I’m not in the job market now.  I’m happily employed in my current position.

But what if I were?

First, I would craft a kick-ass resume and post it on my personal website.

Then, I would Twitter that I was looking for a new position.  My tweet would get pushed to Facebook, FriendFeed & many other places so a large number of people in my network would know that I am seeking employment.

Meanwhile, I would follow the same strategy outlined in this article that I wrote after successfully concluding my last job search.

I suspect I would again get a tremendous response to my job candidacy from all over the country.  I’d answer each employer inquiry with humility, respect, and interest.

And, because most of the people who would be answering my inquiry won’t be in the Portland Metropolitan Area, I will be asked the inevitable question about relocation.

And I’ll borrow Matt McGee’s answer to that question…for he answered it far more eloquently than I could…

Also, and this is really important, if your job requires me to move the family, I’m not your guy.

I know about 80-90% of the conversations will cease at that point.  This would be unfortunate…much more for the prospective employer than for me (because a job search is a numbers game and I know that I would find exactly what I’m looking for if I just talk to enough people).

There is a tremendous undersupply of top SEM talent and the search marketers are holding the top cards. 

Prospective employers need to know that most of us who own homes will not voluntarily enter a horrible housing market to try to sell a house in order to take your job.

Also, most search marketing veterans also know that even the best and brightest in our business can end up separating from employers on short notice (voluntarily or not) and we absolutely don’t want to be stuck away from our “home base” when that happens. 

Most folks who have successfully worked at home won’t want to give it up under just about any circumstances…the benefits are too great.

Yet, prospective employer, we still might consider working with you.  If you have the foresight to consider telecommuters, you can still land a search marketing rockstar and you won’t be limited to the inadequate local talent pool.

Top search marketers are extraordinarily hardworking, disciplined people.  They aren’t the people who will end up abusing the trust inherent in a telecommuting arrangement.  On the contrary, almost all of us have done profitable “independent” projects away from their “day job” and we’re quite used to working successfully on our own with little or no supervision.

It’s great that a large number of companies now not only understand the need for search marketing but feel it important enough to take the function in-house.  After all, there are a slew of unfilled SEO Jobs in the marketplace.  However, most of these companies looking for SEO talent are trying to shoehorn these digital gunslingers into antiquated 20th century work arrangements.  There is little incentive for top search marketers to accept such a deal unless they actually prefer an office environment.  If prospective employers could understand that many SEO’s feel stifled by the physical and mental confinement of cubicles, they would know that they would be getting better employee performance and a higher degree of loyalty by letting the search marketer dictate the working conditions.

For employers looking to hire search marketers:  A top search marketing employee can add a huge amount of revenue to your bottom line…isn’t that worth some leeway when setting the terms of engagement?

Original post by SEMpdx...

Have Gun, Will Telecommute

There’s a new search marketing publication on the scene called Search Engine Marketing Journal, (or SEMJ for short), and it’s quite unique. For starters, there are no advertisements throughout the entire issue at all. Even the cover gets right to the point with the entire table of contents right there.

The next thing you’ll notice are the names of the contributors and editors on the cover. Starting with Bruce Clay as the senior editor, the rest of the list is just as impressive with this solid and well rounded group -

• Sean Golliher, Founder and Publisher of SEMJ.org.
• Bruce Clay, Principal Editor, Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
• David Szetela, Principal Editor, Paid Marketing and Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
• Andy Atkins-Krüger, Principal Editor, Global Search Marketing.
• Avinash Kaushik, Senior Editor, Web Analytics.
• Eric Enge, Senior Editor, Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
• Ted Ulle (a.k.a. tedster), Senior Editor, HTML Coding and Web Development.
• Sante J. Achille, Senior Editor, European Search Marketing.
• Will Critchlow, Editor, Search Engine Optimization.
• Heather Lutze, Senior Editor, Paid Marketing and Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
• Alissa Ruehl, Editor, Paid Marketing and Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
• Susan Esparza, Editor, Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
• Hamlet Batista, Editor, Search Engine Optimization (SE0)
• Raquel Hirsch, Senior Editor, Conversion and Landing Page Optimization.
• Nirav Mehta, Senior Editor, Mobile Web Development
• Evgenii “Geno” Prussakov, Senior Editor, Affiliate Marketing
• John Hingley, Senior Editor, Social Marketing
• Cathy Silton, Editor-in-Chief

Finally, the articles themselves, are overall a bit meatier, and it reads more like a scientific journal than it does something that written for a blog. There’s very little fluff here; just the good stuff.

You may have run across them showing off their debut issue at SES San Jose in August, or seen them this week at SMX East in New York, but you won’t see them giving stacks of their magazine away, because this publication is supported by subscriptions and donations only, and accepts no ads.

From their website:
SEMJ.org is the first printed journal dedicated to the advancement of search marketing through peer-reviewed articles. The goal of the journal is to help professionals in the industry share and demonstrate their expertise. We are different from a magazine in that we encourage the submission of articles and research papers by experts in the industry. Similar to a scientific journal, we review articles submitted by industry professionals and our editors decide if the article will be published in our journal.

SEMpdx members can get half off the subscription price for this publication by visiting the SEMJ website to subscribe, and entering the 50% off discount code found on your SEMpdx member benefit page

Original post by SEMpdx...

New SEMpdx Member Benefit

Register Now

Want to learn improve your search engine rankings? Join Aaron Wall, author of the popular SEO Book blog and widely-hailed marketing and Search Engine Optimization expert, for a FREE session that will reveal what you can do to achieve your SEO goals.

Attend and learn:

New tools you can use for SEO and competitive research
How “search suggest” will shape the future of SEO
Effective link building techniques in a market where link buying is getting harder by the day

A Q&A with Aaron will follow the presentation. We look forward to seeing you there!

Original post by SEMpdx...

SEMpdx Presents The SEO Strategies for the 21st Century with Aaron Wall Webinar

Was tagged by Dustin Woodard

Tagging the following folks:

Scott Hendison
Ben Lloyd
David Mihm
Kent Lewis
Lisa Williams

Original post by SEMpdx...

Celebrity Don’t Vote Meme

Whether you’re just getting started in Web site design, or are a seasoned veteran at a local media agency, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) may seem confusing. Title tags. Keyword relevancy. Rich content. Link strategies. All of these proper SEO elements may even be a bit intimidating.

For this reason, our next SEMpdx Hot Seat will present the basic fundamentals of effective Search Engine Optimization strategies. You’ll learn the latest techniques on how to properly implement common optimization elements into both new and existing Web sites. Our panel of industry experts will also answer any questions you may have pertaining to search engine friendly design and development.

Join us Tuesday, October 14th, 2008, at Hotel DeLuxe for an eventful evening of social networking and search marketing education.

Register Now

Original post by SEMpdx...

October 2008 Hot Seat - Back To Basics Search Engine Optimization

Original post by SEMpdx...

Scott Hendison Releases SEO Automatic: Awesome Free SEO Tool

Once there was a social network tree…that loved a little boy.

And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.

Original post by SEMpdx...

The Social Network Tree

Original post by SEMpdx...

Portland SEO / SEM Professional Wanted

Why local search is so important? 40% of queries have local intent. 5% use the city & state name; 2% use informal terms like neighborhoods; .5% use zip codes.

100 Million unique visitors per month search Yahoo with local intent…1/2 billion search Google monthly with local intent.

Local search algorithms drive mobile results (they already do with more sophisticated devices).

The old local search…10 Google links…traditional SEO.

1/2008: 10 pack appeared in Google. Default #1 (or #4) results for every keyword & city or state search. Certain searches (e.g. “bars”), Google will ask for local intent. Google is asking people to enter their zip code for non-specific searches and they show local results to signed in users by default. Danny Sullivan speculated that local algorithms will completely replace organic algorithms within a couple of years. Local results are driven by a completely different algorithm than the organic results.

Vocabulary: “10 Pack”, “3 Pack”, “Authoritative 1 Box”.

Yahoo search results: Mostly the same in Google but no 10-packs.

Local Search Ranking Factors Survey: An overall low level of agreement.

Top positive factors:
1) General importance of claiming local business listing
2) LBL address in city of search.
3) Proper categorization of LBL
4) Product / Service Keywords in LBL title
5) Proximity to Centroid.
6) Validation with Third-Party Providers. Citations can help you rank better in the local algorithms, do not necessarily include a link. Business name needs to be consistent. Citations: Web pages tab in their local listing is a good approximation. Get citations in directories, mine competitors citations, see what sites rank well for your search terms organically.

Also, hyperlocal blogging (the next big thing in local, high relevance, can also lead to links, use Twitter search to network with other tech-savvy local businesses.

“Cracking the code” (Mike Blumenthal): Key Findings: Distance to centroid really matters when very little other data exists. Citation total and business title were also significant predictive factors. Volume of reviews had marginal importance. TBD: Citation authority, traditional SEO techniques like anchor text and on-page factors.

Negative factors: Multiple LBL’s with same address, same phone or same business name. Negative customer reviews. Associating a 800 number with LBL. Listing multiple addresses on website. More confusing than spammy.

Future of Local Search: Google seems to be shifting. “On-listing” factors like proximity to centroid and keywords in business title seem to be diminishing in importance. Off-listing factors seem to matter more (Citations, UGC, Reviews). Less vulnerable to spam. Might not be a shift in the algorithm…data sets are becoming better.

Original post by SEMpdx...

David Mihm’s Local Search Presentation at SEMpdx Hot Seat (Liveblogging)

Gustav, Hanna, Ika, …

The storms are lining up.

Residents in southern Louisiana are now being allow to return after hurricane Gustav. While the damage is not nearly as bad as the destruction wrought by Katrina, nearly 1.2m homes and businesses across Louisiana were still without electricity on Wednesday, and officials said it could take as long as a month to restore power to all. Electricity is critical to reopening schools and businesses, and even for pumping gas at fuel stations. While the repairs are already beginning, several more storms, including Hanna and Ikea are threatening to wreak havoc across parts of southeastern U.S.

While physical damage to businesses is not enormous, until electricity is restored, many companies will stay shut down, some for several weeks. Even those with generators may have trouble getting enough fuel to stay running in the short term. Could your business survive without power for several weeks? The loss of electricity needs to be part of all disaster recovery plans.

While the East and Gulf coastal areas are potentially in the path of hurricanes, every area in the country is prone to some kind of a natural disaster, whether it is earthquakes, tornadoes, floods or fires.

Ouch!

Original post by SEMpdx...

Hurricane Ikea (Why Bulk Emails Should Be Proofread Carefully)