aimClear Search Marketing Blog

[Editor's note: This post is our continued dissemination of content from this week's SearchEngineStrategies San Jose search marketing conference, where aimClear had 3 correspondents providing our readers notes and articles. The following is from our friend and blogger-associate, Todd Mintz:]

With social media marketing, people are part of the marketing process once again. This SES San Jose 2008 session explained the history of SMO (social media marketing) and how savvy pros use this new reality to promote their brands and products. Read the rest of this entry »

[Editor's note: This post is our continued dissemination of content from this week's  SearchEngineStrategies San Jose search marketing conference, where aimClear had 3 correspondents providing our readers notes and articles. The following is from our friend and blogger-associate, Todd Mintz:]

It’s not always just about sales…it’s about leads first! This SES San Jose panel offered insights into generating copious amounts of high-quality leads for your business, to generate revenue at the bottom of the sales funnel. Read the rest of this entry »

White hat, black hat, gray hat…SEOs come in ALL colors. As much as we hate to admit it, we still talk about “hats” in SEO. SES San Jose panelists update attendees on the latest black hat / white hat issues with plenty of time for audience involvement. Moderator Matt Bailey is President of SiteLogic, a search marketing consulting and training company.

There wasn’t any formal structure to this session. Instead, these experienced industry veterans participated in a collective conversation (that included the audience + Matt Cutts) about Black Hat / White Hat issues. Read the rest of this entry »

How does one define “success” online in 2008? Tons of traffic? Tremendous revenue? An inbox full of customer leads? This Search Engine Strategies San Jose panel offered attendees various methods to measure “success,” and highlighted which metrics are important, which aren’t and how to make websites better to serve business objectives.

Moderator Richard Zwicky is the CEO of Enquisite, a next-gen natural search web analytics solution provider. The first speaker was Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Analytics Evangelist and Web Analytics Blogger at Occam’s Razor. He is also the co-founder of MarketMotive. He told the crowd that he was plotting “world-domination” (joke) and then, he showed pictures of his two kids. Read the rest of this entry »

The initials “PPC” traditionally have referred to “pay per click.” However in these days of double digit inflation, agency (and in-house) clients are coming to expect a different rendering of these classic initials, “pay per per conversation” — to improve PPC ROI.

Every click is an opportunity to engage a potential customer. How do you demonstrate the defining values surrounding your services overall in your marketing pitch? An often overlooked answer is to market by savvy content planning, improved relevancy and tons of testing.

This SES San Jose session discussed the pathology of missed conversations and techniques for further engagement of PPC traffic. Moderator Anne Kennedy is founder and managing partner of BeyondInk SEO consulting firm. Read the rest of this entry »

Savvy marketers zero in on the “long tail” of online marketing by seeking out and targeting customers interested in exactly what a product has to offer. Marketing to search queries comprised of extra defining words, the result is often greater strategic and cost-effective search marketing campaigns.

This SES San Jose 2008 session explored the concept of long tail from a tactical standpoint, focused on strategies to increase sales and pump ROI. PPC Rockstar and Search Engine Watch columnist David Szetela moderated today’s fascinating panel. I met David at SMX Advanced, scored a cool t-shirt from his booth and quickly ascertained that I was interacting with a true heavyweight of paid search. Read the rest of this entry »

Bit Torrent search engines, image search engines, artificial intelligence systems, clustering engines, recommendation search engines, & metasearch are all example of viable alternatives to Google. Each has its own unique place in the marketing mix.

This SES San Jose session’s Moderator, Andrew Goodman, founded Page-Zero Media, a ROI-driven online marketing agency. I’ve interacted with him online before but never seen him in person and it was well worth the wait. The first speaker up was Sage Lewis who runs SageRock.com, an online marketing company. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m pleased to join fellow aimClear bloggers here at San Jose 2008. Our collective goal is to provide insight by way of coverage and personal experiences.

Also, welcome to our good friends from Portland and good morning aimClear Blog readers. We’ll be your eyes and ears over the next 4 days.

Since (even cool) blog posts about any event pale in comparison to actually experiencing the in-person power and passion, we’ll do our best to bring home the tone of this live search marketing conference. Truly, the promise of “somthing great” fills the air as attendees stream into the venue for dark roasted coffee and handshakes.

Search Marketing Conferences Rock
It’s great to attend these things. A chance meeting in the conference hall might score that hot business deal/new position that you were looking for. Certainly your attendance will help your brand become more prominent in the Search Marketing Community, as you meet and network with peers.

Be careful though, the parties are legendary. A photo of your drunken “revelry” might end up on prominent Facebook pages tagged with your name. (Isn’t it nice that I chose not to link out on the anchor text “drunken revelry.” It is, after all, aimClear Blog.

I’m done with a delightful hotel breakfast and off to register. Stay tuned…

Todd Mintz is the Director of Internet Marketing & Information Systems for S.R. Clarke Inc., a Real Estate Development and Residential / Commercial Construction Executive Search / Recruiting Firm headquartered in Fairfax, VA with offices nationwide.