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 Read more [...]

April 10, 2012 – The focus at this month’s SEMpdx event was pay-per-click ads.  Ryan Campbell, from Amplify Interactive, guided us through a few quick and easy ways to set up a campaign on Google’s Display Network.  Tips included selecting 5-20 keywords per ad group and allowing Google to identify relevant websites for a larger net of possibilities.  After the campaign is launched and bids have been adjusted (based on the average cpc), check the automatic placements report.  If you sort Read more [...]

February 13, 2012 – In full spirit of Valentine’s Day this week, SEMpdx celebrated on Monday night with its own version of speed dating.  This month’s event proved invaluable to all who attended as we had a rare opportunity to sit down with some of the industry’s leading internet marketers and gain insight and answers to specific questions.  Table topics ranged from pay-per-click to International SEO and everything in between.  We even had a special visit from Google.  Amanda Janney and Read more [...]

January 10, 2012 – This month’s event began with a discussion on mobile search.  Before delving into optimization strategies, Scott Fish, from ethology, shared several mobile trends to emphasize its growing importance and relevancy.  Among them were two points that especially stood out: 1) Mobile is everywhere.  Literally.  In fact, 39% use the internet on their smart phone while using the restroom. 2) Mobile drives a response.  88% of people looking for local information take action Read more [...]

October 11, 2011 – SEMpdx welcomed back one of its favorite speakers Tuesday night.  Ian Lurie, from Portent Interactive, joined us for this month’s event to explain how social media suffers from a real lack of legitimacy and what we as marketers can do to change that. Likening the mainstream's perception of social media to the computer game, Dungeons and Dragons, Ian noted that while social media has gained acceptance, many businesses still don’t understand how to use it.  He went on Read more [...]

June 14, 2011 – At this month’s SEMpdx event, we heard from three analytics experts who gave their advice on effective ways to utilize Google Analytics and better understand the data. Agillian founder Carlos del Rio talked to us about regular expressions.  He explained how using advanced segments allows for many dimensions and metrics at the same time, which is extremely helpful when analyzing at such granular levels.  Carlos focused on regular expression keyword matching – for example, Read more [...]

Mike will be speaking spoke about Advanced Google Analytics at the June 14th SEMpdx Event. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here. Follow Mike on Twitter. - See his presentation slides at the bottom of this interview... 1) Please give me your background and tell me what you do for a living. Sure thing. I grew up in New Jersey and got my undergrad in Baltimore's Loyola University. I got into online marketing in-house first, then at an agency. I was the 2nd SEO Read more [...]

May 10, 2011 – SEMpdx put on a stellar event this month at the third annual Members Only Appreciation Night.  “Celebrity CMO” Jeffrey Hayzlett, of The Hayzlett Group, joined us for the evening and shared his expert marketing advice, providing ample stories from his experience as Kodak’s CMO and the turnaround of one of the world’s biggest brands. Jeffrey spoke a lot about leadership.  As leaders of a company, it’s essential to set clear conditions of satisfaction.  Spend more time Read more [...]

April 12, 2011 – Merry Morud, from aimClear, dug deep into Facebook ads with us Tuesday night as we explored everything from segment identification and digital assets to campaign analysis. Creating your segments is much like keyword research in that strong segment creation is monotonous and time consuming, but always worth it.  Treat your segments like ad groups as you identify interests.  Take advantage of Facebook’s suggest tool but also use alternative tools such as Visuwords or Wordstream Read more [...]

Merry will be speaking about Facebook Advertising at the April SEMpdx event (April 12th @ 4:30). Tickets are available now. 1)       Please give me your background & tell us what you do for a living. Born, raised & currently live in the frozen tundra that is Minnesota. I have a degree in Marketing from University of MN, Duluth where I first met Marty (Weintraub) who introduced me (and our Advertising Marketing Club, consisting of colleague Manny Read more [...]