aimClear® Search Marketing Blog

If you’ve spent any serious time on the search marketing conference circuit, you’re no doubt familiar with Heather Lloyd-Martin. Maybe you saw a flash of her signature red hair when you poked your head in the Speakers’ Room, or watched as she dazzled crowds, trading hats from lively moderator to panelist to presenter (averaging 327 words per minute)… or perhaps you even hung out and talked shop together at some fabulous networking event. Whatever the context – you know her, or at least of her – and if you plan to hit up any cherished SEM gatherings in the future, odds are you’ll find her there.

But like many industry rockstars, Heather’s work goes well beyond that which she puts into speaking gigs and PowerPoint decks. She’s an accomplished author and SEO copywriting pioneer with well over a decade of professional experience under her belt. SuccessWorks, Heather’s SEO copywriting firm, cross-trains in-house copywriters from companies of all sizes and types– Fortune 50 retailers to travel destination sites. A keen focus on leveraging strategic content to increase online visibility makes the SuccessWorks team one-two-punch-tastic.

On the advent of SMX West, aimClear had the pleasure of sharing a candid Q&A with the lovely Ms. Lloyd-Martin. Discussion topics ranged from “Hi, who are you?” to Google Search Plus Your World (SYYW) to must-have online tools to amphibious childhood memories. Read on for the full scoop. Read the rest of this entry »

Noran El-Shinnawy, Director of Marketing at BoostCTR and Associate Instructor of the Master Certification Conversion Optimization course at MarketMotive, is one awesomely outspoken marketer. I first met Noran at last year’s Search Engine Strategies Chicago after her solo presentation on Social Media Metrics, during which she berated all those self-professed “Social Media Experts” (or worse… “Social Media Gurus”… *shudder*) clogging up on the online marketing industry. ”All that term means is that you’re unemployed & unemployable,” she quipped. [Author's note: Truth!]

Noran’s moxie comes backed by some serious smarts that extend well beyond social media best practices. From charting the customer’s PPC journey to understanding buyer voice and intent, to quality score, analytics, and conversion optimization, she’s far from pigeon-holed in this industry. Noran’s set to take the stage at #SESCHI 2011 and speak on Ads in a Quality Score World. Prior to the event, I shared a bite-sized interview with Noran to learn more about the girl who once asked, “What’s ‘an Avinash’?” during a job interview. Read on for the full scoop. Read the rest of this entry »

Bryan Eisenberg is, in the world of online marketing, generally a man who needs no introduction. Co-author of bestselling books, frequent keynote speaker and session sequencer at an array of conferences, co-founder of this, advisory board member of that, authority and pioneer in persona marketing, conversion rate optimization, persuasion architecture and more. Wait, this is turning into an introduction. Let’s just get to it!

Next month at Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2011, Bryan will take the stage on Day 1 to contribute his insightful two cents to the Conversion Tools of the Master Craftsman session. On the advent of #SESCHI, I had the chance to share a candid Q&A with Bryan on a variety of topics, from his professional background to thoughts on marketing personas, favorite conversion optimization tools to favorite vacation spots. Read on for the full scoop. Read the rest of this entry »

You might say Simon Heseltine, Director in charge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) at AOL Inc., knows a thing or two about organic search. In addition to managing all organic search and training across AOL and Huffington Post Media Group properties, he and his team do SEO consulting for the AOL team across the pond in the United Kingdom. He’s been at the forefront on development and implementation of successful organic and social strategies for an array of clients spanning a variety of verticals. He’s also a familiar face on the search marketing conference landscape, speaking with tip-top knowledge on SEO, social search, and even reputation management. Did we mention he teaches SEO (yeah, that’s a course, now…) at Georgetown University? Oh yeah, and he a regular contributor at SearchEngineWatch.com. So… yeah. He knows a thing or two about organic search.

I met Simon last year at SES New York, and in addition to being a seriously smart dude, let me tell you – he’s got a super magical accent. On the advent of SES Chicago 2011, I got to share a casual Q&A with Simon over tea and crumpets (well, I imagined that’s how it went down, anyway), with topics including favorite animals to the overlap between search and social, even a sneak peek at his upcoming #SESCHI preso on Strange Encounters of the SEO Kind. Read on for the full scoop. Read the rest of this entry »

Melissa Mackey, better known in some circles as @mel66, is a Search Marketing Manager at Fluency Media based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over two decades of traditional marketing experience and a breadth of professional achievements in the online marketing realm help make Melissa an authoritative force, particularly on the pay per click front. She stays fresh on industry ongoings as an active contributor to various online publications a la Search Engine Watch, moderator on SEW forums, and host to a lively PPC and SEM themed feed over on her blog, BeyondThePaid.com.

I remember kicking it with Melissa at Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2010, and right off the bat it became apparent that this venerable industry pro was also a super-cool down-to-earth gal. On the advent of #SESCHI 2011, I had the pleasure of sharing a candid Q&A with Melissa. Topics spanned AdWords obstacles, PPC platform secret weapons, brand term cannibalization and a peek at her upcoming Day 1 presentation on Introduction to Paid Search. Read on for the full scoop. Read the rest of this entry »