aimClear® Search Marketing Blog

OK, PR pros, it’s confession time. How many of you have clients that have asked, “Why aren’t we showing up in Google Alerts?” Or how about this gem: “We started a blog, but no one’s reading it. What should we do?” If you were like me several years ago, you probably responded with some shifty non-answer like, “Google Alerts don’t matter; they don’t result in more sales,” or, “Your readership will grow with time.” Is this a not-in-my-job-description situation or a sign it’s time to get back in the classroom? Read the rest of this entry »

Did I just lose a contact, or does it seem like the lines between public-relations practitioner and online marketer are blurring? An increasing number of SEOs seem to think so (I happen to agree), but their perceptions of the role PR pros play in the SEM sandbox range from toy-sharer to sand-village slave.

Recently, I read a Search Engine Watch article by Jeremy Bencken that focused on the link-building benefits of PR. The post shared some sweet tips that any PR practitioner should implement, but some advice centered on PR primarily as a link-building tactic, neglecting the fact that PR is a strategy in and of itself: to drive the awareness that leads to the search. In other words, a story placed through media-relations efforts might not include a link, but if it led a reader to search for more information, it did its job. More on this concept after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to aimClear’s coverage of #SMX West 2011! Day 1 is officially over and just like the warm, friendly 60-degree weather here in sunny San Jose, it did not disappoint– brimming with great panel discussions & tip-top presentations– among them, Location Services: The New Local Search.

Gib Olander, director of business development with Localeze; Rodney Hess, account associate with Search Influence; Jason Rupp, director of product management at Ask.com; Chris Travers, president and co-founder of UniversalBusinessListing.org and Ken Norton, senior product manager for Google were at the helm for this one. Each took turns exploring  how location services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and/or mobile apps are changing the local search space indefinitely. aimClear live tweeted this session (via MoCR521)… read on for a full write-up. Read the rest of this entry »

As snow flew sideways on the chilly frontier, SES Chicago 2008 participants waited to be regaled yet again with insight and information. Eisenberg did not disappoint.

This session focused on shifting the mindset from “Pay Per Click” to “Pay Per Conversation.”  Clearly it is imperative to remain cognizant of the current state of the economy, where every click and hence every dollar matters.

Every click is a potential customer trying to engage you and their choices are limited.  Will the customer continue the dialogue through to a purchase funnel or will they bounce immediately off your landing page?  In order to continue the conversation, the value of the product and service needs to be demonstrated.

This session helped  identify missed conversations and then how to woo them back.  The introduction was given by Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner & Founder, Beyond Ink.  Presenting valuable insight was Bryan Eisenberg, Co-founder, Future Now Inc. Read the rest of this entry »

Gathering of the Techie Thought Leaders,
Moderated by Kevin Ryan and Mike Grehan, SES San Jose 2008
Matt Cutts – Google, Danny Sullivan -  Search Engine Land, Tim Westergren- Pandora, Robert Scoble – Scobleizer and others, Kirsten Mangers – CEO WebVisible, Rich LeFurgy, Archer advisors

Kevin Ryan is my personal god. He started off the round table with a pastiche of pop culture references to google, texting, blogging and everything else that the panel represents. (South Park, even though it’s rife with toilet humor, is still IMHO is one of the best observers/skewers of popular culture out there.) Read the rest of this entry »