Over the past few weeks TopRank has been conducting it’s own search of sorts, for a Senior Search Marketing Manager as well as a Search Marketing Strategist. One of the questions we ask is, “How do you stay current with tactics and strategies in the SEM space?”. It’s a good question both for hiring agencies to ask as well as companies that are looking for SEM consultants.
Search is a changing marketplace. Whether it’s paying attention to the effect of Google infrastructure updates like Caffeine or industry aggregation like BingHoo, it’s important for companies that want to stay ahead of the competition and for SEM consultants to deliver first class services, to stay current. The question is, how to do that? We offer 17 ways in our current Online Marketing Blog Reader Poll:
What are your top 3 methods of staying current in Search Marketing?
- SEM Blogs (See the BIGLIST) (22%, 169 Votes)
- Testing tactics on your own web sites (12%, 90 Votes)
- Forums (WebmasterWorld, Search Engine Watch, High Rankings)) (8%, 58 Votes)
- Observations & analysis of implemented SEM programs (8%, 57 Votes)
- Community subscription (SEOmoz, SEOBook, etc) (7%, 53 Votes)
- White papers, research, special reports (6%, 46 Votes)
- Online groups (Facebook, LinkedIn) (6%, 45 Votes)
- Webinars (6%, 44 Votes)
- Email newsletter(s) (6%, 43 Votes)
- The big conferences (6%, 43 Votes)
- Personal network (5%, 41 Votes)
- SEM Consultant/Agency Advice (3%, 20 Votes)
- Books on SEM (2%, 12 Votes)
- Print magazines (SES, Search Marketing Standard, Website Magazine, etc) (2%, 12 Votes)
- Offline networking groups or meetups (1%, 11 Votes)
- Industry specific (vertical) publications (1%, 7 Votes)
- Niche or regional workshops (1%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 268
Loading ...Did we miss any primary methods of staying current with Search Marketing tactics and strategies? How do you use these methods to keep your SEM knowledge fresh?
