aimClear Search Marketing Blog

Did you know that you can shove the entire transcript of a podcast into the ID3 tag of a media file? Need an immediate full-contact tutorial on podcast production and SEO? These and other powerful tools were divulged in Podcast & Audio Search Optimization during Search Engine Strategies New York.

On a whim I ducked into the Podcast & Audio Search Optimization seminar, and it was a nice surprise to be jolted awake by the energy and audio search stylings of Amanda Watlington, owner of Searching for Profit, and Daron Babin, CEO, Webmaster Radio. This session was moderated by Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing.Read the rest of this entry »

Well Search Engine Strategies New York 2008 is over, and it’s been amazing! My brain started getting full about Tuesday afternoon, but I keep stuffing information into it!

I’ve ended up pushing out some childhood memories to make room, but hopefully they were of grade school multiplication drills or something like that. I’ve compiled a little list of what I’ve learned, what was good and what sucked!

Thumbs Up search folks are super friendly! speakers are usually very cool folks and LIKE IT if you want to interview them after sessions!

• Usability is not a dead art!
• listening to Avinash Kaushik present - he peppers everything with “kicks ass” and “sucks hard!”
• 80s New Wave music played between sessions!
• Schwag schwag schwag!

Read the rest of this entry »

“Design for people first, then the search engines will be pleased too. It’s like the Pinocchio effect - they want to be a real boy too.”

Such were the words of wisdom of Matthew Bailey, President of SiteLogic, and Jennifer Laycock, Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Guide in the Site Clinic, the last seminar of Search Engine Strategies New York. Although Jennifer’s voice was recovering from a cold, Matt Bailey was remarkably perky for the end of the session (he later told me he’d had Wednesday off!)

Instead of showing each site and telling what they did (which might be another post altogether), I’ve compiled all the tips they gave to improve sites.Read the rest of this entry »

Are you afraid of bloggers? Sleep with the light on? You’ll find reasons to sleep above the covers after you read the next installment of Social Media: What Is It and What Is It Good For? from Search Engine Strategies New York. (Read part One).

Jory Des Jardins, Co-Founder & President of Strategic Alliances at BlogHer, teaches companies how to get bloggers to talk about their brands. Her refreshing angle was to talk about some of the boogeyman fears companies have about social media.Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you embrace it or not, social media is here to stay and affects your brand. Social media marketing must be part of your overall marketing effort. Ignore the blogosphere at your peril.

Moderator Pauline Ores, SES Advisory Board and Senior Marketing Manager, Social Media Engagement, General Business, IBM, began the seminar by stating that the Social Media Track was new to Search Engine Strategies conferences. She introduced the powerhouse panel:Read the rest of this entry »

This is part 2 in a series detailing the wonderful and overly full seminar, Converting Visitors to Buyers at Search Engine Strategies New York. (Read part One).

The third speaker was Michael Sack, Director, SEM technology & Development, Idearc Media Corp. I feel personally involved with this presentation because I “fixed” it for him on my computer when he brought his thumb drive to me in desperation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whoosh! The Converting Visitors Into Buyers seminar at Search Engine Strategies New York felt like a whole day chock full of my daily dose of conversions!

This seminar was moderated by Aaron Shear, Search Engine Watch Expert and Partner, Boost Search Marketing.

The speakers were:

• Mike Moran, Distinguished Engineer, IBM ,Nigel Ravenhill, Program Manager, McAfee, (and author of the new book, Do It Wrong Quickly)
• Michael Sack, Director, SEM technology & Development, Idearc Media Corp.
• Howard Kaplan, COO, Future Now Inc.

WRITER’S NOTE: This seminar was so full of excellent and actionable information that it won’t all fit in one post! This is part one…Read the rest of this entry »

Google Website Optimizer just celebrated its 1st birthday this week. Tom Leung, Business Product Manager for GWS presented What’s New With Google Website Optimizer today at Search Engine Strategies New York.

This amazing FREE service lets users test different versions of their site and plays nicely with Google Analytics (also FREE) to tell them how it tests compared to the original. This makes it incredibly easy for website owners to improve the customer site experience.

Google Website Optimizer is focused on post-click optimization- what happens after the user has clicked the ad creative. It lets you dabble in “content experimentation” and see how it will affect your conversion goals.Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Monday March 17, (I forgot to wear green!) and I’m excited to be covering the first seminar of the day at Search Engine Strategies New York, Redefining The Customer, presented by Jeffrey Eisenberg (subbing for brother Bryan who is here but down with “the crud.”)

Bryan and Jeffrey are co-authors of Waiting For Your Cat To Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing. This content and more can be found on their excellent blog, (and podcast!) GrokDotCom.

There’s a Marketing (r)evolution underway. Old marketing used Pavlovian methods. Passive consumers, like dogs, would salivate and buy when marketers pushed their ads. But today’s consumers are cats, not dogs - and we all know cats don’t come when called, they take a message and get back to you.

But marketers are no longer in control of the bell. Read the rest of this entry »

Mobile applications and local searches continue to penetrate deeper into the mobile user experience, and exciting developments are on the horizon.

Mobile and Local Search: Finding the Way was moderated by Michael Boland, Senior Analyst, The Kelsey Group. Speakers at this Search Engine Strategies seminar all brought knowledge from different corners of the mobile and local fields.

Read the rest of this entry »