SearchFest 2010 Agenda

Content

Learn how to create content to drive search traffic . . . and, motivate visitors.

When creating a Web site, or enhancing a existing site, your content is one of the most important factors for achieving prominent positioning within the major search engines. It is paramount that your pages provide valuable information – for both search engines and visitors – that pertains to highly relevant terms and concepts unique to your Web site. This engaging session provides the fundamentals for creating optimized page content that also motivates your target audience to action.

Speakers:
Heather Lloyd Martin – SuccessWorks
Stoney DeGeyter – Pole Position Marketing

Moderator:
Todd Mintz

Competitive Intelligence

Know Thy Competition . . . Know Thyself.

Your marketing efforts do not exist in a vacuum. Effective competitive analysis gives you the information you need to ‘remove the blinders’ in terms of viewing your company and brands as customers do, and to highly tune your Paid Search Marketing strategies for success. This session identifies which competitive intelligence efforts enable you to determine what your competitors are doing to drive their online businesses, so that you can either emulate their PPC successes, or exploit their PPC weaknesses.

Speakers:
Mike Roberts – SpyFu
Larry Kim – WordStream

Moderator:
Lisa Williams

Twitter

The world is changing . . . 140 characters at a time.

Many people aren’t able to harness the power of the medium to best effectuate their business aims. This session will offer insights into helping you communicate effectively in the Microblogging sphere and use it to help market your products and services. Hashtag: #SF10TWITTER.

Speakers:
Todd Friesen – Position Tech
Jeff Katz – Twitalyzer
Michael Dorausch – Planet Chiropractic

Moderator:
Kent Schnepp

Technical

It’s not just about being attractive . . . you also need to be accessible.

There is no sense in creating killer content, if the search engines are unable to access the pages of your site. This advanced session provides professional instruction into best practices on how to properly structure and design the technical aspects of your site. Gain insight into your most critical global site elements, including server issues, optimized code structure, important usability functions, URL design and structure, and overall site accessibility.

Speakers:
Todd Nemet – Nine By Blue
Matthew Brown – The New York Times

Moderator:
Scott Hendison

Advanced PPC

PPC today is a whole new game. Learn advanced techniques from the pros.

While the fact that anyone with five minutes and a credit card (to quote Google) can launch a Paid Search Marketing campaign is technically correct, more often than not there requires a significantly more time and knowledge to be truly successful. Today’s search networks are constantly introducing new relevancy requirements and technical features, which means that you have to stay ahead of the curve. This advanced session features insight into the latest PPC strategies to achieve the greatest ROAS.

Speakers:
Joanna Lord – Your Job Stop
Jon Kelly – SureHits
David Szeleta – Clix Marketing

Moderator:
Ben Lloyd

Facebook

Making Friends & Generating Business

Facebook isn’t just for sharing pictures and slaying vampires. Within the crowded interface exist wonderful opportunities to grow your business presence. This session will offer best practices for establishing your business visibility on Facebook & advertising your business to the people in your relevant demographic.

Speakers:
Will Scott – Search Influence
Ilana Rabinowitz – Lion Brand Yarn

Moderator:
Hallie Janssen

Link Building Strategies

Learn the latest advanced Link Building techniques from industry experts.

Given that the major search engines regularly updating their algorithms to provide the most relevant search results possible, effective Link Building continues to be significant challenge for today’s search marketing professionals. While the various ways in which the search engines evaluate inbound links have become much more sophisticated, this advanced session will uncover several ethical Link Building tactics to jump-start the SEO efforts for your Web site.

Speakers:
John Andrews – JohnOn.com
Adam Audette – AudetteMedia

Moderator:
Todd Mintz

Landing Page Testing

Don’t just create . . . test.

Today’s Paid Search Marketing professional is always striving to achieve the greatest number of conversions delivered through PPC listings. One of the most effective means to accomplish this goal is to determine the most enticing landing page to present to Paid Search visitors arriving on your site. This informative session provides information on proven testing methods, proper page selection, and which elements drive online conversions. You will gain insight into popular landing page tests, including A/B testing and multivariate testing.

Speakers:
Mary Huffman – Ionic Media
Cameron Cowen – Adobe

Moderator:
Lisa Williams

Blogosphere

Boosting Performance Through Connection

As the Internet expands beyond traditional means of acquiring traffic through Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search advertising, social networks and related content portals should become an important part of your online marketing strategy. Learn how to effectively use blogs and social networks to help you create authority, connect better with your audience, and lift your visibility in the search engines. This session includes tips on how to set-up and promote your blog and generate content ideas with viral marketing potential.

Speakers:
Matt Inman – The Oatmeal
Rebecca Kelley – 10 e 20

Moderator:
Anne Kennedy

Tools

Learn how to leverage advanced SEO tools to improve the performance of your site.

Today’s professional search marketer has a veritable toolbox of optimization tools to improve the efficiency of almost all aspects of Search Engine Optimization, including keyword generation, on-site targeting, competitive analysis, site accessibility, inbound link audits, and position reports. This session will enable you to understand which of these tools will enable you to effectively and accurately perform advanced optimization techniques and reporting.

Speakers:
Rand Fishkin – SEOmoz
Richard Zwicky – Enquisite

Moderator:
Scott Hendison

PPC for Social Media

Leveraging Paid Search to Improve Social Media Campaigns

A great deal of information has been written about leveraging Social Media Marketing to impact Natural search engine performance. However, it is also important to realize that several Paid Search Marketing strategies can accomplish the same effect for social media campaigns. This innovative session will explore how PPC campaigns can be structured to drive social media results. You will learn to use PPC strategies to jumpstart new social media efforts such as Facebook pages and YouTube channels, and how to create text ads using a ‘social tone’.

Speakers:
Marty Weintraub – aimClear
Luther Lowe – Yelp

Moderator:
Scott Orth

Reputation Management

First page results have become even more important.

What the Google first page results say about you will color your public perception more than just about any other factor. Fortunately, your actions and behavior can help trend these results in a positive light. This session will offer tips and trick on keeping a positive online reputation and what to do if your online reputation comes under attack.

Speakers:
David Wallace – SearchRank
Ian Lurie – Portent Interactive
Dustin Woodard – SEO Naturale

Moderator:
Kent Schnepp

Measuring Online Success: Top Down and Bottom Up

We’re not being anal-retentive . . . Analytics matter.

To get the most out of your SEO efforts, it paramount that you measure your performance. However, in today’s advanced search engine landscape, measuring just ranking is not enough. Truly effective SEO strategies drive visitors from a large set of relevant keywords, including both branded and descriptive terms. Learn how to measure the success of your optimization efforts from every angle, including success metrics beyond simple ranking.

Speakers:
Eric Peterson – Web Analytics Demystified
Aaron Gray – Greater Returns

Moderator:
Hallie Janssen

Display & Placement

Super-Charging Results Through the Power of Two.

Even though Paid Search ads and display ads are two very different animals, experienced search marketers today are integrating both formats to achieve superior results. This innovative session reveals how brand-enhancing display ads are boosting overall performance within Paid Search Marketing campaigns, and uncovers the benefits of integrated search/display strategies, best practices for implementing them, and how to allocate their contribution to results.

Speakers:
Michael Cottam – TheBigDay.com
Jane Hong – Google

Moderator:
Sean McMahon

Tools & Competitive Intelligence

Learn More About Your Competitors.

Search Marketing doesn’t occur in a vacuum. One needs to be able monitor many diverse complex factors…about your own Web site as well as your competition. This session will teach you how you can gain the insights necessary via web tools to help facilitate advantageous business decisions.

Speakers:
Neil Patel – ACS
Jordan Kasteler – Search and Social
Brian Carter – Fuel Interactive

Moderator:
Mike Rosenberg

Local Search

Up-to-date strategies for achieving prominence within Local Search listings.

Nowadays, it’s all about being found locally. Search engines are prominently positioning the most relevant local listing at the top of their SERP’s today. In addition, your target audience is searching for your brands, products, and services through devices that didn’t even exist several years ago. Learn what techniques are enabling businesses to easily found in today’s critical Local Search results.

Speakers:
Mary Bowling – SEOverflow
Matt McGee – Small Business SEM
Chris Silver Smith – KeyRelevance

Moderator:
David Mihm

In-House

Choosing to Manage Your Own Performance.

Many businesses and organizations today are electing to have in-house personnel manage and or implement their Search Marketing efforts. While efficiencies can be gained through a dedicated in-house expert, there are many challenges that can cause this strategy to result in sub-par performance. This session will identify potential pit-falls that you may face when bringing your campaign in-house, including technical issues, availability to automated tools and analytics, and ever-changing rules and processes.

Speakers:
Laura Lippay – Yahoo!
Derrick Wheeler – Microsoft

Moderator:
Scott Orth

Social Strategy

Social Media Marketing – It’s All About Strategy.

Social media conversation isn’t just a random interchange of thoughts between people and business entities. Much planning and strategy goes into how a business engages prospective customers online with the aims of customer acquisition / retention and public relations. This session will cover how a business should plan and execute a social media strategy that will cast it in the best possible light.

Speakers:
Bryan Rhoads – Intel
Jennifer Laycock – Search Engine Guide
Aaron Kahlow – Online Marketing Connect

Moderator:
Kent Lewis