I was pleased to present again at the Software Association of Oregon’s TechPub “Hot Seat Site Review” event in Corvallis last week.

This is the biggest SAO group besides the Portland organization and the fickle economy has done nothing to slow down entrepreneurs in the area.

Scott Fish, Director of Search for EngineWorks presented with me again as well as web developer Misty Lambrecht.

PoshStyle.com has a lovely site, but panelists agreed they’d be hard pressed to be competitive with big name brands for “head” keyword phrases. The team was encouraged to pursue “tail” keyword phrases to help boost visitors to the site. Though PoshStyle.com did have a presence on Twitter and Facebook they were encouraged to have a conversation with their followers rather than just update them on new products, which had been their social marketing strategy to date.

SpinDriftCellars.com was in the middle of a redesign so the critique focused on creating an experience for the visitor rather than just trying to sell wine online.

Panelists reminded the audience that best practice for online business owners includes involving search marketing professionals before the redesign phase so important search factors are identified prior to redesign.

StruCalc.com review illustrated the importance of usability. The majority of the site had a banner which took up all the content above the fold, so when a new page was selected, the visitor had to scroll down the page to view the new information, making it appear as if the visitor was still on the same page. Panelists also recommended including content on the site that helped solve a problem. The product, for architects and designers, helped them save time and money during the design phase, a benefit not included on the home page.

CenterSpace.net review highlighted the importance of keyword research. “Numerical analysis software”, identified by the panel as important phrases for their target market, weren’t used in the sites on page content.

All four reviews highlighted the very important and foundational need for keyword research. It’s difficult to reach your end user if you haven’t researched which keywords and phrases they are using to find your product or service.

Writing unique, keyword rich title tags, meta descriptions and on page content for all high level pages was a recommendation for all four sites.
(As these items display in Google: Title Tag is in blue and underlined, Description is in black underneath Title Tag)

When there are nearly a million results for a keyword phrase (such as “oregon wine club”), it’s important to give the engines every signal that your landing page is relevant to the query.

Pursuing short term and long term goals in keyword research is also an important strategy. There are free tools for starting keyword research including a free trial for WordTracker and the Google tool.

Presenting for the topic of “Search Engine Marketing” entails more than SEO (search engine optimization). Panelists covered site usability, social marketing and other online marketing strategies.

Of course my favorite part of the evening was when Frank Hall, event coordinator, reminded the attendees that they should devote themselves to their businesses and leave Search Marketing to Search Marketers;)

Comment here or tweet me if you’d like to have the presentation for this event.

I had the honor of presenting at this weekend’s Digital Journalism Camp at the Oregonian. (Check out video coverage of the SEO session)

The sessions were very thoughtful and timely and included Digital Storytelling, Revenue Models and Hyper-Local News sessions as well as the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) session I presented with Anvil Media’s Rachel Anderson.

Presentation focus was on case studies for organizations and reporters who are getting SEO right and garnering page one placement for prominent keywords/phrases. I shared that journalists now have two audiences, their readers and the engines. I presented an example from the Huffington Post about an article for the Amazon and Zappos deal. The journalist had done a lot of the right things: keyword-rich headline, properly tagged article, ability to bookmark, easily integrated social media, simple sign up for getting email news alerts, but what they didn’t do right was a travesty to the english language and the journalism reporter code, they spelled “acquisition” incorrectly IN THE HEADLINE. (A point that this journalism major didn’t catch, but one of the attendees did).

This is a great leap off point for the question on many journalists minds, how do we bridge the gap between great journalism and being found online? And just as importantly, why the hell is my prize-winning article buried in Google News behind some poorly written, but well-seo’ed blog post?

Welcome to online marketing, come on in the water’s fine. This issue isn’t just one for journalists, it’s one the business community has been dealing with for years. Things change online. It’s a challenge to keep up as the technology changes and people adapt to those changes. That swift and unyielding element of change is also the thing that makes the internet such a thrilling evolution of ideas. Don’t bemoan that it’s a moving target, embrace it or plan to spend a great deal of your time frustrated. To the reporters, IT specialists, content developers and publishers who attended Digital Journalism Camp, congratulations for being in acceptance of this truth;)

As promised here are 6 exercises to include in your pursuit of finding your online readership.

1 Don’t get caught up in gaming the engines – Good SEO isn’t easy. If there are 50,000 results for a given keyword/phrase, you will have to do a lot of things right to get to page one. Simply be thoughtful about implementing SEO basics.

2 Be a great reporter first and a beginner SEO second – Do your job and learn the foundation of good SEO. Encourage your organization to participate in getting content found by your readers through search engine optimization and marketing.

3 Do keyword research – Whether you are dealing with an ongoing issue or a new topic, do keyword research and think like a searcher, what words would my reader use to find this topic?

4 Add value for your reader through proper linking – If you cite information in your article that can be illuminating for your reader, share the link to that information in your article.

5 Think about what Google needs to find you – Write keyword-rich headlines, use stock ticker info in your article to help Google News identify, properly tag your article, make sure readers can easily share your content.

6 Spend time on your social media profiles- Search engines aren’t the only place your readers will find you. As a reporter, you’re a brand. Create social media profiles that highlight your unique insight, your ability to bring out truth through exceptional interviewing and your powerful writing skills. Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn.

Thank you again to all the attendees at Digital Journalism Camp. Keep me posted on your progress and feel free to tweet me @mediafortemktg

This week’s InnoTech Conference (The Business & Technology Innovation Conference and Expo) at the Oregon Convention Center April 22-23 boasts a wide range of Technical and Web Topics including IT issues, Local Search, Blogging, Enterprise Search and Mobile Search: (see Sessions At a Glance).

MEDIA forte marketing, will be paneling a Hot Seat Site Reviews session with Hallie Janssen, Anvil Media, Kent Schnepp, EngineWorks and Scott Hendison, Search Commander. These sessions are a great way to take SEO/SEM best practices and apply them to live sites.

Another “Don’t Miss” is David Mihm’s “Local Search Marketing Strategies“. David, GetListed.org, shares strategies for maximizing exposure in local Google and Yahoo listings.

The SoMe (social media) Awards is a newcomer to the line up and and honors the area’s top social marketing campaigns. Also on the Social Media front, Rahaf Harfoush, New Media Strategist, Member of Obama’s Social Media Team, & Associate Director of the Global Cooperation Initiative at the World Economic Forum will present at the InnoTech Keynote Lunch on Thursday, April 23, 2009 (register here). Unique opportunity to hear, first hand, from a member of the social media campaign that redefined politics.

If you’re at the Expo, come visit our SEMpdx Booth and learn more about becoming a member of one of the best search marketing organizations in the country.

In it’s 6th year, InnoTech agenda and speakers keep getting better. Don’t miss it!

After months of hard work from our SEMpdx team, SearchFest 09 launched their 3rd Annual event. It was, in a word, awesome.

Though there is so much to discuss since the show was such a hit, here are

Eight Things I Didn’t Expect from SearchFest 09

SEMpdx Brought In the Biggest Names in The Business

Todd Mintz, Kent Lewis and David Mihm were pivotal in bringing in the top guns in all the search areas discussed, Social Marketing, Technical SEO, PR, Online Reputation Management, WordPress and Blogging, etc. We had big names as well as the big three (Google, Yahoo, MSN).

Danny Sullivan Keynoted

Danny Sullivan, the Godfather of search, keynoted about the perception of search and helped create some potential new language for the industry to create clarity about the depth of search. Terms recommended included Technical SEO, speaking to the technical and site architecture side of search and Content SEO, speaking to the content development side of search. I’ve heard Danny speak several times and I thought it was great that he actually asked our membership what they’d like to learn from his keynote and he addressed those questions and issues. Didn’t surprise me that he’s such a classy, thoughtful guy, but that, even as busy as he is, he took the time to address SEMpdx membership questions.

We Sold Out

Okay, we knew it was going to be a big show, but we were being fairly ambitious, especially in this economic climate, way to go Hallie Janssen and Kent Schnepp.

One of Our Panelists Was Heckled

Neil Patel is considered to be one of the first social marketers, he is a confident, enthusiastic, very talented business man. He’s also very young and cocky (title of his blog “Quick Sprout-I’m Kind of a Big Deal”) and his ideas and vision can be very cutting edge, to say the least. The heckling was fairly surprising considering the caliber of professionals at the event, but it brought up an important point. Who are these people anyway? It’s one thing to heckle if they’re just post adolescent hackers who know too much because they spend too much time in front of a computer, but Neil Patel has helped AOL, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Viacom make more money from the web. By the age of 21 not only was Neil named a top 100 blogger by Technorati, but he was also one of the top influencers on the web according to the Wall Street Journal. Neil is a respected author and speaker and he is, indeed, kind of a big deal.

Building and Growing your SEM Business Was a HUGE Hit

We had this track at SMX West last year and it was great and well-received, but lightly attended because it was opposite some heavy hitters. Also, SEM’s are often at shows to get knowledge about learn about implementation, so we were excited to see so many attendees prepared to learn how to run a business. Anne Kennedy, Adam Audette and Rand Fishkin comprised our panel and they, also, were against some heavy hitters (Marshall Simmonds and Derrick Wheeler) but they packed the house. Their advice about running and growing a business was great, but they took it a step further and discussed their own growth and goals so candidly and so whole-heartedly that I actual got a little vaklempt listening to them discuss their struggles (“Sometimes we had to choose who on the team got paid that month”) and their revelations (“Hire people you know and trust”) and their enormous gratitude for their mentors and family (Adam learned a great deal about the search business from his father and one of the first search marketers, John Audette). Best piece of advice expressed from every panelist “Be Skilled”.

(Check out the live blogging of the session here.)

SEMpdx Is Considered One of the Best Search Marketing Organizations in the Country

Even though he’s from Canada and works in Gig Harbor, WA, Todd Friesen of Position Tech (one of our panelists and veteran SEM) said SEMpdx is one of, if not, the best regional search marketing organizations in the country (we were drinking at the reception at Hotel deLuxe, but confirmed his opinion later;)

SEMpdx and the Search Industry Got Some Coverage for SearchFest

Marketplace and NPR’s Sadie Babits had shown early interest in the story, but it was postponed and we hope to speak with her soon;) But, KPTV covered the event (thanks to our PR power from Amy Rosenberg) and, more importantly, the impact of search on the local economy. Portland Monthly Magazine ran a piece (from none other than one of our writers, Keri Brenner) about search marketing and SearchFest. Not to mention the ton of coverage from the people we got on Twitter at #sf09

No One Wanted to Take Credit

As marketers, we love to take the limelight. We love to be on stage, we adore the sound of our own voices. But when it came to taking credit, it was hard to get a “You’re welcome”. I thanked Scott Hendison for uploading powerpoints at the last minute, he said, “Not a problem”. I thanked Mike Rosenberg for getting all our wonderful sponsors, he said, “Thank the sponsors”. I thanked Pixelsilk and our other sponsors and they said, “Thank the board”. I thanked our SEMpdx President Ben Lloyd for his great keynote introduction and guidance through the process, he said “Thank Hallie and Kent”. I thanked Hallie and Kent and they said, “Thank the awesome panelists”. I thanked the panelists, they said, “Thank the great attendees”. So thank you, to everyone who made this SearchFest our best yet.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Where else but Google can you get such great business building tools for free? If you have an online business and you’re not using Google Analytics, well you’re just plain silly not to (unless you have no interest in knowing what your visitors are doing on your site). You can create a report that breaks down your visits by their source, which search engine, which referrals, which links are driving traffic. More importantly, you can see which source is generating the best conversion and focus marketing efforts on traffic sources that grow your business. Break your sales down by keyword within each engine and make educated choices about which keywords you should be focusing on for your search optimization efforts. No matter how close you are to this data, I promise you there will be surprises and some great opportunity to improve conversion and overall sales.

If you want to learn more about Google Analytics, attend the SEMpdx Google Analytics & Hot Seat Review Tues, Nov 11th (I’ll be serving on the panel;) Just $35, great education from Google Analytics experts, great appetizers and no host bar at the Hotel DeLuxe.

GOOGLE SEARCH SUGGEST

Now Google is helping you fill in the blanks when you start a search query, type in “search engine” and you’ll see other suggestions such as “search engine optimization”, “search engine marketing” and “search engine submission”. Helpful if you’re a searcher and helpful if you’re a search marketer. Use this tool to see emerging trends in search queries as well as give you suggestions for keyword sets you may not be pursuing.

GOOGLE LOCAL

I’ll say it again, if you’re not using Google Local and there is any benefit in local business to you, you’re just plain silly. Go to local.google.com and claim your business listing. Build citations from other local businesses or organizations (chamber, yellow pages, relevant industry groups) and keep an eye on where your placing in local results.

GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS

If you have a Google Account, go to “My Account” under “My Products” you should see “Webmaster Tools”, if not click More under “Try Something New” and choose Webmaster Tools. Verify your site by placing a snippet of code and you have access to diagnostics, statistics, links and other great tools.

There really are no excuses, these products are all free. They take little or no technical expertise to implement. The hard work is making analyzing metrics and continued improvement an integral part of your marketing program.

If you’re learning about how search marketing can help grow your businees, don’t miss Aaron Wall’s Webinar “SEO Strategies for the 21st Century” tomorrow, October 21, 2008 12PM Pacific Time.

Aaron’s book “SEO Book” has been used as course text for MBA classes and Aaron has spoken at industry conferences and schools about search engine optimization and internet marketing.

The webinar is free, register now. and is co-sponsored by Corvent and SEMpdx.

It’s the best hour you’ll spend learning about Search Marketing, topics include:

* New tools you can use for SEO and competitive research
* How “search suggest” will shape the future of SEO
* Effective link building techniques in a market where link building is getting harder by the day

I’ll be moderating the event and they’re will be a Q & A session after Aaron’s presentation, Hope you’ll join us,

If you’re choosing a Search Marketing agency, prepare yourself with some important questions.

1* How long have you been in business? -This can be an important issue, especially considering there are consultants with little experience who just decide to put up a shingle and call themselves search marketers. Newer agencies can be a good choice, depending upon their experience, education and the results they have provided for their customers.

2* What kind of results do you provide for your clients? Show me the money;) If an SEO can’t show you quantifiable results and share references, that could be a red flag that they’re enormously inexperienced.

3* Will you share case studies with me? Same as last question but requires a little more detail. Ask for improvements to lead generation, revenue and other site goals.

4* How do you measure your success? If your SEO only measures success with rankings, run. Success needs to be measured with attachment to revenue and/or site goals. Personalized search also makes it hard to call an exact position (what may show as #2 for me might show as #5 for someone else. Make sure your goals are quantifiable and relevant to your bottom line.

5* Do you have clients in my industry? This can be hard, having an SEO who verticalizes in a particular industry can be powerful. Just make sure there’s no conflict and you won’t be competing against a current client.

6* How do you report site changes and other strategy implementation? There’s not one single silver bullet. Good SEO requires a lot of work on a lot of fronts. However, it’s important that your SEO share changes they make whether it’s content, linking or other search strategies.

7* Do you know how to implement local search? Don’t use an sledge hammer when a pin hammer will work. Local search can be enormously effective if that’s your business focus. It may be more cost effective and just as powerful to focus on a local search strategy.

8* What SEO strategies do you implement? There’s more than one way to skin a cat and there are many techniques employed for SEO. However, information architecture, content and linking are fundamental. A great linking strategy won’t do you as much good if you haven’t done keyword research.

9* How can I communicate with you? You should have an account manager or point of contact you can reach at any (reasonable) time. We use a project management tool that allows our customers to view status of all projects relevant to their site so they can monitor progress.

10* How do I know when we’re done? Again, create quantifiable goals. Nothing is more frustrating for an SEO or a client than hearing, are we there yet? and not having an answer. Learn more about choosing a Search Marketing agency.

Last week I served on two hot seat panels, one at SEMPDX and one at Software Association of Oregon Tech Pub in Corvallis. Site reviews can be hard in a group setting because often times the search marketing education level varies dramatically for participants so making the content relevant can be difficult. Both of these panels went really well and, upon assessment, I found some universal truths that may be helpful to search marketers as well as the business person hoping to glean helpful information from site reviews:

#1 Search marketing is a hot topic! Not that this is an enormous surprise, but with all the unhappy economic forecasts, business owners are looking to search to help them get an edge.

#2 Web site campaigns (SEO, SEM, other advertising campaigns) are ultimately managed by individuals with little knowledge or understanding of search. This makes it all the more important that as search professionals we do what we can to educate and help business owners make informed decisions about their search investment.

#3 40% of search queries have local intent-WOW! Don’t forget local efforts. Ranking in local search algorithms can be less expensive than ranking in the overall algorithms in many cases. If your business is driven by local, learn about these tactics. Check out David’s notes from the SEMPDX Hot Seat, David has created some amazing research around the topic and is a highly-respected expert in the area. Download David’s PowerPoint here.

#4 There’s a shortage of women in the search profession;) As a speaker on the search circuit and as the Marketing/Membership Chair of the SEMPDX Board of Directors, I am surprised at the percentage of women in search marketing, especially on the technical side. About 18% of speakers at the shows are women, if you’re a web developer or web marketer and you’re a woman, get some education, experience and get involved on the search side.

#5 Websites need fresh content. You can’t just build it and they will come. Keep your content fresh through site updates, blog content, site reviews and images. Google loves it, your visitors love it.

#6 Everyone learns at Hot Seat Site Reviews. My background is as a reporter and my specialty was initially content development (which morphed into website usability, analytics and search). Though I engage very talented technical folks to help me do my job, I’m not an enormously technical person, my strength is on the marketing side. At one of the hot seats, I learned how important load time (for a hood river real estate website) is to search, not something that I was taking into consideration as a piece of my search strategies. Even if you’re a seasoned search professional, become a member of SEMPDX and learn how to be even better at your job.

#7 Sites with partial or limited SEO can still be profitable and fully optimized sites can miss business goals. In a perfect world, everyone would have a perfectly optimized site, but don’t lose site that the goal is business growth and that is, ultimately, the goal.

#8 It’s still important to talk about the basics. At the SAO Hot Seat, I asked how many people knew what a title tag was, in a room of about 50 only a handful did. Link building and SMM are nearly irrelevant exercises unless keyword research and some foundational optimization efforts are made.

#9 Business owners are frustrated with search. I heard from several participants who were frustrated about how to start with a search marketer and, just as importantly, weren’t sure what to expect from engaging with a search marketer. This is why SEMPDX is so important, the board of directors and advisory board of this group are happy to help educate so business owners can avoid the pitfalls of bad search marketers (sadly there are still many out there, but they’re getting easier to spot).

#10 Business owners are not sure how to choose a search marketer. I’ll be doing a post next week about this topic, but here’s a good approach-the proof is in the pudding;) Any good search marketer should have case studies and references that show they have provided search marketing success for other clients. If they don’t, go find one who does.

#11 Search marketers love their job. I have been involved with web marketing since 1996. It is such an exciting field and it changes so rapidly that we are required to attend search conferences regularly to stay on top of trends and changes in the algorithm. Engaging in a search campaign is often invigorating for business owners, it ignites their passion for search as well as for the overall growth of the business. It can really be a lot of fun.

#12 There is no substitute for a professional. Search marketing is a discipline that requires a lot of time and education to learn. As a business owner, if you have a great deal of time to invest, you should. However, if you’re busy with the day to day running of your business, hire a professional to help you grow your business with search marketing.

PS Shout out to all the great panelists at both events, Scott Hendison, David Mihm, Todd Mintz, Scott Fish and Andre Jensen.

SEMPDX hosted their 2nd annual SearchFest yesterday. Speakers included Rand Fishkin of SEOMOZ, representatives from Google and MSN as well as a host of talented Search Marketers from around the country. I was pleased to see some local friends from Hood River and I met a lot of new people, either learning about search for their company or their own agency.

The conference focused on search strategies such as link development, social media marketing, website usability, analytics and even international SEM. It was fun to see how some local entities are using search marketing to grow their businesses. Dan Harbison of the Portland Trailblazers shared how they’re using their website to increase visibility of the team, improve public perception of players and even sell season tickets.

I presented on Marketing 2.0 Issues including Online Reputation Management issues that occur using Social Media Marketing. Though all three panelists have vastly different client bases, a lot of our recommendations were shared-spend time researching the social networks you’d like to engage, have thick skin, have fun, be a good community member, don’t spam, give more than you take. Marty Weintraub of AimClear had great advice for dealing with bullies, while Janet Johnson shared insight into helping companies with B2B focus leverage the power of social media marketing.

For those of you who missed it, shame on you and plan to go next year;) but know that SEMPDX holds great networking and educational events year round. Check out their upcoming schedule.

Also, big thank you to Benjamin Lloyd of Amplify Interactive and the whole SEMPDX team that made the event possible!

Thank you first to SEMPDX for choosing MEDIA forte marketing to speak at their SearchFest in March. I’m really excited and encourage anyone who has an interest in learning about search to attend (read the interview about search marketing and social media).

On the topic of education I’d also like to talk a little about the Search Marketing Basics Classes I’m teaching for Hood River Community Education. The Series includes coursework for creating keyword research, competitive analysis, link building, blogging and social media optimization. I taught the first class, Search Marketing Basics, last week and it was really exciting for a number of reasons. First, because the attendees knew more about search than I imagined (they knew the difference between paid and natural/organic search, they understood the importance of search, they grasped the process of how their visitors used search). Second, they had some work to do with the foundation of their search marketing, particularly with keyword research. I think a lot of companies still miss the point of good keyword research. You can’t be found online for “cool blue widgets” if you don’t use the words “cool blue widgets” in your title tag, description, page content, linking, etc. Just as importantly, it won’t matter if you’re found for “cool blue widgets” if your customers are calling your product “groovy blue waggles”. The definition of search is becoming larger and more encompassing as search gains traction as a traditional marketing technique and as it becomes more diversified.

The purpose of education is to empower. My suggestion for business owners looking to become educated in search is to invest in the foundation (keyword research/content) before you venture into other strategies, such as social media optimization (define).

Whatever level you are as a search marketer or business owner, you’ll benefit from attending SearchFest or our local community education courses, put it on your calendar!