Online Marketing Blog

It’s been a while since we’ve done a Reader Poll Roundup, so today I’m listing a summary first and then the day’s poll in a separate post. With the polls we’ve been running just about every Wednesday on Online Marketing Blog, the voting turnouts and selections have been interesting but the commentary has been even better.

Whether it’s deciding what the best sources of information on search marketing are to the most important skills for practicing search engine optimization, these polls offer a glimpse of what’s on the minds of our appreciated readers and possibly the search marketing industry at large.

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There have been a variety of print publications that have covered some aspects of marketing online ranging from interactive to search marketing for several years now. However, there’s recently been an increase in dedicated columns as well as magazines solely focused on the search marketing industry.

Below is a list of publications and links in case you haven’t heard of them. I suspect this might be the case since so many readers of Online Marketing Blog are progressive, tech savvy, RSS consuming machines.

• Practical eCommerce Magazine
• Search Marketing Standard
• Internet Retailer
• Website Magazine

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TopRank is hiring for various SEO positions like mad right now and in the process of revising job descriptions to reflect changes in client needs and the industry, it became clear that, yet again, some skills have become far more important than others.

An example would be the importance of HTML and on-page optimization skills was very high in the early days of SEO, whereas link building and viral marketing/creative have become increasingly important.

Core characteristics for a successful search marketing career like being smart as a hell and an insatiable need to continuously learn new things will never change, but as you know, when an ordered list comes across my desk, it’s time for a reader poll!

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In an interview I did yesterday with the Minneapolis Star Tribune one of the things we talked about was how common it is for search engine optimization engagements to reveal many other marketing and process consulting needs. For example, one of the most common issues we run into is a lack of sales pipeline management.

Many companies do not yet have a firm grasp of their online lead generation to sales revenue, especially BtoB clients with long sales cycles and where many people might interact with a prospect before they become a client.

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Marketing online is a mixed bag. While search marketing is high impact and high value, it’s not the only game in town.

In this week’s poll, I’ve assembled a variety, but not comprehensive, list of web site marketing channels that are alternatives to standard search engine marketing. Some are true, stand alone channels. Some offer the benefit of direct traffic as well as a positive effect for natural search engine rankings.

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Threaded email discussion lists are a bit old school communications in contrast to the rise in popularity of blogs and RSS. However, there are several of these channels that serve as a sort of digital watering hole for some of the most experienced search marketers who dispel invaluable insights.

For large segments of the internet community, email remains a preferred discussion tool. The platforms most often used for such lists these days seem to be Google Groups and Yahoo Groups.

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Search marketing moves fast. Keeping up to date can be a full time job so finding quality resources of information is critical to stay ahead of the game. Books (print) are often outdated by the time they hit the shelves and conferences are expensive.

Many newbies and experienced search marketers turn to forums as a way to share knowledge, speculation and socialize. But which forums provide good info and which are full of tin hats?

Which leads me to this week’s reader’s poll:

Update: I rarely add updates but this is important. Regrettably, I did not include Crea8asite Forums, which was purely an oversight.

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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.

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Over the past 6 months we’ve been doing a bit of resource aggregation regarding social media both as a practical application for marketing client content online as well as reviewing research conducted on social media usage. There’s not a lot of research out there but here are a few interesting reports:

• BIGresearch - Simultaneous Media Usage Study

• University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research - Inc. 500 Companies Fast Adopters of Social Media

• Yahoo! and comScore Networks Study Reveals Influential Consumers Can Be Reached Through Search, Social Media and Communication Tools

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We’ve been running polls the past month and I thought I’d share the results. Below are the past 4 polls we’ve run along with the number of respondents and the top 5 responses for each.

What do you like most about your search marketing job? (67)

• You are truly appreciated for your expertise and contributions (21%)
• The client projects are fun, interesting, challenging (19%)
• Flexible hours, work from home or office (18%)
• It���s all about the money (10%)
• Fun atmosphere/environment at work (10%)

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