We hope one of your resolutions for 2016 will be to attend this year’s SearchFest. If you haven’t registered yet, stop reading this and buy your ticket today. To help incentivize you, use discount code (BOSER) to save $88 off the ticket price. The discount is valid until 10:30 a.m. Friday, so bug your boss to invest in their business by investing in you.

Why Attend SearchFest?

SearchFest features some of the biggest, and brightest names in almost every niche of search and social media marketing. They will present on just about everything from tried-and-true best practice fundamentals in technical and on-page SEO to bleeding edge techniques in mobile search, social media, and link building.

Check out the fantastic speakers we have lined up for 2016.

To celebrate our 10^th SearchFest, we are offering free access to the recorded videos of all the sessions for all registered attendees.

To get you in the mood, check out this video from 2015’s SearchFest featuring Ian Lurie and Greg Boser discussing Penalty and Ranking Drops.

The post Penalties & Ranking Drops with Ian Lurie and Greg Boser (SearchFest 2015 Video Rewind) appeared first on SEMpdx.

This past week’s rain, flooding, mud slides and subsequent traffic snarls made me realize I was lucky to often work from home, and that I keep a couple of food bars in the car if I ended up stuck out in the wild.

What does that have to do with SearchFest?

Well, SEMpdx board members, advisory board members and dozens of volunteers have been hard at work the last few weeks to make sure our 10^th SearchFest is pretty special. Yep, from sponsorships to speakers to adorable cute puppies, these folks are hustling for you.

Partners

This week, we’re celebrating our first Presenting Sponsor for SearchFest with Yext. They join a great group of key sponsors that over the years have made SearchFest one of the best, and most affordable digital marketing conferences in the world (yeah, I said WORLD).

Other key partners in the past have included Moz, Add3, Ethology and Anvil. Already, Moz, WebFor, Constant Contact and The Oregonian have also joined Yext in sponsoring the big event on March 10 (more are in the pipeline, we’re just waiting for the ink to dry to announce them). And we have plenty of other opportunities for your sponsorship dollars if you are interested.

Did your eyes glaze over when I started talking about sponsors? I’m often the same way, but think about it this way, if we didn’t have these great partners you would be paying two or three times the ticket price to attend SearchFest. Also, this year we’re giving away for free the video bundle (most, if not all, sessions will be recorded) to everyone who registers. So, thank them for the help, show them a little love if you or your business can, and don’t get too annoyed with us when we mention them. They are pretty great!

Peeps

Have you checked out the confirmed speakers for this year’s Searchfest? We have some of the brightest minds in marketing headed to Portland for SearchFest. This includes our two great keynote speakers Dr. Pete from Moz and Michael King from ipullrank. We also have Matt Siltala, Ada Pally, Purna Virji, and Marcus Tober to name a few others.

Oh Yeah, we also have the one and only…

Marty Weintraub! He’s a maniac, maniac on the floor. And he’s dancing like he’s never danced before.

Check out the rest of the great folks who have graciously agreed to speak at SearchFest. For those who haven’t yet purchased a ticket, give our speakers a TWEET OUT (is that a thing?), and they will give you a discount code for $75 off the ticket price.

Puppies

We’re looking to make the 10^th SearchFest pretty effin’ epic. If you have any suggestions on what would make for a great event, email me or tweet us at @sempdx. We’ll have bacon sponsors. We’ll have a kick-ass After Party. What else?

I almost forgot, we’re looking for that special company or individual that would like to sponsor our Puppy Love room. Have you seen the BuzzFeed video Drunk Girls Get Surprised With Puppies?

Well, we are looking to do something similar only without the drunk bit, without the viral video bit, and it would be open to all attendees.

Stressed about networking? Bummed that you will have to go back to work on Friday, March 11? Well, swing by the Puppy Love room and return to your special, special place where there is nothing but soft, cuddly, puppy love (insert any Barry White tune here. Or maybe Barry Manilow. We won’t judge).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfEMIPA6Bg

https://www.sempdx.org/searchfest-sponsorship-opportunities/

The post SearchFest 2016 Update: Partners, Peeps, and Puppies! appeared first on SEMpdx.

This past weekend, SEMpdx members and their families joined other Portlanders in celebrating the third annual Community Play Day at Harper’s Playground. SEMpdx added to the festivities at the North Portland park by donating $1,000 to the nonprofit Harper’s Playground, which was SEMpdx’s Charity of Choice for 2014-2015.

Each year SEMpdx selects a Charity of Choice to support, offering ten percent of its proceeds from the year, along with pro-bono digital marketing expertise to the charity.

“SEMpdx thought that Harper’s Playground was a great fit for us because they are trying to create playgrounds that are inclusive, accessible by all, for all to play,” said Alan George, SEMpdx President. “They are just passionate about what they are doing and we want to support that.”

Harper’s Playground transforms communities by increasing access to inclusive play areas where kids of all abilities can thrive. The first playground (located in Portland’s Arbor Lodge Park) was created with the help of many supporters by Harper’s Playground Executive Director, Cody Goldberg. He explains it this way, “my daughter (Harper) uses wheels to get around and was unable to play at our community playground so we first set out on changing that.”

Now the nonprofit’s immediate goal is to develop accessible play parks in each quadrant of Portland, with plans currently in place for parks in Northwest and Northeast Portland. It holds long term goals of making inclusive play areas accessible on a national level.

“It was just a little over a year ago that SEMpdx chose us to be their Charity of Choice and we have been honored since Day 1 to have received their support,” Goldberg said. “They have provided us all sorts of digital marketing expertise; and, of course, today, a big check was delivered and that certainly helps when you are in the nonprofit business.”

If you were at SEMpdx’s Rooftop Networking Party on August 11, or Member’s Appreciation event in May, you may know that the Brody Borlaug Foundation is this year’s (2015-2016) Charity of Choice. SEMpdx and its members are excited to be a part of Team Brody.

Over the next year, SEMpdx board members will provide digital marketing services free of charge, including search engine optimization (SEO), management of the Google Grants program for advertising donations, social media marketing, as well as 10 percent of its 2015-2016 proceeds. The Brody Borlaug Foundation will also receive recognition and free attendance at monthly SEMpdx educational events and SearchFest, the daylong digital marketing conference on March 10, 2016.

The post SEMpdx Joins in Celebrating Inclusive Play at Harper’s Playground appeared first on SEMpdx.

SearchFest Videos Now Available

Over 17 Hours (1,000+ minutes) of Presentations and In Depth Q&A

View online or download and watch anytime

Presenters in the video bundle include keynote Tim Mayer, President of Heddle Marketing and eCommerce Quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rand Fishkin & Rae Hoffman, Marty Weintraub & Will Scott, Joanna Lord & Mark Traphagen, Larry Kim, Marshall Simmons and Ian Lurie. Please visit the 2015 SearchFest Speakers page for a complete list of presenters.

Presentation topics include SEO, Marketing Dashboards, Mobile Strategy, Social Content & Branding, Big Data, Content, Social and Mobile Strategy, to name a few. Please visit the 2015 SearchFest Agenda for a complete list of topics.

Get SearchFest-Smart Year Round

Nine short years ago a rag-tag team dreamed up the idea for SearchFest. Their main goal was to bring the best of our industry together to impart their knowledge on us regular folk. They didn’t know that personal connections, elbow grease and a lot of beer would help grow SearchFest into what it is today — a top conference drawing speakers from 14 states and 4 countries, with an expanding audience base that includes attendees from such faraway places as Kangaroo Island in Southern Australia.

They also didn’t know that that the industry would greatly expand, making it necessary to create four concurrent tracks — Deep Dive, Future Web, SEO Fundamentals and Social & Paid — to incorporate every discipline found within the ever-widening scope that is digital marketing.

Even if you were able to attend SearchFest, how could you possibly take it all in? Our solution: the SearchFest 2015 Video Bundle. For the first time we hired professional videographers to capture all of the SearchFest moments you may have missed, weren’t able to get to or simply can’t remember!

This is great news for those who were either:

1. Torn between seeing the Wizard of Moz (Rand Fishkin) present alongside SugarRae (Rae Hoffman) on Competitive Intel or Marshall Simmonds get into the nuts and bolts of Big Data and SEO.

2. Wishing your entire team could benefit from the learning opportunities offered by these enthusiastic and entertaining SearchFest speakers.

3. Unable to hop on a plane, bus or bike to get to this year’s SearchFest for any multitude of reasons.

4. Distracted by Marty Weintraub and Will Scott’s running tights and couldn’t jot down the wisdom infused throughout their social media presentation. Possibly you just need to revisit the workout moves that were featured to change up your routine.

The industry’s brightest minds are all yours for a relatively small investment, considering the value you’ll gain. You will be able to stream the videos to your various devices unlimited times. Each video will be packaged with the presenter’s slide deck (if available). Downloads of each session video are also available.

View SearchFest 2015 Videos Here.

The post SearchFest 2015 Video Bundle appeared first on SEMpdx.

This year’s Members Appreciation Event will be Tuesday, May 12, 2014. Members receive free admission, food and drinks and the opportunity to listen to a great guest speaker brought in specifically for our members. Non-members are welcome to purchase a ticket and attend.

Social Hacks: Time Savers To Fuel Your Marketing Success

Brent will be speaking about how to get the most out of social for the least amount of time; – how you can time-hack your social experience and focus your energies where they are most effective, using tools and simple strategies. Brent can also answer your questions about content for social, such as infographics, as well as discuss developing strategies for social news sites (Redditt, etc.).

Start following him and his team at @KairayMedia. 

Special Guest Speaker

Brent Csutoras, Founder Social Media Strategist at Kairay Media

Brent Csutoras is a social media marketing strategist and entrepreneur, who specializes in social media marketing, content marketing, and viral content creation. Brent speaks regularly at some of the largest and well known conferences, such as SMX, Pubcon, SES, and InfoPresse. You can view his presentations here.

He has also been mentioned in NBC News, Diversity Journal, Ecommerce Times, Forbes, Wired, Health, the American Marketing Association, interviewed for Entrepreneur.com, and quoted in Entrepreneur, as recent as 2014. Additionally, Brent acts as Head of Social Media for Alpha Brand Media and as the CMO for Pixel Road Designs, which is one of the leading Infographic and Social Media design firms.

Date and Time

Tuesday, May 12, 2015
5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. Presentation starts at 5:30pm

Location

BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room — see map
1313 NW Marshall Street
Portland, OR 97209

Parking & Transit

There is street parking available around the venue ($1.60/hour until 7PM), a pay lot across the street in the Safeway building (enter on NW 14th), and several pay lots 2-3 blocks away, under the 405 freeway. 2 hours of free street parking is available anywhere west of the 405. Streetcar stops are 1 block north or south, and the nearest bus stop is 6 blocks away on NW 14th & Glisan (route 77).

Here Are His Slides

The post May 2015 – SEMpdx Members Appreciation Event appeared first on SEMpdx.

What is it that SEMpdx members and followers see of the future when they are looking into their crystal balls?

We don’t know.

But we did get a pretty good idea of what you think about the work SEMpdx has been doing over the last few years – from SearchFest, to our monthly educational events, to our biweekly newsletter. Some of what you said will be resulting in new programs, as well as tweaks to how we’re doing things.

If we had to sum it up in one word what you said, it would be that you think we are AWESOME. Or, in the spirit of SearchFest later this month, you think we are bacon-licious.

Late last year, we asked active SEMpdx members, expired members, and members of our newsletter to let us know how we are doing, as well as what would make for a better experience with SEMpdx (whether as members or just folks that attend SearchFest or our other networking events).

We got a great response from some 24 percent of members, as well as a significant number of responses from former members and non-members as well.

The survey was performed by Riley Research Associates of Portland. If you haven’t already heard of them or worked with them, they have been serving marketers, strategists, and public relations professionals from throughout the region and are celebrating their 25th year in business. Mike Riley, owner of Riley Research Associates, is a marketing research and communications professional, with more than 30 years of experience and is nationally accredited in public relations and market research. Thank you Mike and your team. We appreciate all your insight and actionable recommendations.

“SEMpdx is doing a good job at delivering quality aspects in regards to what is important to both members and non-members,” Mike wrote.

How Long Have You Been An SEMpdx Member

How Long Have You Been Attending SEMpdx Events

Where Do You Work?

 Size of Your Org

Gender

From the survey, we found that you are pretty satisfied with the events we put on, particularly for the Members Appreciation Event and the Holiday Networking Party. The Members Appreciation Event is held in May and this year features Brent Csutoras. Brent is a nationally known expert in social media strategy and will be offering members actionable tips that are more than how to just optimize your SoMe profiles or tell you to follow influence makers in your industry. Brent owns and operates a social media firm named Kairay Media, as well as acting as Chief Social Media Strategist for Alpha Brand Media and Pixel Road Designs.

Back to the survey, Mike’s group found, “Respondents considered networking opportunities the most important aspect of SEMpdx, with a mean of 4.0 on a five-point scale where “5” is “extremely important.” Programs for development of skills and advanced training/certifications were the second-most important aspects with a mean of 3.8 each, followed by programs to educate the business community about SEM.

Satisfaction with SEMpdx was moderate to high, with overall satisfaction a mean of 3.9. Respondents were most satisfied with network opportunities (mean of 4.1), which was also considered the most important feature of SEMpdx. Programs for the development of basic skills and to educate the community about SEM were also rated somewhat high, at 3.7 and 3.6, respectively. Respondents were least satisfied with advanced training/certifications and job listings/career development, though these were still rated moderately high.”

The survey also gave us some direction on what types of programming you want. Our educational events team, as well as our SearchFest planners, will be consulting this list as they plan future events. About three-quarters of respondents were most interested in content marketing/strategy and SEO.

Programming You Want

What was the miscellaneous topics you mentioned? They included UX for SEO; SEO landing page testing; Video SEO; Analytics and conversion; conversion rate optimization; project and team management; email marketing/analytics; ecommerce; and small business SEM were among those mentioned.

Not everything was roses. You also pointed out to one of the ongoing challenges SEMpdx’s board of directors face, which is to offer programming that is accessible to newcomers while also adding new challenges for more polished veterans. Sometimes we nail it and sometimes we miss it. We will continue to look for ways to improve this. We have started a brown bag event that is designed to be an opportunity to follow up on a past monthly topic, or dive deeper on a topic on a more intimate, collegial setting. We are also identifying background links for folks that would like to learn a bit more or better prepare for a monthly topic. We just had our first Follow Friday Brown Bag last week to discuss favorite tools, as well as answer each other’s questions about tools.

Another complaint was that while the networking component of our events was rated favorably, some of you asked if it could be improved. We hear ya’. SEMpdx’s board of directors typically attend all our monthly educational events, which are held the second Tuesdays at Bridgeport Brewery in the Pearl. Moving forward we are going to make a point to introduce ourselves to folks we don’t know. Let us know if we can introduce you to someone else in the room. We have “board” ribbons on our name tags. Perhaps we can make those name tags stand out even more. Perhaps you have a suggestion or two on how we can improve the networking component of our regular events. What do you think about adding a “Birds of a Feather” component  where folks with a specific question can go to the “Video SEO” to ask a question, or go to the “Semantic Markup” table to ask a question to folks there?

Another finding from the survey was that new SEMpdx members often don’t know what is going on regarding how the organization works, and otherwise how to better take advantage of their memberships. Beginning last fall, we have been asking board members to meet one-on-one with new members to give them some background about the organization, as well as how they can better maximize their memberships. We will also be putting together a more complete “New Member” packet that offers these tips (email me if you are an existing member and would like a copy of the packet when it is put together).

We will be continuing to look for ways to improve SEMpdx experience for our members, as well as those that just drop in from time to time at our events. We can use your help. SEMpdx is a volunteer-based nonprofit. From sending out the newsletter to planning SearchFest, to updating the website; all that work is done by volunteers. And we are always on the lookout for more folks. Send us an email if you want to sign up to be a volunteer.

As for those that participated in the survey, THANK YOU! We really need your input to make SEMpdx better today and tomorrow. We promise moving forward that we won’t ask as many questions in future surveys.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Everyone that participated in the survey was entered into a drawing to win a free pass to this year’s Searchfest (or be reimbursed, if they already purchased their ticket). And the winner is … Adam Lee from Adventist Health. Congrats, Adam!

The post SEMpdx Survey Results Lead To New Programs appeared first on SEMpdx.

SEMpdx sent out a survey today to active and expired members, as well as folks on our newsletter list.

We would really appreciate if you took a few minutes to complete the survey. The AMA-PDX chapter recently asked many of you to participate in their planning survey. They said it wouldn’t take more than 18 minutes to complete. We recognize how busy you are with work and life, as well as getting ready for the upcoming holiday. So, we designed our survey to take less than 17 minutes to complete (providing further proof of our awesomeness).

We think it will be a good investment of your time. Your input will help SEMpdx improve its value proposition to its members, add/delete or fine tune our monthly educational programming, as well as help us improve our signature events such as SearchFest, the Rooftop Networking Party, and our Member Appreciation Event.

Questions range from asking your opinion about SEMpdx overall, to why you participate in SEMpdx events. There are opportunities to give us suggestions on programing you would like to see, as well as help us understand just who you all are and what you need (professionally and personally) in a nonprofit membership organization like SEMpdx.

We are working with Riley Research Associates of Portland to conduct the survey and measure its results. They have been a fixture in Portland and the Pacific Northwest for nearly three decades, and you should consider them for your public opinion polling, business surveys, focus groups, communications consulting and marketing research services. They know what they doing, and do it well.

To sweeten the deal, those who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing for a pass to SearchFest 2015 (or 2016 if you have already registered). If you have any questions or concerns, email us at info@semdpdx.org.

The post Help Us, Help You: Your Input Is Needed For SEMpdx Survey appeared first on SEMpdx.

Lani Farnmorth (new), Spyker Media (renewing), SQ1 Portland (new), Speedy Septic Service (new), University of Western States (new), and KOIN Channel 6 (new)*.

This month’s featured member is Sue Hughes from Resolutions, Inc.

As criteria for selection, SEMpdx members must have a completed profile in our membership directory, and then we randomly select a member. More information about completing a member profile is at the bottom of this post. In addition to the member profile that is shared on our website and newsletter, featured members will receive complimentary ticket to that month’s educational event.

We emailed Sue some questions. Here are excerpts, edited for brevity and clarity:

How long have you been in business?

20 never-a-dull-moment years.

What does the business do?

My business creates professional print collateral and develops websites.

What is the size of your company?

Solopreneur. I operate as a virtual company for websites.

What are your specialties?

Independent print and/or web designer, complete marketing packages, project manager

Who is your ideal client?

Someone who doesn’t ask me how much it’s going to cost.

What you do you want your peers to say about you?

That I am reliable and do good work.

How long have you been an SEMpdx member?

Since 2013.

Why did you join SEMpdx?

For the discount to SearchFest and I thought it would propel me to network with the SEO crowd.

What is the best thing about being an SEMpdx member?

Gaining knowledge through reading the newsletter.

What predictions do you have for the future of digital marketing?

It’s going to get more complicated and people’s skillsets more refined.

——

Thanks to Sue for her time and responses. Be sure to say hello to Sue at next week’s event, Nov. 11, with Portent’s Josh Patrice discussing the importance of Conversion Rate Optimization.

Video Tutorial for Updating Your SEMpdx Membership Profile

Want to enter your name for next month’s SEMpdx Membership Profile? You need to have a completed profile in the SEMpdx membership directory. Watch this video tutorial for how to update or complete your SEMpdx membership profile: https://youtu.be/geLbIRrRHU4

*SEMpdx’s favorite weatherman Bruce Sussman was formerly with KOIN.

The post SEMpdx’s Featured Member Profile for November 2014 appeared first on SEMpdx.

As criteria for selection, SEMpdx members must have a completed profile in our membership directory, and then we randomly select a member. More information about completing a member profile is at the bottom of this post. In addition to the member profile that is shared on our website and newsletter, featured members will receive complimentary tickets to that month’s educational event.

October’s featured member is Evergreen Media, based in Ridgefield, Wash. We emailed some questions to Jared More, Evergreen Media’s owner. Here are excerpts, edited for brevity and clarity:

How long have you been in business?

Evergreen Media Co. has been in business since September 2013.

What does the business do?

Evergreen Media Co. is a digital marketing agency specializing in marketing drug and alcohol treatment centers and other health care businesses. Our approach is holistic and we take on a few clients at a time and use a wide variety of tactics to execute a long term strategy. Our tactics include goal driven PPC and paid advertising, content development of all types, conversion attribution and optimization and website design with a focus on user experience.

What is the size of your company?

Evergreen Media Co. is a small company with less than five employees. We are looking for part time web developer and a part time content strategist.

What are your specialties?

Our specialties are Organic Search Marketing and Pay Per Click Strategy in marketing drug and alcohol treatment centers. We have recently expanded into other health care verticals including Elder care and Assisted Living.

Who is your ideal client?

Our search marketing clients are small to mid-sized businesses that know each problem has many workable solutions. Our strategies are innovative, creative and enduring so our clients should be also. We are constantly learning so we can be on the cutting edge of what works in online marketing – even on the leading edge. Our clients have to be willing to think outside the box and do what their competitors are not doing – or will not do. Our clients are not afraid to go against the grain. Our clients are not afraid to have fun, or generate buzz and controversy in their industry. Our clients are not afraid to take risks. Our clients are mutual trusting partners with us. They are sticklers for results, but understand the value in committing to a plan and following through.

What you do you want your peers to say about you?

I deliver on quality and results.

How long have you been an SEMpdx member?

Since 2010

Why did you join SEMpdx?

To meet other digital marketing professionals in my area!

What is the best thing about being an SEMpdx member?

Discounts and free drinks. Oh and also the GREAT community of people. My company has also received contracts directly related to our being an SEMPDX member.

What predictions do you have for the future of digital marketing?

If there is anything I have learned from being a digital marketing professional for more than 10 years is that it is an industry that is constantly changing. However, the fundamentals are the same now as they were 13 years ago when I started.

I predict the future will only grow and mature digital marketing into an industry with more true professionals and also specialized trainings and degrees. Digital marketing still has a lot of Wild West ingrained within it. As more people understand it and take it seriously as an essential platform, it will lead to a more transparent – yet more difficult field to become an expert in. I believe the days of games and tricks are over, and the people with the real talent will begin to stand out and our industry will gain the respect it deserves.

Video Tutorial for Updating Your SEMpdx Membership Profile

Want to enter your name for next month’s SEMpdx Membership Profile? You need to have a completed profile in the SEMpdx membership directory. Watch this video tutorial for how to update or complete your SEMpdx membership profile: https://youtu.be/geLbIRrRHU4

The post SEMpdx’s Featured Member Profile for October 2014 appeared first on SEMpdx.