1         In the beginning (God / Tim Berners-Lee / Al Gore) created the World Wide Web.
2           And the web was without form, and void; and chaos was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the net.
3           And God said, Let there be online properties and domain names were born.
4           And God saw that domains were nothing without associated content so he created web hosting and the ability to post content online via FTP.
5           And God called this process web publishing. And this was the first day.
6           And God said, Let there be a way to organize content so that people can find it.
7           And God made the web directory where human editors could post links to websites.
8           And God called the firmament Yahoo. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9           And God said, Let there be a way to organize websites in such a way so that users can make queries in order to find their information..
10         And God called these new information portals “Search Engines”.
11         And God said, Let the Search Engines send forth spiders to seek out, index, and categorize all the websites throughout the land. 
12         And the spiders allowed the Search Engines to map out and index the web for web surfers and God saw that it was good.
13         And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14         And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the primary web from the secondary web:
15         And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give enhanced visibility to web surfers: and it was so.
16         And God an important distinction; dot com domains to rule the day, and other lesser domain extensions to rule the night: he made the subdomains also.
17         And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the web,
18         And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19         And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20         And God said, Let the Search Engines create a way to link websites and visitors in the open firmament of heaven.
21         And God created algorithms which decided which websites would rank well for user queries: and God saw that it was good (and since Google did the best job of this for God, God blessed Google with most of the marketplace).
22         And God blessed website owners saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill web with beneficial sites that meet the needs of the public (and make money for the webmasters).
23         And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24         And God said, Let the website owners adjust their sites so they are more likely to be ranked well by the search engine algorithms: and SEO was so.
25         And God said, Let the website owners who wish to pay their way to the top of the search engine have the ability to do so: and God saw that Paid Search was good.
26         And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and let man (and woman) communicate with other online in furtherance of relationships and online commerce (and Social Media was born).
27         So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28         And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and communicate, and replenish the web, and subdue it: and have dominion over the commercial web, the social web, and over every living thing that goeth online (and ICANN was born).
29         And God said, Behold, I have given you every possible tool from which you can create and run online communities and commerce (plus the ability to endlessly innovate to suit the collective purpose).
30         And to every man and woman on earth, I’ve given them the ability to get onto the web and use it in such a way to enhance their life (and the life of their loved ones).
31         And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

1           Thus the World Wide Web was finished, and all its infrastructure was in place.
2           And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3           And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

And then lots of smart men and women attempted to game the system that God created…

Pictures from the Cinematic Masterpiece “Days of Heaven”.  Please note that I’ve done similar posts before.

Original post by SEMpdx...

Online Genesis: Chapter 1 (And Part Of Chapter 2)

Hope to see you there!

Original post by SEMpdx...

Todd Mintz In The Bido.com Chatroom 6/26 @ 1:00 EDT / 10:00 PDT

“SEMpdx Presents 6 Pack: 12 SEM Tips You Can’t Live Without”
A rapid fire session where you’ll walk away with AT LEAST 12 actionable search engine marketing tips. The session will cover everything from SEO & PR, on-page SEO, linking strategies, social media optimization tips, local SEO tips and more. The format will feature 6 presenters who are tasked with giving you two take-home tips while being limited to just a couple of slides and a couple of minutes each - there will be no fluff, just content… and lots of Q&A time with these SEM experts.

There are lots of other great speakers & sessions at OMS Portland. Use this link to OMS PDX and get 20% off your registration (or use code SEMPDX20): http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/portland.php?coupon=SEMPDX20

Original post by SEMpdx...

SEMpdx is speaking at Online Marketing Summit

1) Please give us your background and tell us what you do for a living.

I’m the Chairman & Founder of the Online Marketing Summit and its related educational arm, the Online Marketing Institute. I also write columns for ClickZ, MarketingProfs, Online Strategies Magazine, Electronic Retailer, iMediaConneciton, BtoBOnline, MarketingSherpa, SearchEngineWatch, American Business Media and my personal favorite Online Marketing for Marketers Blog

2) What is the Online Marketing Summit and why should I attend?

The Online Marketing Summit is an Education Only event that is built to teach marketers and business professionals the best practices in Social Media, Search Engine Marketing, SEO, Website Usability, Integrated Planning and Strategy, Web Analytics, Email Marketing, Demand Generation and all domains of Online Marketing. Case studies to hands on workshops; Thought Leadership Keynotes to Usability and SEO labs, OMS covers the full gambit of educational content to hit every level and type of marketer to ensure they have true take away they can implement and act on tomorrow.

Folks should attend to understand what their peers and competitors are doing to succeed. Those that attend the Online Marketing Essentials Certification program are also attending to get credits toward their certification (a program offered through the Online Marketing Institute). No tradeshow booths, no sales-folk, no pitch environment also facilitates a world class networking environment that leads to lifelong industry relationships and career opportunities.

3) This is the second year OMS is coming to Portland. How will this year’s show differ from last year’s?

We have 100% new content and great new speakers like:

Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOMoz,
Jeanniey Mullen, CMO Zinio, Founder of Email Experience Council
Steve Gelen, Internet Strategy Forum
Anne Kennedy, Founder, Beyond Ink and Joblr.net
Patrick Neeman,CEO, Usability Counts

4) How do you see the economic downturn affecting the online marketing space?

I think it’s a great opportunity for Online Marketing as we have the most accountable, measurable marketing in the history of marketing. With all things heading in that direction and accountability being so high, I believe ONLINE will shine brighter and get the attention and budgets we’ve longed deserved. No better opportunity to advance career and gain market share than in a recession.

5) Many businesses want to embrace social media but few know how to do it well. How can these folks get educated on the best practices?

Well, of course OMS has a few session dedicated to just that and for continual education the “Essentials of Online Marketing Certification Program” through our Online Marketing Institute partnered with Wharton and our new Advanced Social Media Certification program being launched in July. Details can be found Institute http://OnlineMarketingConnect.com.

6) Lots of folks think email marketing is past its prime due to many issues (shorter attention spans, the rise of social media, crowded inboxes). How do you respond to this?

I do agree with sentiment that the dependence of email as a communication tool is waning… but email as marketing tool and overall is not “dead” by any stretch… it’s got a lot of life left… just going to be fragmented on communication cycles… remember we all go back to Facebook b/c we get emails saying “Aaron posted on your wall”.

7) Do you have anything else you wish to tell our audience about your event?

June 29th Hotel Monaco; see www.onlinemarketingsummit.com and SEMPDX20 for 20% discount code from our friends at SEMpdx valid for one more week.

Original post by SEMpdx...

Aaron Kahlow Interview: 2009 Online Marketing Summit Comes To Portland June 29th

So, I watched the John Huston movie version of James Joyce’s “The Dead” today.  I’d read the story and seen the movie a long time ago, recalling it to be a masterpiece of a film but not quite remembering why.  After seeing it again, I now realize why I found it to be so compelling.

The movie consists almost entirely of dialogues by a large number of mostly indistinct characters…most of which take place at a dinner party and, until the very end of it, come across as almost entirely superficial.  I believe that Joyce wanted to create a story where much of the action takes place in the minds of the characters which are locked away from the audience’s eyes except (in the movie version) for the expressions they make and their actions performed in the context of the ongoing plot.

What struck me poignantly as I was watching the “dull” party dialogs is how repressed were the actions and behavior of each character, and how rudimentary were their interactions with each other.  I think Joyce wanted to hide away the most interesting bits of the story and have the subsurface mood of repression permeate the narrative with only bits and pieces of the characters feelings percolating to the surface from time to time (until the very last scene).  It crossed my mind how much richer the party would have been if each of the characters tweeted, not only during the party, but had developed and followed each other on the microblogging platform prior to the event. 

Twitter could have made those characters not only more accessible to the audience but to each other as well.  There is an incredible backstory present in “The Dead” that Joyce never lets the audience in on.  It would have been fascinating to see the pre-party and party tweets from each of these characters to provide depth to the mostly stilted action…alas, that wasn’t in the cards for Joyce’s / Huston’s audience.

Only at the end of the story / movie do the true feelings of a couple of the characters surface.  They’re incredibly moving and sad not only because of the sentiments expressed but because of how the repression of those feelings has influenced their lives.  Unfortunately, Gabriel and Gretta lacked the outlets (social media and otherwise) to sublimate their grief and unhappiness that are readily available to folks today.

If Social Media existed in Joyce’s Dublin, perhaps everyone would have had a less troubling existence.

Original post by SEMpdx...

Twitter Could Awaken “The Dead”

So, I just got back from a Royal Caribbean Cruise. My father purchased berths for 4 families, including mine, to sail in the Caribbean for 7 days. I suppose I shouldn’t complain since my family got a complimentary vacation but since this is a blog post, you gotta know I’m gonna complain about something :.)

People in our industry know there are two types of hotels…those that offer free WiFi and those that charge a small daily fee for the privilege. As much as we grumble about paying for WiFi, most travelers have pretty much accepted the charge as a necessary evil.

Royal Caribbean does things differently. It charges 55 cents a minute for WiFi.

55 Cents a minute for WiFi.

55 Cents a minute for WiFi.

Charging 55 Cents a minute for WiFi is the equivalent of giving somebody the middle finger and slowly waving it in their face. It’s true that you could pre-purchase bulk minutes but no deal they offered drives the cost lower than 32 cents a minute.

Not only is the WiFi expensive, due to the necessary satellite Internet technology on the boats, it’s considerably slower than conventional broadband.

I clearly know that Royal Caribbean makes a high margin on upselling services above and beyond the basic cruise cost and I have no problem with that. And, I noticed that people were paying 55 Cents per minute to screw around on Facebook (…no sympathy for hosing those folks with a big bill). However, for those people such as me who need continual Internet Access 24/7 as part of their livelihood, a Royal Caribbean (and other companies) Cruise is not a feasible option for a vacation.

I did have some issues while on vacation that I needed to deal with. Fortunately, within 4 blocks of where the ship docked in San Juan, I found a Starbucks where for the price of 1 drink, I was able to get 3 ½ hours of free WiFi that enabled me to get my necessary work done.

If Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines care about attracting dedicated online professionals on their vacations, they need to offer reasonably priced unlimited Internet Access. I paid almost $70 for doing little more than checking my stats & my email for a week and I’m F***** P***** off about it. I will never set foot on another cruise ship unless and until I can get the quality and quantity of Internet Access to which I am accustomed.

Original post by SEMpdx...

F U Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (Internet Access)

Essential Duties with % of Time:
1. Manage paid search marketing channel for multiple RN products, managing agency partner, AKQA and working closely with the engine - 50%
2. Update product teams and work closely with them on product changes, testing and growth opportunities - 10%
3. Own both high level and granular channel data and provide accurate, ongoing performance reports and corresponding insights - 20%
4. Manage financial aspects of the program including monthly IOs and POs for all products and vendors - 10%
5. Work closely with cross-functional teams including creative, dev, and BI to move new landing pages, offers, and other projects forward in a timely manner - 10%

QUANTITATIVE MEASURES:
- Achieving quarterly subscription sign-up goals at or below target CPAs for each term
- Delivering high-quality customers with strong LTD
- Understanding all key metrics at the keyword and keyword category level
- Constantly adding and testing new terms and creative
- Being on the cutting edge of any new paid search advances and engine/industry changes
- Meeting deadlines for projects
- Providing accurate and timely channel data
- Managing quarterly QBRs with AKQA and top three search engines
- Providing product teams with ongoing updates and timely responses to changes in the channel and/or questions

JOB SPECIFICATIONS
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Minimum:
- Extensive search engine knowledge for all top engines.
- Manage complex paid search programs on Google, Yahoo and other search engines.
- Experience managing external agencies.
- Proven ability to multi-task in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
- Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
- Experience working with numerous cross-functional teams.
- Ability to innovate, recognize new opportunities and move them to action.

Preferred:
- SEO experience/knowledge. (not required – nice to have)

Education, Certification, and/or Training:
Minimum:
- A BS/BA in business or marketing is necessary

Experience:
Minimum:
- 4+ years of paid search marketing, with 6+ years of broad consumer marketing experience.
- Experience tracking and reporting on direct marketing programs with proven growth.

Preferred:
- Online subscription marketing experience.

Extensive benefits package; including vacation, medical, dental, vision,
401K, an employee stock purchase program and subsidized commuting options.
Additional benefits include a charitable matching program, learning and
development programs, employee wellness plans and more!

Additional Information:

This position will not have any immediate reports. But will in the future.
SEO experience is a bonus, but not necessary or required.
Must have about 3 years SEM experience managing large search engine marketing campaigns.
SEM experience must be recent aka in their most recent work experience.
This person must know that this job is a working manager. They do not want any candidates that want to be only managers.
Strategic thinker.

Any referrals or questions? Contact me!

Diana

–
diana fryc | branch manager
smartdept. inc.| p. 206.381.5716 | f. 206.625.9993
www.thesmartdept.com

Always available - (425) 503-1366

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dianafryc
Twitter: http://twitter.com/smartdept (hot jobs)

Original post by SEMpdx...

Senior Manager, Paid Search Marketing Wanted…

Original post by SEMpdx...

Dotster Looking For A Domain Monetization Manager

On the surface, after just a couple of days on several sites, I’m finding that it’s improving user interaction and participation, adding more traffic, and increasing readership on the blogs, besides the obvious addition of new Twitter followers.

While I’m not authorized to give an “official” SEMpdx endorsement of any kind, I can tell you that I personally think its a “must have”, and if you’re encouraging clients to engage in the social universe, then this is one you should try.

Here, take a quick look…

Original post by SEMpdx...

Tweetmeme Plugin Adds Value

When I saw this Tweet from John Andrews, I knew I had to question him about it…and here’s how the conversation went:

Just from this brief exchange that has nothing to do with search marketing, I have learned a tremendous amount about John and the traits he has as a search marketer.

• He is extremely observant and perceptive.
• He learns from experience.
• He’s a planner and always thinks several steps ahead of where he is.
• He is very careful.

If I were looking for a search marketing professional and were considering John, even if I hadn’t had much interaction with him or looked his blog, reading this exchange alone would almost be enough for me to decide to work with him because he has exhibited many of the top traits of search marketers while speaking in a relatively unguarded fashion away from a professional or sales situation.

I have spoken to John in several conference settings and I’ve never gotten the indication he’s any better at the technical aspects of SEO than the rest of us (likely because he’s never talked of such things). However, he has told me stories of his experiences and within each story, if I am savvy enough to see it, exists nuggets of information that I can (and have) applied to my online activities and profited from that insight.

Plenty of search marketers write solid functional articles about search marketing that inform us about what they know and these people do a decent job positioning themselves as “experts” in the field. Sadly, many of these articles are bereft of something much more important…how these people think and perceive the world around them. Because once somebody has maxed out on the “nuts and bolts” portion of the SEO learning curve (and many of us have), their success in search will directly correlate to their ability to perceive the unobvious and act upon that knowledge.

So, when I read Aaron Wall’s interview of Fantomaster, I can see how smart Ralph is by seeing how he thinks and reasons, knowing that if I ever were in the market for cloaking, I could trust that he’s put out a product that would likely work for me even if I were incapable of evaluating the offering. Similarly, people like Aaron, Brian Provost, Adam Audette, and Neil Patel have offered deep enough glimpses into their way they think and view their online environment so that I would feel comfortable working with them professionally even if I knew little else about them besides what they wrote.

There are a few reasons why I rarely write “actionable” SEO articles. I think they expose my Achilles Heel as a writer (writing in the neutral third person). I think many others do a much better job at it. But most importantly, I think that any competitive advantage I might have in the marketplace relates directly to my unique way of thinking and communicating. To show myself in the best possible light, I need to be real and present the unfiltered thoughts in my head in the most honest manner possible. If the public knows I am a search marketer and feels that I offer insights they find valuable, hopefully they’ll realize that I can use the same thought process to help them with their online marketing issues…or so I hope.

Original post by SEMpdx...

Bellwether Brains