May 8, 2012 – The much anticipated Members Appreciation Night took place this week with Bing’s Duane Forrester sharing his insights on how search engines work – specifically Bing – and how we can apply that knowledge to successful search results.
Duane began by calling out a mistake that too many search professionals make. We often get caught up with details such as site index and meta tag updates. In reality, though, content is still king. Consider, for example, that MSN’s website contains roughly 140 billion pages globally. The person performing a search online wants content; therefore the search engine wants content, too. Make this your number one focus, followed by social, user experience, link building and SEO.
Much of Duane’s presentation was about social and its effect on overall search. Social brings emotion to the mix, which has impacted search engines in big ways. With the changing “web of objects”, www.schema.org is an increasingly important resource. Similarly, social graphs and patterns are helpful visualization tools.
Throughout his presentation, Duane related everything back to four filters. When building and optimizing a website, he emphasized the four major areas to invest in: quality, trust, popularity and timeliness. Follow this and you’ll be well on your way to successful search results.
It’s been my pleasure to serve as the SEMpdx Membership Chair for the past few years. This is an amazing group and my learnings personally and professionally have been innumerable. Sometimes I forget though to share the importance of being a member, so here’s my
Top 9 Reasons to Become an SEMpdx Member
You get to put the cool logo on your site.
You see educational event speakers on the national circuit in Portland.
You save money. Members (Early Bird) get to go to our monthly events for $20 ($43 for non-members, $55 at the door).
You get discounts to other regional and national conferences.
You get to network with a diverse group of people. Our membership includes agencies, consultants, large companies and small businesses. Members include local CPA and Law firms to Columbia Sportswear, from PR firms and digital marketing agencies to analytics giant WebTrends.
April 13, 2010 – For this month’s event, SEMpdx held its first annual members-only appreciation night. With a panel of four experts, members had the rare opportunity to ask a host of questions on all things search related. And if the valuable information learned wasn’t enough, great prizes were handed out throughout the evening.
The first piece of insider advice came from Anne Kennedy, Beyond Ink and Joblr, who discussed mobile marketing. In an arena where every network provider has a different way of setting things up, it can be a daunting task to create and implement your strategy. Kennedy pointed members where to look for help in achieving a competitive advantage through this wireless technology.
Many questions raised were related to social media. Kent Lewis, of Anvil Media, gave his recommended sources for determining social media KPIs. He went on to discuss Twitter and LinkedIn strategies, providing his own LinkedIn account as a case study. When the proper time is invested, LinkedIn has the potential for becoming a company’s best lead generator. Adam Audette, of AudetteMedia, shared ways search engines are adapting to social media and how we can optimize link equity. He also offered successful blogging advice to complement your website.
Define Search Strategies’ Matthew Brown discussed effective ways to ensure integrated marketing in your campaigns. Many companies lack consistent messaging when running an advertisement and miss out on countless conversions. By aligning your traditional and digital media, campaign performance will thrive.
The evening ended with insightful suggestions for all search marketers in our ongoing efforts to improve and stay ahead of the curve. If you’re not an SEMpdx member, join now and benefit year-round!
Who could forget “Members Only” spokesperson Anthony Geary reminding us that it’s great to believe in something.
If you’re an SEMpdx member, believe in the power of search marketing and are looking to get more involved, join us (pre Social Media 6-Pack Event) tonight at 4:30 pm at the Hotel DeLuxe for our first ever Membership Committee Meeting.
Agenda:
*Review SEMpdx Mission Statement “Search Engine Marketing Professionals of Portland is an organization based in Portland, Oregon whose mission is to inform and educate area businesses on the benefits of SEM to bottom line revenue.”
*Review current membership benefits and Marketing/Membership Plan
*Brainstorm ideas for recruiting and retaining current members
Not sure if you’re ready to make a commitment to a committee? Join us to meet some of your fellow members.
Have questions? Email Lisa Williams, Marketing/Membership chair at membership@sempdx.org
If you didn’t register for tonight’s SOLD OUT event, you may still attend the Membership Committee Meeting. Membership Committee Meetings will be held prior to our monthly educational events second Tuesday of every month at 4:30.
There are lots of great reasons to become SEMpdx members, great educational events and networking, discounts and many industry shows, even our membership directory that launches this month, but here are two great reasons to become members:
1. Here’s What Search Marketers Say:
“SEMpdx gives small businesses the insight and intelligence that they need to be competitive within the search engines. The tools, advice, and strategies shared within the SEMpdx community are valuable to new and seasoned Search Marketing professionals.” Scott Fish, EngineWorks
2. Here’s What the Business Community Says:
“We submitted our website, HitchSource.com, for the SearchFest Hot Seat review. While I was expecting a few suggestions to tweak our site, the results were beyond anything I expected. We increased our conversion rate with some simple usability tweaks and our traffic is up almost 200%. The panelists were thoughtful, insightful, and extremely knowledgeable. I highly recommend the Hot Seat to other webmasters and business owners. You won’t be disappointed.” Ken Whiteman, Hitchsource – Trailer Hitches and Hitch Bike Racks
To our members, thank you for your membership and commitment to SEMpdx. If you’re not yet a member check out our membership benefits or join us at our upcoming event Tuesday September 8th, Local Search with David Mihm. Hope to see you at an event soon.
BicyclingHub.com has been selling top-quality cycling apparel on the Internet since 2001.