As fall conference season is upon us and our team prepares to travel the world speaking, blogging and studying (OK… drinking great wine), I can’t help but ruminate on the inspiring array of fantastic established and future thought-leaders with whom aimClear would love to work. Yep, aimClear is hiring passionate marketers and/or seeking to acquire a small PPC/SEO company to join our quickly growing dream-team in Minnesota. This is not just another SEO or PPC job.

Glassy-eyed and Pollyanna, we’ve constructed a list of marketers we would clone, relocate and adopt… given the chance. Sadly, the professionals on this roster are “taken” with jobs they love, and most live in another city. Still, each represents qualities we covet.

If you’re not on the honor roll, that does not mean we don’t think you rock. You probably do rock. For sure there are dozens of other dream-team-members we know about and hundreds of SEO and PPC thought-leaders and specialists we’ve not had the pleasure of even meeting. As aimClear fans out at conferences this fall all over planet earth, please make yourself known. If you just can’t wait to meet and are interested in being cloned, contact us here. If you’re on the list, feel free to download the “aimClear Wants To Clone Me” badge and display it proudly on your blog. No need to link back.

Adam Audette
@audette is an SEO specialist and CEO of AudetteMedia, which was recently sold to RKG. Adam lays it out there via authentic Twitter conversations. Yeah, we know he’s busy and all, but if he were cloned we’d spirit him off to Minnesota and really have some fun. Everybody SING: “Send in the clones. There have to be CLONNNNNES!”

Alex Cohen
@digitalalex recently left his job as senior marketing manager at ClickEquations, but we won’t steal his thunder here. Our staff loves Alex. I say let’s duplicate him. Wow. I hear can the aimClear crew chanting outside our new office: “We love you Alex, oh yes we doooo… We need a baby… who’s just like youuuuu.”

Andrew Goodman
@andrewgoodman is author of Winning Results with Google AdWords (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2005). He blogs at Traffick.com, writes columns for ClickZ.com, and is president of Page Zero Media.  Andrew lives in Canada, so Page Zero (the clone) would not think Minnesota weather harsh at all. I’d sing about Andrew, but I know it would creep him out. He’s such a serious dude…in a seriously good way.

Andrew Shotland
@localseoguide accomplishes local rankings for his own site, LocalSEOGuide.com, that would scare anybody. Andrew’s one of the biggest-time dudes we know. Let’s replicate him and import his California business acumen. And let’s make sure to torture him a little, too.  I’m just sayin’…

Ann Smarty
@seosmarty owns SeoSmarty.com and MyBlogGuest.com. By all appearances she’s a heck of a marketer. A respected SearchEngineJournal blogger/editor, Ann’s imaginary twin would be seriously welcomed at aimClear.

Annie Cushing
@AnnieCushing is Analytics for BlueGlass. I personally consume her posts whenever she writes. Annie alone is enough to make me want to go see “The Fifth Element” again. Whatever that means…

Ben Pfeiffer
@benpfeiffer is an SEO tweep known for his conference coverage and lead gen’ chops. He’s also from Texas… nobody’s perfect. Certainly his twin would enjoy the radical bass fishing and extreme weather that goes along with Minnesota’s world-class waters.

Bill Hunt
@billhunt is one of the most accomplished international marketers in the world. His (equally accomplished) marketer wife, Motoko Hunt, probably could not handle two Bills. We’ve got dibs on Bill’s double, Motoko, so the pain will be transient.

Brad Geddes
@bgtheory is a rare AdWords seminar leader and noted author of Advanced Google AdWords (Sybex, 2010). He earned the book deal by consistently sharing valuable content with our community. Brad’s a CEO type. We’ll be following him around with used paper cups ready to mine DNA as soon as we build the cloning machine. Hear me, Brad? Got eyes on your DNA.

Brent D. Payne
@BrentDPayne, left his position of as badass SEO and social media director of 435 Digital (consulting arm of Tribune CO.), to form baldseo. He has an addiction to Twitter that benefits us greatly. He’s always providing thoughtful posts and links. I know for a fact Brent’s bio-matter is superior. He’s bald… very much so… an obvious sign of superiority.

Brian Chappell
@brianchappell is senior social search strategist for Ignite Social Media, owner of Adapt Marketing, and blogger on BrianChappell.com. Brian, aside from being serioulsy talented, is just sooo nice. After we invent an identical Brian, he’ll fit right in with the whole “Minnesota Nice” thingy.

Brian Ussery
@beussery is a Google Webmaster Help Top Contributor, Search Engine Watch moderator, Flash SEO expert, UGA official artist, director of SEO technology for Search Discovery, Inc., and blogger for BEUssery.com and SearchEngineWatch.com.  Ever watch dude eat a burger? Enough said!  If only he would give up a few curly locks for the test tube, all would be awesome.

Chris “Silver” Smith
@si1very is an Internet marketing and technology expert, tweets about local search, Google Maps, social media marketing, analytics, image SEO , and shopping search. He’s the Director of optimization strategies for KeyRelevance and also blogs for SearchEngineLand.com and Silvery.com. If ever there were a marketer we’d love to replicate, it would be Chris. He’s lived in Madison, WI before so he’d be right at home in our amazing new office. Compared to Wisconsin, anyway, we’ve got far fewer cows.

Christine Churchill
Well, since @keyrelevance owns the company @si1very works for, we better copy and paste her, too. One of the classiest people in the industry, Christine backs up her verve with true thought-leadership. Red Rover Red Rover, send @keyrelevance right over.

Cindy Crum
@Suzzicks, CEO of MobileMoxie, is a globally known author, speaker, and marketing extraordinaire. She shares her expertise on mobile marketing and SEO via Twitter. Listen to me sing: “Please Cindy Please! Hatch a sister for meeeeee.”

David Mihm
@davidmihm is a definitive authority in local SEO, is president/CEO for GetListed.org as well as a SearchEngineLand.com blogger. Let’s do the math, buddy boy: David + David Clone = aimClear team member. Right?

Dennis Goedegebuure
After about a decade working as eBay senior SEO Ninja warrior, @TheNextCorner now ploughs geeknet.com waters. Step one: Insert Dennis. Step two: Duplicate Dennis (impossible?). Step three: Tie Dennis up and fly him to the land of 10,000 lakes. Creepy? Well, yes…

Derek Edmond
This guy has impressed me for years. I first met @derekedmond at SMX Social, New York 2007.  He’s Managing Partner of KOMarketing, clearly an accomplished marketer. Dear Derek, put your whole self in the facsimile machine, call our office, and we’ll promise to use color ink. Luv, your fans at aimClear.

Disa Johnson
@AirDisa is owner of SearchReturn and creator of Mobile Sidecar. Disa has a passionate flair for marketing and a penchant for sharing her finds on Twitter. We hope there is some aspect of pink veils and blindfolds used as weapons of mass destruction.

Greg Finn
@gregfinn CMO and blogger of CyprusNorth.com, Greg Finn offers great links and to the-point posts. We’ve got a mutual admiration thing goin’ on here. Dig this: Finn means shark. Shark means ocean. Ocean means boat. Boat means vessel. Vessel means blood. Blood means DNA. BABY come on down, the cloning’s fine.

Heather Lloyd-Martin
@heatherlloyd, CEO of SuccessWorks and SEO copywriting pioneer, blogs at SEOCopywriting.com. She tweets useful tips and links related to SEO and copywriting. Give me two, please. No, make it three. OK, two. Don’t say we never showed self-restraint.

Hollis Thomases
@hollisthomases, CEO of WebAdvantage and author of Twitter Marketing: An Hour A Day (Sybex, 2010), wields a colorful Twitter stream and deep knowledge on all things social. Dual Hollises?  YES, the staff here is jumping up and down ‘cause they love the Hollis and want another.

James Thompson
President of Clix Marketing, James was installed at Clix to succeed famed PPC genius @szetela. James, there’s a place @aimClear for your crazed twin brother. Minnesota beckons him.

Imelda Khoo
Sadly, there is only one @imeldak, and she lives in Portland, OR. We’ve seen her around the conference circuit for years, representing the very corporate job she has. Imelda blogs at sembooty.wordpress.com.  She grew up in the UK and has a very exotic personality. I’ve talked to her about marketing and she obviously knows her stuff. More importantly she tweets pics of her food.  Give us another of her, please, and spare no Dim Sum. Ya’ know, we want the clone and the original.

Joanna Lord
@JoannaLord, cofounder of YourJobStop.com and director of customer acquisition/blogger at SEOmoz, rocks a rich Twitter stream always full of energy and social media tweets. She’s not goin’ anywhere as queen of moz retargeting and all other awesome PPC things. Whenever I see Joanna, I cross my eyes to see double, and pretend there are two. Sigh… You know. Not sigh. Cry.

Joe Kerschbaum
@JoeKerschbaum, COME ON OVER! He’s coauthor of the Wiley/Sybex book Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing An Hour A Day. Dude’s a poet, another Clix guy, and went to IU. We understand. Bloomington, IN is a fabulous place. Our COO went there. That said, tell your identical twin that we listen to Mellencamp here in Duluth!

John Andrews
@johnandrews is one of the smartest industry folks I’ve ever met. Based in Seattle, John does web consulting and SEO. His tech and programming skills add invaluable information to Twitter and his blog, Johnon.com is sardonic and deep. He also loves Port wine and has one dry sense of humor. When we clone him, we want to play a few anatomical jokes… more on this later.

Jonathan Kerr
@jonathankerr is one hell of an old/new school marketer. He’s stewarded iconic Australian insurance brand “Budget Direct,” swimmer, triathlete, eCommerce bloke, husband, father and son. Hey, Jon! Look in a mirror, please. Screen capture the mirror. Send us the mirror.

Jordan Kasteler
@JordanKasteler is SVP of content development/marketing partner/blogger at BlueGlass, and also a blogger for JordanKasteler.com. Jordan’s really adept at measuring social media and a clever all-around marketer. Also, chicks dig him. THIS is serious marketing stock and we wish there was another to inspire aimClear every day.

Kalena Jordan
@kalena SEO /PPC ninja and founder of SearchEngineCollege.com, is also director at Jordan Consulting Group and columnist on Ask-Kalena.com. Step one: Clone Kalena. Step two: Apply for visa. Step three: Never let her go.

Keri Morgret
@KeriMorgret, President of Strike Models and freelance SEO /live blogger, is arguably one of the smartest people in online marketing. We’ll get her yet. Maybe building out an extra copy would do the trick.

Lisa Buyer
@lisabuyer Lisa Buyer is PR wizard extraordinaire, President and CEO of The Buyer Group and writer for ClickZ.com. She tweets about PR, social media strategy, online branding, and SEO. Lisa is an established SES speaker and ClickZ writer. Everybody sing, “Ya must have been a beautiful baby.” Make another. Send the other. Sigh….

Kerstin Baker-Ash
@bakerash, the original, lives in Toronto, Canada and is head of Performics Canada. I’ve gotten to know her a bit over the last couple of years and love this savvy lady’s style. She’s a Celtics fan and, hey, I grew up in Boston. Kerstin, please ask your replica if she wants to bring the baby and hubby to Minnesota on a nice little work visa.

Kevin Spidel
@kspidel is a self-proclaimed “recovering political hack turned web marketer” and “professional wet noodle thrower.” He’s also a badass marketer who paces the GennettLocal halls in Phoenix as resident badass marketer. There are political reasons we could never recruit Kevin the original and he loves his job, anyway. That said, there must be a Brindle-fly solution of some sort back to the future. Right?

Melissa Mackey
@Mel66 blogs for BeyondThePaid. She writes for SearchEngineWatch.com and is a consummate veteran marketing pro. Duplicating her seems like a reasonable strategy because there is more personality and chops in half of her then most people we know. Mind if I gush and gussy up?

Mike Seyfer
Dude’s a sleeper, right here in Duluth’s backyard. Vice President and Interactive/Account Manager at HTK, a venerable regional agency, Mike is also a fanatical outdoorsman. I’ve tried to get aimClear’s Manny Rivas to sneak up on Mike and force him into the aimClear-cloning machine, but Manny’s afraid Mike will kick his butt. All kidding aside, Mike is like one of the only pros in town we think of this way. His body-double could attain international thought-leadership status in the vertical of his choice. Please, put me in charge and then let him take over.

Mona Eisley
@webmona is all about PPC and online marketing strategy. Speaker, author, and columnist, VP of online marketing strategy at Page Zero Media, and Search Engine Land columnist, Mona tweets great resource articles and insight. Hmmm. Well, my heart is going pitter patter and the lights just dimmed, as if a power outage is immanent. What does that mean??

Monica Wright
@monicawright is director of search marketing at Hall Internet Marketing and owner/blogger for MonicaWright.com. She’s a terrific tweeter on all things online marketing and a Search Engine Land Editor. We want some of that outgoing vibe here. Step right up! And into the cloning box.

Rand Hah
@littleredbook is Strategy Director at Resonance China, Editor at Littleredbook.cn, Strategy Director at BA360. We’ve become aware of him through his tweets, writings and conference affiliations. A specialist in China social media, digital strategy, Chinese advertising, marketing, and culture, we wish Rand had an obsessive alter ego we could lasso over to the American prairie.

Renee Revetta
@ReneeRevetta is senior social media specialist at Search Mojo, Public Relations professional, blogger. Our team loves loves loves this social media/SEO dynamo and, if ever there were two of her, we’d snap up the body double, hide her in the back seat of a 1987 silver Jag’ convertible, and head north from Charlotte.  But like we said. Renee works at Search Mojo and we’d never poach. That’s why we need two of her.

Rhea Drysdale
@Rhea is cofounder of OutspokenMedia.com. Her blog posts and tweets focus on ORM, SEO, and link development. We’d like to focus our ray guns on her and nab the clone.

Sam Crocker
@SamuelCrocker is SEO Associate Director at OMD UK, having transitioned there from Distilled, a respected UK SEO firm. Sam shares valuable (read: intensively wild-valuable) ideas with the community. For instance, as far back as SMX London 2010, Sam was sharing mozenda footprints, which were near and dear to techno-dweeb hearts. Sam, tell your evil twin that there’s a place for him in the good ol’ US of A.

Scott Hendison
@shendison is another friend from Portland, OR, gutting out the SEO revolution among the knotty sub-urban pines. SEO Automatic might make a fantastic left wing Aqusision to aimClear’s amazing new Duluth office. Hey, Scott. Let’s talk!  If not, how would you feel about a cheek swab to donate some DNA?

Simon Heseltine
@SimonHeseltine, director at AOL and columnist for SearchEngineWatch.com. rebroadcasts important industry news while adding his own ideas and tips. When we clone him, let’s make the legs a little shorter so I don’t feel soooo short.

Crispin Sheridan
@CrispinSheridan is Global Enterprise Search and Testing lead in corporate land, working for mega giant SAP. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him present at conferences, with a focus on international SEO. He’s one of the few true experts. Dude has it all going on.

Jonah Stein
@jonahstein has been in the search engine marketing business for 15 years and is a true wiz in the biz. Jonah is the founder of ItsTheROI.com, a full service Search Engine Marketing company. His double would take over Duluth and make it pay, baby.

John Thralow
@jonthralow is an eCommerce entrepreneur genius. He is proficient in driving business-to-business leads and sales via radical online tools. Jon is a great friend and neighbor to the aimClear team. Dude, with all the wacked out machines you’ve invented, surly you’ve come up with an online marketer cloning device.

Todd Friesen
@oilman is VP of search at Position Technologies and blogger of Oilman.ca. He is a true expert in search engine marketing and a great guy. I just wonder if there was another Todd, if the other Todd would enjoy leading an agency like aimClear and getting health insurance…

Todd Mintz
Speaking other other Todds… @toddmintz, senior account manager at PPC Associates, editor/blogger at Sphinn, president at Tough Love SEM, and blogger on ToddMintz.com, knows all things social media very well. If we could have another other Todd all to ourselves, we would be so very lucky.

Matt Van Wagner
@mvanwagner is president and founder of Find Me Faster, a search engine marketing firm based in Nashua, NH. Matt is a veteran sales and marketing professional and also a popular speaker at various online marketing conferences and a hell of trumpet player.

Will Scott
@w2scott, CEO of Search Influence (INC 500 2011), is your go-to man for making the web work for all sizes of professional businesses. He also has quite a following on social media platforms, which means Will’s cloned saddlebag would sure be a huge catch…a huge catch, I say.  Did I say a huge catch? Oh SEO, “catches of huge.”

William Leake
@Marketing_Bill, CEO at Apogee Results, has a deep expertise in the Online Marketing industry. He will be speaking at SMX East this year in September, and we wish we could be on speaking terms with his clone every day.

—

Well there you have it! Those are 52 unique individuals from whom we think could source awesome cell lines. In a make-believe world where we could simply clone DNA and manufacture body doubles, each of these mind-blowing markets’ alter egos would surly be on our dream-team roster.

Images Via Fotolia: Sheep image: genetics © Mat Hayward, Badge: Closeup of sheep with dna © Inllusion

When headhunters approach your employees directly to hire them away on behalf of their clients, that’s called employee “raiding.” Like stealthy cats, it’s their job to spirit resources away–your firm’s trained & capable team members. Even if your employees are happy, who wouldn’t be tempted to move on for more money or other incentives?

Fox In The Hen House
Headhunters charge fantastic prices, up to 30% of the first year’s salary. That’s because the booty is worth the loot and it’s hard work to make the connections. Great employees are hard to find. This back room recruitment dynamic has always existed and always will.

Now, radical social media tools, hidden in otherwise innocuous networking functionality, have made the headhunter’s job frighteningly easy. Friend-finder tools, in social media settings like Facebook and LinkedIn, make building a niche’ professional community much easier these days. Connect the dots as to how savvy headhunters use these “friendships.”

Here’s an explanation of how Facebook social media headhunters search candidates by location/job title and by raiding specific firms:

[Author's note: In order to honor Facebook's Terms Of Service & Code of Conduct, we've created fictional users, photos, companies and screen capture mockups. They mimic actual Facebook information design, using NO Facebook data, public or private. Resemblance to any company or person is totally coincidental. Also, aimClear does not advocate use of walled garden Facebook content for professional purposes which violate TOS. This post is simply about targeting new friends.]

Social Media Headhunting By Job Title
First We’ll search for the job title we’re hypothetically recruiting for. In this case I’ll type in “web designer Duluth.”

(Remember, this is fictional data) In the results, we easily locate a lady by the name of Ruth Anderson, a graduate of University of Minnesota Duluth. Good! She went to college in our city, which makes her a good candidate to start.

By drilling down deeper into Ruth’s profile, which she has designated as visible in her privacy settings, we learn that she is actually the Lead Web Designer for Acme Web Solutions. Ruth designs, builds and coordinates the development of websites for a variety of clients. Cool! It’s easy to “friend” her, which starts the relationship by introducing ourselves. It’s rare that folks refuse friendships from aligned local businesses.

Also in the results we find Billy Johnson.

Billy is potentially a prize fish. He’s the Interactive Director of Kolstad Advertising, a venerable and well-respected regional advertising agency.  Sure Billy was just promoted, but scripted courtship and cash often have a way of shaking great people loose to pursue exciting opportunities. Groovy! We smile a wry grin as we invite Billy to be friends.

It’s easy to see how searching Facebook for job title & city names result in mining friendships that could lead to deeper professional relationships. Let’s look at another, more aggressive method.

Social Media Headhunting By Competitor
Here we’ll search for Northern Llama, a decade+ old web marketing company in Duluth. We find Samantha Butler, a Senior at The College Of St. Scholastic in Duluth.  (BTW Samantha, you might want to eliminate the rammy pic.)

Samantha works part time as a Web Specialist @ Northern Llama. Add her to the recruitment list (or not )

Facebook displays as much of someone’s employment history as the user includes. That’s how we found Nicholas Martin, who shows up in the results because he used to work @ Northern Llama.

He’s an awesome prospect who happens to now work at Acme Web Solutions. Since users often post their entire job history in their profiles, the search for Northern Llama yielded this interesting candidate who no longer works there. Bingo! This guy’s the real deal.

Watch Your Back
We love getting cold calls from executive recruiters, employment agencies, executive search firms, staffing and personnel agencies. Invariably they work hard to sell themselves as a conduit to our next employee hire. Given the value of social media to assist such services, we laugh and suggest that they instead hire us to help them find candidates via social media networking sites.

Finding qualified employees in any community is as easy as a few minutes of research, friend making, networking and a carefully placed private message. Social media headhunters can now search by company, job title, college and many other criteria. We’ve talked about Facebook here but other social sites also lend themselves completely to human resources recruitment.

Employers, be realistic. Your staff’s propensity to list their employment situation on social media networking sites leaves YOU exposed to headhunters who can line them up and pick them off.

The landscape of paid search is rapidly changing. Platforms and tools change in subtle and major ways at any time. Though entry level, this position a good opportunity for someone interested in growing a career as the “new” media buyer. There is also the opportunity for advancement as our business continues to grow.

The Paid Search Account Technician is not required to research, set up, or create new accounts. Rather, in this role, expectations are that you can discern pattern changes in mature and healthy ongoing portfolios of paid search and report. However the technician has the authority to make tactical changes to accounts within pre-defined scope.

Daily tasks include generating daily, weekly, and monthly financial reports to or clients from a proprietary suite of Google, Panama, MSN, and other API Tools including multiple analytics packages, daily monitoring up to 20 clients with up to 5 accounts each, and holding each in strict adherence to budget.

Required Software: MS Office 2003+including the ability to use basic formulas in spreadsheets, and Windows XP (Vista a plus). Experience with major online paid advertising platforms is a plus.

Read carefully: this position requires a candidate who is functionally literate, has good grammar, is great with details, thinks on their feet, can handle a very fast pace, has a functional understanding of Internet navigation including use of search engines, is punctual, takes personal responsibility, and is very smart. Every aimClear team member also participates in social communities.

We’re open to giving an ultra smart, ultra talented, cutting edge creative person a cool first-job in search marketing. Salary is commensurate with experience.

Please email resumes to marty (at) aimClear.com.