Search Engine Strategies NYC '06 Conference: An SES Newcomer Perspective

by Pauline Kerbici - Search Creative, LLC

Wondering where to find good information on search engine marketing? By now, most people have realized that they need to add search to the marketing mix...if you're a late bloomer, there's still hope.

So, you know there is something missing, your sales are falling short and your competitors are leaving you in the dust. Admitting there is a problem is the first step on the road to recovery. Every company, website, marketer has to start somewhere. Attending the SES conference will give you the edge to get you started. At the very least it will give you a knowledge base when you decide to hire an SEO. You'll be armed with the power to ask the right questions and know what to expect.

This article will guide you through the Fundamentals Track from the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York City 2006. This track is a great place to start for beginners as well as those who know some things about search engine marketing, but would like to verify they're on the right path.

The speakers at the conference can be compared to the really good professors you might have encountered in college, only better because they're accomplished practitioners who really "get it." Most of them are pioneers in their niche. Many of the speakers have been in search since 1995 or 1996, which is pretty much the beginning of search marketing.

Danny Sullivan kicked off the first session, Introduction to Search Engine Marketing. Mr. Sullivan is the editor of SearchEngineWatch.com. If you haven't heard of him or the website, do yourself a favor and visit the site. Then sign up to receive some or all of the newsletters offered, or just read some articles. There are many different sites and "authorities" that can give you bad advice and misinformation on search but you can trust the information at SearchEngineWatch.com.

During this session, Danny discussed the difference between organic, paid, and local listings. Do you know the difference? All marketers know how important their message is within traditional marketing, the same applies for the web! Know your message and get it to your target audience. Emphasizing the importance of research, he touched upon some tools to use such as WordTracker. He warned the attendees to not only focus on their home page but to let people into the side and back doors of their sites. Having a site with good content, appropriate keyword phrases and titles, along with a crawler friendly design is the key to success. Other topics Danny touched upon were linking and paid placement, both of which were covered more in depth later in the conference.

Search Term Research and Targeting was the next session geared towards beginners and it was just as packed with important information as the intro session. Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance gave the attendees ideas on how to find relevant keywords. Some suggestions were: brainstorming, reviewing company site and collateral. Log files will you give insight to what people are actually searching. Christine touches upon the classic principles of marketing when she tells us to focus on what the customer is saying (or searching for!).

Dan Thies of SEO Research Labs followed and discussed how to take your research further. Generic terms can get you traffic, but is it the type you want? Is your target market being reached? In the end, Dan made a solid case for relevancy and why it's more important than numbers.

Shari Thurow of GrantasticDesigns.com took center stage next with Search Engine Friendly Design. Shari started with the basics: your website should be easy to read, navigate and find. In addition, layout and design should be consistent and each page should download in 30 seconds or less. A user should, at all times, know where they are on your site and be able to easily navigate to certain pages without getting lost. She suggests bringing in an SEO specialist during the design, redesign or template stage not after the site is created.

Shari went over some red flags and things you should watch out for like doorway pages, mini or micro sites, shadow domains. Other things to beware of are SEO companies that offer instant link popularity, guaranteed or permanent positions. Finally, if you don't already know this...ALL positions fluctuate constantly -- there are no guarantees.

Another ‘must see' for anyone trying to get their site into shape is Writing for Search Engines. Jill Whalen of High Rankings and Search Creative gets right to the point with a no-nonsense lowdown on how to write for the engines and your target audience. Use keyword phrases not just words when creating content for your site. General phrases should be used for your homepage while specific keyword phrases should be utilized for the inner pages. Jill reminded us that search engines can't read flash and to use text not graphic images for headlines.

She also said that making sense to people -- not just engines -- is first and foremost. Relying heavily on descriptive phrases rather than generic phrases can help you strategically place important keyword phrases. Exact phrases work better but only when they make sense. Never force words on the page where they don't belong.

The Link Building Basics was another informative session by industry veterans, Eric Ward and Debra Mastaler. The simple way to describe the use of a link is that they provide a way for someone to find your site while they are on another site. There are many different types of links that can do different things for your site if you know how to correctly build and utilize links.

The general consensus of both Debra and Eric was to slowly and carefully build worthy links that really pertain to your site. The quality and not the quantity is the most important factor. As with many other parts of search marketing, research is the key when finding the best spots to link to.

Last but not least, Matt Bailey and Derrick Wheeler stole the show with Successful Site Architecture, moderated by Barbara Coll of WebMama.com. The speakers offered up some practical tips for beginners like where to find good information. Did you know Google has specific guidelines for webmasters? Other resources named were Google's sitemap and Marketleap. The end of the session was spent with the experts critiquing a few websites of brave attendees. Barbara brought up a good point as people were scratching their heads and trying to take in all the information. If you realize you don't have the knowledge or manpower, then bring in an SEO specialist to do the job, right.

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Pauline Kerbici is the SEO and Communications Specialist for Search Creative, LLC of Cambridge, MA. Although new to SEO, she has a background in marketing and communications within the publishing, manufacturing and high tech industries. She holds a Master of Arts degree specializing in Integrated Marketing Communications from Emerson College.