even have links to a purchase page. But it would have lots and lots of keyphrases.

There’s also the challenge of a client insisting that they have a main “money keyphrase,” and they want all their optimization around making that term #1. When that happens, I explain the “keyword long tail,” and help them set up tracking so they can get some real data. Jen Laycock wrote a great article about the “keyword long tail” and SEO expectations. And Matt Bailey’s article about the keyword long tail is also very good. I’ve sent both to clients as reference articles.

Really, the challenges are minor, tho.’ Once my clients understand why and how they need to fix their copy, they take care of it. We may have to have a few discussions with IT and legal to get everyone on the same page, but it all works out. It’s a very good thing.

What are some of the most common misconceptions you hear in regarding to writing search engine friendly copy?

That SEO-friendly copy is “too long,” is “keyword stuffed” and “won’t help conversions.” I used to hear these complaints much more often a few years back. Now, I think that folks have realized that their content really can help them gain search engine (and conversion) success ‚Äì and it’s a necessary component to the optimization process.

Unfortunately, what I notice now is what I call the “Easy Bake Oven” approach to SEO copywriting. Writing for conversion isn’t emphasized at all – instead, it’s all about writing exactly 250 words, throwing in a few keyphrases, and sticking it all in HTML. If it could only be that easy! It’s sad, really, to see SEO shops promise “original copywriting” when they don’t employ experienced copywriters on staff. The purpose of copywriting is to help people take action. It’s about getting inside your customer’s head and figuring out what their pain points are ‚Äì and then overcoming those objections with the copy. It’s writing in a tone and feel that resonates with your customer, helping them get to know and trust you. If your text is all about the keyphrases, and not about your customer. it’s not going to sell the way you want. It’s that simple.

What do you think about some SEOs that emphasize things like keyword density and latent semantic indexing, etc? Do those concepts really apply to good web copywriting?

I think that some understanding of LSI and keyword density is a smart thing to have ‚Äì there are some great research papers on LSI that provide fantastic information. Having said that, copywriting is a creative endeavor designed to make a company’s product or service compelling. Yes, it’s important to know how the search engines work ‚Äì crucial, in fact. But “writing to sell” is more than just understanding LSI and sticking words into the text. It’s using the right words that resonate with your target market. It’s getting inside your prospect’s head and creating text that converts ‚Äì while still keeping a keyphrase focus. It’s about getting people to take action ‚Äì now.

It’s a unique skill to be able to write copy that is compelling to readers and at the same time employs a keyword strategy. Bob Bly recently wrote an article in DM News, “Why I Don’t Believe in SEO Copywriting” that seems to subordinate the need to consider search engines when copywriting for the web. I’ve always thought it was a matter of skill to be able to write effectively for both readers and search engines. What do you think?

Ha! Bob penned that after I wrote an article for him about SEO copywriting. Yes, I understand Bob’s point, and he is right in a way. Writing copy solely for the purpose of search engine positioning is bad news. The text sounds stilted, it typically doesn’t convert well, and it doesn’t reflect well on a company’s brand.

At the same time, SEO copywriting *is* an important skill. After all, if you are an online copywriter and you don’t understand how to write for the engines, you are doing your clients a disservice. Why shouldn’t appropriate pages be written with SEO copywriting best practices in mind? Otherwise, you’re forcing your clients to edit the pages for keyphrases later – and that doesn’t always work.

If you do it right, you’re not putting your client’s conversion needs on hold in an attempt to gain better rankings. Far from it. Copy can still be seamless and brilliant with keyphrases. The key is – the writer needs to be talented to make it work. Otherwise, the text does sound like a bunch of disconnected words strung together. And that’s a problem.

You’ve written an e-book on SEO copywriting. What made you decide to write the book? Is it more for SEOs, for corporate marketers and copywriters or for all of the above? What’s the most important reason someone should buy the book?

I decided to write the book because there wasn’t anything about SEO copywriting on the market. Jill had written a short guide about keyphrase editing ‚Äì but there wasn’t anything that said, “Here’s how to write the content from scratch, pen a Title, and edit an XML document.”

That, and I knew that a lot of small businesses really wanted a “do it yourself” resource. I had people asking me if I had written a book they could purchase ‚Äì or if I planned to write a book. Finally, I thought ‚Äì “OK, OK, I can do this. I should write a book!”

It took me about 3 years to write 123 pages (and that was writing off and on.) Although I had a love/hate relationship with it at the time, I’m thinking of working with a publisher and releasing another version of the book. Stay tuned for that‚Ķ

The book is geared towards someone with copywriting (especially Web writing) experience, who just wants to learn how to mix SEO copywriting into their skill set. I’ve had people from large corporations buy it, as well as lots of SEOs and small businesses. The book leads the reader through the entire SEO copywriting process ‚Äì from choosing keyphrases, to writing the text, penning a Title, and a chapter on “overcoming common SEO copywriting challenges.” So, it’s a complete “how-to” guide, and goes into depth on quite a few issues.

Plus, many of my fellow SEO experts were kind enough to provide interviews and case studies, like Danny Sullivan, Detlev Johnson (if you haven’t seen Detlev’s SearchReturn newsletter, check it out at www.searchreturn.com) Jim Banks, Greg Boser and Andy Mindel from Wordtracker. I am very grateful to those guys ‚Äì their help was invaluable!

You’re the President of the Search Marketing Council of the DMA, you speak often at industry conferences like Search Engine Strategies and you run a consulting business. When do you sleep? What motivates you to be so active in the industry?

Sleep, sleep…what’s that? Seriously, I love what I do, and I love having a variety of things *to* do. Speaking and travel are such treats for me. Yes, it can be a pain to be on the road a lot – especially during “back to back” conference time. But being on stage is almost like “play time” – even if it takes days of preparation and I stress out like crazy before stepping on stage. And conferences are always very fun.

My DMA work is part of “giving back” to the industry. I work with them because I feel that I have a responsibility to educate folks about best practices and help people understand how search fits into their marketing mix. Granted, working with the DMA and other folks on the SEMC is fun, and the DMA has provided me with some great opportunities and a chance to try out some new skills. But “fun” mixed with “giving back” is a very cool combination.

And my clients are wonderful folks. I’m truly blessed to be working with the people I work with.

The DMA Search Engine Marketing Council (SEMC) which was previously the Association of Interactive Marketing (AIM) has some ambitious objectives. What is the key mission of the SEMC?

Our key mission is to be the primary search marketing resource for the direct marketing community. It wasn’t that long ago when the Direct Marketing Association was only running one ‚Äì maybe two – search marketing panels during a three-day conference. Now, each conference has multiple search marketing panels, plus site labs. We’re educating the marketing community about search, as well as writing best practice guides and producing Webinars for the general community. Other things are in the works, too. It’s exciting to see.

Dina Freeman from Yahoo!, Amanda Watlington from SearchingforProfit.com, Kevin Lee from Did-it.com and Detlev Johnson from PositionTech have been loyal friends and colleagues since the AIM days ‚Äì and have spent their free time working on the Council. They have really helped the SEMC grow into what it is today ‚Äì and we’re still growing!

Every time I see you, you’re a very happy camper. Do you ever get grumpy?

Oh, yeah. You bet. I’m a writer, so by nature I can be incredibly mercurial. At the same time, my mood “set point” tends to be set fairly high. Fortunately, I can shake off grumpy moods fairly quickly and gain perspective. Life is too short to stay cranky for long periods of time. And drinking lots of chai tea lattes helps, too.

Thanks Heather!

Tags: Heather Lloyd-Martin, SEO, copywriting, web copywriting, seo copywriting, DMA, SEMC, search engine optimization

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2006. | Interview with Heather Lloyd-Martin of SuccessWorks | http://www.toprankblog.com

• SEM was a $5.75 billion industry in North America in 2005, and will grow to $11.1 billion in 2010
• Brand awareness is advertisers’ top objective for SEM programs, particularly large firms
• Organic SEO is the most popular form of SEM, with 4 out of 5 advertisers using this method, with paid placement a close second at 76%
• ROI is in line with inflation: Four out of five advertisers say they could afford to pay a mild increase in the price of paid placement, while of advertisers and all agencies report moderate price hikes this year.
• SEM is poaching budget from other marketing channels for the vast majority of advertisers – especially from affiliate marketing and web site development.
• Senior executives consider SEM a high business priority with almost half of advertiser respondents (47%) saying that senior management at their companies were "very involved" in SEM programs, especially among companies with fewer than 500 employees
• Most advertisers plan to manage the majority of their SEM spending in-house in 2006. SEM agencies may see a decline in business as a result.

The full report will become available early 2006, first to SEMPO members and then the general public.  Here are results from the 2004 State of Search Marketing survey.

Tags: SEMPO Survey, SEM Spending, SEO Spending, Search Marketing Budgets, SEM, SEO, SEMPO

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2005. | SEMPO Survey: SEO More Popular than Paid Search | http://www.toprankblog.com

MOREVISIBILITY PRESIDENT ANDREW WETZLER APPOINTED TO MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, DMA SEMC COUNCIL

New York, NY, December 7, 2005 – The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) announced today it has appointed Andrew Wetzler, president and co-founder of MoreVisibility, membership chair of its Search Engine Marketing Council (SEMC).

"I’m pleased to have the opportunity to serve as membership chair of this important committee," said Wetzler. "As the direct marketing discipline evolves, more marketers are turning to interactive methods. Search marketing is being more widely embraced as a crucial element of an effective integrated marketing mix. Serving on DMA’s SEMC will allow me to help drive the segment’s growth and maximize its potential as one of the leading direct marketing channels."

DMA’s SEMC promotes ethical industry guidelines through the creation and promotion of  best practices. The Council’s member constituencies include marketers, media properties, and search engines. Through active education, DMA’s SEMC helps organizations to understand search engine marketing’s value and effectiveness and to discover strategies for integrating search into their overall marketing plan.

Wetzler co-founded MoreVisibility in October 1999. The company has since then grown to become one of the leading, most respected firms in the Search Engine Marketing and Optimization industry.  Prior to MoreVisibility Wetzler spent ten years at Andrew Wetzler & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in training marketing professionals to effectively utilize multiple channels and improve campaign performance.

An expert in direct marketing, Wetzler developed a course for the American Management Association on Direct Marketing and Inside Sales Program Development, which he instructed for seven years. He is a frequent speaker within the direct marketing community and is an author of numerous articles on related topics. Andrew holds a B.A. in Economics from Tulane University.

"Andrew’s experience in search engine marketing combined with his extraordinary vision and wide network of associates will drive the SEMC to the next level," said Heather Lloyd Martin, chair of DMA’s SEMC and CEO , SuccessWorks. "His advanced marketing and business development skills make him uniquely qualified to lead the charge in membership development for this industry-shaping council."

For more information on DMA’s Search Engine Marketing Council please visit http://www.the-dma.org/ or contact Matthew Waters at DMA, telephone: 212.790.1406.

###

About the DMA

The Direct Marketing Association is the leading global trade association of business and nonprofit organizations using and supporting direct marketing tools and techniques.  DMA advocates industry standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the entire direct marketing process.  Founded in 1917, DMA today has more than 4,800 corporate, affiliate, and chapter members from the US and 46 other nations, including 55 companies listed on the Fortune 100.  
 
In 2005, companies will spend more than $161 billion dollars on direct marketing in the United States.  Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures are expected to generate $1.85 trillion in increased sales in 2005, or 7% of the $26 trillion in total sales in the US economy (which includes intermediate sales).  All together, direct marketing will account for 10.3% of total U.S. GDP in 2005.

Tags: DMA, SEMC, search marketing, search engine marketing council, andrew wetzler

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2005. | DMA Beefs up Membership with Andrew Wetzler | http://www.toprankblog.com