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There are many different elements a small business can use to put together a well rounded online marketing campaign. In today’s Small Business Search Marketing column, “The Big Picture — Well Rounded SEM for SMBs, Part 1,” Carrie Hill puts together a list of things to think about when putting your search marketing to the test.

On Monday, June 16, 2008, before the start of the Search Engine Strategies conference in Toronto, Canada, there will be four search engine marketing training classes. While each of the half-day SEM training workshops costs CAD 795, if you register for a full day, the cost is CAD 1,395.

That’s a savings of 195 Loonies – which is worth between 97 and 98 Toonies. (SES Toronto Conference Chairman, Andrew Goodman, has been trying to help me translate American into Canadian, but Search Engine Strategies Global Content Director, Kevin Ryan, thinks it’s a lost cause.)

Seriously, why would you want to take a search engine marketing training class or two – independently or in addition to registering for the SES Toronto?

There are three key reasons.

First, you’ll be provided with “guided, hands-on exposure that puts theory into practice in a highly interactive environment,” as it says on the Search Engine Strategies Toronto website. These SEM training workshops will be taught by Debra Mastaler, Todd Malicoat, Adam Goldberg and Liana Evans, and I can personally vouch for three of them. (While I don’t know Adam Goldberg personally, he’s an ex-Google Insider who started Google’s Inside Sales team in NYC in 2003. So, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.)

These search engine marketing experts will provide you with the tools and techniques you need to become (or remain) outstanding in your field. (I know there’s a joke about a guy who is out standing in his field, but I forget the punch line.)

In the end, you’ll not only walk away from the search engine marketing classes with the knowledge and skills you need to be a successful search engine marketer, you may also “jump-start your career and enhance your professional know-how,” as the SES Toronto website puts it.

Second, all four of this year’s SEM training workshops are brand new. Compare them to last’s year’s line up of search engine marketing training classes. There are absolutely no repeats.

In Track 1, Debra Mastaler of Alliance-Link.com is teaching “Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques” from 8 a.m. to noon. And Adam Goldberg of ClearSaleing is teaching “Search Engine Marketing Metrics and Myths” from 1 to 5 p.m. (I love the use of alliteration in the titles of their SEM training workshops.)

In Track 2, Todd Malicoat of Stundtdubl is teaching “SEO Tools” from 8 a.m. to noon. And Liana Evans of KeyRelevance is teaching “How to Effectively Use Social Media for Search Marketing Campaigns” from 1 to 5 p.m. (Just because they don’t alliterate their titles doesn’t mean their search engine marketing training classes won’t be fun.)

I interviewed Todd and John Marshall of Market Motive at ad:tech San Francisco a couple of weeks back, when Market Motive announced it has teamed with Search Engine Strategies to provide online classes for training in search marketing, web analytics, and web conversion techniques.

Todd also talked about his SEM training workshop at SES Toronto. Check out the video interview below.

Stundubl’s Todd Malicoat’s Upcoming Session at SES Toronto

There’s a third key reason why you would want to take a search engine marketing training class or two – independently or in addition to registering for the SES Toronto. (There are always three key reasons to do anything. Hang on a second, I’ll remember it.)

You get a lunch break. (No, that’s not it. The lunches are getting better at all of the Search Engine Strategies events, but that’s not a reason to take workshops covering optimization and advertising strategies, analytics, tactics and best practices.)

Oh, now I remember. Whether you’re a consultant, site designer, website owner, or in-house marketing professional, you can’t afford to miss this opportunity to learn firsthand about the latest developments in search engine strategy. (I thought I was having a “senior moment” there.)

No matter where you are on the SEO or SEM learning curve, you’ll leave these intensive workshops with the necessary skills and tools to improve your business results and take your search engine marketing to another level. “Something that never looks bad on your permanent record,” according to Greg Marmalard in Animal House (1978).

See you at the Intercontinental Toronto Centre Hotel, which is a different venue than the main Search Engine Strategies conference, which is being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, which is attached to the InterContinental Toronto Centre Hotel. (Was that clear? Check Google Maps.)

See you at SES Toronto.

SearchIgnite has released search marketing spend data for Q1 2008 and the news is good for Yahoo, and so-so for Google and Microsoft. Year-over-year, same advertiser spending was up across all engines by 28.5%, but a slowdown in March spending growth is raising concerns for Q2.

Yahoo demonstrated the largest gain with a 57.6% increase in search marketing spend from last Q1. However, since Q1 2007 was a rough one for Yahoo, due to Panama’s delay, those numbers should be examined with caution.

Breaking it down by month, Yahoo saw a 79.2% gain in January, 37.3% gain in February, and 43.9% increase in March.

In quarter-over-quarter numbers, Yahoo’s share of the market grew from 19.6% to 24.2%, while Google dropped from 74.5% to 70.4% and Microsoft dropped from 5.9% to 5.45%.

SearchIgnite tracked over 22 billion impressions and 391 million clicks on Yahoo, Google, and MSN from January 1, 2006 through March 31, 2008 across more than 500 marketers, all of whom are clients of SearchIgnite directly or via its sister company 360i.

Related Reading:
Even for Google, Conversions Matter More Than Clicks
Is Google’s Price Drop A Reflection Of Recent Media Coverage
Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy

The 11th Circuit Court of Georgia ruled the use of others’ trademarks in meta tags infringes trademark laws, according to North American Medical Corp. v. Axiom Worldwide, Inc.

How this eventually gets applied across the country remains to be seen but it is the start of legal interpretation of search optimization. How far this can be pushed is what our industry should be thinking about right now.

If applied to the use of trademarked keywords used in Google - though there is another ruling that supported Google’s method - could make things hard for non-branded companies who produce products basically known by the trademarked term like Kleenex etc.

Funny Google just launched the ability to use trademarked keywords in the UK last week.

Eric Goldman’s Technology and Marketing Law blog gives some insight into the ruling.

“Unfortunately, it’s hard to parse this case because the court is imprecise about which metatags were used. I’ve looked through the defendant’s appellate brief and they don’t clarify the technology for the court at all–I’m wondering if any of the attorneys involved in this case know that there are multiple types of metatags. We only have the following three facts to work with:

* Axiom included competitive trademarks in the metatags
* Axiom appeared as the second organic search result in Google for the trademarked terms (following the plaintiff, which was #1 in the search results)
* The trademarked terms appeared in the search results descriptions”

Since there is always the possibility Google took the description from other sources apart from the site’s description the ruling seems to be potentially overruled if further challenged. As Goldman mentions the “court does not exhibit any understanding of anchor text or the fact that Google sometimes automatically assembles search result descriptions using third party content (such as DMOZ)”

This one could have major impact on all levels of search marketing, I wonder how Google plans to react to this interpretation of their actions. Funny the results in Yahoo or Microsoft were not mentioned…..

If you’ve been a one-man operation until now, hiring your first employee is a major milestone. However, making the wrong choice can seriously impact your business. In today’s Business of Search column, “Recruiting the Right People for Your SEM Business - Part 1,” Fionn Downhill warns that the success of your search marketing business depends on the quality of the staff you hire. Getting the right people will largely depend on how you go about the recruitment process.

Liana “Li” Evans of KeyRelevance spoke at three sessions during last month’s Search Engine Strategies conference in London: Images and Search Engines, Social Search Overview, and Search Marketing in Regulated Industries.

When she wasn’t speaking, Li was blogging about the event for Search Marketing Gurus, one of the event’s 10 media partners, saying, “SES London 08: The Best SES in a Long Time.” Oh, she was also taking about 300 photos, winning one of the prizes in our Flickr photo sharing awards for SES London 2008.

Liana Evans, KeyRelevance, on SMO at SES London 2008

If you haven’t encountered Li Evans yet, she is the director of Internet marketing at KeyRelevance. Since 1999, Li has been active in the search marketing arena, becoming well-versed in all avenues of search marketing, with a particular focus on natural search optimization, vertical search, social media, and word-of-mouth marketing. She has also become well-versed in areas of the retail industry that are regulated by the FTC.

Li helped to design, plan, and implement an Internet Retailer 500 company’s efforts into natural search optimization, totally revamping out-of-date navigation and site architecture, with very successful results. Since 1992 Liana has been active in the technology fields, being both a well-versed programmer and database programmer/designer, which lends well to her technical expertise in dealing with large-scale retail sites and their dynamic natures.

Li will also be speaking at SES New York 2008 about Successful Tactics for Social Media Optimization (SMO) and Images & Search Engines. And she’s already shared 9 Networking Tips to Use at SES NYC or Any Conference at Search Marketing Gurus.

At last week’s Radio Convergence meeting, the movers and shakers from radio’s digital arena were on hand to discuss their challenges — and their need to embrace online and search marketing.

“Radio has to start believing that the Internet is real,” said Reed Bunzel, CEO of TheRadio.com. Until recently, radio management considered their station websites as complementary marketing vehicles that supported on-air listeners. That has begun to change already.

The largest radio station groups are very tuned into their online opportunities, with both traffic and ad dollars as key priorities. When it comes to radio stations, search marketing tops the list now. To grow traffic, these groups are focused on SEO and SEM rather than more limited on-air promotions. It’s more than a local play, too.

Click to read the rest of this post…

If you’re spending more time on search marketing than actually running your business, it might be time to outsource. If you depend upon search to grow your business, and you don’t have time to monitor, test, learn and implement search marketing practices, giving up some control to achieve your big-picture goal may be a viable option. In today’s Little Biz column, “Small Business Growing? Know When to Let Go,” Carrie Hill outlines some factors to consider before making the decision to let go of the search marketing reins.

ComScore did what Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, and Digg only dreamed of.

ComScore killed the search engine star.

ComScore data on Google paid clicks rocked the world this week. The proprietary comScore qSearch report was analyzed to death by Wall St. analysts and media pundits. Data: summarized and judged; Google, convicted, flogged and sentenced to an early demise.

It wasn’t hit and run, though: comScore’s SVP of Media and Search, James Lamberti, and CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Magid Abraham delve deep into the data to correct the rush to judgment in the marketplace. It’s a must-read. Great analysis; surprisingly lifeless title: “Why Google’s surprising paid click data are less surprising.”

It should’ve been “Data doesn’t kill Google, people do.”

QSearch showed a 7 percent decline in January ‘08 vs. December ‘07. Paid click annual growth? Flat for Google.

Month-over-month the number of paid clicks per search on Google dropped by 8 percent (December ‘07 to January ‘08). Consumers clicking less on search ads? Maybe. A weaker buying appetite?

Google’s share price took a hit and rebounded. Reports of Google’s early demise? Greatly exaggerated. That doesn’t mean the momentum-driven Google shares won’t take a hit if Google fails to impress the Street this quarter.

Wall St. analysts - looking for clues where Google gives no guidance - had accomplices: mainstream media and bloggers hoping for a Google stumble.

No one wants to miss the Hindenburg. The only problem? The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly when Google news goes viral.

The Google backlash reared its ugly head and this time it wasn’t just Valleywag.

LendingTree whose multimillion dollar paid search campaigns are managed by search marketing firm Efficient Frontier, made public its new online marketing strategy: cutting back on PPC or paid search.

LendingTree spokesperson Allison Vail was quoted in CNET News.com by Stefanie Olsen.

“With the Fed changes in January, we were driving natural traffic. It’s smarter for us,” said Vail.

Our readers know it’s always smart to optimize for natural search. I’m not sure anecdotal evidence from a financial services pure play in the throes of a global subprime mortgage crisis proves paid search revenues are declining.

Statistics from search marketing firms, though, would lend credence to the argument.

For average CPC (Cost Per Click) by industry vertical (Financial Services, Mortgage, Credit, Auto), click here.

Efficient Frontier Chairman Ellen Siminoff, chairman told CNET that paid search advertising spendi in financial services has typically risen between 30 percent and 50 percent annually.

So far this year it’s either flat or down for some companies. credit and mortgage advertisers raised their spending by 24 percent, but this year, their spending has risen only 3 percent year over year, according to Efficient Frontier data.

Coming soon: Efficient Frontier / Search Engine Watch Average CPC data for February.

Be the first investment banker or hedge fund manager on your block to see the stats.

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.