SearchFest 07: Maximizing Web-Site Effectiveness
By Kate McPherron, technology evangelist
SearchFest 07, which was held in Portland in March 2007, is the largest conference of its kind, designed to help businesses leverage search-engine marketing/search-engine optimization (SEM/SEO) to increase awareness and revenue. In attendance were a wide range of professionals from businesses concerned with their own Web presence, as well as service providers from the worlds of Web design, SEM/SEO and advertising.
Speakers also brought a range of expertise. See a complete description of sessions and speaker bios on the SEMpdx Web site.
SAO writers attended both the Introductory and Web 2.0 level tracks, and a link to each session’s PowerPoint presentation (if available) is included along with the review of the session. See the SEMpdx Web site to view the available presentations. What follows are overviews, bios and presentations for the SAO-sponsored Blogging Case Study, SEM Copywriting Workshop, and International Search panel.
Blogging Case Study
Sean Campbell, Campbell Solutions
Scott Swigart, Swigart Consulting
Campbell and Swigart reviewed blogging basics such as why to blog, and what to do and not to do. They emphasized the importance of approaching those who were considering company blogs to think of themselves as “marathoners” because they would need the stamina to blog regularly – not necessarily daily, or even weekly, but on a schedule that the blogger can maintain. They emphasized that one of the worst things a blogger could do was to run-stop-run-stop, because to maintain interest, blog readers must know when to anticipate the next installment.
Four case studies emphasized a wide range of methods for increasing communication, building community, facilitating feedback and (through transparency) helping to engender trust. All but the first are sponsored by Microsoft.
- Early Adopter blog was started by the speakers, and it did well.
- Peer-to-Peer blog is written by a team, each of whom brings a different OS perspective (Unix, Linux or Windows) to the discussion.
- VS SPK blog takes the form of a developer diary, revealing actual, down-in-the-trenches problem-solving that goes on in the development cycle, while engaging readers to help define and refine features. The blog succeeded and met its goal of building a community and facilitating feedback.
- How Software is Built blog is a research diary comparing Microsoft and open source.
Bio: Sean Campbell, principal of Campbell Solutions. In this role Campbell assists companies as an outsourced technology evangelist providing public speaking and customer engagement expertise such as the delivery of live (i.e., not canned) product demonstrations and presentations.
Campbell also helps with the architecture of technical content and programs such as industry road shows, white papers, PowerPoint presentations, field and customer demonstrations, training courses and other types of technical content. In addition, Campbell helps with the strategy and execution of various technical sales efforts.
Throughout his career, Campbell has worked with numerous leading-edge products, from their early stages of development, for Microsoft and Intel and the respective software and hardware ecosystems that surround those companies. In addition, Campbell has an extensive background delivering and developing technical content to diverse audiences.
Campbell has obtained various industry certifications from Microsoft (MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA and MCT). He also has enjoyed the opportunity to act as lead author of three books: 101 Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Applications, Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers (both for Microsoft Press), and Applied Virtualization Technology (for Intel Press). Campbell holds an M.A. in communication from Purdue University with emphases in both public speaking and instructional design.
Campbell was a founding member of 3 Leaf, a successful independent technology consulting firm that organized in 2000. Campbell took sole ownership in 2004 and continued to grow 3 Leaf until its acquisition by Aeshen Corporation in March 2006. After selling 3 Leaf, Campbell founded Campbell Solutions in April of 2006. Campbell can be reached at sean@campbell-solutions.com.
Bio: Scott Swigart, principal of Swigart Consulting. Swigart spends his time consulting, authoring and speaking about the convergence of current and emerging technologies. He believes this is partially a result of having worked with a very wide range of technologies over his career. He began programming with Commodore 64 systems at the age of 12, began writing hardware diagnostics for UNIX systems in C++, and then moved into Windows desktop, Web, and component development and finally through XML, .NET and Web services. With such broad and deep experience, he has seen how technology evolves over time. Today, he focuses on helping organizations make the most of current technology and prepare to leverage emerging technology for a competitive edge.
Swigart divides his time among consulting, authoring and teaching, with each activity serving to complement the others. “Authoring enables me to dig deep into technologies; teaching exposes me to a wide range of development scenarios, and lets me focus on specific areas where students are looking for solutions; and consulting keeps me real-world,” he says. “Moreover, my consulting practice benefits from my teaching and authoring, which help to ensure that I’m up to speed on the latest technology and not ‘learning on the job.’ In turn, my teaching and authoring benefit from my consulting, which ensures that I have real-world experience on which to base my courses and writing.”
SEO Copywriting Workshop
Positions for Nothing and the Clicks For Free: Secrets of SEO Copywriting
Heather Lloyd-Martin, SuccessWorks
Creating duplicate content can put you at risk of being banned from Google, but it’s equally important to avoiding the “easy-bake oven” approach of text stuffed with keywords or a keyphrase list as copy (which search engines don’t like) or burying keywords in graphics. Lloyd-Martin’s best practices for getting good organic rankings include pages with a minimum of 250 words, crafted to contain good marketing prose and searchable terms. She referred to keyworddiscovery.com and wordtracker.com for help researching keywords, and stressed the necessity of analytics to learn if the content is working. If not, she says, rewrite it.
Write unique tantalizing titles and compelling headlines for each page, remembering that these will show up on the search list and can help encourage click-throughs. Put the company name in the title only if the name/brand is strong and known and the name is short; otherwise, it will compromise the title. And put content that’s good for search engines in such areas as FAQ, PR, Info, How-to, Article, Newsletter or blog pages.
Bio: Heather Lloyd-Martin, president & CEO of SuccessWorks. Lloyd-Martin is recognized as the pioneer of SEO copywriting and has published a book (“Successful Search Engine Copywriting”) that is considered a complete best-practices guide to search-engine writing. She is currently a member of the Internet Marketing Advisory Board and chair of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Search Engine Marketing Council, and she was formerly co-chair of the Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM) Search Engine Marketing Council. She was a program advisory committee member for the DMA’s 2003-2004 net.marketing conferences and the 2004-2006 Annual Catalog Conferences. She also has been asked again to participate on the program advisory committee for the 2007 ACCM conference and for DMA 07.
Specializing in gaining her clients top buzz in the search engines, Lloyd-Martin helps clients gain prime search-engine branding and increased word-of-mouth marketing. She has worked with many big-brand clients, helping them use the power of strategic content to gain measurably increased online visibility.
Lloyd-Martin organizes and moderates search marketing workshops for select Primedia and Direct Marketing Association conferences, including net.marketing, the ACCM Conference and the DMA Annual Conference and Exhibition. She is a featured speaker at worldwide Incisive Media Search Engine Strategies conferences as well as other top industry conferences such as @d:tech, The Conference Board, WebmasterWorld and Seybold.
A popular columnist, she has published articles in Inc.com, SearchDay, ClickZ, Catalog Success, Entrepreneurs’ Business Start-Ups and others. Lloyd-Martin was co-moderator of the award-winning Rank Write Roundtable until its close in 2001.
International Search
Steve Kemper, Ion Global
This session was highly specific and packed with details about the many assumptions we take for granted in our national and even English-based communications, assumptions that may not make sense or may even be offensive in different cultures. With the focus on tweaking international sites for the leading search engines in each country (in places such as Russia, China and South Korea, for example, Google, Yahoo and MSN aren’t even among the top three search engines), Steve Kemper expertly outlined issues related to usability, search visibility and accessibility for international Web sites.
Among his recommendations were to provide in-language content for key markets, and the importance of human vs. machine translation. He recommended that at least the top 20 percent of the site be written by a native speaking copywriter. Machine translation should be used only with a disclaimer, and only for the “bottom” of the site. He also discussed such issues as evaluating pictures and iconography, where to host the site, and how to manage page titles, metatags, keywords and other search factors.
Bio: Steve Kemper, senior manager, User Experience, Ion Global. Kemper joined Ion Global in 1999 and has spent more than a decade and a half building global brands. His holistic approach to client solutions has resulted in numerous successful initiatives across a variety of industries. He launched Ion Global’s growing international search marketing practice and is a senior manager based in Portland. He is also a published author and experienced speaker.
About SEMpdx
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, SEMpdx is a 501 c6 organization dedicated to nurturing the development of search engine marketing (SEM) in the greater Pacific Northwest. SEMpdx provides a resource for local professionals and businesses interested in leveraging SEM to enhance careers and bottom lines. The mission of SEMpdx is to improve the quality of work and life for SEM professionals as well as elevate Portland’s profile on a national scale as a hotbed of SEM talent. The organization hosts monthly events, including Hot Seat, where local businesses can gather valuable tips on how to increase awareness and revenues through SEM. The organization also supports one non-profit charity organization each year, both in terms of resources and cash donations. The charity of choice for 2007 is CCI Enterprises, an organization that facilitates career and personal development for adults with disabilities. For more information about SEMpdx, visit www.sempdx.org.
About the author
Kate McPherron, a technology evangelist, has helped technology and industrial firms manage and market their products and services for 20 years. She can be reached at klm54@cornell.edu.
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