Continental Breakfast

Viral Marketing & Link Baiting

Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide

Link and Reputation Workshop

Dixon Jones, Receptional

Optimizing for Universal Search

Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR
Amanda Watlington, Searching for Profit

Lunch Break

Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness

Matt Bailey, SiteLogic

A Crash Course in Local Search

Mary Bowling, Blizzard Internet Marketing

The 7 Step RSS/Content Syndication/SEO Strategy

Doug Hay, Expansion Plus
Sally Falkow, Expansion Plus

Viral Marketing and Link Baiting

Viral Marketing Workshop

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spaces Limited

8:00am-12:00pm

In this workshop, you will gain a better understanding of the concepts, ideas and implementations that are required to launch a viral marketing or link baiting campaign. You'll learn why the Internet has created a unique environment that allows for rapid, inexpensive word of mouth marketing and how you can harness that environment to promote your own products and services.

The workshop will give real life examples of both good and bad viral marketing campaigns and will share insight on how your business can capitalize on your competitor's viral disasters. This workshop will also focus on how you can make use of consumer generated media environments like social media outlets, blog marketing, discussion forums and more to both monitor and expand your company's online persona.

Consumer generated media (the very core of viral marketing) is the fastest growing form of media online today. It's only a matter of time until someone online talks about your business. This course will not only help prepare you in the ways to respond to the conversation, it will help you learn how to shape that conversation to your advantage.

This workshop is for marketers and business owners that want to learn more about harnessing the power of viral marketing to build buzz about their business online. It also covers the topic of link baiting and explains how unique and creative content development can help launch both viral and link baiting campaigns.

After attending this half-day workshop, you will have a solid base level understanding of concepts that are vital to viral marketing and link baiting including:

• Why Viral Marketing is Such a Cost-effective Endeavor
• How to Take Advantage of Competitor's Viral Missteps
• Creating the Ideas That Market Themselves
• The Dangers of Viral Marketing Gone Bad
• The Impact of Social Media and Consumer Generated Media
• The Importance of Managing Your Online Reputation
• Tracking the Impact of Viral Marketing or Link Baiting Campaigns

During this workshop, you will learn:

• How the growth of consumer generated media on the Internet has created the idea environment for rapid word of mouth marketing.
• What defines a good viral marketing campaign
• How (and where) to plant the seeds of a viral marketing or link baiting campaign so that it begins to spread on its own
• What products and services are available to help start and manage the buzz
• How to identify the ideal target audience for your campaign
• How to take advantage of blogs and other forms of consumer generated media to generate positive buzz about your company

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Guide, an online publication aimed at educating Small Business owners about search engine marketing, viral marketing, social media marketing and blogging. Jennifer also operates as an independent online marketing consultant specializing in organic search marketing and viral marketing. Her clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings, Highlights for Children and Option-Line, a national crisis-pregnancy hotline. She is also the author of the popular e-books "The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing" and "Zero Dollars, a Little Talent and Thirty Days."

Jennifer is a requested speaker and has served as both a panelist and a moderator at Incisive Media's popular Search Engine Strategies conferences, the eComXpo virtual trade show, Microsoft's Small Business Summit and several local search marketing training seminars. In 2005, Jennifer delivered the keynote presentation at the MIVA Small Business Conference. She has also been interviewed and quoted by a variety of publications including The Financial Times, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Entrepreneur magazine.

Link and Reputation Workshop

Link Building

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spaces Limited

8:00am-12:00pm

Searchers and engines alike are more likely to use and recommend your business if there are more third party sources recommending you in the correct context. This workshop looks at the misnomers of link building and brings the concept of link building away from search engine manipulation and back to sound marketing principals. The workshop will start with the ways in which you can build up an "audit" of a site's link structure and strategy, with a view to developing a coherent link and reputation development strategy that transcends search engines while remaining sympathetic to the way in which they aim to work.

This workshop is for PR professionals, brand managers and marketers responsible for building or managing online brands as well as in-house search marketers looking to avoid the pitfalls of link building from a search engine perspective.

You will be able to create more avenues for your business to get seen in the right place, at the right time on the Internet and have more confidence that your link building will not be detrimental to other areas of your business. You will also be able to quickly and visually relay the effects of link building to a non-internet savvy senior audience. You will leave armed with new tools and methods for building links and managing your reputation online.

• You will learn how links and reputation are inextricably connected
• You will understand the intrinsic value of a "link" and the difference between a link that potentially "penalizes" a search market effort from one that enhances a search marketing effort.
• You will have more ways to investigate and measure online link value and reputation
• You will learn how to go about creating a link building strategy which is unique to your business and brand values

Dixon Jones has been a speaker at SES conferences since 2002 and is the Managing Director of Receptional LTD which provides a tailored Internet Marketing consultancy for many organizations in the UK, having carried out tasks for groups as diverse as Nokia, Daily Mail Group and MoneyCorp. Receptional also works closely as a partner and advisors to Leisure Direction in the travel industry. Dixon Jones has talked internationally about the importance of online Link development for six years. Receptional formed in 1999 when a Large London property asked Dixon to look at why no serious prospects were looking at their website. Since then, one in three occupants in the large property in Mayfair found their temporary home via the Internet - clearly a dramatic turnaround. Dixon Jones is also a moderator on Webmasterworld, covering the Microsoft and the Tracking & Logging forums.

Optimizing for Universal Search

SEO Training

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spaces limited

8:00am-12:00pm

Universal search changes everything! The advent of Google's Universal Search has been called "the most radical change to its search results ever." So, how do you take advantage of Google's new approach that blends listings from news, maps, video, and image search among those it gathers from web search? In other words, how do you get found in all the right places?

Everyone who promotes Web sites as part of their work should attend this workshop. Web marketers should understand how to optimize and leverage their content and its distribution across news, image,, and video search engines.

After attending this half-day workshop, you will be able to optimize, distribute and measure: Press releases, ImagesMaps, Video files, RSS feeds, and free submissions for books and products. Attendees will also learn strategies and tactics for expanding the audience for their content through Google News, Yahoo! News, Google Maps, Google Product Search, Technorati, Google Image Search, Flickr, YouTube, Yahoo Video and a growing variety of other sites.

During this workshop, you will learn how to: Pick your target keywords for news, image, video and web search engines; Position your keywords in crucial locations; Create original and unique content of genuine value, including text, images and video; Avoid search engine stumbling blocks; Build inbound links intended to help people find interesting, related content; Just say no to search engine spamming; Submit your Sitemap, RSS feeds, and videos to search engines and directories; Verify and maintain your listings; and Go beyond web search engines to include key vertical search engines.

Greg Jarboe is the president and co-founder of SEO-PR, a search engine optimization firm and public relations agency with offices in San Francisco and Boston. He is also a partner in Newsforce, developer of an integrated suite of press release SEO tools.

SEO-PR is one of 10 companies that Larry Chase's Web Digest for Marketers named to its Who's Who in SEO Experts. SEOmoz.org has put SEO-PR on its Recommended List of SEO Consultants, Experts, Firms and Service Providers.

Greg is a frequent speaker at Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld's PubCon, and public relations conferences. He is also the news search, blog search and PR correspondent for the Search Engine Watch Blog.

Gord Hotchkiss, who writes the Out of My Gord blog, has called Greg "the guru of cranking up web visibility through effective optimization of press releases and leveraging news search." Lee Odden, who writes the Online Marketing Blog, has called Greg "a pioneer in the field of using search engine optimization in combination with press releases." And Matt McGowan, Vice President of Marketing for Incisive Media, has called Greg, "the industry's top expert in press release SEO and social media relations."

Greg has more than 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing, and search engine optimization at Lotus Development Corp., Ziff-Davis, and other companies. He graduated from the University of Michigan, attended the University of Edinburgh, and worked on his Masters at Lesley College.

Amanda Watlington Ph.D., A.P.R. Before setting up Searching for Profit, Amanda was director of research for a leading Search Engine Optimization firm. Her consultancy focuses on how businesses can leverage search engines and new media such as blogging, RSS and podcasting to achieve marketing objectives. She has over twenty years of experience as a communications, sales and business strategy consultant, and ten years as a Web marketer.

Amanda has developed award-winning print, web, training and presentation media. She has developed patent-pending language-based analytic tools and methodologies to support search engine marketing campaigns. She is a renowned expert on blogs, podcasting, and the language and psychology of search. The clients she has worked with include Fortune 500 companies, search engines, publishers and e-commerce merchants.

Amanda is the author of two books. Her most recent book is Business Blogs: A Practical Guide. Amanda is a sought-after presenter and a recognized industry thought leader. She appears regularly as a speaker at Search Engine Strategies and DMA's Annual and Multi-Channel Marketing conferences. She serves on DMA's Search Engine Marketing Council, of which she is the past co-chair. She is the chair of the Web Analytics Association's research committee and has served on the search and research committees of IAB.

Her education includes a Bachelors Degree in Classical Civilization from Douglass College in New Jersey, a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Eastern Michigan University. She is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the Web Analytics Association (WAA), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and has an APR accreditation.

Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness

Search & Analytics Workshop

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spaces limited

1:00pm-5:00pm

Unless there is a goal for the site, there is no sense measuring anything.

• 70% of website owners and managers do not track anything beside 'hits' to their website.
• Most website managers want to track, but aren't sure what or how.

Analytics are a gold mine of information, just waiting to be uncovered. The results of your campaigns, effectiveness of the website, and the efficiency of your rankings can all be measured with a good analytics program.

Unfortunately, many site managers do not make changes to the website without prior measurement, nor do they measure after the changes. As a result, there are many changes to sites that are not based on facts, merely assumptions. Similarly, if changes are not analyzed, then there can be no clear understanding of whether or not improvements made a difference on the site or to the bottom line.

This workshop is for anyone who is responsible for a website or for reporting on website activity, success or failure. Site owners, marketers, managers and SEO firms wishing to add analytics to their services will all benefit from this instruction.

Rather than simply getting a checklist of "How-To's", you will learn the "Why?" Understanding the "Why" will enable you to ask the right questions in order to get the right answers in your analytics program.

Practical lessons include:

• Understanding the differences and common points among web analytics programs
• Establishing common terminology
• Establish Key Performance Indicators for your website
• Establish a regular reporting program
• Learn segmentation techniques for users, campaigns and keywords
• Establishing primary and secondary conversion rates and for your website
• How to measure and report the important factors
• How to report website success 'up the ladder.'

Matt Bailey is president and founder of SiteLogic Marketing and an internationally recognized authority on search engine marketing, website analytics, usability, and accessibility. As a consulting and training company, SiteLogic focuses on helping organizations take control of their websites and their web marketing plans.

Sought after worldwide as a seminar presenter and teacher; Matt speaks regularly for The Direct Marketing Association; Search Engine Strategies Conferences and Training; the American Advertising Federation, and many private training seminars. Matt is known for his conversational, entertaining speaking style and his ability to make technical topics both understandable and practical.

Matt oversees The Direct Marketing Association's SEO Training Program and is the trainer for the DMA's Web Marketing Seminar. He has consulted with hundreds of companies including Goodyear, Hilton International, JCrew, Gradall, Moen Faucets, American Greetings, and Samsonite.

A Crash Course in Local Search

SEO and SEM for Local Search

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spaces limited

1:00pm-5:00pm

Everyday more and more people turn to the Internet to find information about products and services that are nearby. Local businesses that do not appear where they are looking have zero chance of being found in these queries. This course will give you the knowledge you need to compete effectively in the local online marketplace and get found when and where potential customers look for you.

Everyone who is interested in learning how Local Search works and how they can maximize their local presence on the Internet should attend this session.

Brick and mortar businesses and in-house marketers will learn how to best compete online and the most effective methods of promoting their products, services and locations across the Internet.

Search Engine Marketing agencies will get a clear understanding of how they can best help their clients with physical locations and defined service areas to prosper online. They will also learn why the Internet Yellow Pages are such fierce competitors in Local Search markets and what they need to do to compete more effectively with them.

Internet Yellow Pages marketers will learn how Local Search works and that a little Search Engine Optimization can go a very long way. They will better understand the areas at which the Search Engine Marketers currently excel. Learning more about Local Search will enable them to communicate more effectively with their clients and to improve their own marketing mix.

Learn only what you need to know - no fluff and no filler. We'll get right to the heart of how Local Search works and what you can do right now to maximize the presence of your business - or your clients' businesses-on the web.

You'll get a jump start on Local Search in just half a day!

What is Local Search?
Definitions of Local Search and why Local Search success is critical for brick and mortar businesses.

How People Search
People search in many different ways and in many different places on the web for the same thing(s).

• The ways people look for local businesses online - it's not all about the Internet Yellow Pages and it's not all about Search.
• The web places where people search for local businesses.
• How to determine where your business needs to be listed.

Keyword Research
Keyword Research is the foundation for all SEO (and most SEM). Get it right and you can easily build upon that foundation. Get it wrong and you'll waste valuable time and resources going down the wrong road.

• Finding the right terms - The criteria for good keyword selection
• Resources - Free and paid tools you can use along quick demos and evaluations.
• Can I compete? - How many others are trying to rank for your terms(s)? Who are they? What do you need to do to beat them? More tools and demos.
• The Long Local Tail - what these terms are, how to find them, and when, where and how to use them effectively

The Search Engines
What the Search Engines want and how they reward you for giving it to them.

• It's all about relevance - What determines relevance? What determines Local relevance?
• The rewards of relevance - What high rankings can mean
• Concentrate on Google - Why? How?
• The other players - Yahoo, MSN, Ask - what you need to know

The ABC's of the Algorithms
While there are more than a hundred factors that we believe influence Search Engine rankings, some are definitely more important and more powerful than others. Which ones should you concentrate on?

• On page optimization - title, tags, headers, content, links
• Off page optimization - links, links, links - quality, quantity and reputation
• Slam dunks - easy-to-do things that can give you an edge

Local Pay Per Click Campaigns
Explain geo-targeting, why local businesses should use it and the most effective ways to use it.

Site Evaluations (time permitting)

• Site evaluations for class members. Take a look at students' sites and give them some quick tips on how to improve their Local Search presence

Mary Bowling is the senior SEO consultant for Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc, a mid-sized agency that specializes in providing complete online services to a select group of clients in the Hotel, Hospitality, and Resort Industries.

This niche of Travel and Tourism has always had a primary focus on location, so Mary has developed special expertise in Local Search Optimization. She researches, develops, implements and tests SEO techniques across a wide range of clients in many different places on a continual basis. She then establishes best practices and trains others on them.

Mary performs Research and Development functions for her company, has written several free marketing whitepapers, moderates online chats for Search Engine Workshops and EMarketing Talk Show and contributes numerous articles on Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing to blogs in the marketing and travel industries.

Mary presented on the Convergence of Travel Search, Local Search and Mobile Search at the inaugural SES Travel Conference and regularly attends conferences like Webmaster World PubCon and SMX Local Mobile Summit to keep up with industry trends and stay at the front of the SEO pack.

The 7 Step RSS/Content Syndication/SEO Strategy

RSS/SEO Plan

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spaces limited

1:00pm-5:00pm

RSS and content syndication can boost search engine ranking and visibility, drive traffic to your site and build links. If you're wondering how to get started with RSS marketing, this workshop has the answers. This hands-on workshop will take you through the steps and give you your personal RSS marketing checklist.

30% of marketers surveyed said that they have implemented RSS feeds because of customer demand. Jupiter Research study Feed Marketing: Use of RSS as an Alternate Messaging Medium

Overview:
Content syndication with RSS is a powerful SEO strategy that will build links and increase your organic search ranking.

RSS is a simple technology that allows you to easily get your new content updates delivered to your target audiences (subscribers, bloggers, journalists, employees, investors, other key influencers), websites looking for good content to publish, specialized search engines, directories and other online systems. It can boost your search engine rankings and drive qualified traffic to your site.

• Marketing managers
• PR managers
• PR agencies
• Anyone tasked with web strategy and online marketing

Syndication, enabled by RSS, is the process of making your online content available for republication by other websites and actively distributing that content to any website of relevance for your business.

Content syndication with RSS can:

• Makes your content more visible online
• Reach niche audiences who were previously unaware of your messages
• Attract very targeted and qualified visitor to your website
• Raise your organic search ranking

What you will learn:

• How to develop your RSS/SEO strategy
• How to create optimized content for your RSS Feeds
• How to promote your RSS feeds externally
• How to syndicate your content to other online media
• Adding social media elements to your content
• How to measure the success of your strategy
• Case studies

This is a hands-on session. You will actually do the keyword research and strategy so you are ready to go by the end of the session.

Doug Hay is the co-founder and CEO of Expansion Plus Inc, a leading Los Angeles-based Internet marketing and public relations firm. E+ offers full service organic search programs, new media consulting, web site optimization, SEO link building, online press releases, blogs, email campaigns, content syndication (RSS feeds) and Social Media consulting.

Expansion Plus was an early adopter of these new technologies while leveraging the principals' multi decades of experience in marketing, public relations, sales and management. E+ clients have included: US Olympic Committee, Los Angeles Metro, The Scooter Store, Texas Instruments, Countrywide Mortgage, among others.

He has lectured at two universities for the Sales & Marketing Executives continuing education program. Doug is a sought after speaker and has presented at: Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose; E-Tourism Summit; Gilbane Content Strategy Conference; City of Los Angeles Community Development, Business Service Training; Yellow Pages Association PR Summit; SES Travel Seattle; PACE (Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment); FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles; Marketing & Advertising Club of Michiana at Notre Dame University and SearchFest 2007 Portland.

Sally Falkow has been creating news coverage for both small and large organizations for over 25 years. She holds an Accreditation in Public Relations from the PR Society of America. Her interest in the shift in media consumption caused by the Internet led to her cutting edge approach to online media relations. Her understanding of the convergence of PR and search has made her a thought leader in the field of online PR, brand awareness, blogger relations and news search. Read her blog at http://falkow.blogsite.com.