Continental Breakfast

Search Engine Optimization Workshop
Shari Thurow, Omni Marketing Interactive

Lunch Break

Tech Pitfalls That Will Derail Your SEO
Sage Lewis, SageRock.com

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop

SEO Training

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Spaces Limited

8:00am-12:00pm

A search-engine friendly Web site is a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers.

In order for a site to be search-engine friendly, it must meet the terms and conditions set forth by the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, Ask, etc.) Additionally, the site must satisfy the needs of site visitors.

Ultimately, the site must be profitable for the Web site owner. Can a single site satisfy all of these groups?

This workshop will demonstrate that these skills are essential for building a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers.

Anyone who promotes Web sites as part of their work should attend this workshop! Web marketers should understand all parts of a search marketing campaign - optimization, shopping search, paid inclusion, and pay-per-click solutions.

For new and experienced marketers
Whether you are a new marketer or a seasoned veteran, this workshop will help you take your campaigns to the next level of effectiveness.

For new and experienced web designers
Minimize advertising expenses by creating search-friendly and cost-effective site designs. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls early in the design process.

Attendees may come from many different industries, including:

• Web site designers and developers
• eCommerce
• Business development
• Web site usability
• Direct marketing
• Media buying
• Affiliates
• Public relations
• Web analysts
• Sales and marketing consultants
• Non-profit agencies
• Or any job that requires site development and promotion.

Many search engine marketing speakers are new to the industry or merely repeat information disseminated by more experienced professionals. Why learn search-friendly design from speakers who do not design for a living? Learn from the leading industry expert on search-friendly and user-friendly interfaces in the field of search engine marketing.

• Build a Web site that satisfies both your site's visitors AND the search engines
• Design dos and don'ts
• Successful Web site information architecture - learn what search engine marketers don't know
• Avoid costly copywriting and design mistakes
• Link development research: tips and tools
• Learn proven techniques and strategies for long-term results

Understanding search engines:

• The major search engines and how they work
• Anatomy of search engine results pages (SERPs)
• Types of search engine marketing
• Questions and answers

Understanding search engines/SEO:

• Defining the full SEO process:
• Keyword analysis
• Site optimization
• Submission
• Monitoring - managing expectations
• Web positioning vs. Web analytics software
• Questions and answers

SEO Process - Site architecture and page design:

• Site architecture vs. page design (interface)
• Why architecture and design are important for search engine visibility
• Components of an optimized site:
• Site navigation schemes
• Other types of page links
• Types of Web pages and how to optimize them
• Web address
• Questions and answers

SEO Process - Link development:

• What is popularity?
• Why link development is important for search engine visibility
• Characteristics of effective link development
• Competitive link development strategies
• Submission guidelines
• Questions and answers

Shari Thurow is Founder and SEO of Omni Marketing Interactive. She has been designing and promoting web sites since 1995, and is outsourced to many firms throughout the U.S. The firm currently has a 100 percent success rate for getting client sites ranked at the top of search engine and directory queries.

Acknowledged as the leading expert on search engine friendly Web sites worldwide, Shari is the author of the top-selling marketing book, "Search Engine Visibility" (www.searchenginesbook.com). The book teaches Web developers how to build a site, from concept through promotion, that pleases both site visitors and the search engines. She also writes a bimonthly search-engine marketing column for Clickz.com.

Shari has been featured in many publications, including USA Today, PC World, Internet Retailer, MacWorld, and Crain's Chicago Business. She has also received numerous design and content awards including top site honors from Lycos, Business 2.0 and Computer User Magazine.

Tech Pitfalls That Will Derail Your SEO

Web server technology overview from a search engine perspective

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Spaces Limited

1:00pm-5:00pm

There are technological basics that can have big effect on how your site performs in the search engine listings. Learn what a search engine looks for and how to optimize your site technologically.

Topics covered will include:

• 301 redirects versus 302 redirects: what the differences are and when to use one or the other
• Canonical URL issues in regards to the www and non-www versions of a web site
• Dealing with multiple domains in a way that's best for search engines
• robots.txt files: what it's for and when and how to use it
• .htaccess files: how to update them in regards to 301 redirects and canonical urls
• Dynamic urls: how the search engines view them and what you can do to optimize your dynamic web site

This workshop is for Web site administrators who will learn search engine basics at a server level. Site owners will learn common mistakes that are made on the server that may be significantly hurting the search engines' access to your site.

Sites of all sizes and sophistication make fundamental SEO mistakes when it comes to server implementation. If you haven't consciously implemented a strategy from a search engine perspective at the server level you likely are making errors that are hurting your search engine rankings.

Sage Lewis started his online marketing company, SageRock.com, in 1999 during a time when most Internet companies were failing. SageRock, however, has thrived under Lewis' direction -- growing an average of 30% every year, while also being recognized as one of the top ten search engine optimization firms in the U.S. by a third-party resource in the industry, Marketing Sherpa.

Regarded as a web marketing expert, Lewis speaks regularly to business organizations like NEOSA and COSE, serves as a resource for press about industry trends, teaches a recurring class on search engine optimization at Cleveland State University and is also a founding member of ClevelandSEO.com - an organization dedicated to highlighting the world-class search engine marketing talent residing in Northeastern Ohio.

He also hosts a daily web marketing show at: www.webmarketingwatch.com. These 4-7 minute how-to shows are geared to help the average marketer make better use of all the web marketing tools available.

Lewis has created a unique company culture that values the individual employee and client, and he has built SageRock around one principle, "The concern, respect and empathy for the individual people we come in contact with at SageRock is our single core value."