Search Engine Strategies Conference in NYC

The marketing team at Jennifer Barbee, Inc. attended the SES Conference in NYC last week. With over 50 speakers including marketing reps from Google and Microsoft, the content of both the educational sessions and the panel discussions was great. Cutting edge marketing tactics, interactive media development, paid and organic strategies and mobile marketing tactics were just the tip of the “marketing iceberg” for attendees at this year’s conference. 

After attending over 12 educational sessions and a “Twitter” keynote delivered by Guy Kawasaki, we have so much take away, it’s hard to boil down to a “Top” list but we want to share with you some of the key points and tactics learned by our marketers at Jennifer Barbee, Inc. To read more about the conference and the presentations, visit www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork

·         Organic Strategy – Marketers should be thinking farther than the “World Wide Web”. There is a deeper level of web content called the “Deep Web” which is now what marketers should be considered their area of opportunity. The “Deep Web” contains 400-500x more content than the “World Wide Web”. What is the “Deep Web” consist of? Universal and Blended Media + Content. Including Whitepapers, Videos, Imagery, PDFs, Blogs, Social Network Profiles, etc. All of these new areas of content have come on to the web over the last 2-3 years. It’s important to optimize all your content and your media for blended search results.

·         Optimize the Right Content – The more important content on your page: Headline, Sub Headings, Bullet Points and Paragraph Headers.

·         Optimizing Flash – Oh yes, there is now a way to do this. Web sites will be flashier and more search friendly than ever.

·         Utilizing Google Analytics – There is now more ways to track and report than ever before. Make sure you are utilizing all the aspects their reporting system offers.

·         Twitter as a Tool – We can’t begin to explain all the new Twitter Tools and Tactics being utilized by the best Twitter marketers in the world. But here are some to definitely look into:

o   Retweetist

o   Twitter Counter

o   Monitor What People Say About You – Search.Twitter.com

o   TWIBS.com

o   Tweetdeck.com

·         Social Marketing – A great quote from Guy K, we have to share: “Forget the A-List, Nobodies are the New Somebodies”

·         SEM – Links are still important to Engine Algorithm (Links to your site AND Links within your site).

·         Design & SEO – It’s more important than ever to train your graphics team and designers in SEO stategy. Optimiztion HAS to start from the ground up. Before you build your web site, your team must design the blue prints together.

·         Your Web Site URL – Buy whole domain names instead of developing a special page or section within your site. The more relative your URL is to the content available on that URL, the more points you have with engines.

·         Mobile Marketing Statistic – In 2007 80% of mobile customers weren’t online. By 2011, 90% of mobile users will be searching.

·         Test Your Site’s Usability – Before you launch your site, test it on top mobile browsers for compatibility. Also test your site’s compatibility on all internet browsers including Firefox and Google Chrome.

·         Have Videos? Post Them! – YouTube is the 4^th Biggest Site on the Web. 1 in 4 searches on the web happen on YouTube. If you have videos, start a channel and make sure you add relative titles, descriptions and tags to your videos.

·         Theory by Many Marketing Execs – Everyone will be Mobile in 5 years, the screen for which we search is definitely shrinking.

·         Blog Marketing – Find blogs in your niche market, contact them to offer a blog within their blog in which you could become their guest blogger. Add your links and other helpful links within your posts as well.

·         Crazyegg.com – Find out whether your site is user friendly or not. See where users are clicking, whether they are clicking clickable areas or not.

·         Importance of Media Placement & Tactics – Retargeting is the most important tactic for media placement. If users don’t engage with your first effort, Maximize this effort by going back to users with different (but retargeted) ads and offers.

·         Marketing during the Recession – Digital media efforts are holding their own against TV, Print and Radio during the recession. Be more targeted, Be more efficient, Be smarter with your Buys.