If you’re looking for a good laugh, please read the worst search engine marketing article ever.

Student. Blogger. Athlete. Mikey Hendison is the definitive “Renaissance Child”. Don’t believe me? Ask Google. Google knows. Check out these Google SERPS.

Google knows what we already know…Mikey is the coolest kid in the universe. Stephen Spencer’s daughter isn’t the only search marketing prodigy…Mikey will probably be able to fully pay for college using online advertising revenue (well his parents hope so).

GTS, a division of PPG Industries, is a leading provider of enterprise software solutions that targets a vertical market for the glass industry. We are dedicated to the business success of thousands of customers throughout North America and committed to the support, development, and achievement of our employees. Join GTS Services today for a career that will challenge you and reward your achievements.

Search Marketing Expo – SMX West
February 26-28, 2008
Santa Clara, CA

Register now! Current price expires on January 12!
SEMpdx members can view the discount code in the member area of the website.

SMX West promises to be another amazing conference for anyone looking to sharpen their search and internet marketing skills. Don’t miss it!

This three-day, multiple track event is programmed by Search Engine Land Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan and Executive Editor Chris Sherman - the most experienced and search-industry connected editorial team anywhere

Most internet marketers know to purchase their own name as a dot com domain name if it is available. However, many don’t think to purchase the names of their spouses & children and that is a mistake for several reasons:

• Once it’s gone, it’s likely gone forever.
• It’s becoming more and more clear that the dot com domain name of a person’s full name will be a major part of their digital identity. A digital identity will be much harder to establish on a dot net or dot org domain.

The second part of Lisa Peyton’s interview can be read here.

…and best wishes for a happy & prosperous 2008.

I’m pretty sure that I first saw this video at a conference in Portland, and it was pretty impressive at getting the point across. At the end of the video, it only briefly gives credit to the creator, Michael Wesch - Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University.

I just managed to stumble across it again, through a mention at Christian Mezeis blog, and it turns out that the video was available on You Tube where it has had over 4 million views already.

SEMpdx members have yet ANOTHER way to get more value out of their membership, by attending the Online Marketing Summit, February 21 - 23, in San Diego, California.

SEMpdx members can save $600 on registration. For more info, visit their site…

How hard should it be to get a site spidered and into Microsoft search index for a site that’s over 3 years old, and has been in Google and Yahoo for years?

Even if they won’t follow my 301 redirect, don’t you think that submitting an XML site map at Microsoft’s Live Search Webmaster Tools would do the trick?

2007 has been incredible for SEMpdx. In just one year, we have become a national presence; have established a strong and varied membership of search professionals and the businesses they serve; and our second annual conference, SearchFest 08, is drawing search marketing’s top speakers and is sure to be a sell-out.

Throughout the year, SEMpdx has strived to bring the best events to the region and increase value for its members by partnering with the industry’s top players.

From Twitterblocks

Full-Size Picture

This is a test to see if adding text to this page makes is show up normally, and not as a narrow screwed up page.

Thrust into the job with the sudden departure of Casey Holdahl, Sean has stepped in and delivered quality blog posts that have not only provided a seamless transition but (dare I say) seem to be an improvement over his predecessor (no disrespect intended to Casey). Sean says Oregonlive is conducting a national search to replace Casey…I say that Oregonlive already has the best replacement on the staff (and Portland doesn’t need another transplant taking another key position in our community when we already have great talented people living here). Support Sean and visit the Blazer Blog now.

Yesterday, Google announced a new option for supporting sitemaps for video, and maps can be submitted right alongside your other sitemap from inside Webmaster Tools.

In my opinion, early adopters of the video sitemaps will gain a huge advantage over the competition, and Google will be placing extra effort into indexing and displaying those results.

Others are just beginning to talk about it, with lots of comments and opinions today already, so you read up on exactly how to do it f you’re marketing with videos.

Idea for this post stolen, ripped-off, taken from, lifted, filched influenced and inspired by Jeremiah Owwang’s most popular Twitter Conversation post.

In addition to our widespread adoption of Facebook, many of the SEMpdx Board Members are now Twittering regularly. Follow us and we’ll follow you (leave your Twitter extension in the comments).

Todd Mintz: http://twitter.com/toddmintz
Ben Lloyd: http://twitter.com/blizzle
Scott Fish: http://twitter.com/scottfish
Scott Orth: http://twitter.com/scottorth
Kent Schnepp: http://twitter.com/kschnepp
Kent Lewis: http://twitter.com/kentjlewis
Scott Hendison: http://twitter.com/shendison

Unfortunately, the conference Gods decided to create a conflict last week; hosting SES in Chicago the same week as PubCon in Las Vegas.

My decision?  Vegas Baby!  Actually, PubCon has grown to be one of my favorite destinations of the year, so it was really a no-brainer when it came to deciding which to present at this year.  Oh yeah – and Matt Cutts was at PubCon too.  That may have played a part in it.

One of our Board Members wasn’t too happy at the Wynn…should have stayed at the Sahara like me:.)

Read The Blog Post

Read the announcement

See the Portland Trailblazers play at the “Google Garden”…I like the sound of it.

Springsteen rocks the “Google Garden”.

Or should it be “Google’s Rose Garden”?

Would ex-Microsoft founder Paul Allen sell the naming rights to Google?

Would he sell them to Microsoft and call it the “MSN Garden”? or “MSN Rose Garden”?

“Yahoo Garden” sounds a bit weird…I don’t see that happening.

The Search Marketing Expo conference series is offering a 10% discount to SEMpdx members. The code is available in the members area of our website.

Search Marketing Expo – SMX West – comes to Santa Clara, California, February 26-28, 2008. Registration is now open, and all SEMpdx Members are entitled to a 10% discount off the prevailing registration rate. (Don’t wait – price will go up on January 12, 2008.)

Lisa Peyton of “The Generator Group”, a Portland-Based Executive Search / Staffing company and strong SEMpdx supporter, sends me a link to a very interesting interview she did with a recruiter who uses the Second Life Platform to recruit job candidates. A fascinating idea and a great example of out-of-the box thinking.

Read the interview.