However, the industry has changed over the years, and it’s time for SEMpdx to evolve with marketing. Now that digital has integrated into traditional marketing disciplines, our member and sponsor needs have changed. COVID and AI have further altered consumer behavior and how they use digital channels. The remote workforce has increased the need to reach beyond Greater Portland. MarTech has evolved as have media and advertising with it. Events have changed as well, creating greater challenges for trade organizations to create financially-viable conferences.

To address the changing industry, the SEMpdx board has unanimously voted to merge with NextNW, a creative industry association with an international footprint across the Pacific Northwest into Canada. Our new mission is to further elevate and integrate digital into all aspects of marketing, including creative and advertising. With a membership of over 500 marketing professionals across five States and two Provinces, our resources are considerably greater.

We’re excited to integrate SEMpdx’s members and sponsors into NextNW, effective immediately. All SEMpdx memberships will automatically transfer over to NextNW through December 2025. We plan to migrate our infamous digital marketing blog to NextNW in the coming months as well. Our key sponsors, Forix and Data Speaks will also carry over to NextNW. And most importantly, we will maintain a focus on developing digital marketers with excellent programming, starting with a February webinar with Rand Fishkin. We will also continue sending our monthly email newsletter, although the frequency may change.

Stay tuned for further communications as we merge the two organizations in 2025. We value your membership and support and look forward to bigger and better programming, events and networking opportunities in 2025.

The post SEMpdx + NextNW = Greater Opportunities Ahead appeared first on SEMpdx.

The only videos not included are the Virtual Engage 2020. Those are only for paid attendees, and we’ll make those available to the general membership after the new year.

SEMpdx membership is required to view them, and if you’re not a member already, it’s free through August 1st, 2021.

The following video galleries are available:

• Monthly Virtual Events During 2020
• Engage 2019
• Engage 2018
• Engage 2017
• SearchFest 2016
• SearchFest 2015

If you’re not already a member, you can sign up for membership here!

The post New Video Library appeared first on SEMpdx.

As board members leave, it creates an excellent opportunity for SEMpdx members to join the board, bring new ideas, and help craft the future on our organization.

We currently have one opening on the SEMpdx Board of Directors:

• The Sponsorships Director oversees obtaining new and recurring paid sponsors of SEMpdx’s newsletter, monthly events, networking events, and our annual Engage Conference.

Submit your application no later than midnight on Sunday, June 7.  Board positions are a TWO (2) year commitment, with the board year officially beginning July 1, 2020.

The approved applicant will be asked to spend the entire day with the board at our annual retreat on July 15th.  Attendance for this one meeting is mandatory for all board members, and at this writing, it’s still scheduled for the Mc Mennamins Kenedy School, but it’s likely going to be on Zoom.

Sponsorship Chair Job Description:

The Sponsorship Chairs primary responsibility is to secure sponsorships for SEMpdx. There are a variety of sponsorship option currently, including:

• Various Engage Conference opportunities
  • At various points, SearchFest has had its own Sponsorship position
• Regular Monthly Educational Events
• Newsletter Sponsors
• Rooftop Event Sponsors
• Customized case-by-case sponsorships
  • E.g. Mailchimp as Official Email Marketing Partner

This position obtains pricing and bundles that will be offered as well as the value proposition to potential sponsors from the Engage Conference Chair (and/or works with information extant). 

Outreach to past and potential new sponsors for the annual Engage Conference Conference – send out information describing available SearchFest sponsorship opportunities & info on attendees past and projected. 

Follow-up with Sponsors post-conference, providing them with conference performance stats, speaker slide access, video access, survey results, and early bird opportunities for renewing sponsorship for the following year.

Responsible for negotiating with potential sponsors and getting signed sponsorship agreements and company logos. 

Responsible for coordinating with Treasurer after agreement is signed by requesting information from sponsor needed for Treasurer to create invoice (Note: Treasurer takes up tracking from there once Sponsor Chair has secured signed agreement & sent out request for invoice information, CCing Treasure on that email).

The post Board Position Open appeared first on SEMpdx.

The final act of this year’s SearchFest was to announce that SearchFest as we know it would be ending. This was a dramatic jest as the event will continue in 2017, but under another name. However, the event as we know it is changing. SearchFest is no longer. Why? The industry is changing and you either change or die, right Alan (Deutschman or George take your pick)?

Why change the name?

SearchFest is so much more than search. We can justify using “search” in just about every digital marketing activity. That’s what the internet is for! Your search doesn’t even have to be on a search engine (Google) or social media site (Facebook, Twitter)…one may be searching for something to do, or someone to interact with or an opinion to confirm.

However, having search in the title was becoming restrictive. We’ve heard that many people automatically disregard the conference because they think it is “just” a search conference and not applicable to them. Once they looked at our agenda and speaker lineup, the issue typically shifted to “how do I attend more than one session at a time,” a problem we remedied with the video bundle…

SearchFest sold-out again, what the hell are you thinking? It has been a great run!

This year marked the 10th anniversary of SearchFest, it was a good great run. Could we continue to put on a world-class search conference that features the same speakers as international conferences do at a fraction of the cost to attend? Absolutely and we will continue to do that! Along with continuing to add additional content across the marketing spectrum. Expect more cross-functional and cross-device programming. Expect more on content and mobile and branding and strategy and whatever comes up between now and next year.

How will the programming change? We aren’t entirely sure yet. We may add another track or change one or more of the tracks. Add a second day. We’d love your ideas, please leave them in the comments.

Why Engage? How did you get there?

Not only did we want to get away from specifically being branded as a “search” conference, we simply believe this is where marketing is headed. It’s not all about shouting from the rooftops (or billboards or even the top of the SERPs), but increasingly more about what you do once you have an impression. How do you move that potential customer down the funnel? What about micro-conversions, attribution, advocates and influencers? All of these are a vital part of today’s marketing landscape and we feel that Engage much better encompasses it.

Of course it started with a few whiteboard sessions, some internet research (yes, we did a lot of searching to rename SearchFest) and, of course, quite a few emails among the board. Once we had an initial list we got feedback from SEMpdx members, past SearchFest attendees and some branding and event folks we know. We wanted a name the was distinctive over descriptive (although Engage is kind of both).

Engaging with target markets is what digital marketing is all about.

What’s Next?

Be sure to join us at the Rooftop Networking Party in August. We’ll have the new name and logo ready by then, along with the date for Engage 2017 and a special ticket offer. We are excited to announce we are partnering with Watson Creative to guide us through this next phase and can’t wait to share what we come up with!

Special thanks to the renaming committee, specifically Alan George, Anna Hutson, Darin Fenn, Kevin Getch, Robert Frost, Scott Hendison and Trish Carey!

The post It is time to Engage! appeared first on SEMpdx.

14.          2014 is approaching in 14 days, buy your ticket now before the price goes up.

13.          SearchFest is about a quarter of the cost of comparable conferences. As a not-for-profit organization, SEMpdx is all about reaching as many marketers and business owners as we can, and for that reason we’re able to keep SearchFest ticket prices low. Who said 13 was unlucky?

12.          Members get to attend a Members Only reception the night before SearchFest with our speakers. Join now and get the member price and attend the reception on 2/27/14.

11.          31 top speakers from across the globe will converge on Portland to share their knowledge. Our top rated speakers from past SearchFests and some new faces as well.

10.          Yep, Marty will be back. He has his own session on Facebook advertising.

9.            First 500 registrants get a SWEET SEMpdx Scarf. They keep you warm and on the cutting edge of fashion. SFTID!

8.            2014 is our 8th year. We must be doing something right…right?

7.            SEMpdx always throws great parties and we have a Happy Hour and an After Party! Moz is sponsoring the Happy Hour again. Do you want to sponsor the After Party at Punch Bowl Social?

6.            Six sessions/keynotes throughout the day. Check out the agenda and speaker line-up.

5.            Breakfast is included…a real breakfast with BACON thanks to PSU’s Center for Executive and Professional Development.

4.            Four Tracks to choose from including Old School, New School, Social & PPC and a Deep Dive Track. See the full SearchFest agenda.

3.           Three levels of content, so there is something for everyone — beginners, intermediate and advanced! There are also ample networking opportunities throughout the day. Just ask our Afternoon Networking Sponsor ethology.

2.            Two Keynotes! Start your day with Joanna Lord and finish listening to SHOEMONEY!

1.            Prices go up in 2014! Happy New Year!

What are you waiting for? Register Now!

The post Top 14 Reasons to Buy Your 2014 SearchFest Tickets in 2013 appeared first on SEMpdx.

We are pleased to announce Ian Lurie, CEO and founder of Portent Inc., as the newest addition to our advisory board. Ian possesses extensive knowledge in internet marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, strategy and analytics — holding over 40,000 hours in experience under his belt. This SEO mastermind is also a co-publisher for multiple publications and is regularly a speaker at various marketing conferences.

“I’m extremely flattered and honored to join the SEMpdx advisory board. This is by far the most organized and consistent organization that I can proudly say I am a part of,” said Lurie. “What better time to join then now with our annual conference, SearchFest, right around the corner.”

Ian has unofficially been a part of SEMpdx for many years as a SearchFest and monthly event presenter.

About Ian:

Ian Lurie is the CEO and founder of Portent Inc., an internet marketing and technology company that he started in 1995 in Seattle, Wash. Lurie comes to the advisory board as one of the world’s top experts on internet, search and social media marketing. This internet marketing specialist recently co-published the second edition of Web Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and has written Conversation Marketing: Internet Marketing Strategies. Lurie regularly shares his knowledge at various marketing conferences around the world, such as ad:Tech, Search Engine Strategies (SES), Search Marketing Expo (SMX), SearchLove, MozCon, Blogworld and Pubcon.

This Seattle resident embodies SEMpdx’s drive to enhance the digital marketing community while continuously striving to deliver the newest advancements in the ever-changing industry. Lurie’s biggest ambition would be to set up a sister organization in Seattle to continue SEMpdx’s prestige and expertise.

The post SEMpdx Welcomes Ian Lurie to Advisory Board appeared first on SEMpdx.

My introvert nature does not prepare me for situations like getting a scholarship to take a search engine marketing class. You’d think that it wouldn’t require a lot of prep, but I’m a worrier, and I have to have a plan. So I was ready. I had paper and extra pens. I charged my laptop and brought the cord. I packed a lunch brought work to do while I ate. I had it all planned out.
I managed to extract myself from the East side and found my way downtown. I got to my first day of class and there are lots of different kinds of students. Marketing and advertising students. Professionals seeking a reboot to their current careers. Former professionals looking to change their career paths. Business owners who want to make the most out of their online presences. And me. I work for a small business. And I want to do my job better. I want to make a difference in our online revenue. I want to lead us into the future of online marketing. That line is pretty cheesy, but the sentiment is true. I want to make things better for my company. So there I was. Ready for it all. And I had no idea how amazing it was really going to be.

Here are the the 10 most amazing things I learned in SEM class:

1. At last year’s SearchFest, several credible sources said to leave Google+ alone – keep posting, but it’s broken, so don’t do much with it. And now it’s part of the Google algorithm and contributes to my page’s search rankings and is becoming increasingly important when it comes to authorship and attribution. I guess I had better figure out how it works.
2. If you don’t have any text, the crawlers have nothing to read. So if it’s all images with no tags and no text, there is essentially nothing there. So…
3. Each page of our website should be optimized for a unique keyword. Seriously. They should all be different. And…
4. Changing title tags and metadescriptions to reflect these keywords is the first step to making my page readable and indexable. And I can’t forget about the ALT tags for my images.
5. And then I need to write compelling, keyword optimized, easy to read product descriptions so that not only will my customer have all the information about the product, these descriptions will also help my pages come up in searches.
6. My business name, address, and phone number must match in ALL of the places it’s listed. Yes, I mean “all”. And boy, is it difficult to figure out how to correct it is it’s wrong somewhere, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.
7. Getting Google Analytics certified is a huge resume booster! Apparently, the test is not easy.
8. Video is next big thing. Actually, video is already a big thing, but it’s just going to get bigger. Product videos, instructional videos, funny videos. Anything you can do to make an interesting – properly optimized with descriptions and tags, of course – relevant video of your product or service will be well worth the time it takes. We got a statistic that video can increase items sales by 144%. Woah.
9. Put people in your videos. People like watching other people.
10. Take this SEM class. You will want to make a marketing plan for the next year at least just based on the information you get in those three days. I already started my plan, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone at SEMpdx and the PSU CEPE for granting my this opportunity. The class was pretty amazing, and I so excited about getting to implement all that I’ve learned. Thank you again!

-Erin Wilson

The post The 10 Most Amazing Things I Learned in the PSU SEM Class appeared first on SEMpdx.

Erin works for a small Portland business called Portland Store Fixtures. Erin is seeking to gain knowledge in search engine marketing to “step up their game in the online world.” Upon completion of the course, Erin will take all of the knowledge she’s learned and apply it to Portland Store Fixtures to help increase the company’s online visibility. Currently Erin handles a wide variety of tasks on a daily basis, which include social media, managing a website redesign, content creation for print and online, assists the owner on a large number of tasks and the list goes on and on. Erin is really excited that she can learn from some of the best in the industry and won’t have to sift through articles and books working to understand how the complex world of digital marketing works.

Congrats again, Erin. SEMpdx and PSU are very excited to offer you this opportunity, and best of luck!

SEMpdx would also like to thank PSU’s Center for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) for partnering with us in order to give opportunities to individuals in our community. If you are interested, here is more info about PSU’s CEPE courses.

The post PSU Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Winner (2013 Fall Term) Announced appeared first on SEMpdx.

We are proud to announce Bend, Ore.-based company, G5, as sponsor of the Members Only Mixer held the night before SearchFest. The event is exclusively for SEMpdx members that are attending SearchFest the next day. Members will mingle with their digital marketing peers, including the SEMpdx board and SearchFest speakers, in an informal setting. The full-day digital marketing conference will offer attendees rare insight on Friday, February 22, 2013 at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Ore.

“G5 is one of the fastest growing companies in Oregon, but we’re known nationwide as search engine marketing experts in the property management sector,” said Dave Beltramini, Director of Online Marketing Strategy & Performance at G5. “SEMpdx’s line-up of speakers and content is stellar, and we’re thrilled to be part of the event.”

SearchFest is currently the only search and social media conference organized by a nonprofit business organization (SEMpdx) in the Northwest — allowing tickets to be one-third of the cost of other conferences featuring the same caliber of speakers. Lower ticket prices paired with national experts has led to tremendous growth of the event.

Keynoting SearchFest this year will be Duane Forrester of Bing (the search engine based in Seattle, Wash.) and Marty Weintraub of aimClear (an INC. 500-honored digital agency based in Minnesota). Additional companies represented at SearchFest include: Disney Interactive, REI, Rosetta and a variety of local, regional and national marketing firms.

ABOUT G5
G5 is the leading provider of Digital Experience Management (DXM) software and services in the property management sector. The G5 DXM Platform enables owners and operators of multifamily, senior living and self-storage properties to put the right renter in the right property to maximize profitability. G5 helps thousands of properties turn renters into brand advocates by delivering amazing experiences at every digital touch-point. As brand advocacy grows, so does demand — allowing properties to raise rents and revenue without adversely affecting occupancy.

Founded in 2005, G5 was recently named one of the fastest growing private US companies by Inc. Magazine (fourth consecutive year), one of North America’s fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte (second consecutive year), and one of Oregon’s fastest growing private companies by Portland Business Journal (third consecutive year). The Bend, Ore.-based company is backed by private equity investor Volition Capital.

The post G5 to Sponsor Members Only Mixer appeared first on SEMpdx.

Updated — Andrew Grossman has been selected by the SEMpdx Board of Directors to receive the Spring 2012 PSU SEM Workshop Scholarship. Congratulations, Andrew!

Portland State’s Spring term of digital learning is kicking off now.  Three certificates, Interactive Producer and Internet Design, starting March 23, and Digital Marketing Strategies starting March 2, are designed for working professionals and career changers updating traditional media skills in print design, content development, marketing/PR and related fields.  View the Spring & Summer 2012 line-up of classes for Interactive Producer and Internet Design. Take a look at the Digital Marketing certificate.

These programs are offered through the Professional Development Center at Portland State University, with classes taught by over 30 top Portland interactive developers, designers, and executives.  Classes are structured to meet the needs of current business professionals and may be taken as individual courses or as part of a certificate. Digital Marketing Strategy classes are held in the Market Square Building. Evening and weekend lab classes are held in the state-of-the-art Broadway Lab on SW Broadway and Jefferson. Contact Jennifer Portis with questions at portisj@pdx.edu or 503-725-4803.

The post PSU Search Engine Marketing Scholarship appeared first on SEMpdx.