SUMMIT TOPIC

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for many is shrouded in mystery. Is it a black art? Where are the ethical boundaries? What works and what doesn't? What should one look out for when buying SEO services? What are the trends and coming opportunities? Where are the search engines and the SEO industry heading?

SEO is a dynamic and often misunderstood area of Internet marketing. Misinformation abounds, thanks in no small part to some unscrupulous SEO vendors who use unethical tactics. The search engines are penalizing and banning offenders, and naive buyers of SEO services from dubious vendors can get caught in the crossfire. Inaction is not an option either, because the opportunity cost of not going after top positions in the search engines is massive.

As the SEO industry matures, the search engines are not standing still. They are evolving their algorithms, forever trying to thwart the search engine spammers and improve the quality of search results and the overall search experience.

Learn from our esteemed panel of experts, led by Stephan Spencer, founder and president of Netconcepts and a MarketingProfs senior contributor. Panelists include: Mike Grehan, Jill Whalen, Eric Ward, Christine Churchill, Brian Klais, Cam Balzer, Barry Lloyd, Ammon Johns, and Alan Rimm-Kaufman.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Moderator
Stephan Spencer is the founder and president of Netconcepts, a 10 year-old multinational web agency specializing in search engine friendly web design and ecommerce, as well as email marketing through Netconcepts' gravityMail division. Stephan is a Senior Contributor for MarketingProfs.com. He has contributed to Catalog Age, Unlimited, New Zealand Marketing magazine, Building Online Business, and others. He is co-author of the analyst report "The State of Search Engine Marketing 1.0 – New Strategies for Successful Cataloging" published by Catalog Age. He is a sought-after speaker at conferences around the globe for organizations such as IIR, IQPC, the DMA, SMEI, JupiterMedia, and Internet World.


Cam Balzer is an online marketing expert with a proven track record for driving results and delivering innovation in the search engine marketing arena. Cam's expertise is based on nearly ten years experience across all online marketing channels. Cam is currently the director of search strategy for Performics, the performance-based marketing division of DoubleClick and the leading search engine marketing firm.

Christine Churchill is President of KeyRelevance.com, a full service search engine marketing firm offering organic search engine optimization, strategic link building, usability testing, and pay per click management. She was on the founding Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and is the Vice President of the Dallas-Ft Worth Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM).

Mike Grehan is CEO Smart Interactive and author of Search Engine Marketing: The essential best practice guide. He is a sought after speaker on the subject of search engine marketing and has worked with major brands both in the US and Europe. Mike is also editor of the email periodical, e-marketing-news.

Ammon Johns is the Marketing Director of Propellernet, a leading, UK-based, Search Marketing company. Ammon has been a 'thought leader' and innovator in creative and cutting edge SEO techniques for many years, and is held in high regard within the SEM industry. Ammon is a member of the working party set up to found the Search Marketing Association - UK, and is an Administrator at the Cre8asite Forums.

Brian Klais is Vice President of eBusiness Services for Netconcepts, helping retailers and catalogers hone their natural search optimization and email marketing strategies. He is a frequently published author and contributor to publications like Catalog Age Magazine, MarketingProfs.com, American Marketing Association, and Opt-In News Online. Brian also presents at conferences such as ACC and the DMA Annual.

Barry Lloyd runs the MakeMeTop's search engine marketing services, which have been assisting companies world-wide with search engine marketing since 1999. He moderates, posts information and writes articles for several major search engine related information sites on a regular basis. He is also acting President for SMA-UK, a UK trade association for search engine marketing professionals.

Ian McAnerin, founder of McAnerin Networks Inc, is a moderator for the High Rankings and the Search Engine Watch forums, and has been vetted by the standards watchdog SEOConsultants.com and SEOPros directories. He is a founding member of the Search Marketing Association of North America, with published articles in many international newsletters and web site news reports. He has a special interest in SEO legal issues due to his legal background.

Alan Rimm-Kaufman leads the Rimm-Kaufman Group, a marketing services firm specializing in online and multi-channel marketing. Prior, Rimm-Kaufman was VP of Marketing at Crutchfield, a $220 million consumer electronics e-retailer. A frequent conference speaker and columnist, Rimm-Kaufman holds a PhD in applied statistics from MIT's Sloan School of Business.

Eric Ward founded the Web's first service for generating links and publicity for web sites in 1994. Clients past or present include Amazon.com, DiscoveryChannel.com, and PBS.org. Eric trains ad agencies, PR firms, and site developers in the art of link building and online publicity. In 1998 Websight magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people on the web.

Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and host of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor search engine marketing newsletter. She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations and seminars. Jill's handbook, "The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines" teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines.

GET THE MATERIALS

• Audio recording (31 MB, MP3 format)
• Executive summary: part 1 & part 2
• Transcript (470K, 28 pages, PDF format)