Building world-class Search Engine Optimization expertise

If interested, please apply online at www.brulant.com — Questions, please call 216.896.8900

Search Engine Strategies New York is right around the corner. The dates are March 17-20, 2008. Many people from ClevelandSEO will be attending, presenting and moderating.

I thought it would be fun to do an interview of someone outside the Cleveland area who will be presenting at SES New York. I spoke with Kristopher Jones, the CEO of Pepperjam — A Full-Service Internet Marketing Agency.

Hopefully you will be at Search Engine Strategies New York. If you have never been before, I highly recommend trying to go. It’s always an amazing event.

Check out my conversation with Kris.

* Tell me a little about Pepperjam. What do you do and what makes you stand out in the industry?

Pepperjam is an industry leading full-service internet marketing and technology agency. We offer outsourced management in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate program management, and online media buying. In addition, Pepperjam recently launched Pepperjam Network, a next generation affiliate tracking, reporting, and payment technology. In fact, Pepperjam Network is the exclusive network for the Search-Engine Strategies Affiliate Program. Pepperjam has been in the business since 1999 and among numerous other awards has been recognized by Inc. Magazine for the last two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States.

* Have you participated at SES NY before? If so, what makes it stand out from other shows that you attend?

Yes. Pepperjam has attended and exhibited at SES - New York, among other SES events for the last several years. In addition, I have been a featured speaker on a range of important issues, including pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, landing page testing, domaining, quality score optimization, and affiliate marketing. SES New York is the biggest get together of search-engine marketing professionals in the world - it is the show of all shows. Each educational session is packed with information and the event provides an incredible forum to network and discuss important issues effecting the search-engine marketing industry. Moreover, all of the top speakers in the world convene on New York City and provide invaluable information to SES attendees.

* What is one thing you are most looking forward to at SES New York?

We are pretty excited that Pepperjam (www.pepperjamblog.com) will be blogging as many educational sessions as possible. We are also excited about all of the different networking opportunities that SES provides, as well as extensive educational sessions.

* What do you think the big topic of the event will be this year? i.e., do you think there is a subject or topic that is really hot at this moment that will be the talk of the town?

Quality scores issues continue to be critical to advertisers on the major pay-per-click engines like Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing. In addition, I think you’ll be hearing more and more about the convergence that is taking place between pay-per-click advertising and search-engine optimization. Finally, I think the “buying links” debate will continue with commentary from both Google, as well as leading link brokers, such as Text-Link-Ads and Text-Link-Brokers.

The Karcher Group is holding our next SEO Seminar on March 25, 2008, at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center in Strongsville.  “Search Engine Marketing Made Simple” will feature special guest Anita Campbell, editor of the hugely popular Small Business Trends blog, along with TKG’s team of in-house experts.

At our seminar, you’ll be sure to:
• Get one-on-one attention (questions are welcomed and encouraged!)
• Take home real-world ideas you can implement right away
• Learn SEO basics without breaking the bank
• Learn in a small group setting (seminar size is limited)
• Get advice from seasoned SEO/SEM professionals
• Have a sales pitch-free experience

For the complete agenda or to register, visit: http://www.thekarchergroup.com/seminar/cleveland2008
Cleveland SEO readers can save $50 by using the discount code “seminar1” during checkout.

Details:
• Seminar – 9:00 AM-2:00 PM ($149)
• Optional Workshop/Site Evaluation – 2:00 PM-4:00 PM ($99)
• Attend the seminar and workshop together for $199
• Save an extra $50 with the discount code “seminar1”

What We’ll Cover:
• Five critical things you need to know about SEO
• Why keywords & copy can make or break your SEO strategy
• Web accessibility/usability issues
• Link building
• Pay-per-click overview and tutorial
• How to blog effectively for your business
• Hot topics: social media, online PR, viral marketing, and more

Who should attend?
• Business owners
• Webmasters
• Marketing and IT professionals
• Ad agencies
• In-house SEOs

Learn more at http://www.thekarchergroup.com/seminar/cleveland2008

Both mergers are in reaction to getting beat in the marketplace by a rival with better infrastructure and a better business model.

As a person that uses all three adverting tools, Google AdWords, Microsoft AdCenter and Yahoo Search Marketing, I can say that Google AdWords is the easiest to use. Yahoo Search Marketing Tool won’t even let me turn a campaign on or off automatically and for international adverting I need to create a separate account for each country…that’s too time consuming.

Microsoft AdCenter does have some cool features for geo and demographic targeting but AdCenter has been slow (As in “we are adding more capacity to our servers to correct the problem”) and the interface is not very intuitive.

So if Search Adverting Revenue is the barometer for the success of a Microsoft Yahoo takeover, then Google may be the winner.

Microsoft would be better off offering free contextual ads for a couple of years to get market share and save about 40 billion dollars. In addition the culture of Yahoo and Microsoft will not merge well. Yahoo is a Valley company. Most Valley companies do not like Microsoft. If a Yahoo customer really wanted Hotmail, then they would have switched a long time ago. Microsoft may force Yahoo mail and IM clients to Google. Just our thoughts from the field…stay tuned; I hear that News Corp may get into this.

more at: Cleveland Internet Marketing

Training has always been a cornerstone at SageRock. Today we officially extend that training to the business community with SageRock Institute. We will be offering a wide variety of classes focusing on web marketing training and education. If you feel like there are some areas in web marketing where you could use some education, come by SageRock Institute and check out the curriculum. There very well might be a class you would find interesting.

Cleveland, known across the country as a hotbed of SEO and SEM talent, is increasing its international reach as more and more professionals are crossing oceans to educate organizations outside the U.S.

This year, Matt Bailey, founder of SiteLogic will be racking up the frequent flier miles with multiple speaking and training engagements overseas. In 2008, Bailey has multiple speaking engagements here in the states; New York, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Pierre, San Jose, Charleston, Houston, and San Francisco. Internationally, Bailey will be offering training classes in London, England and Madrid, Spain in the first six months of the year. He will also be delivering a keynote speech in Stockholm, Sweden.

Currently, Bailey is booked up through June 2008, but is now scheduling speaking and training engagements from August 2008 through 2010.

Back for the third time, Cleveland SEO will present a 2-hour hands-on program on Search Engine Optimization.   The session speakers will include Dave Goebel from the Goebel Group, Greg Habermann from SageRock.com and John Inama from Pilot Fish. 
The course schedule begins on January 28^th and meets every other week from 7-9 PM. 
Course Description:  

Blogging, RSS feeds, CMS, email marketing, mobile marketing…what exactly is the best way to do eMarketing? How do you guarantee a good return on your investment of money and time?  This new series, which is taught by real-world experts in the field, will teach you a whole spectrum of techniques and tools for eMarketing.  

For details please visit the Corporate College.  Hope you can make it!