Dallas /Ft Worth SEM Association Blog

@btabke – Brett Tabke
Really wishing I could be in Dallas/Richardson tonight #dfwsem izurl.com/5fAQ7 Anyone want to kid sit in Austin?

@armondhammer – Steve Hammer
Search is a 19.7b industry and continues to grow. @mark_barrera #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
The future is now. @mark_barrera charges the audience to take action of their search strategy and of course a shameless plug for #dfwsem

@franklogic – Frankie De Soto
50% of businesses report that social has significant impact on their SEM #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
If you don’t go to @google+ you can be sure that google will bring + to you via @MaryBowling #dfwsem

@LaurieShook – Laurie Shook
Web search used to be the sun & everything revolved around it. Going forward social will be center of the universe:-) #dfwsem #seo

@mikedmerrill – Mike D. Merrill
Social Shares are the new links #dfwsem Heard this one several times lately

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Web search will become more personalized as people realize the value of signing in #dfwsem

@LaurieShook – Laurie Shook
Product development and testing will move into a social spotlight. #dfwsem #prodmgmt

@jenneva26 – Jenneva Vargas
In 2012, Social Shares will be the new links. #dfwsem

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
It will be harder to depend on a few great pages to being traffic to your website. #dfwsem

@recruiterBOSS – Erica Combe
#DFWSEM bring on the future of search! ‘State of Search’ presentation tonight!

@maryasherwin – Marya Sherwin
Web search will become more democratized because of voting and relevant information revisits #DFWSEM

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Eliminate low-quality content, make your content shareable, and keep it regularly updated and timestamp it #dfwsem

@maryasherwin – Marya Sherwin
Google is taking local search into the streets with community managers and more. A mission control environment will become popular #DFWSEM

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Not uncommon for websites to triple growth every year through mobile… #dfwsem

@recruiterBOSS – Erica Combe
48% of mobile searches have local intent #DFWSEM

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
36-43% of mobile phones in the us are now smart phones. #dfwsem

@maryasherwin – Marya Sherwin
More than half of mobile users under age 45 have a smartphone device and even more shift towards tablet use #dfwsem

@JNACollins – audra collins
In 2015 more people will use smart phones than PCs..#dfwsem

@TheBritishTexan – SEOwen Nwanze
*On traffic searches. “@TheBritishTexan: More data from Google & Bing. Amen! #SEOwishes #dfwsem”

@maryasherwin – Marya Sherwin
search is seamlessly flowing between checkins, email, & social… geofencing will introduce a ubiquitous mobile shopping experience #DFWSEM

@mikedmerrill – Mike D. Merrill
Social Shares are the new links #dfwsem Heard this one several times lately

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
It’s time to think about repurposing your content onto a new url and targeting it to new markets. @MaryBowling #dfwsem

@SarahBoswell – Sarah Boswell
Packed house at #DFWSEM tonight! pic.twitter.com/khC76fO3

@lindatwhite – Linda White
Mary dowling from @planetocean at #dfwsem tonight says social will be even bigger in online mktg in 2012

@gwickes – Grant Wickes
Info from Mary Bowling referenced in her presentation available at www.ourmobileplanet.com #dfwsem

@armondhammer – Steve Hammer
In a sitemap its better to omit than put in generic default data. #dfwsem

@ScottVann – Scott Vann
So Google is including pics of the author in search results. Ugly bloggers are screwed. #DFWSEM

@ChrisChurchill – ChrisChurchill
@SusanMoskwa describing trend of google pushing more on search results pages #Dfwsem

@franklogic – Frankie De Soto
Do more press releases with relevant content #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
Rich snippets is a more recent trend. First launched in 2009, its a way to make your search results more dynamic. @SusanMoskwa #dfwsem

@franklogic – Frankie De Soto
Google pushing for metadata and markups for all sites #dfwsem

@mark_barrera – Mark Barrera
Or the exact opposite #sarcasm RT @MattBasically: Did she just hint at using meta keywords? #dfwsem

@ChrisChurchill – ChrisChurchill
@SusanMoskwa explaining about rich snippets use for apps, breadcrumbs, events, music, people, recipes, reviews etc. #dfwsem.

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
authorship-pilot@gmail.com for help with authorship on rich snippets #dfwsem

@MarketingMav- Randy Zorn
Authorship markup for Google plus profile data. Interesting stuff. #seo #dfwsem

@ChrisChurchill – ChrisChurchill
Use rich snippets testing tool to test snippet. Via @SusanMoskwa #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
Google is all about focusing on improving the search experience. In case you didn’t know. #dfwsem @SusanMoskwa @mattcutts

@dfwsem – dfwsem
A big thanks to @marybowling & Planet Ocean / Search Engine News for the look into the future of search! #dfwsem

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Problems you could come across with instant previews: robots.txt, cloaking, and…FLASH (bum bum buuuuuummmm). #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
@DuaneForrester will be addressing why search is evolving the way it is and how we can move with the trends. #dfwsem

@ChrisChurchill – ChrisChurchill
@duaneforrester covering new features in bing webmaster tools – shows count of links, email alerts on malware or blocked content #dfwsem

@mark_barrera – Mark Barrera
RT @dfwsem: Donate to the cause for @DuaneForrester and his #seostache! #dfwsem cc @mattcutts

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
New in @Bing: more crawl details info, active email alerts for malware or new content, alternate email address, URL normalization #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
URL Normalization now has 50 parameters instead of 25 in @bing @DuaneForrester #dfwsem

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Also new with Bing: DNS verification and Adcenter data integration #dfwsem

@recruiterBOSS – Erica Combe
Search demands QUALITY over quantity. @duaneforrester says #hire the editor over the developer everytime #DFWSEM

@MarketingMav – Randy Zorn
Bings priority list for search: content, social, UX, links, seo – in that order. #dfwsem

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Invest in quality, trust, popularity, and timeliness when optimizing #dfwsem

@franklogic – Frankie De Soto
When optimizing a website for search invest in quality, trust, popularity and timeliness #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
The time you’re investing in search can be leveraged in the social space. #dfwsem

@jenneva26 – Jenneva Vargas
1 and 4 delivers successful results. 42% of sessions require refinements. 44% of sessions lasting a day or more. #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
44% of search sessions last more than a day and 50% of search time frames last longer than 30 minutes. #dfwsem

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
Yup! Thats @bing! RT @opentypeA: That’s so meta. RT @wrightimc: @bing isn’t just a search engine, it’s a decision engine. #dfwsem

@ChrisChurchill – ChrisChurchill
Schema.org is your friend. Quote from @DuaneForrester #dfwsem

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
Social allows the search engine to get more context, which means more relevant search results, which means yay #dfwsem

@lindatwhite – Linda White
People use friends 2.5x more often than local city guides #dfwsem

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
80% delay making a decision until they get someones opinion #dfwsem

@ChrisChurchill – ChrisChurchill
90% of searchers seek advice from family before making a decision via @DuaneForrester #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
Put your friends to work today – go do a search on @bing #dfwsem @DuaneForrester – thanks for a great preso!

@franklogic – Frankie De Soto
Bing focuses in trusted friends, collective, and enriching conversation #dfwsem

@CaroleODell – Carole O’Dell
RT @scottvann: After this presentation I may have to start using Bing for search more. #DFWSEM <<I use Bing A LOT.

@opentypeA – Victoria A. Watson
“If you get a comment on something you write online, thats…thats a BFD.” #dfwsem

@keyrelevance – Christine Churchill
Awesome presentation by @DuaneForrester from Bing on State of Search. #dfwsem

@BigMTHead – Eric Plouffe
@SarahBoswell such Great tweets coming out of #DFWSEM , sounds like its THE place to be! #wishiwerethere

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
Setting up mobile page? Rearrange the content and don’t use an mdot. Please says @DuaneForrester #dfwsem

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
If you redirect on a mobile site, keep a link back to the desktop page pleads @SusanMoskwa from @google #dfwsem

@jenneva26 – Jenneva Vargas
Live Blog of State of Search 2012 with @susanmoskwa @duaneforrester and @marybowling #dfwsem wrightimc.com/?p=1151

@gwickes – Grant Wickes
The real discussions now underway at the #dfwsem bar Pic campl.us/gOkx

@DuaneForrester – duane forrester
Thanks everyone at #dfwsem! Had an awesome time meeting all at the @dfwsem meeting last night! Great ppl & conversations.

@jenneva26 – Jenneva Vargas
Missed #DFWSEM’s State of Search with @DuaneForrester @MaryBowling and @SusanMoskwa? Check out WrightIMC’s blog: bit.ly/vBDPGN

I have to say, I was extremely excited to hear presenter Rae Hoffman-Dolan, better known as Sugarrae, on Affiliate Marketing. Mostly, because I knew nothing about affiliate marketing except for utilizing Ad Sense to generate some income for your site. Surgarrae was able to take the room through her history with SEO and Affiliate Marketing which not only was an amazing story, but hit nostalgic notes on internet in the 90s.

My first takeaway was how important quality SEO is the key to affiliate marketing. After a quick poll of the audience that night, everyone in the room was at least somewhat knowledgeable about SEO. As an SEO practitioner, she was able to describe the affiliate marketing process in a way that not only made sense myself and to the room, but was able to break it down into four easy steps that everyone could follow.

Sugarrae Takeaway 1: Do Keyword Research
If you are planning to create a website for the purpose of affiliate marketing, conducting keyword research is imperative to start the process. “Check when the top ten websites in the SERPs have last been updated. If they were last updated in 2006 then it won’t be lucrative to launch an affiliate marketing website in that niche.” said Surgarrae.

Sugarrae Takeaway 2: Grab a Website and Name It
Obviously, one would need to have a website to become an affiliate marketer. However, your keyword research should have uncovered some key phrases that you want to build your brand around.
Note: You do not want to build your site on a trademarked brand because they can and will take your site. With that said, you also don’t want to just pick out your top keyword and name the site that. As Surgarrae said, “Find that sweet spot of branding and keywords when naming your site.”

Sugarrae Takeaway 3: Develop Your Site
Many times, novice affiliate marketers will build a blog and slap some banner ads and some links in text and call it a day. Though one could do this, it won’t be very lucrative, “When users see it’s a blog, they tend to put away their credit cards.” According to Sugarrae.

Though it is a best practice to have a blog, and update it regularly, it should not be the only aspect of your site. Develop other areas, though you are intending to use the site for affiliate marketing purposes, if it is not a quality site with quality content, no one will come to your site.

If you think of your affiliate marketing site, as just a website to try to get money out of, you will fail. “When you are just starting out, pick something that interests you, that you are passionate about and build it up,” said Sugarrae, “…but also make sure that it is a niche that other affiliate marketers are in; because if they aren’t there it’s most likely because it is not a profitable niche.”

“Always launch your site, even if it’s not perfect. Because age is a factor in rankings”

Sugarrae Takeaway 4: Find your point of Difference
This is something that you would have to discover on your own. You want your site to stand out and rank. Find what is already out on the internet and make it better. The better the quality the better your site will be.

Some quick pointers on how to make your site better:

“Empty reviews on sites will hurt your search engine rankings. That stuff will get “pandalized” for sure.”

“Use multiple affiliate programs. That way if one of them starts going into a direction you don’t like you can drop them and still have income coming in.”

“Send out social signals through Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon, etc.”

Suffice to say, the latest DFWSEM’s meeting was filled of valuable insights on how to be an affiliate marketer, SEO, and promoter online thanks to presenter Sugarrae. These were just some of my personal Sugarrae takeaways, for a more in-depth blog post on the presentation go to WrightIMC’s Blog.

Written by Jenneva Vargas; Account Executive at WrightIMC. Plano-based WrightIMC is an integrated marketing communications agency that specializes in paid search marketing programs, search engine optimization, web design, content marketing campaigns, social media strategy & implementation, and television campaigns with online components.

@MarketingMav – Randy Zorn
Learn how to make crazy money through affiliate marketing at tonight’s DFWSEM event with Sugar Rae. dfwsem.org

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
It’s only after 10am but we’re already thinking about @DFWSEM tonight with @sugarrae. Who else is going? #SEM #dfwsem

@camsicle – camsicle
Attending #DFWSEM (@ Hyatt Regency North Dallas w/ @sweg) [pic]: 4sq.com/nSbKhX

@scheme710 – Justin G
#dfwsem full house, thank god people know what affiliate marketing is.

@jenneva26 – Jenneva Vargas
Quality SEO is the key to Affiliate Marketing. #dfwsem #SugarRaeTakeaways

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
the commercial part of your site is like the tabletop and the blog is like the legs. #blogging #dfwsem

@jenneva26- Jenneva Vargas
Pro tip: use multiple affiliate programs. #dfwsem #SugarRaeTakeaways #affiliatemarketing

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
RT @jenneva26: “When users see it’s a blog, they tend to put their credit cards away.” #dfwsem #SugarRaeTakeaways @sugarrae

@jenneva26 – Jenneva Vargas
“Always launch your site, even if it’s not perfect. Because age is a factor in rankings.” #affiliatemarketing #dfwsem #SugarRaeTakeaways

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
Empty reviews sites will HURT your search engine rankings. That stuff will get pandalized for sure. #dfwsem

@TheBritishTexan – SEOwen Nwanze
Barely tweeted during tonight’s #DFWSEM meeting with speaker @SugarRae, because it was AWESOME! Lots of notes.

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
#dfwsem lol. RT @BacklinkSEOGuru: @MattBasically earn you $300-$1,500 a month for years to come on autopilot : socialmarketing4less.com

@TheEverNovice – Sarah Hodge
Great night with the @dfwsem folks. @sugarrae was a great presenter and as always #dfwsem was a great host.

@sugarrae – Rae Hoffman-Dolan
Thanks to everyone who attended #dfwsem tonight! Was glad to come out!!!

@MarketingJedi – Kristy Hoover
Great to see and meet @gwickes @dansturdivant @cgawley & @mikedmerrill at last night’s #DFWSEM event. Look foward to #SMCDallas tonight!

@TheEverNovice – Sarah Hodge
@scheme710 seriously! I haven’t seen it that packed in awhile. @sugarrae knows how to draw a crowd. Hope to see you at more @dfwsem events!

@wrightimc – WrightIMC
Missed out on @sugarrae’s @dfwsem presentation last night? Here’s a recap of “From ZERO to SIX FIGURES” bit.ly/oEO13a #seo #dfwseo

@mark_barrera – Mark Barrera
I’ll be following #dfwsem tonight via Twitter so keep me informed @MattBasically

@naturalwoman – Lisa Young
#dfwsem meeting on SEOwning the Internet (@ Hyatt Regency North Dallas w/ 6 others) 4sq.com/re8MXw

@ScottVann – Scott Vann
Only at #DFWSEM do you see an iPhone on a mini tripod with an extra lense. I think I want the lense. lockerz.com/s/142812147

@gwickes – Grant Wickes
The crowd is soaking up the info being presented by @rsnake at #dfwsem. Pic: campl.us/fqQW

@keyrelevance – Christine Churchill
Listening to Internet security expert Robert Hansen scare us with web vulnerabilities. #dfwsem #rsnake

@TheEverNovice – Sarah Hodge
Want to scare the bageezus out of a room of SEO folks? Tell them about Black Hat hacking techniques that they can’t avoid.

@ScottVann – Scott Vann
OH at #DFWSEM “My tool got a lot of use.” ***Insert joke here***

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
But then we wouldnt have jobs. RT @TheEverNovice: The internet is scary. Let’s all go back to pen and paper. Who’s with me? #dfwsem

@LaurieShook – Laurie Shook
Security expert found a slough of security flaws with WordPress. #dfwsem. Yikes!

@naturalwoman – Lisa Young
Listening to hacker/sec expert at #dfwsem on browser vulnerabilities like XSS, clickjacking, parasitic hosting. Yikes!

@TheEverNovice – Sarah Hodge
“We’ve broken into every data center in Texas.” Oh…and you’re getting away from consulting? That’s great. #dfwsem

@gwickes – Grant Wickes
Any good news for security on the Internet Well…I’m trying to get put of consulting per @rsnake #dfwsem Pic: campl.us/fq0T

@gwickes – Grant Wickes
Pictures from Sept 2011 #DFWSEM meeting with @rsnake http://ow.ly/6IutM

@TrendsDallas Trendsmap Dallas
#dfwsem is now trending in #Dallas trendsmap.com/us/dallas

@OPMLPMarketing OPM
You need a WAF – web applications firewall. Not a solution but a nice stop-gap. #dfwsem

@TheBritishTexan SEOwen Nwanze
Hacking expert says Internet Explorer 9 is the most trustworthy browser. #DFWSEM

@OPMLPMarketing OPM
#dfwsem Security guru Robert Hansen says Firefox is safest browser.

@ellagantz – Elaine Gantz Wright
Malvertizing. Malevolent ingenuity – aka “extreme SEM.” #dfwsem

@mark_barrera – Mark Barrera
RT @keyrelevance: Check out Robert Hansen’s book at www.detectmalice.com. @RSnake #dfwsem

The UT Dallas Marketing Program presents “The Critical Thinker’s Workshop: Problem solving & decision making techniques used by the CIA”

Register Here

Act now, space is limited to 15 industry practitioners.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011
From 7:00 am – 1:00 pm (working breakfast & lunch included)
The University of Texas at Dallas
School of Management Building, Room 1.508
800 West Campbell Road
Richardson, TX 75081-3021

This is a practical workshop designed to help managers, strategy planners and analysts learn the techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency to improve problem solving, decision making and to achieve analytical uniformity within their organization. The techniques taught in this workshop will be applied to business contexts through a collaborative effort with UT Dallas Marketing Faculty. Several proven analytic structuring techniques are explained and demonstrated, and as much class time as possible is devoted to practice.

When you complete this workshop, you will be able to immediately:

1) Conduct Problem Structuring and identify “Seven Problematic Proclivities”, including emotional dimensions, mental shortcuts, patterns, biases, assumptions, explanations and evidence seeking
2) Identify common impediments to effective decision making and problem solving
3) Learn and quickly implement key techniques such as problem restatement, weighed ranking and utility trees for better insights, decisions and strategic recommendations.

The objective in hosting this workshop is to expose faculty, graduate marketing students and marketing practitioner partners to these techniques so as to incorporate them into our Master of Science in Marketing program and disseminate best practices to partner practitioner companies.

This course has been designed by the author of “The Thinker’s Toolkit”, ex-CIA analyst Morgan Jones. His company Analytic Advantage and the workshop presenter, John Stolter, have taught this workshop to amongst others the FBI, the Federal Reserve, several branches of US Military Intelligence and others.

Who should attend:

Management, Strategic Planners, Analysts and anyone who wants to improve their critical thinking skills and make better decisions by applying a structured approach to problem solving.

About the Presenter:

John Stolter is a leadership coach, consultant, corporate trainer, and the Director of Operations for Analytic Advantage, Inc. With a background in analytic structuring, leadership, product design, manufacturing, and training, John has experience in a variety of industries and the public sector. For more than twenty years he has provided professional training and consulting services that enable clients to improve critical thinking skills and the leadership effectiveness of their employees.

Cost & Discounts:

1. Regular price is $349 (early bird price through September 26th and $399 afterwards) but there is a $50 discount for DFW Search Engine Marketing members for a net price of $299.
2. Please enter DFWSEM code when you are in the payment page to obtain your $50 discount.
3. A great value which includes The Thinkers Toolkit book, a workshop manual, continental breakfast, lunch and complimentary parking

Click Here to Register. However you can call or email us and reserve your registration until the website is available or you can send a check to Andrea Hapeman.