This 5th annual interactive media summit is being presented at The Governor Hotel in beautiful downtown Portland. As a featured Sponsor Speaker, EngineWorks is privileged to introduce the compelling session titled “Internet Marketing by the Numbers” being presented Mr. Moran, who was the highest rated presenter at last year’s Internet Strategy Forum.

As a featured Speaker Sponsor, EngineWorks can offer you a ten percent (10%) discount on the price of admission to the Internet Strategy Forum Summit in Portland. Simply enter the following Discount Code into the ISF Summit online registration form:

EW08

Once entered into this online form, the Discount Code will automatically deduct 10% from your admission price.

Please drop me a post to our blog if you would like to meet-up at this event to discuss how our high performance search marketing services can benefit your online presence. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Long gone are the days (or maybe I just wish they were long gone!) when every other e-mail I receive is from an obscure submission vendor claiming to be able to get my site prominently positioned in “tens-of-thousands of directories”. The reasons why this ploy has fallen-out of favor is that a ‘shot-gun’ strategy to directory submission will more than likely accomplish very little (in terms of improving your site’s position within the major engines for relevant search queries).

In fact, submitting your site to poor directories may actually hinder your site enhancement efforts. If your site ends-up residing in a ‘bad neighborhood’, it can negatively impact your Natural search rankings. Directories that have been recently created, or poorly maintained, may lack significant in-bound links, and may possess very little search authority. These types of directories, often times populated by automated submission applications, can be detrimental to your SEO campaign.

Good online ‘neighborhoods’ are established directories that offer something different, and provide substantial value to search users. Links back from these good neighborhood directories boost your performance within relevant organic search listings.

Much like the process you go through when purchasing a house, one of the most important factors when submitting your site to Web directories is to ensure that you choose the best neighborhood.

The following list contains important criteria to consider when selecting online directories:

1. Relevance of directory, and its verticals, to your company, brands, products, and services,
2. Number and authority of relevant in-bound links,
3. Length of time that the directory has existed,
4. Crawl frequency – how often the major engines index listings, and is the sub-page indexed?,
5. Automated submission versus human-edited submission (which typically improves editorial quality),
6. Type of links in the directory (direct versus re-direct),
7. Perceived search authority – do the major engines prominently rank the directory in their index?,
8. Reputation (online and word-of-mouth recommendations).

In summary, it’s better to be selective with your directory submissions, than to fall for the antiquated scheme of automated submissions into “tens-of-thousands of directories”. Performing a little research can ensure that your site resides in the right neighborhood. Ultimately, this will improve your performance within the engines.

Gaia at W+K arranged the event, and had attendees pick-up packets a couple weeks ago, or mailed to individuals who were not able to swing-by the agency (like me). These packets paired each of us with a W+K employee, and also provide a brief overview and instructions.

Actually having someone specific to ‘meet’, and an assignment ahead of time, made certain that folks like me attended the lunch event. (As I mentioned, this was the first one I actually made it to). I’m not sure, however, if the pairing-up had the desired effect. My W+K ‘date’, Kristy, was great. But, I could see how some interactions may have been forced, with both parties feeling obligated to hit-it-off with each other.

Overall, we enjoyed the food and our time with fellow marketing experts. I, however, forgot to put my business card in the hat for the cool prizes. The always popular Rock Band/Guitar Hero (not sure which one) was a big hit. I look forward to attending the next Lunch2.0 to see if my observation pertaining to the pairing-up of partners was correct. Hope to see you there…

This lively evening was hosted by the Portland Advertising Federation at the Screening Room 11 in Northwest Portland. Each presenter had only 90 seconds to deliver three PowerPoint slides that conveyed to the crowd who they are, and what media function they performed. And, yes, we were actually encouraged to give a pitch about how great we are!

Here is a run-down of the individuals and their presentations:

1. Katja Asaro (MC), Henry V
Outstanding kick-off the show. Very polished,

2. Kevin Tate, Step Change Group
Social Media Programs and Applications – Interesting guys (other founder Greg Rau was there too.)

3. Mike Rosenberg, EngineWorks, Inc.
(me)

4. Stacy Westbrook, Happy, Inc
Do good work, get good work, be happy. Another polished presentation

5. Betsy Henning, Aha! Writers
Writers, of course. They love deadlines and lots of work. (Started presentation by dropping a dictionary.)

6. Kent Lewis, Anvil Media
Local search marketing company and board member of SEMpdx.

7. Jen Procter, Studio 3
Superheroes of commercial photography!

8. Rebecca Cohen, Reliquary Design
Loves kittens. Art director who knows a friend of mine from high school whom I probably haven’t seen since.

9. Lindsey Hammond, Hub LTD
Lindsey is awesome, always full of energy! Award winning branding/design firm that dabbles in Web sites. All women firm, not by design…but gives them a unique perspective.

10. Patrick Ezell, Copious
Full-service interactive agency. They do it all: design, development, CMS (that other agencies also use for their clients), email, etc.

11. Kimberli Ransom, Kimberli Ranson Photography
Great slides of photos. Has relatives in jail and in congress (or something like that).

All of my fellow presenters delivered fantastic pitches, and most even finished before the ‘gong’ went off. (I was ahead of the gong in the pre-show run through, but didn’t quite make it real-time). In addition, the Screening Room was a great venue for this event. Nice and intimate, with snacks, soft-drinks, beer, and wine. I’m not sure what wine they were pouring, because I stuck with beer. Even though it wasn’t Widmer (we at EngineWorks are a little biased), it was a good Oregon micro-beer, none the less.

I have to say that this inaugural long-named event appears to be the start of a great re-occurring one. Keep an eye-out for the announcement of the next one.

For you creative types, the event still needs an official name, since Pecha Kucha is already trademarked…any ideas?

As shown in the following chart, Ad Age reports that last year “these top-tier marketers increased measured Internet spending by $1 billion; slashed newspaper spending by $674 million; and cut TV budgets by $406 million.”

This is yet more evidence that the effectiveness of online advertising, in terms of ability to deliver and measure actual customers, continues to convince savvy marketers to commit more and more budget dollars to interactive campaigns.

The purpose for this post is to evaluate the effectiveness of Trackur.com as an Online Reputation Management (ORM) tool. We, at EngineWorks, currently use this ORM tracking application to gain a broad view of online mentions or links pertaining to our clients’ presence across the Internet.

We love Trackur
(To it put succinctly!) Andy Beal, founder of Trackur.com, has developed a fantastic tool for search marketing professionals. One that can be used to add tremendous value to client relationships.

Trackur is better than the rest.
Today’s blended search results provide online marketers plenty of opportunities to have alternative content represented in the top 10 search results. However, they also can allow negative consumer-generated content, including videos, press releases, RSS blog feeds, etc., to be pushed to the top of Natural search results.

Andy Beal points-out that his tool is different from Google Alerts by stating the following: “Trackur goes beyond just Google content. It tracks images, videos, Digg, del.icio.us, Twitter, as well as the usual news and blog stuff.” Trackur allows you to see, with good clarity, what people are saying about your company, brands, and services across the diverse Internet landscape.

Understanding how a community communicates is the first step to an effective ORM strategy. Followed by detailed tracking. Trackur delivers on both of these critical components.

Value to clients

We use Trackur in conjunction with several other proprietary applications to understand our clients’ current presence online, and to efficiently monitor their image and reputation. With Trackur, we are able to immediately identify potential challenges to a client’s reputation. In turn, we can rapidly engage with the company, and implement a strategic plan-of-action to minimize any negative impact.

Learn more about Online Reputation Management services
Our experienced ORM specialists can help you put together a well-thought-out reputation management plan to maintain your favorable image and reputation, and to ensure that if the proverbial (insert explicative here) ever hits the fan – your company is prepared. Request a consultation.

The result of this vote could open-up new domain names featuring generic addresses such as ‘.love’, ‘.hate’, ‘.bank’, and ‘.city’ as early as the first quarter 2009.

The following graph depicts the results from this May 9, 2008 survey for all forms of marketing:

In addition, a full 84% of survey participants indicate that segment-driven marketing will be more important three years from today.  These findings obviously reinforce the unique ability of online advertising and search engine marketing to be able to extract highly targeted audiences who are actively seeking-out products and services.

This prestigious industry annual features more than 45 pages of the most up-to-date developments, strategies, and advancements in the online search industry from more than three dozen prominent SEM executives.  The Essential Guide to Search Marketing presents cutting-edge articles from each of the following five SEM disciplines: 1. Search Strategies, 2. Thought Leadership, 3. Paid Search, 4. Organic Search, and 5. Search 2.0.

Sean’s article is the lead article of the Paid Search section in this guide, and can be found on Page 29.  This compelling piece identifies the powerful ability of search marketing to extract targeting and messaging that can be used as the foundation for a company’s entire marketing mix – both on and off-line.

I encourage you to download this invaluable guide, and am confident that it will provide expert insight into the current state of our hyper-evolving industry.

Let me know what you think of the 2008 Essential Guide to Search Marketing.

According to Google’s blog post, this newest version delivers additional features including the ability to generate data pertaining to search ‘scale’. This ‘scale’ is a measurement of the average search traffic for a specific search term, and can be downloaded to a spreadsheet.

DMNews was able to get the following statement via e-mail from a Google spokesperson pertaining to the benefits of this new version: “From a search marketing perspective, Google Trends gives a greater insight into global query interest over time, and now offers exportable, relative quantitative data for term comparison”.

Prior to the release of this new version, graphs were provided by Google that showed some of the trends (including trends across geographic areas). Now, Google claims that it possible to “actually quantify the comparisons” to get a better snapshot of the marketplace.

To access Google Trends, all you have to do is sign into your Google account. Also, take a look at Google Hot Trends.

Even with the decline in sales of new vehicles, and the decline in overall advertising spending this year, US automotive marketers are expected to increase their online advertising budgets by more than 21%, compared to last year, to nearly $3 billion by the end of 2008.

The following chart from eMarketer depicts this impressive projected spending increase in online advertising by car marketers:

The reason for this healthy outlook is cleverly conveyed by the following statement from this article: “Auto marketers are changing media lanes and following their market“.

More and more US car consumers are turning to search engines and destination sites for research, information, and comparison prior to formulating their buying decisions. In fact, it has been reported that more than 4-out-of-5 individuals looking to purchase a vehicle today, consult online sources at least once during their car-buying process.

I perceive that our current economic conditions will continue to drive even greater portions of overall marketing budgets (at companies from all industries) to online search marketing campaigns. When every dollar matters, it’s paramount that savvy advertisers commit their budgets to campaigns that are measurable, quantifiable, and extremely cost-effective.

Let me know how you think the rest of 2008 will play-out for our industry.

This exciting interactive media summit, presented by the Internet Strategy Forum, the professional association created for individuals driving online strategy at medium to large client-side organizations, is being held at the historical Governor Hotel at 614 S.W. 11th Avenue in beautiful downtown Portland.

To take advantage of your free discount from EngineWorks for 10%-off the price of admission to this engaging event, simply enter the following Discount Code into the ISF Summit online registration form:

EW08

Once entered into this online form, the Discount Code will automatically deduct 10% from your admission price.

EngineWorks is privileged to sponsor the compelling presentation titled ‘Internet Marketing by the Numbers’ being given by the highest rated presenter at last year’s Internet Strategy Forum, Mike Moran. Mike is a Distinguished Engineer at IBM, and co-author of the best-selling book Search Engine Marketing, Inc.

Please drop me a post if you would like to get together at this event to discuss how our high performance search marketing services can benefit your online presence. Looking forward to seeing you there!

This review, which provides a detailed synopsis of our unique session, is by Rebecca Kelley from SEOmoz. In her review, Rebecca makes the much appreciated statement that this presentation was her favorite panel at SMX Advanced “simply because I learned a wealth of new information about valuing SEM companies and was able to glean some insight from a purchaser’s perspective. It was a refreshing angle after having attended countless conferences and hearing the same panels over and over again.”

Thanks, Rebecca. I, too, perceive that this informative session delivered a well-rounded perspective on the behind-the-scenes activities that take place during a merger or acquisition of a company in our space. Hopefully, other individuals in attendance gleaned some valuable insight, as well.

Let me know your opinion of Rebecca’s review.

The 2008 survey, which was conducted with almost 200 marketing executives at US companies ranging in size form $10 million to $500 million in annual revenues, discovered that the participants plan to “significantly increase” their online advertising budgets in the coming three (3) years.

Most importantly, more than forty percent (40%) of the professionals responding to this survey stated that they have “radically increased” the amount of money spent on online marketing, and that “online advertising is their most increased expenditure” of all media channels.  In addition, twenty-three percent (23%) stated that they have increased their Google AdWords budgets during the past three years.

I encourage you to review the complete findings from this survey in the iMedia article.  They represent yet another data source for professional Internet marketing firms, especially sophisticated companies in the search engine marketing space, to have a positive outlook even when we hear that the ‘sky is falling’ all around us.

Let me know if you agree with these findings, and whether you perceive that the compelling value proposition delivered by search marketing will continue to drive increased revenues to our industry.

I was privileged to have participated on this panel with two highly esteemed individuals from our industry, Bruce Clay, founder of Bruce Clay, Inc., and Matt Naeger, Executive Vice President of Operations at Impaqt.

An interesting development that unfolded during this presentation was the fact the each of us was able to provide insight into building value within your SEM firm from very diverse perspectives.  Matt was able to impart how a large interactive firm, with almost 100 employees catering to Fortune 500 enterprise level clients, builds value into their well established company.  Bruce conveyed how an industry renowned, high profile search expert continues to build value into his operation after more than a decade of delivering outstanding performance to his client.  Finally, I perceive that I was able to provide a perspective on rapidly building value into a fledgling entity on the path to achieve the impressive accomplishments of my fellow panel members.

If you happened to have attended this session presented by Bruce, Matt, and me, please drop me a post with your opinion of its value.  I welcome any and all feedback, since it will only help me prepare for future speaking engagements in our exciting industry.

Unfortunately, many companies do. The explosive growth of social media has created numerous opportunities for consumers to broadcast their opinions over the Internet. With the introduction of “blended” or “universal” search, it is now common for video, pictures, news items and alternative content, to show up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). A company that has spent years managing their brand’s reputation can be ruined by a single piece of negative content. Is it possible for a company to monitor and manage these issues? Yes, through Online Reputation Management (ORM).

Online Reputation Management

ORM is a hot sector of search marketing. A combination of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and traditional Public Relations, ORM leverages numerous online sources to minimize and address inflammatory consumer comments while proactively capitalizing on positive comments. Additionally, ORM provides piece of mind, allowing you to monitor every mention of your brand which in turn helps you tailor your marketing message.

Plan for Reputation Management

ORM involves continually monitoring mentions of your brand, identifying positive and negative information and the source of that information, and addressing any issues. ORM also requires a well-conceived plan of action for your company and your company’s employees.

How Do You Monitor Reputation Online?

It only takes a few hours for a story to be shared and posted on 100s of blogs and in 1,000s of media outlets. So how do you monitor this?

EngineWorks develops a list of sites, media outlets, and tools that are constantly monitored. A few examples include:

• General RSS Aggregators - Sites like Technorati.
• Social Media - Sites in your niche, like Kirtsy, Digg or Reddit.
• Buzz Sites - Yahoo Buzz or Google Hot Trends are a few of our favorites.
• Reputation Management Applications - Applications such as Andy Beal’s Trackur.

Engage and Solve the Problem

To ensure that your audience finds favorable information pertaining to your brand within the SERPs, proactive management is required. Strategies for addressing positive and negative results include:

• Search Engine Optimization - Optimize your Web presence. This includes your corporate site, blogs, communities, and micro-sites. The goal is to control as much of the SERPs as possible.
• Leverage Social Media - Actively participate in relevant social networks, industry blogs, and targeted forums. By simply participating in these communities and addressing comments you may be able to avoid major issues.
• Write Strategic Content - Is there a particular theme which arises on a regular basis? Are people complaining about a certain incident? Write strategic content which addresses these issues. Make sure your audience knows you are aware of the problem and are addressing it.

Want to Learn More?

EngineWorks can help you put together a plan of action, so that when the proverbial (insert explicative here) hits the fan – your company is prepared. Request a consultation.

Interestingly, a little more than two-thirds (64.8%) of the marketing professionals responding to this survey perceive that relevant social media containing unfiltered consumer perceptions of their company, products, services, and brands will have the most impact upon their success.

This perceived most important type of social media was follow closely by word-of-mouth/viral campaign.  Almost two-thirds (62.0%) see these types of campaigns as greatly impacting their business in the future.

Here is the break-down of this study:

Let know what type of social media you think will have the greatest impact upon the online commercial world in the years to come.

This important industry-wide event is taking place at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in downtown Seattle. In addition to bleeding-edge SEM educational sessions, SMX Advanced will feature the following two renowned search experts as its keynote speakers: Kevin Johnson, President, Platform & Services Division, at Microsoft, and Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team.

Along with my two panel presentations stated above, EngineWorks will have key executives available at this conference, including Mike Rosenberg (Vice President of Client Acquisition), Scott Fish (Director of SEO), and Lisa Peyton (Director of Paid Search), to discuss our high performance search marketing services.

If you would like to carve-out some time to meet with me, or any of our EngineWorks team members, please drop me a quick response to this post.

Look forward to seeing you in Seattle!

A Web site’s Quality Score is a rating generated by Google’s algorithm that influences the positioning of its AdWords PPC listings, and specific minimum bid prices for relevant keywords.

The good new is that online advertisers using AdWords can access a keyword analysis page within their Google account to discover current load times for specific landing pages.  In addition, we at EngineWorks can work closely with you to minimize the amount of time it takes for your pages to load, and consequently improve your Google Quality Score.

Drop us a post if you would like to discuss how we can help.

It’s important for professional Search Engine Marketing companies to maintain an ideal company structure to effectively integrate new campaigns into their fulfillment department, to rapidly achieve and exceed client performance goals, and to accommodate the expansion of their client roster and employee base (all while maintaining profitability).

To accomplish this, you must clearly define the skills and responsibilities of each position. I perceive that the following structure represents an ideal fulfillment department for accomplishing the mission critical tasks above.

1. Director of Operations - This individual is ultimately responsible for the delivery and performance of all campaigns. The Director of Operations must have a wide-range of skills including workflow management, process development, project management, quality control, management skills, client service experience, and of course, a thorough understanding of search engine marketing.
2. Director of Search Engine Optimization - As the head of the SEO team, the Director of SEO is primarily responsible for the performance of all SEO campaigns. In addition, this individual is tasked with campaign strategy, management of SEO Specialists, management of Social Media Marketing Specialists, regular communication with clients, monthly reporting, and education of the team. This individual must have extensive ‘real-world’ SEO experience. In addition, the Director of SEO must be an expert in usability, information architecture theory, as well as, technical issues (HTML, CSS, server configuration, etc.).
3. Search Engine Optimization Specialists - The SEO Specialists are responsible for the fulfillment of each campaign assigned to them. This requires expertise in keyword research, competitive analysis, campaign reporting, link building (both traditional and through Social Media Marketing), information architecture, usability, HTML, CSS, and analytics. Copywriting skills are extremely important as well.
4. Social Media Marketing Specialists - These team members are responsible for all Social Media campaigns including social networking, linkbaiting, community development, blogging, micro-blogging, online reputation monitoring, online reputation management, optimized press releases, and profile development. SMM Specialists must have a thorough understanding of how to improve organic ranking, generate traffic, and improve brand awareness by leveraging social media. Again, copywriting skills are very important, as well as, communication skills.
5. Director of Paid Search Marketing - As leader of the Paid Search department, this key individual is responsible for the strategy and fulfillment of all Paid Search campaigns, team management, on-going education, client communication, spend cap management, and reporting (monthly, weekly, and/or daily). The Director of Paid Search must be an expert in actively managing challenging campaigns, using 3rd party bid management tools, A/B testing, multi-variate testing, and landing page analysis.
6. Paid Search Marketing Specialists - The Paid Search Marketing Specialists are responsible for all Paid Search campaigns assigned to them. They must be proficient in keyword research, all PPC platforms, A/B testing, multi-variate testing, landing page analysis, and data visualization. An understanding of usability theory and campaign success metrics are important as well.
7. Director of Client Services - This individual is the liaison between the client and the fulfillment department. The Director of Client Services is responsible for ensuring client success and satisfaction. Specifically, the individual in this position manages the campaign launch process, campaign time-line, call frequency schedule, internal campaign communication, general project management, and on-going client relationship building. Communication skills are a must, and search engine marketing knowledge goes without saying.
8. Copywriters - The copywriting team’s responsibility is to support the SEO, SMM, and PCC departments copywriting needs. They must be communication and writing experts with a thorough understanding of the challenges of writing content for the Web. Ideally these team members are actively involved in social media communities, and also have a solid understanding of all facets of SEM.
9. Tracking/Reporting Specialist - This individual is responsible for the set-up and installation of all campaign analytics and reporting. Programming, communication, and analytics skills are a must.

That’s it. This is my take on the ideal search engine marketing team. What’s yours?