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I spoke at PubCon last week — about How SMBs Can Use PR Campaigns To Grow Traffic and Alternative Discovery and SEO - Feeds, PDFs, and Blog SEO.

But, enough about me. Let’s talk about the top trends spotted at last week’s search engine and Internet marketing conference and expo in Vegas, baby!

For the record, I not only spoke at PubCon, I also looked at the 88 articles about it in Google News, the 77 articles in Yahoo! News, the 406 posts in Google Blog Search from the past month, and the 799 posts that IceRocket has found from the past month.

Then, I used a new tool called Twist, which lets you see trends in Twitter, to chart the hundreds of Tweets about PubCon over the past 30 days.

But, I could have just as easily looked at the session agenda grid for PubCon. Why? Because Brett Tabke, PubCon’s organizer, had set most of the agenda for 2009 when he selected the keynote speakers and creating the conference tracks. That’s why.

So, it was dead easy to spot the top trends at the six-track educational conference hosted by SearchEngineWorld and WebmasterWorld. Heck, even the most sleep-deprived attendee would know they were video, blogs and Twitter.

Video is hot — and YouTube video is red hot. This was reflected in the choice of George Wright, the VP Marketing & Sales at Blendtec, as one of the keynote speakers.

Described as the “The best viral marketing campaign ever,” George’s viral marketing campaign, “Will it Blend?,” has changed the face and the future of online marketing. Seen by more than 100 million people on the Internet and reported on by traditional media outlets like the Today Show, the Tonight Show, and the History Channel, Will it Blend? continues to deliver unprecedented corporate awareness through social media channels. This new form of marketing has delivered a 700% increase in sales for Blendtec, a small Utah based blender manufacturer, with an initial investment of $50.

Oh, and in case you didn’t notice that video is hot, Brett added a Video and Multimedia track with five sessions to drive the point home.

Blogs were big, too. This was reflected in three tracks at PubCon: one on Social Media Marketing, another on Social, Brand, and Reputation Management, and a third on Linking as Social Media Networking.

Now, blogs certainly aren’t considered the “newbies” of the social media scene – “granddaddies” is probably a more appropriate name. But that gives them an advantage from a marketing perspective – the medium has matured and moved from early adopter phase to the mainstream. That means more consumers are not only reading blogs; they are being influenced by blog content when it comes to what they decide to buy and who they decide to buy it from.

If you want a second opinion, sign up for tomorrow’s free webinar: “Consumers and the Influence of Blogs: What it Means for Your Marketing Mix.” It starts at 2:00 P.M. EST/11:00 A.M. PST and will be moderated by Kevin Ryan, SES Advisory Board Chair and CEO of Motivity Marketing. It will feature Barry Parr, Analyst, JupiterResearch, and Rob Crumpler, President and CEO, BuzzLogic. They will be discussion a new BuzzLogic-sponsored research study conducted by JupiterResearch, entitled, “Harnessing the Power of Blogs.”

But, you could also see the power of blogs at virtually ever session at PubCon.

In fact, there were tables in the sessions so the dozens of bloggers who were live blogging the event could blog more comfortably. (I think this is a first: I’m not sure that I’ve ever put bloggers, blogging and blog in the same sentence before.)

And what about Twitter? No, none of the keynote speakers was from free social networking and micro-blogging service. And, no, there were no Twitter tracks. And I can’t even find Twitter mentioned in the title of any of the 85 sessions.

But, trust me, you couldn’t miss the Twitter trend if you’d hit every one of the special events — from the exhibitor cocktail reception sponsored by Bruce Clay and Apogee Search, to the SEOmoz WereWolf Event, to the WebmasterRadio Search Bash, sponsored by Microsoft Live Search.

For example, I was sitting in the session entitled, Five Bloggers and a Microphone - What’s The Worst That Can Happen? It was moderated by Ken Jurina, and the speakers included:
• Andy Beal, Internet Marketing Consultant, Marketing Pilgrim LLC,
• Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing,
• Michael McDonald, Managing Editor, iEntry Inc.,
• Barry Schwartz, President, RustyBrick, Inc.,
• Jane Copland, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOMoz.

When it came time for Q&A, one of the first questions came from a woman in the audience, who said, “I asked my circle of friends on Twitter what I should ask you, and I got eight questions. If I eliminate the seven that are inappropriate, here’s one that the panel can answer….”

That brought down the house.

Oh, PubCon also had lots of tracks and sessions on SEO, SEM and interactive site reviews. But they’ve had those for years. The new news is video, blogs and Twitter. These are the top trends that I spotted at this year’s PubCon.

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New Article - What You Can Do for Easy Gas Saving Posted By : JessicaThomson: Gas and .. http://tinyurl.com/5qqtkg #
What You Can Do for Easy Gas Saving Posted By : JessicaThomson: Gas and Electricity, the two [...]

New Blog Post - Ways to Earn Money Writing: Ways to Earn Money Writing If you are a .. http://tinyurl.com/5z6fz4 #
New Article - How to Make Proper Web Content for Small Business Posted By : Henal Pate.. http://tinyurl.com/6ot7vy #
Thinking about Marketing Stickiness Posted By : Ben Needles: A new idea is delicate http://tinyurl.com/62qxfh #
New Article [...]

A New York Supreme Court judge has tossed out a $100 million lawsuit against the ex-employees a doctor blames for associating his name online with hard-core porn Web sites - and creating his own obsession with Googling his name, according to the New York Post.

SEW Expert Chris Boggs has written about the benefits of Googling your name in “Confessions of an Online Reputation Management Junkie.” But Chris never warned readers of the hazards. It may be an incurable disease.

The three ex-employees sued Dr. Arden Kaisman for sexual harassment last year. Since then, Google searches under his name lead to hundreds of raunchy Web sites.

Dr. Kaisman claimed the trio and others “conspired” to have his name linked to the porn sites, and that the anesthesiologist has lost business and developed a strange form of mental distress as a result.

“I find myself obsessed with ‘Googling’ my name,” Dr. Kaisman said. “The Internet, the great information equalizer, has been corrupted to hurt me. . . . I’m told I have an ‘incurable Internet disease.’ “

State Supreme Court Justice Jane Solomon didn’t buy Dr. Kaisman’s diagnosis and said there’s no evidence the three former employees are linked to the postings.

Even if there was, Kaisman couldn’t sue over having his name linked to pornography. It seems the women complained about - and Kaisman has admitted to - e-mailing employees “sexually explicit images.”

Kaisman’s lawyer, Sidney Segall, said there’s a big difference between the types of e-mails his client was sending and the types of sites he’s now linked to.

Solomon said there are “qualitative differences” between the sites and Kaisman’s e-mails, but ruled in favor of the employees.

If you’re getting ready to go to Search Engine Strategies Toronto next week – or still on the fence about whether to attend SES Toronto June 16-18 – then check out the buzz from more than two dozen search blogs that has been leading up to the SEM conference.

If fact, the buzz in Canada has been louder this year than the one coming from the periodical cicadas that emerge every 17 years from underground haunts on Cape Cod. (Hey, I’m not making this up. Just read “Cape is again abuzz” from The Boston Globe.)

What Google calls “the buzzing blogger community” has been blogging about the speakers who will be speaking at Search Engine Strategies Toronto. I should know. I was among the first bloggers to start buzzing about “Why search engine marketers should attend SES Toronto 2008.”

But, I haven’t been alone.

More than two dozen other search blogs joined the chorus. Here’s a list of the posts about next week’s SEM conference that I was able to find today – and I’m sure that I’m missing more:

An Analytic Approach to SEO and PPC

Entrevue - Eric Morris de Google Canada

Search Engine Strategies (SES) Toronto

Speaking Schedule for June: Millennial Financial, DM Days & SES Toronto

Andrew Goodman On Toronto SES

Interview with Eric Morris from Google

Portrait Québecois des moteurs de recherche

Search Engine Optimization - Toprank’s CEO shares tips and Tricks

Interview: Jane Motz Hayes on SEO and Usability

How To Succeed With Search

SES Toronto 2008: Interview with Jill Whalen on SEO Donts, Myths, and Scams

Interview with Mitch Joel

Metamend Speakers at SMX Advanced and SES Toronto

Mission Critical for Non-Profits to Make the Search Connection

Is Your Web Site Accessible?

My interview with Matt McGowan, VP of Marketing - Incisive Media

SES Toronto 2008

SES Toronto - Combine Professional Development with Family Fun

SEO Myths with WestJet’s Lyndsay Walker

Speaking at SES Toronto 2008

SES Toronto, Here I Come!

Search Around the World - an Interview with Alicia Morga about Search Marketing for the Hispanic Market

Urban Mapping to Speak at SES Toronto 2008

Is There A Need For More Search Conferences In Canada?

So, “the buzzing blogger community” has really been abuzz about the SEM conference that gets underway on Tuesday, June 17, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (South Bldg.), in Toronto, Canada. It’s not too late to register to find out what all this buzz is about for yourself.

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Gestational Diabetes: Diet Menu Posted By : Jane D Reynolds: What is the right approach and [...]

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Gestational Diabetes: Diet Menu Posted By : Jane D Reynolds: What is the right approach and [...]

Eric Goldman reported a Florida court made a default judgment that requires including negative keywords in search advertising to ensure broad match does not include their trademarked term. Obviously this only applies to the specific instance but there is a dangerous precedent being allowed.

Goldman sees the suit applying to just expanded match in broad match - but it is restricting the use of a trademarked term as just a keyword and not in the ad as Google currently allow and requires the use of negative keywords to ensure they get blocked - or at least then passing the culpability to Google.

With the isolation of responsibility to Google by following these rules - if that is the case - I wonder if Orion Bank will be going after them next… this one I don’t see them having a no show for a defendant.

Beyond the one to one defendant - the suit did allow for it to apply to any other company by including:

a) from any and all use of the term ORION, ORION RESIDENTIAL
FINANCE, or any other confusingly similar term;
b) from using any sign, advertisement, slogans, internet domain name,
promotional material, promotional communication, and/or printed or electronic
matter containing the term ORION, or any other confusingly similar term.

That would stop them from using orion as a term, the domain they own (but they could be a registered company with the name Orion Residential Financein Florida as the suit lists) OrionResidentialFinance.com, and much more.

They by default got Orion - which should have been ruled too broad.And that the defendants were ORION RESIDENTIAL FINANCE,
LLC, a Florida limited liability co.,
and VARIOUS JOHN DOES,
JANE DOES and ABC COMPANIES,

Does ABC Companies mean any future people trying to use Orion?

This has to get taken back to the courts soon.

You’re never going to guess which SEO rockstar was in The New York Times yesterday… Oh. You guessed. Right. Well then. Carry on.

Rand Fishkin , CEO of SEOMoz, appears on Oprah more than any other SEO. So we weren’t surprised to see Rand Fiskin and SEOMoz debut yesterday in The New York Times Fashion & Style section.

Come to think of it, we were surprised. We didn’t see the Times story mentioned in the growing search blogosphere. SEOMoz blogger Rebecca Kelley didn’t mention the citation in her weekly news roundup but fortunately, Rand “tweeted” the link to the NY Times article on Twitter today.

“Skin Deep: To Cut or What? The World Butts In” a feature by NYT reporter Anna Jane Grossman suggests, “Gone are the days of making beauty look effortless. Instead everyone wants confirmation in the form of numbers, like so many singers vying for the love of the world’s Simons, Paulas and Randys. And it seems public approval trumps personal choice, or the advice of friends.”

The SEOMoz blog, (where SEW Expert Eric Enge and CEO, Stone Temple Consulting), has been guest blogging, received a coveted link from NY Times Digital.

So here’s the scoop on the author of The Desire for Fame in the SEO World:

Click to read the rest of this post…

First, maybe you’re in-house, working for a CPG big-brand,  e-marketing multi-million dollar health insurance products, a solo designer, are president of a boutique SEM shop in Toronto, or perhaps your wild-thing is classic PR. This post applies to you.

Every professional needs someone. This timeless axiom is especially relevant to both those who consume and those who provide search marketing services. aimClear interviewed 21 marketing companies and solo practitioners for this article, in order to clarify our anecdotal understanding of how industry peers view strategic partnerships.

Let the Games Begin
In 1999 it was feasible to be a small search marketing shop or in-house team and literally cover all the bases: SEO, paid search, social media, link/traffic building, analytics, and content development. Now SEM has exploded on to the scene, becoming the most relevant skill-set in the entire marketing universe; the multi- headed hydra of interconnected disciplines which can’t easily be handled by a single small (or sometimes medium) SEM department or agency.

In-house or out-house (always wanted to say that) healthy business things result from crafting strategic partnerships amongst specialized and trusted peers with complementary skills. Herein lays the golden path for many a marketing team to remain compact and efficient, whilst providing world class solutions to satisfy any client’s needs.

"Although we position ourselves as a full-service SEM agency, we’ve been partnering (more than ever) with what I would have considered competitors in the past. For one company, we manage PPC while a partner of ours manages SEO. In another example, we provide strategic consulting for a content portal, while the current SEM firm will manage the launch and ongoing activities.

I believe it’s a win-win-win in most cases, as the client gets best-of-breed service providers while the vendors get a unique opportunity to learn from each other and share revenue.”
Kent Lewis, Anvil Media, Inc.

Full Service SEM, Circa 2000
Back in the day, social media was a phenomenon looming intangibly on the horizon and required little attention. ” Socially informed search” meant humans maintaining the Yahoo Directory and community meant AOL chat rooms, IRC, and Yahoo Personals.

Overture was easy to operate, dominated the paid search landscape (there was no Google AdWords) and organic optimization was easy for the well-informed.  Analytics were rudimentary, conversion tracking was an afternoon cookie-bake for the clever, and link building meant directories, exchanges, and cold phone calls. Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman, Aaron Wall, and other “old fart” SEOs hadn’t invented terms like “linkbait” and search engine algorithms were refreshingly easy to reverse engineer [sigh].  

The search marketing industry was about to undergo an explosion of epic proportions, bringing the entire planet’s media empire paradigm to it’s very KNEES. Those were heady times indeed. A small SEM shop could make a massive difference for any client on any “best-practices” front.  We could literally do it all ourselves.

“Our in-house SEM department is changed with targeting 15-24 year olds artsy types.  These days the young are incredibly savvy and demand that we serve them by publishing with increasingly familiar tools. Even with our [significant] in-house marketing resources, we delegate out design, some application development and even SEO projects. 

The in-house/out-of-house hybrid approach results in better conversion and ROI, satisfies our customers’ expectations, and our team is always current with crucial SEM information. In the end it costs us less and we sell more.”
Lance Sabin, Institute of Production and Recording

Not Your Mother’s SEM
Things have certainly changed! Social media participation permeates the very fabric of society. Organic optimization remains an intense mish-mash of authentic content, publishing technique and hundreds of distribution channels. Link-building has crossed over into social media. This is especially intriguing as organic optimization and SMO (even Social PPC like Facebook) fold into the realm of social media practitioners.

“I’m a social Media marketer. That said, we social-side SEMS sure know we don’t live in a bubble, sweet as that would be. It’s in my best interest to have relationships to share with my clients… a diverse set of brilliant professionals. Then my clients can do anything, and I happily play my part. “
Shana Albert, SocialDesire

Personalized and Universal search blew “old” SEO out of the water.  Client relationships begin with taking inventory of digital assets and highly complex PPC campaigns sport millions of keywords, where sharpshooters mine long-tail ROI.  Each specialized endeavor requires deep commitment to craft and have become cottage industries unto themselves.  It’s easy to understand why solo or small SEM practitioners often choose to focus, as opposed to attempting to do it all it all. 

“Our focus is our agency’s organic search, paid search, and social media. We keep these functions in-house as we have the knowledge and expertise. Other activities where we don’t feel we have as strong a competitive advantage (usability, email marketing, web design, and affiliate marketing) are outsourced to experts we view as being the market thought-leaders.

Often our strategic partners bring us work that’s perfect for what we do best. In the end, it’s all about working together to get clients the results they expect in this incredible age of specialization and heightened expectations.”
Jeff Quipp, SearchEnginePeople

Should Relationships be Transparent?
Some of the firms we interviewed transparently share subcontractors with their clients, even to the point of direct billing and no marked up fees. The advantages can include more efficient communications channels, clarity, and shared customer service responsibilities. Points of danger are sometimes fragmented communication, lack of a coordinated front, a confused client and more complicated communication.

Other strategic partners find it less complicated to remain in the background. In our interviews we heard repeatedly that a key advantage to having the partner-firm remain invisible was that the “originating” company nearly always has a better understanding of the client’s goals and makeup. Decisions as to the “transparency issue” are personal to every strategic partnership and should be embarked upon intentionally.

“We’re an advertising agency that specializes only in pay per click. That’s all we do. Maximizing conversions is critical for our clients, so we partner with web designers analytics firms and a range of others. Reciprocally we also partner-out, usually transparently, to agencies who subcontract PPC work to us, so they can provide top service to their clients without maintaining an expert staff in-house. It’s just easier’.
David Szetela, ClixMarketing

PR agencies are all over the SEM revolution and have learned to partner with SEM shops. Social media is such a huge component of the “new” PR and so makes total sense that “traditional” practitioners appreciate the benefits SEM-type thinking brings to the arena. Savvy PR practitioners embrace social and are partnering more and more with SEM shops

 "SEM agencies and PR agencies are usually 180 degrees apart on the spectrum of measuring results of their efforts.  To SEMs, immediate feedback means spreadsheets with detailed analytics. PR clients are more used to clip-books with column inches counted months later. These days, clients want immediate feedback and statistics as to their efforts. We’ve learned to embrace this conundrum and partner to capitalize on the advantages of both PR and SEM. Using strategic partner-vendors helps us link PR results with the magical measurement capabilities of the modern SEM.”
Janet Johnson

 “Search marketing is expanding and becoming much more of a specialized field. We’ve found it highly beneficial to partner with key providers and concentrate on our areas of specialty. Our entire approach to the web is to unify the various components of marketing under a strategic umbrella, so it often makes sense to augment our strong points with complimentary solo consultants directly for specific projects. This is the model we’re working with and it’s been successful.”
Adam Audette, AudetteMedia 

In-House, CPG, big pharmaceutical, independent designer, local SEO or up and coming carpet cleaning company — everybody needs somebody else sometimes. The timeless reality of the interdependent corporate web has never been more obvious than in the field of search marketing. Paid search, organic, social, PR, email, and every classic node, there’s work enough for everybody. Specialization, as the SEM universe expands, is inevitable.  Many of our peers reach out to forge strategic relationships.