Search Marketing Expo | SMX East | October 4-6, 2010 Autumn in New York means SMX East, and members of aimClear hope to travel to the Big Apple just in time to attend. With a rich program designed by Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman, SMX is one of those not-to-be-missed industry events. Past SMX speakers include thought-leaders Greg Boser, Jessica Bowman, Christine Churchill, Matt Cutts, Eric Enge, Jennifer Laycock, Aaron Wall and Chris Winfield, among many others.

Direct Marketing Association | DMA San Francisco | October 9-14, 2010 Marty will be head back to San Francisco to speak at the Direct Marketing Association, a dynamic event that encompasses (and embraces) both traditional and digital marketing tactics. Blending  direct and digital marketing, DMA2010 will feature a diverse clan of keynote speakers including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, wine enthusiast & entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck, and acclaimed director James Cameron.

140 Character Conference | 140conf Detroit | October 20, 2010 This Twitter-focused convention is relatively young, but its star-studded cast of speakers–including Ann Curry, MC Hammer, Soleil Moon Frye, and Arianna Huffington– has garnered prominence and popularity over the last two years. Tech anthropologist-entrepreneur Jeff Pulver brings together an audience eager to share and soak up  Twitter success stories. Lauren plans to live-tweet Detroit’s concert-style conf, which features 150+ speakers and 10-20 minute presentations in one jam-packed day.

International Search Summit London | October 28, 2010 Making a second 2010 biz trip across the pond, Marty will be speaking at the International Search Summit in good ol’ London. This one-day event, hosted in the elegant British Library, features an impressive array of online marketing and social media experts from each corner of the world. Marty is set to deliver an afternoon presentation on Blending Search with Social to Harness Global Data

PubCon | Pubcon Las Vegas | November 8-10, 2010 Pubcon’s intense fusion of affiliate, SEO, PPC and technical makes it one of the coolest conferences around. Located in the stunning city of Las Vegas, it attracts industry superstars like Adam Audette, Brent Payne, David Wallace, Eric Enge, Michael Streko, Rae Hoffman, and Stoney deGeyter. Live-tweeting and blogging the sessions will be aimClear’s Merry Morud (@merrymorud).

We hope to see you at one, if not all of these events Reach out on Twitter if you’ll be there so we can meetcha in person. If you can’t make the trips, be sure to check back at aimClear Blog for extensive conference coverage.

Roll over Beethoven! Legendary search marketing conclave PubCon looms large as  Sinatra on a flashing Las Vegas billboard. Beginning November 10th at the  ‘Vegas Convention Center, PubCon truly is one of the world’s most storied annual Internet marketing conferences.

Steeped in history, stand by to experience 4 killer days of content spread across 7 tracks, over 90 sessions and fantastic networking events. Learn from and mingle with over 200 expert speakers gathered to share real-world examples of bleeding edge SEO, PPC and affiliate-think-genius.

On Day One the Interactive Site Reviews Track, Focus on Organic presents an esteemed panel of top-notch SEOs to review and critique/scold attendees’ sites live. Derrick Wheeler, Senior Search Engine Optimization Architect at Microsoft will be speaking on the pannel and moderating the rest of the crew: Brain Combs, Principal of Ionadas Local, Amanda Watlington, Searching for Profit, and our very own Marty Weintraub.

After lunch Marty will keep attendees energized while speaking on the SEM Search Marketing track Keyword Research, Selection and Optimization moderated by Stephanie Leffler, CEO of Juggle.com. Misty Locke, Co-founder and President of Range Online Media, Stoney deGeyter, President of Pole Position Marketing and Ken Jurina, Epiar Inc President, will join Marty on the panel to divulge killer tips and tools for generating the right keywords and phrases for your search marketing campaign.

On day two of the conference, stick around til the end of the day for the money-saving SEO and Viral Tactics on a Shoestring Budget session on the SEO: Organic Search Optimization Track moderated by Heather Lloyd-Martin and Scott Brinker. As companies tighten their belts yet again thinning marketing budgets require viral marketing tactics and small-budget strategies. Marty joins Brett Tabke, CEO of WebmasterWorld.com and Ben Huh, CEO of Pet Holdings, Inc to outline major viral and money-saving marketing tactics.

It’s not too late to register for PubCon and, if search is your business, we highly recommend the experience.   Hang out with a gaggle of post-BBS geeks who arguably took over the world. Please reach out to aimClear if you’re going to be in attendance so we can get to know ya’ better. Everybody travel safely and we’ll see you soon in Las Vegas!

Good morning New York! The sun has not risen outside my Herald Square Mid-Town hotel, though the city’s morning energy radiates  outside for miles.  It’s autumn in New York and that means SMX East,  one of our favorite annual search marketing conferences.

Freshly recovered from last night’s Clix/aimClear SchmoozeFest (thanks to Dave & Buster’s),  this morning it’s time for serious business…2 speaking assignments on the Social Media Track.  Here’s my speaking schedule today:

9:00AM – 10:15AM: Facebook Marketing Tactics- Facebook recently expanded internal search functionality,  causing search some marketers to wonder about the possibility/feasibility of Facebook SEO for higher prominence in FB internal “SERPs.”This session will provide tips for tapping into opportunities Facebook holds” within its walled garden. Moderated by Danny Sullivan, his  esteemed panelists include Rebecca Kelley, Director of Social Media at 10e20, Will Scott, President of Search Influence, and Dennis Yu, CEO of BlitzLocal.

11:45 – 12:45: Social Media, Search & Reputation Management- Nearly every marketing pro is somehow concerned about possible negative buzz.  What’s a community manager to do? This session will take a deep-dive-look at look at how marketewrs can influence and harness the roller coaster to make the ride a little less bumpy.

Panelists include Brent Csutoras, Social Media Consultant, Rhea Drysdale COO and Co-Founder of Outspoken Media, Jordan Kasteler, Co-Founder of Search & Social, and Chris Silver Smith, Director of Optimization Strategies from KeyRelevance will be speaking with Marty on this panal for the Social Media Track.

We hope to see you at both sessions this morning.  Look for live blogging coverage from Keri Morgret at SEORoundTable.

Autumn in New York City is a magical time. Leaves change colors and air cools, offering a welcome reprieve from summer’s sweltering heat.  October in the city-that-never-sleeps has come to mean industry luminaries Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman gather our SEO community for three days of exceptional search marketing conference content, SMX East! aimClear’s speaking schedule is posted here.

Whenever Marty Weintraub and David Szetela coalesce (I.e. speaking in the same conference), there is an extra special element for a select few, SchmoozeFest! aimClear and Clix Marketing are pleased to announce an exclusive networking shin-dig at SMX East 2009, SchmoozeFest: SMX East Edition! Last month’s SES San Jose Tequila Edition was a knock out and we hope to exceed the fun in NY.

The privileged few fortunate enough to receive the sought-after orange wrist bands will kick back, catch up, talk shop and make some new friends while noshing on “forgettable finger food” and knocking back a few cocktails.

SES New York 2009 SchmoozeFest: Jim Hedger Serial Killer Edition

SchmoozeFest happens on Day Two of the conference, October 6^th from 7-9 PM. Keep your eyes open for an  exclusive invite and add SchmoozeFest to your list of can’t-miss events at SMX East. Also you can ping David or Marty anytime Monday or Tuesday prior to the event.

If you’re planning to attend SMX East, reach out to Marty or Manny and introduce yourself. Everybody travel safely.  Look for Marty’s coverage here in aimClear Blog, twitter and SEO RoundTable.

We have to say the agenda, organized by Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman and the whole Third Door crew, looks awesome. This is truly one of the “shouldn’t-miss” gatherings of the year for critical up-to-date industry information, best practices and  insight. SMX East is for serious professionals.  Register here:

Track This Baby
Keynotes, training sessions and panel discussions are laid out as “tracks:” SEO Track, Agency & Paid Search, In House Day, Links & Listings, Issues and the Obligatory Sponsors and Partner Track. Keep in mind that these “partners” are some of the most innovative and fascinating technicians and personas in all of search.

Other tracks include Vertical Search Marketing, Brands, Publishers & Agencies and (what is sure to be a classic romp) the SMX After Dark Party, an ummm…a “track in itself.” These conferences are famous for killer-ass parties. Stay tuned for the information regarding a special aimClear/Clix Marketing shindig.

aimClear Will Be Speaking
I’m truly looking forward to the pleasure of speaking on the Advanced Keyword Research panel moderated by Gordon Hotchkiss, President & CEO, Enquiro. Other speakers will be Ariel Bardin, Product Management Director, Christine Churchill, President, KeyRelevance.com. It’s likely that we’ll receive terrific insight regarding usage of Google’s evolving keyword inventory tool and other approaches/tools.

The What Is Ethical Social Media Marketing session is bound to be a holler. Moderated by: Jeffrey K. Rohrs, Vice President, Marketing, ExactTarget-speakers include Liana Evans, Director of Internet Marketing, Key Relevance, Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Director of Insights, Edelman Digital and me. My presentation will expound on our series of blog posts, New Series: Avatar Theory, Common Social Media Participation Models.

SearchEngineLand published a cool post, SMX East Speakers and Attendees — SEM Who’s Who!, highlighting the impressive array of industry talent assembled for this show. The Westin New York at Times Square is the official host hotel. Please look us up if you’re at SMX or in the New York area.

Beginning next week, in a series of aimClearBlog posts, we’ll be exploring common social media user-participation models. Considering how deeply social media engagement permeates human culture, there is a remarkable lack of consensus regarding appropriate use of avatars for corporate brand ambassadors, personal and other agendas.

For the uninitiated, an “avatar” simply speaks to how a person, company or other group of people represent themselves online. This can include pictures & video shared, content tagged and bookmarked, friends made, votes cast, dialog, style, self-description, activity in “walled garden forums” (not indexed by Google), purpose, transparency, role and objectives, etc…

“Avatar” is a fancy way of describing the essence of a social media persona–ranging from completely fact-based and transparent representations of a real humans expressing their true identity, to malfeasant provocateurs who, sadly, roam in anonymity brutally flaming innocents or partaking in other malicious acts.

There is a white to black hat continuum, which encompass many common gray-area permutations of social media activity. Our series of upcoming posts are is not intended to endorse or embrace any particular approach. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions. Rather, our objective is to chronicle paradigms by which professional and layperson community members “participate.” We’ll take a look at what’s actually done out there in the larger world.

Since SMX Advanced (“Give it Up” Panel) and subsequently in the much maligned SEOmoz post (Tiers of Transparency: The Ethical Brand Ambassador Avatar), there’s been heightened conversation regarding what’s cool and what’s not.

Now the subject is going mainstream. In October I’ll have the pleasure of speaking at SMX East NYC, on the “What Is Ethical in Social Media Marketing” panel, with Liana Evans, Jeffrey K. Rohrs and Steve Rubelat.

In the meantime, I encourage ya’ll to do a gut check on your own practices and be totally honest with yourself, as you read through our upcoming posts highlighting common models of participation. The first article in the series will debut next week. Stay tuned.

I’m fortunate enough to have been invited to speak at this year’s Searchfest along with the likes of Stoney deGeyter, Matt McGee and Rand Fishkin. Recently Todd Mintz was gracious enough to answer questions I pinged him with regarding the Portland conference, his own professional history, and personal inspiration. I even had to “bleep” his copy.

What was the organization’s genesis and what role did you play? SEMpdx was the brainchild of Kent Lewis and Scott Orth. Both of them attended SES Seattle 2006 and thought that there wasn’t any reason that Seattle should draw the attention of Search Marketers while Portland continued to be ignored.

Both felt that Portland could support not only a search marketing organization but a prominent search conference as well. While I wasn’t close to either Kent or Scott at the time, one of them included me on the invite list to the initial organizational meeting and I became one of the SEMpdx board members.

Tells us about your professional history, background, and search marketing specialty.
I discovered search marketing in 2000 and learned it mostly from reading forums like Webmaster World & trying stuff out. My background is pretty unique in that I learned search via spam techniques (that would be pretty primitive by today’s standards) and as spam became less effective, I migrated towards the light.

As I am now in a corporate role, I’m more of a search generalist (if there still can be such a thing) and consider myself proficient in most aspects of organic & paid search. Though I’m fascinated by the social media scene, I don’t have the aptitude in it of somebody like…Marty Weintraub :.)

What is Searchfest and who should attend?
Searchfest is a regional search marketing conference that we host each March in Portland. It’s a chance to see top caliber speakers in a much smaller venue than one of the traditional bigger conferences. We target our marketing efforts towards two types of people: Other search marketers who want to see the best & brightest in the industry, and business people who want to understand more about search marketing so they can use search to drive revenue to their company. Purchase your Searchfest tickets now.

What are the top 11 reasons to attend Searchfest.

1. Rip City, baby!
2. The conference speaking debut of Top Sphinner, Social Media Expert, and all-around great guy Marty Weintraub.
3. Rand Fishkin’s first search conference keynote.
4. Portlander Paul Colligan is both the Podcast Godfather and an amazing speaker…don’t miss him.
5. Competitive Webmaster John Andrews gets his own session.
6. Matt McGee knows Small Business SEM and he’ll be speaking about that very topic.
7. Trailblazer Internet Marketing Director Dan Harbison was one of the high points of Searchfest 07…and we’ve invited him back.
8. Is there life after Vanessa Fox at Google Webmaster Central? We have Riona Macnamara to update us on that wonderful tool.
9. Usability & Site Architecture are important topics and we have Ian Lurie & Stoney deGeyter speaking on them.
10. Rebecca’s back for an encore.
11. Over time, I get to meet & talk to some real cool, smart people and I really enjoy being able to offer them Searchfest speaking slots. Such people include Lisa Williams, Dustin Woodard & Adam Audette.

What are your favorite 3 blog posts of all time, the one that changed your life?
I don’t think any blog posts have changed my life…however, here are a few favorites:

Do It F-king Now has to be my all time favorite blog post because it transcends search marketing and applies to every facet of life. I can’t think of any possible stronger call to take action than this.

Stevie and Marvin from Thomas Dolby because this is the best written example that attempted to communicate the transcendent power of music that I’ve ever read (and it’s hard to do…I tried myself).

Aaron Wall Interviews Frank Schilling because it made me realize that I was in the wrong business:.) Seriously, up until then, I viewed domains as a receptacle for placing SEO’ed content…in actuality, there might be much more value in the domain name than in the SEO of the domain and domaining offers a much greater possibility for wealth generation than SEO. I think Aaron’s interview of Frank changed the professional lives of many in search and its influence can not be understated.

You are an active participant in Facebook, Sphinn, LinkedIn, and others. What advice would you give in-house marketing folks who want to get started on behalf of their employer or themselves personally?
Click the link to the Do It F-king Now blog post and follow the advice given:.)

Seriously, like anything else, it’s a commitment of time and resources…you just have to learn the community, interact with its members, and build relationships. I will never win any awards for being a social butterfly but I intellectually knew what I needed to do to succeed in the community and I genuinely liked interacting with everyone I’ve met.

Let’s take Sphinn as an example. The launch of Sphinn offered a big stage for anyone to jump in and establish themselves very visibly in this new search community. People like you and I embraced that opportunity and committed time & resources at Sphinn’s launch to make ourselves noticed at a time where everybody was watching what everyone else was doing. We not only helped develop the community the way it is today but along the way met folks & developed relationships that we can draw upon in our professional & personal lives. That’s groovy!

Who do you want to give link love to here:
Let me acknowledge the entire SEMpdx Board of Directors:
President – Kent Lewis, Anvil Media Inc.
Events – Ben Lloyd, Amplify-Interactive
Operations – Scott Orth, GTS Services
Sponsorships – Sean McMahon – EngineWorks, Inc.
Marketing – Scott Hendison, Search Commander
Technical – Stan Davis, Straight-On Internet Consulting search engine optimization Portland
Membership – Leo Chung, Overland Agency, an interactive advertising agency
Editor – Todd Mintz, S.R. Clarke

Also speaking at the session is Janet Johnson, a respected businesswoman-blogger who is well-known to the Portland business community. Today, SEMPDX announced that they’re accepting pitches to speak with Janet and I in Portland. Here’s the link for submission procedure and rules. The deadline is 1/24/08.

As many of our readers know, breaking into the national speakers circuit can be a challenge so this is a great opportunity. SEMPDX is a rapidly growing annual event which covers SEM fundamentals, link building & affiliate marketing techniques, social media marketing, analyzing campaign results and measuring ROI, case studies & results from real-life campaigns, SEM industry trends and future outlook.

Make your pitch now and we’ll see you in Portland this March.

There’s a tremendous amount of buzz about search marketing in the hallowed halls of academia. Today aimClear will speak to students who are engaged, as part of their business education, in consulting with seven different regional businesses (CED clients) in the area of marketing-communications campaign development.

We’re honored for the opportunity to give back to the Duluth and Northern Minnesota regions.