Search Engine Tigers

Well it’s definitely been an interesting year, full of changes both personally and professionally. 2007 was the year that I lost 40 lbs, ran my first 5k, my first 8k, my first 10k, my first 1/2 marathon, and my first and last marathon. I also moved companies, making the switch from the in-house local search world over to the nonprofit digital marketing agency side, back in May.

In May I also started writing a column for SearchEngineLand which was originally a ‘whenever the mood strikes you’ column, but by September had morphed into a 4 weekly piece. In June I started writing for the company blog – rbdrodeo.com – on all manner of Search Marketing topics, officially once a week, but since I don’t believe that there were 62 weeks between June 6th and today, I believe I may have done a bit more than that. Shortly after that I also started writing for SearchEngineGuide on a ‘whenever the mood strikes you’ basis on whatever topics I may want to write about that would be interesting to small business owners.

As you’ll know from reading this blog and / or from seeing me around, I’ve also been speaking on the conference circuit. this started in June with a presentation for the PRSA in New York, and a breakfast meeting for the DC chapter of the PRSA the next day. Work sent me over to London so that I could speak at the inaugural SMX – London event, swiftly followed by the Kelsey ILM show and SES Chicago.

So what’s on the plate for 2008? Well, the big change is that I’m no longer working for RedBoots, as the company has split into 2 new entities. As of tomorrow I will be an employee of Serengeti Communications, I’ll be in the same role, working with the same group of people, but it’s a really exciting time, as we have an ambitious growth plan for 2008 and beyond.

I’m going to continue to write for SearchEngineLand, and SearchEngineGuide (I’ll try to get you more Jen, I promise), but I won’t write for RBDRodeo any more… as we’ve also rebranded that site, so now I’ll be writing for EndlessPlain.com. As for this blog, I’m going to try to get this back into my rotation / get posts written and ready to run well in advance, so that there’s actually going to be something here for people to read. The reason that I want to do this, rather than just forward this blog to the company one is that I want to be able to say something that’s from me rather than from my company, when I need to.

As for speaking, if the conference organizers keep asking me back, I’ll keep showing up, it’s the only decent thing to do.

Oh, and I’m signed up for 2 1/2 marathons in the first 6 months of next year, we’ll see what happens beyond that…

Which do you think I was at?

Yep, Chicago it was, and what a fun and informative time was had by all.   I only managed to make it for the last 2 days, but I did write up 3 sessions on RBDRodeo, so feel free to pop over there and read about:

• Selling your Integrated Marketing Plan to the C-Suite
• Selling your Search Marketing Campaigns to the C-Suite
• Dealing with Difficult Clients

So that’s the end of Search conference season for this year, but it won’t be long before it starts up again…

Unfortunately, due to my late arrival time at the conference, I was only able to take in one other session, beyond the one I spoke at, at the Kelsey ILM conference last week. However, it was an interesting presentation titled: “Maps: They’re not just for driving”

Aaron Kahlow was the Moderator, and he actually began the session with a presentation of his own, which basically asked questions of the presenters. Firstly he asked them how maps fit in to the marketing puzzle, and how they should be prioritized. Then he reminded people that while new, disruptive technologies are fun to play with, people shouldn’t just get excited for the sake of getting excited, they need to answer the big question: What are the business applications and what’s the ROII?

The first speaker up to attempt to answer the questions was Joe Abraham. He spoke on the topic of making sure that you get your data into the various mapping systems. The first step that you should take is to make sure that you have your data correctly listed, then go to the Google Local Business Center, Yahoo Local, Live Local, and InfoUSA to upload your data. In Google you can add multiple locations and coupons. One way to get your business ad listed quickly in Google Maps is to create a local business ad through Adwords.

Benu Aggerwal continued the conversation, reminding people that by getting their business in the mapping systems, Google maps in particular, they run a much better chance of dominating their SERPs and pushing any ‘bad’ listings ‘below the fold’. She recommended checking the data aggregators such as Acxiom and Amacai to verify that they have your listings entered correctly. Ensure that your website is fully optimized, and if using CSS use it to stick your address as high up in the html as you can, regardless of where it actually appears on the page. Use the map APIs to enhance your website i.e. showing local atractions / restaurants for a hotel.

• Get listings on 2nd tier local directories
• Get listings in vertical directories
• Get references from other local sites
• Get Reviews on social networking sites
• Use Geotargeted PPC

Up next was Danny Moon of the appropriately named company upNext. He spoke on the natural evolution of mapping systems from 2d to 3d. His belief is that the map will eventually not be the endng point of a search, but will instead become the starting point. This will be possible as users become more sophisticated, and is supported by hardware improvements over recent years that have improved rendering capabilities.

The last presenter was Andy White. He spoke on difference between a ‘free’ mapping solution and a paid solution. While the initial price may be better, the price of development will at some point push the cost of the ‘free’ solution above that of the paid solution. You really need to look at how critical the mapping features are to your core business.

During the Q&A phase, the panel reiterate their belief that mobile will be a big driver in the growth of maps for local. One question that was asked that doesn’t have a great solution at the moment was how to handle mapping for service based businesses. The response from the panel? It’s a challenge.

If you’re in Virginia, DC, or Southern Maryland, and are free on December 29th at 11.30 am, then you should head over to Bertucci’s on route 7 in Vienna (directly across from Tyson’s Corner, behind the Borders). Yes, it’s the next VA SEM meetup event. As of now confirmed attendees include me (no shocker there), Debra Mastaler, Li Evans & Bill Slawski, among others. So if you’d like to chat with other search marketers and don’t get a chance to hit the conference circuit, here’s a great chance for you. For further details on the event, you can go to the VA SEM event website, and RSVP there if you plan to attend.