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

@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

On August 23rd DFWSEM hosted Brad Geddes at The Italian Club of Dallas for a special presentation “PPC & SEO Finally Walk Down the Aisle”. Check out what our members and attendees had to say about the event on Twitter. And don’t forget to follow @DFWSEM for up to date information about Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing news and events.

@dansturdivant - dansturdivant
Brad Geddes (@bgtheory) is doing a great presentation at the special meeting: “PPC & SEO Finally Walk Down the Aisle” @DFWSEM

@LaurieShook – Laurie Shook
Sometimes the structure of the company prevents good SEO. IT, marketing, content need to work together #dfwsem

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
The average American performs 112 searches a month only 12 days of the month. #dfwsem

@OPMLPMarketing – OPM
Test, test, test. Let Paid Search lead the way. #dfwsem

@mark_barrera – Mark Barrera
“Placements + adPlanner = SEO Link Target” @bgtheory #dfwsem

@itsjustshelley – Shelley Ellis
Book company spends some $ on PPC to test best book titles. Higher CTR usually sells more books. Per @bgtheory #dfwsem

@OPMLPMarketing – OPM
First step to a maximize PPC and SEO – improve your website. #dfwsem

@itsjustshelley – Shelley Ellis
Huge difference in conversion numbers when BOTH PPC and SEO are above the fold @bgtheory #dfwsem

@LaurieShook – Laurie Shook
If Verizon launching new phone, use lots of banners since no search history #dfwsem // thx for the plug!

@MattBasically – Matthew Decuir
Increasing average order can be just as good as increasing conversion. #dfwsem

@itsjustshelley – Shelley Ellis
Book company spends some $ on PPC to test best book titles. Higher CTR usually sells more books. Per @bgtheory #dfwsem

@mark_barrera – Mark Barrera
RT @franklogic: Send brand traffic where you wish people should go not just homepages like newsletters #dfwsem

@TheEverNovice – Sarah Hodge
You can build links to build additional value. Clicks and traffic is a linkbuilding win. #dfwsem

@LaceofBase – Lacy Mahone
.@bgtheory: “Paid search can provide you feedback without the risk.” #dfwsem #whydidntithinkofthat

@si1very – Chris Silver Smith
@bgtheory: One reason to run ads on your brand-name is to get a great conversion rate across your account. #dfwsem

@si1very – Chris Silver Smith
“I think Google’s new Sitelinks are a reputation management company killer.” @bgtheory #dfwsem

@dfwsem – dfwsem
A big thanks to @bgtheory for his great presentation at tonight’s #DFWSEM event. Register for his Adwords seminars here http://ow.ly/6b7Z0

Quick introduction – if you don’t already know, Jim Gilbert is a Pay-Per-Click Master. Jim is a vice president at KeyRelevance, a Dallas-based search engine marketing firm, and has been involved with organic and paid search engine marketing since its infancy in the early 90s. Jim is one of the founders of DFWSEM.

As an account executive at WrightIMC, an integrated marketing communications agency, I was personally very excited to attend his presentation. We have been talking a lot about PPC campaigns, and many of us (at Wright IMC) are working on earning our Google AdWords certification. Jim’s presentation met all my expectations, and I came away with these five tips and tricks:

1. Analytics
The first tip I gleaned from the presentation (which, honestly, if you are working in the client space you should already be well aware of) is to measure towards your clients goals. As Jim says, “If you aren’t measuring, you are losing.”
I may be putting Jim’s words into my own, but regardless, the message is the same. You can’t report on just impressions or quality score. You have to pick the metric that matters to your client. Client’s care about conversions, and most importantly – Return On Investment.

2. Mobile
The second tip of the night was to find a way to integrate mobile measurement in your campaign. Apparently, phones are coming back into style people! So, find a call measurement service and start reporting on those inbound calls.

3. Match Types
Jim’s third tip of the night was to bid low and use broad match. “You will be surprised what converts,” he said.

4. Quality Score
Tip four deals with quality scores. What are some of the factors of quality scores you might wonder? Landing pages, age of campaign, and click-through rate. From Jim, I learned that the higher your quality score, the cheaper the click. His statistic showed that if you had a quality score of 10 vs. 7, the lower quality score will cost 30% more.

5. Filters
The fifth, and final, tip of the night was definitely a time saver and the best lesson for anyone who is managing a PPC campaign: use filters. It is one of the easiest ways to weed out low-performing, high-cost keywords, and find those money keywords that should be getting more of that PPC budget.

Of course, this post only captures a small amount of the knowledge presented to the audience at the DFWSEM meeting. However, these are five quality tips for anyone managing PPC accounts.

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.