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Search Engine Strategies Chicago starts in four weeks on Dec. 8, 2008. Since SES Chicago is the only SEM conference in the Midwest, it is expect to attract more than 2,000 attendees, or “delegates.”

But as Butch Cassidy frequently asked the Sundance Kid, “Who are those guys?”

In the past, there was anecdotal information about the quality of attendees who came to Search Engine Strategies Chicago. And as a frequent speaker, I would often ask for a show of hands to get a sense of the percentage of first time attendees and SES veterans.

But now, there is survey data that provides a clearer picture of the demographics of delegates from last year’s event. And I suspect it’s the kind of information that exhibitors and sponsors of the SES expo have been asking for:
• 87% of delegates are new to SES, 13% are alumni;
• 85% of delegates approve or recommend purchasing decisions;
• 52% of delegates have a high level of experience within search marketing;
• 36% of delegates are from a company of 100+ employees;
• Nearly 1,300 unique companies attended SES Chicago 2007, 27% of these companies sent two or more staff.

In addition, 41% of the attendees are in marketing or management; 27% are in web design or e-commerce; 23% are in corporate management or owners; and 9% are non-marketing professionals. And 57% approve or specify purchases, 28% make recommendations, and only 15% have no involvement in purchases.

That’s why you’ll see 40 sponsors and exhibitors at the Search Engine Strategies Expo. Savvy search engine marketers understand the value of quality attendance.

As Bill Muller, the VP Marketing for iProspect, has said, “SES is a terrific event series, one that we plan to be at in New York, San Jose, and Chicago.” Or as Ginny Redgate, VP Marketing for Hitwise, has said, “SES provides us great brand visibility within the search marketing community as well as quality leads. It is a great place for us to connect with our clients.”

I don’t think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid could have said it better.

SearchMonkey is a developer’s platform released by Yahoo earlier this year. But in order for searchers to make use of the apps, they must first be approved by Yahoo.

Now Yahoo is letting developers find an early audience by allowing apps to be classified as experimental before they’re approved. Searchers can use the apps like they’re a hotel swimming pool - i.e. at their own risk.

Want to test out some experimental apps? Click ‘Show Experimental Enhancements’ at the bottom of the SearchMonkey Gallery applications directory page.

Microsoft adCenter has released a slew of updates for the fall to aid you in your paid search campaigns. The updates include:

• Campaign Management: ability to pause and resume ads and keywords, geo-targeting enhancements, and improved performance reporting on the Ads page
• Editorial Improvements: faster reviews, dynamic feedback about why ads and keywords were disapproved, and inline notification when dynamic text causes your ads to exceed character limits
• User Management: if previously you were only able to have one user, now you can create multiple account users
• Content Ads (U.S. only): get keyword bid suggestions and performance estimates for your content ads

What do you think of the updates? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
Microsoft adCenter Launches Learning Center
adCenter Introduces Dynamic Text Insertion
Microsoft adCenter Updates Credit Card Options

Google has reached an agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), which represented a broad class of authors and publishers to expand online access to in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. The publications will come from the library collections participating in Google Book Search.

The agreement was reached after two years of negotiations. The deal includes Google dishing out $125 million to establish the Book Rights Registry, which would resolve an existing class action lawsuit brought by the groups.

If the court approves, the agreement allows:

• More Access to Out-of-Print Books — Generating greater
  exposure for millions of in-copyright works, including hard-to-find
  out-of-print books, by enabling readers in the U.S. to search these
  works and preview them online
• Additional Ways to Purchase Copyrighted Books — Building off publishers’ and authors’ current efforts and further expanding the
  electronic market for copyrighted books in the U.S., by offering users the ability to purchase online access to many in-copyright books
• Institutional Subscriptions to Millions of Books Online –Offering a means for U.S. colleges, universities and other organizations to obtain subscriptions for online access to collections from some of
  the world’s most renowned libraries
• Free Access From U.S. Libraries — Providing free, full-text, online viewing of millions of out-of-print books at designated computers
  in U.S. public and university libraries
• Compensation to Authors and Publishers and Control Over Access to Their Works — Distributing payments earned from online access provided by Google and, prospectively, from similar programs that may be established by other providers, through a newly created independent, not-for-profit Book Rights Registry that will also locate rightsholders, collect and maintain accurate rightsholder information, and provide a way for rightsholders to request inclusion in or exclusion from the project.

“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, together with the authors, publishers, and libraries, we have been able to make a great leap in this endeavor,” said Sergey Brin, co-founder & president of technology at Google. “While this agreement is a real win-win for all of us, the real victors are all the readers. The tremendous wealth of knowledge that lies within the books of the world will now be at their
fingertips.”

What do you think about the agreement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Related Reading:
Google SERPs Promoting Google Book Links
Google Courts Book Publishers, Librarians

One of the most outspoken investors during the Microsoft-tries-to-buy-Yahoo debacle was Eric Jackson. Mr. Jackson leads a group 146 shareholders that owned a collective 3.2 million Yahoo shares. Those shares were sold last month.

Though Mr. Jackson did approve of the Yahoo-Icahn agreement that expanded Yahoo’s board by 3 members, including Carl Icahn, it apparently was not enough.

Jackson, it turns out, has been right about Yahoo all along. He was one of the first to vocalize fears that Yahoo shares would drop significantly without a Microsoft buy. I, myself, was skeptical. But Jackson was right.

While Yahoo is the number 2 search engine, number 1 in email and the owner of several strong web properties, it’s still not enough. Jackson identifies why when he said, “Leadership matters.”

Writing at SeekingAlpha.com, Jackson explained: “I believed that with better oversight from a new board and management, Yahoo could finally capitalize on its many strengths. We’ve had no significant changes at either level. The company is still muddling ahead with just as many priorities, just as many staff and just as many boxes on the organizational chart. I came to the conclusion that this company is doomed to failure with the current board and leadership.”

YHOO was trading at $12.34 at the time of this post.

If you are like me, then you are a master of just-in-time planning. While Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008 won’t be held until December 8-12, if you register by tomorrow – Friday, Sept. 26 – you can take advantage of the “recession special” and save up to $600.

So, if you were already planning to attend, register now and save some dough. If you haven’t made up your mind yet, look over the conference agenda below pronto.

SES Chicago is the only major search engine marketing conference and expo in the Midwest. And, with more than 70 conference sessions, strategic development workshops, keynote presentations, Orion panels, and training workshops, I’ll bet you find plenty of content that was designed for you – whether this is your first SES conference ever or the fifth one that you’re going to attend this year.

This is especially true if you are involved in retail marketing. There is a Retailer Track on Tuesday, Dec. 9, and a Vertical & Retail Track on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

I’ve been optimizing SES schedules for clients and Search Engine Watch readers for years. And there are plenty of sessions at SES Chicago 2008 that everyone should attend, including:
• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend the Conference Welcome/Orientation and Opening Keynote from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. and the “Orion Panel: CEO vs. SEO” from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m.;
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend the Morning Keynote Presentation from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and the “Orion Panel: Why Does Search Get all the Credit?” from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.; and
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend the Morning Keynote from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

But, there are four to five concurrent tracks over the four-day conference and there are three concurrent training workshops on Friday. So, attendees of SES Chicago 2008 will need to make some choices about what to attend.

For first-time Search Engine Strategies attendees, here are the conference sessions and training workshops that I’d recommend:

• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend “Search Industry Update” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., and “Search and Packaged Goods” from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and “Landing Page Testing & Tuning” 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend “Introduction to Search Engine Marketing” from 10:30 to 11:45am, and “SEO Tools” from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend “Search Advertising 101” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., “Getting Vertical Search Right” from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., “Blogging for Business” from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and “In House: Lessons Learned & Victories Won” from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.
• On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend “How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively With Your IT Department to Get Stuff Done” from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the “Ad Copy Continuity Clinic” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and the “Site Clinic” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the “Search Engine Optimization Workshop” from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the “Optimizing for Universal Search” workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

For veteran attendees responsible for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, here are the SES conference sessions and training workshops that I’d recommend:

• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend “Search Industry Update” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., “Is There Life Beyond Google?” from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and “Landing Page Testing & Tuning” 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend “Advanced Keyword Research” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and “Managing Automated PPC Bid Management” from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend “Advanced B2B” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., “Search Advertising Tools” from 12:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., “Ads in a Quality Score World” from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and “Advanced Paid Search Techniques” from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m.
• On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend the “Contextual Ads & Ad Sense Clinic” from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the “Ad Copy Continuity Clinic” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and “Brand & Reputation Management” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the “Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness” from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the “Advanced AdWords” workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

For veteran attendees responsible for search engine optimization (SEO), here are the SES conference sessions and training workshops that I’d recommend:

• On Monday, Dec. 8, attend “Universal & Blended Search” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., “Igniting Viral Campaigns” from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and “Semantic Search: How Will it Change Our Lives?” from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend “Usability & SEO: Two Wins for the Price of One” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and “Advanced Link Building” from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
• On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend “SEO Through Blogs & Feeds” from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., “Video Search Engine Optimization” from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., “SEO Friendly Flash” from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and “The Next Wave for Online Video” from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.
• On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend “How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively with Your IT Department to Get Stuff Done” from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., “Affiliate 2.0: New Distribution Value Using Search & More” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and “Black Hat, White Hat & the Best Kept Secrets to Search” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the “Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques” workshop from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the “Viral Marketing & Link Baiting” workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Of course, veteran SES conference attendees already know how to navigate the conference agenda. They may want to check out the Issues Track on Tuesday, the Social Media Track on Wednesday, and the Local Track on Thursday. The point I’m making is there are plenty of conference sessions, strategic development workshops, keynote presentations, Orion panels, and training workshops to help them take their skills to the next level.

You’ll also see a couple of sessions “reserved for late-breaking topic.” Every year that I’ve been attending Search Engine Strategies – which goes back to the spring of 2002 – there have been unexpected developments in the search industry. So, use the optimized schedule above to get the folks in finance to approve your plans to attend. But, even I expect to be “calling audibles” when I get to SES Chicago 2008.

Yahoo’s new board of directors met on Tuesday and approved new talks with Time Warner regarding a possible sale of AOL. Yahoo recently expanded its board to 11 members, adding investor Carl Icahn in a settlement after his attempt to takeover the company with a new board. Frank Biondi and John Chapple also joined the board.

AOL has also been going through some changes, refocusing its business model on media and not on internet access. Subscriptions to its internet access product have declined in recent years due to the increased (and ironic for the Time Warner-owned AOL) broadband high speed internet subscriptions via cable companies.

No talks are currently underway. Tuesday’s decision simply approves a move to proceed with them.

via Financial Times

AOL has announced that its online advertising solution, Platform-A, will offer a guaranteed CPM to third party developers creating Bebo and Facebook applications. But the guarantee comes with a catch: it’s only good for the first three impressions for each unique U.S. visitor who visits an approved developer’s application.

Boasting one of the highest CPMs in the industry, AOL says the offer is part of WIDGNET™ publisher network launched earlier this year by Platform-A’s Advertising.com. WIDGNET brings advertisers and third party developers of widgets and social networking applications together.

“This announcement reinforces Platform-A’s commitment to helping developers generate revenue and monetize their Bebo and Facebook applications in the rapidly evolving social networking space. Advertiser interest in social networks is rising at a steady rate, and Platform-A is making an unprecedented flat-fee commitment to help application developers generate revenue and guarantee monetization of their applications,” said Dave Jacobs, Senior Vice President of Publisher Services, Platform-A Advertising.com Networks. “Platform-A views social networking applications as an area where we can add significant value by letting developers focus on expanding their install base, without worrying about monetization of applications.”

Earlier this year, AOL acquired Bebo for $850 million.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain joked to a small crowd of supporters that he was using Internet search engine Google to research his list of potential vice presidential candidates for his ticket.

“You know, basically it’s a Google,” Mr McCain said, to laughter, when asked how the selection process was going during a 10,000 dollar per person lunch in Richmond, Virginia. “What you can find out now on the internet - it’s remarkable.”

We tend to agree with ClickZ’s Kate Kaye, who interviewed Google political guru Peter Greenberger who concluded Hillary Clinton’s campaign was hampered by its failure to use search advertising consistently throughout the primary season, as both the Obama and McCain campaigns did.

We like the fact that McCain calls Google “a Google” as opposed to President Bush who referred to the search engine giant as “the Google.” It proves he’s much more Internet-savvy.

So who might be on McCain’s short list of candidates?

Based on a Google search for “vice president” there’s the obvious choice:

US House approves prolonged protection for Vice President Cheney - 13 hours ago
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Xinhua) — The US House of Representatives passed a legislation on Monday to prolong the protections for Vice President Cheney

Then there’s Condoleeza Rice, who’s actively campaigning for the slot according to ABC News:

Political Radar: Dan Senor: Condoleezza Rice Is Pursuing the VP Spot
If you don’t like Dr. Rice for Vice President, then you are a liberal …… The Republicans who think that Condi is qualified to be VP or President have to …
blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/dan-senor-condo.html -

We like the dark horse candidates found on the bottom of Page One:

Blog Search
Brian Schweitzer for Vice President - The Creature Politic - 20 hours ago
Arianna Huffington for Vice President - Financial Post - Diane Francis - 17 hours ago
Vice President - Flimsy Sanity - Jun 8, 2008

There are no surprises here except perhaps the branding of Yahoo’s new advertising platform as “AMP!”

Dear Fellow Stockholder:

The vote you will cast for directors at Yahoo!’s August 1, 2008 annual meeting is the most important for stockholders in our history.

We believe that the reelection of our current board is in the best interests of Yahoo!’s stockholders. Under the leadership of the current board and management team we are executing on our strategy to create value that is gaining traction. In addition, in responding to Microsoft Corporation’s proposal to acquire the company and exploring strategic alternatives, Yahoo!’s board has been focused on one central goal: how best to maximize stockholder value. In this regard, you should know that we have at all times been open to a transaction with Microsoft if it offers our stockholders full and certain value. We write to ask you to support our slate of highly qualified and capable directors standing for reelection.

You are probably aware that Carl Icahn proposes to replace our entire board of directors with his hand-picked slate. Mr. Icahn has no credible plan except to sell the company to Microsoft — despite the fact that Microsoft has publicly indicated that it has no current interest in such a transaction. Given Microsoft’s stated position of not wanting to acquire Yahoo!, the election of Mr. Icahn’s slate could result in substantial erosion of stockholder value.

We Urge You To Act Now To Protect Your Investment By Rejecting Mr.
Icahn’s Slate
And By Voting For Our Board Today, By Telephone, Internet, Or By
Signing, Dating,
And Returning The Enclosed WHITE Proxy Card.

Last year, after making changes in management, our board oversaw an intensive review by the new management team, led by Jerry Yang, of Yahoo!’s business and strategy. The result was a more focused strategy, a more streamlined company and a significant acceleration of specific initiatives to capitalize on the fast-growing online advertising market. As part of that strategy, we made a deliberate, disciplined decision to make investments that would generate greater long-term value for stockholders.

We started from a great place. Yahoo! is clearly a one-of-a-kind asset. We’re a leader in search, a pioneer in mobile advertising, and the clear leader in display advertising — where we see the greatest growth opportunity in online advertising. With more than 500 million monthly users worldwide, many best-in-class technology platforms, and strategically unique Asian assets, we are well-positioned to capture growth in an online advertising market that is projected to grow from approximately $40 billion in 2007 to approximately $75 billion in 2010.

The key is the knowledge and experience to execute with this unique asset. We believe that successfully executing on our strategy of being the “starting point” for the most consumers on the Internet and the “must buy” for advertisers will enable us to generate double-digit growth in operating cash flow and will lead to improved stockholder returns.

Our recent financial results, coupled with a number of strategic acquisitions and a string of significant product rollouts demonstrate that we are executing on our strategy:

– We’re continuing to see benefits from last year’s rollout of Panama, our new search monetization platform that is helping to close the monetization gap.

– Our acquisitions of Right Media, BlueLithium, Zimbra, and Maven Networks have all helped advance our core strategies.

– We are winning new business partners and expanding relationships with existing partners — WPP, Wal-Mart, CBS, and more than 770 newspapers now in our newspaper publisher consortium.

– Soon, we will roll out our new advertising management platform — AMP! from Yahoo! – that will enable us to offer advertisers and publishers an extraordinarily simple, seamless way to market over the Internet, helping us further our goal of becoming the “must buy” for online advertising.

Our Board Is Committed To Maximizing Stockholder Value.

Our board carefully evaluated Microsoft’s original offer and determined that it substantially undervalued our company and was not in the best interests of our stockholders. Over the ensuing months, we engaged in serious discussions with Microsoft, including numerous face-to-face meetings, some of which included one or more of our independent directors. During this period, our board was fully engaged, meeting more than twenty times to review the status of the discussions with Microsoft and to consider other available alternatives to maximize stockholder value. At all times, our board and management have made clear that they have been open to entering into any transaction, including a sale to Microsoft if it valued the company fairly and offered our stockholders certainty that they would receive that value, an important consideration given the likely lengthy regulatory review process before a deal would be approved.

Our board also explored and continues to explore a variety of other ways to maximize stockholder value.

Carl Icahn Has No Credible Plan To Create Value.

Mr. Icahn’s only plan for Yahoo!, if his slate is elected, is to hope that Microsoft — which withdrew its acquisition proposal more than a month ago and has since publicly reaffirmed that it is not now interested in a full acquisition — can be persuaded to come back to the table and agree to acquire our company. But this is not a strategy.

In our opinion, Mr. Icahn and his slate are not the right individuals to guide Yahoo! as a standalone company.

Our current board has the independence, the experience, the knowledge, and the commitment to navigate the company through the rapidly-changing Internet environment, execute on our initiatives to capitalize on the fast-growing online advertising market and to deliver value for Yahoo! and its stockholders.

The future of Yahoo! and the value of your investment are in your hands. We ask you to vote for your highly qualified and dedicated directors today. If you have questions about voting your WHITE proxy card, please call MacKenzie Partners, Inc. Toll-Free at (800) 322-2885.

Thank you for your support.

Roy Bostock Jerry Yang
Chairman of the Board Chief Executive Officer