Search Marketing Gurus | Online Marketing Professionals Give Search Marketing Tips, Advice, Strategies & Tactics

Get Your Website or Blog Reviewed for Just $21!

By Li Evans

Are you going to be in the Philadelphia area around September 6&7th, 2008?  Well if you are, you can't miss this heck of a bargain!

SearchCamp Philly built into its community-made agenda "site clinics" and "blog reviews" for attendees of the PodCamp Philly / SearchCamp Philly event.  This is your chance to get your website (Small Business, B2B or Entrepreneur website) or your blog looked at by some of the areas top online marketers and get some advice on how to improve it.

We have 4 types of reviews

• Blog Clinics - You can have your blog reviewed by Geoff Livingston, Debbie Weil & me (Liana Evans)
• B2B Site Review - If you are a business selling to a business, here's the chance to have 2 of our B2B gurus take a look at your site
• Small Business Review - Are you a small business with a website?  If you are and you want some guidance, bring your URL along to this site clinic and 2 of our Small Business experts will review it for you.
• Entrepreneur Website Review - Have you just started out a business in the last year?  Wondering what you can do to get ahead and get noticed online?  Bring your website URL to this clinic and we'll have 2 of our experts take a look at your site to give you some guidance in this area.

What will this cost you?  Just $21!  That is if you register for SearchCamp Philly / PodCamp Philly before the 6th.  It'll be $25 at the door - but we suggest signing up now, as space is filling up fast and we're nearly full.  You definitely won't have to break into the Philadelphia Mint to have a review done to your site.

We also suggest you email siteclinic [at] searchcampphilly [dot] com to submit your site ahead of time to ensure we can review it!  This way your spot can be ensured - it's first come first served! 

Online Marketing Tips Video: Utilizing Video in Online Marketing Strategies

By Li Evans

Tuesday's Tips in Online Marketing for this week is a few days late, due to some technical difficulties, but we do have one!

This week's video on online marketing tips features tips on utilizing video in your online marketing strategies.  These tips can help you get the most out of your videos that you are uploading to the video sharing sites.

Full video transcript after the jump...

Online Marketing Tips Video: How to Get the Most Out of a Online Marketing Conference

By Li Evans

So while out at SES San Jose a few of the industry experts from around the globe helped me put together a special edition of "Tuesday's Tips in Online Marketing".  It was a lot of fun to put this together, expect for the part where my laptop decided it didn't want to cooperate with putting it together!

The topic of last week's tips in online marketing was "How to Get the Most Out of an Online Marketing Conference", so take a peek at what all these wonderful folks had to say.

There's no transcript for this video at this time.

Just a Quick Note....

By Li Evans

Due to some technical difficulties, which include 2+ hours on the phone with HP today, the two Tuesday's tips videos I have videoed, will be delayed by a day or two until I can get my laptop up and running right again.

I tell ya, I think I'm jinxed.  2+ hours and HP still isn't sure what's wrong with my laptop, isn't that lovely?

Apologies for those who are waiting on the video shot out at SES... I working on it, I swear!

SES: Measuring Success in a 2.0 World

By MarySue Eckstrom

Measuring Success in a 2.0 world

The focus of this session was knowing whether or not you have been successful with search engines and your website in general. By knowing that there are many both classic and cutting-edge techniques to measure success,what statistics you should really care about,ways to be more strategically focused,and how to drive increased revenue for your business.

The panel consisted of:

Moderator
* Richard Zwicky, Founder & CEO, Enquisite
Speakers
* Jim Sterne, Target Marketing & Chairman, Web Analytics Association
* Matthew Bailey, President, SiteLogic
* Avinash Kaushik, Author,Blogger, Analytics Evangelist, Google
* Marshall Sponder, Senior Web Analyst, Monster.com

Avinash Kaushik was the first speaker and he talked about Why is "2.0" such a challenge?

    *Content  -------- *Creation

    *Content  -------- *Distribution

    *Content --------- *Consumption

New ideas for New world

    * Use many different tools

    * Unique measures

    * Unique data collection

Don't need to rely on fake page views

A Quote from Avinash that I think will forever stick in my head "Get On Board or Get Run Over!"

Jim Sterne is the next speaker and he starts out by saying "Data,Data everywhere and not a thought to think"

Web metrics grows up

    *reporting

    *analysis

    *dynamic

    *hearts

    *benchmarking

    *promotions

    *minds

Search metrics grows up

    *ranking

    *analysis

    *traffic

    *dynamic bidding

    *predictive bidding

Tough times call for tough measures

Rank, traffi,c pageviews, loyalty, sales, profits.

The question to ask is which Keywords are getting me to the profits?

Matthew Bailey was up next to speak and he gave us "Analytics According to Captain Kirk"

Get away from creating charts and graphs

There are three C's of Analytics

    *Context

    *Comparison

    *Contrast

Tell the story of what is going on

Ask questions

Then do something

Basically what he was telling us is not to wait for someone to tell you what to do, ask what they want done and then go and do something about it!

He left us with a quote by Neil Postman about asking questions  "Question-asking is the most significant tool human beings have."

I think that pretty much sums it up!

The final speaker of this session was Marshall Sponder  he talked about how he had gotten into the industry.

{note from Li:  This was Mary Sue's first real crack at posting this all on her own, reporting back what she got from this panel at SES As a total newbie to search, so these are the things a new person at SES is taking away.  I hope you all can enjoy the session from her perspective!]

SES: Global Search For B2B Search Engine Marketing

By David Temple

Global Search For B2B Search Engine Marketing

Localization was again the main theme of this session. You need to not only localize your content but also consider the search engines, local market needs ( keyword research) and metrics. All those factors need to be considered when conducting a global search engine marketing plan.

The session panel was comprised of the following;

Moderator:
• Jeffrey Rohrs, Vice President, Marketing, ExactTarget

Speakers:
• Patricia Hursh, President, SmartSearch Marketing
• Kevin Lee, Executive Chairman & Co-founder, Didit
• Jeffrey Pruitt, President, SEMPO and Vice president, corporate sponsorships, iCrossing

Patricia Hursh started the session on how to get started in global B2B search.

• Which search engines to focus on
   o In China Baidu dominates
   o In Japan Yahoo is the leader (based on an earlier session,n Google is gaining ground)
   o Don’t rely on charts as each search engine has different users

• How important is translation?
   o Search engine requirements
    Target audience (demographics)
   o Local dialect, cultural tendencies, current events, etc.
   o Work with native speaker (use a local voice)

• Regional search trends
   o Google Mexico SERPS show 80% ads in Spanish, and only 20% in English
   o Yahoo Mexico SERPS, 100% of the ads are in Spanish

• Ease of PPC campaign set-up
   o Yahoo

• Need to setup by each country campaign
• Can only use local currency
• Minimum bids are different

   o Google

• A single interface
• Can charge in local or US currency

   o Deposits and bids may vary

Kevin Lee is next up and he talks about some of the challenges in dealing with the global B2B market.

Challenges

• Hedge for currency fluctuation
• No single decision maker
• Budget by country or region
• Long lead time
• B2B keywords are different
• ROI calculations different by market
• Lead time is longer
• Metrics are different

Metrics

• Lead forms or whitepaper request
• Contact page
• Phone calls
• Orders
• Site stickiness

Segmentation

• Day of week
• Demographics
• Click source
• IP address and ISP

Jeffrey Pruitt is next to speak and talk about B2B trends. He just returned from China and realizes the importance of communications and finding the right partners.

• B2B spending is at $3.5 billion and is predicted to reach $8 billion in 4 years
• 84% of mobile search want a mobile site
• Social marketing is becoming more important to the B2B sector
• Offline (TV, radio, print) drives search
• Understanding global business goals and localize where applicable
• Focus on success of engagement (downloads, signups, etc.)
• Understand the market  (Google in US)

   o Baidu in China
   o Naver in Korea
   o Yandex in Russia

SES: Search Around the World Part 1: Asia/Pacific & Latin America

By David Temple

Search Around the World Part 1: Asia/Pacific & Latin America

This session is on the first day at SES San Jose 2008. The main theme gathered from this session is localize, localize, localize. It’s not just a matter of translating your current content, you need to have someone in market or at least someone that knows the market well in order to be effective. And no, do not use translation software!

The session panel was;

Moderator
• Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner & Founder, Beyond Ink

Speakers:
• T.R. Harrington, Director of Strategic Direction & Product Development, Darwin Marketing
• Motoko Hunt, Founder, Japanese Search Marketing Strategist, AJPR LLC
• Alicia Morga, CEO, Consorte Media

China

T.R. Harrington is the first to speak. (He’s been in China for more than four years and understands the market well.) When he first went there he thought they had fortune cookies but soon discovered that was an American invention.

• China has 254 million bypassing the US early this year.
• BBS is still huge in China with 12M daily searches on Baidu
• Tencent (QQ) has the largest number of casual games and is the #1 blog site and #1 portal.
• Drivers for search growth are the rising internet population, growth in the number of web pages and a large number of SME’s.
• Taiwan and Honk Kong should be approached differently. Even different regions in China should be considered as different markets.
• Baidu has 71% market share compared to Google’s 23%
• Paid ads used to dominate the search but Baidu is doing a better job of balancing paid and organic
• CPC costs are rising dramatically
• Traffic estimation tools aren’t reliable.
• Baidu is adding 14.5 new products a year

Japan

Motoko Hunt has been doing search marketing in Japan for a long time. She also emphasized localization.

• There are 89 million users in Japan which represents a 70% penetration rate and 85% of them are on broadband.
• Online ad spending is at $4.6 billion and is expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2011.
• Yahoo used to be the search marketing leader but Google has caught up and they each have about 50% of the market share.
• Mobile marketing and QR codes  are huge.
• Blogs are very popular and some blogs have gone to books and even a TV show.
• Youtube and Nico Nico Duga are very popular in Japan.
• There are 4 different sets of characters so you have to do extensive keyword research.
• Main take aways

o Localize
o Keyword research
o Adapt for what works in Japan
o Consider different ways to approach the market

Latin America

Alicia Morga, addressed not only Latin American but the US Hispanic market as well.

• 44 million US Hispanics and 23 million are online.
• US Hispanics use both English and Spanish with English used by 52%, Bilingual is 27 % and Spanish at 21%.
• In Latin America there are 53 million users but only a 13% penetration rate.
• When US  Best Buy translated their content into Spanish it got indexed immediately but most of the traffic came from Spain & Latin America.
• When the shopping cart was in English it actually converted better as it was perceived as more legitimate.
• Banner ads works well since the users aren’t jaded as in the US.
• Mobile advertising and text messaging work well.

Fun Friday Photos: Lisa Barone & Mike Grehan at SES San Jose

By Li Evans

SMG has been pretty quiet the past week, that's because the majority of the team was out in San Jose for Search Engine Strategies.  As always it was packed full of fun, but it was also packed full of meeting new people and a whole bunch of new sessions.

Never fear though, my trusty camera (and my new video camera) were right by my side and I managed to snap up a lot of the fun.  From Gordon Biersch on Sunday night to the WebmasterRadio.FM Search Bash on Wednesday night there's over 400 pictures (which finally all got up to Flickr late last night).

I even have a Tuesday's tips video almost together (special edition!) which I can hopefully get up soon!  But until then here's one of the many pictures from SES San Jose.... it's Mike Grehan and Lisa Barone hanging out at the Fairmont Hotel Lobby on Sunday night.

If you like this photo of Mike & Lisa hanging out at the Fairmont, feel free to comment and favorite it on Flickr, Sphinn or Fetch this photo as that's how we'll be judging the photos at the end of the year! Check out the rest of the fun at SES San Jose 2008, there's just over 200 photos in that set and there's over 200 photos in the WebmasterRadio.FM Search Bash photo set.

When Blogging & Reviewing Can Get You Banned from a Cruise Line

By Li Evans

Have you ever been on a cruise where someone complains about every little thing?  Maybe the ice cubes aren't cold enough?  They didn't like the free gift they got each night, or maybe those towels weren't properly folded into a perfect swan?  Maybe the captain's bow tie wasn't tied right at dinner?

In search, we all know the power of the written word.  As bloggers we know the value and the impact a review can have.  Just look at how tech companies bow at Michael Arrington's feet to have him review their products, services or websites for TechCrunch, as an example.  TechCrunch's opinion can make or break a website or service.

But what about those customers who never seem happy, never easy to please, and always seem to complain just to get the next freebie, percentage off or deep discounted vacation?  What about those customers who always use the written review as a "weapon"?  Do business have the right to fight back?  Can they?  How in the world do you fight back from a customer who seems like a "troll", who's word jeopardizes your business?

Online Marketing Tips Video: Utilizing Yelp for Small Business Marketing

By Li Evans

If you haven't noticed, things have been a little bit slow here on SMG, since I'm the main writer here, it gets kind of hectic when your family life gets thrown into turmoil at the drop of a hat, somethings have to take a back burner.  We all know that, so I won't drone on about that point.  Things though are getting better, so regular posts should be returning!

First up, our Tuesday's Online Marketing Tips video!

This week I'm talking about Yelp and how small businesses can utilize key features of Yelp to help to market themselves.  From making sure your information is right to asking for a reviews, these 5 tips can help just about any small business involved in some kind of service industry, market themselves a bit further online.

Also note, there's a bit of a difference in the video this time around.  Different camera, different shooting style and the 5 tips listed after the discussion.  With this new camera, you might see a few different formats till we decide on what works best. :)

Video transcript after the jump....