SEO In-house Blog

Meet the In-house SEM Exchange (An In-house Only Event)

I am happy to announce the launch of the In-house SEM Exchange, the first in-house only event of the search marketing industry.

It's an intimate event to facilitate discussions and relationship building with in-house SEOs. It's only 30 people, in-house only - no bloggers, no press. It's less PPT and more facilitated discussions so that you can learn from each other and build relationships with other in-house SEOs. I spent a lot of time talking to in-house SEOs to understand what they want most, it's truly an in-house SEO event designed by In-house SEOs for In-house SEOs.

Why The Exchange is Different

• You'll get the search engines on video telling developers what is needed for a search engine friendly site - There is a session called the "Search Engine Hot Seat" designed to address the opposition In-house SEOs face from developers, we currently have Google and Live Search lined up to speak and answer your questions that we'll capture on video. After the event, we'll create mini-videos to answer the questions and you can take them back to IT to prove what search engines really need for a search engine friendly website.
• It's clear that in-house SEOs want to share, so there is an In-house SEO Vault, a session where everyone is expected to lay things out and really learn from each other. It's like the SMX Advanced "Give it Up Session" and we, as a group, will talk about how long things need to remain confidential. We want you to open up, so the group will define what stays in the room vs. leaves, and repercussions for breaking the rules could include no future admittance into The Exchange. We'll decide as a group during the event kickoff.
• We're going to recap and discuss the big takeaways from SMX Advanced and how you can use them at your company. Sometimes even grey hat SEO tactics can be tweaked just slightly to become white hat approaches to SEO. Since everyone takes away something different from the event, this will be a good way to recap the best advice from SMX Advanced.
• 3 Leading In-house SEOs will available for intense Q&A based on your most pressing challenges. These in-house SEOs are definitely on my shortlist of in-house SEOs that I would hire to head up an in-house SEO team: Dennis Goedegebuure (eBay), Brent Payne (Tribune Company) and Derrick Wheeler (Microsoft)
• Each attendee will be surveyed before the event to best understand your most pressing issues/questions, what we need to ask the engines in the Hot Seat and to aid in the discussion topics related to the agenda. The plan is to know what your unique challenges are, and ensure you leave with solutions for your specific challenges.
• You'll get a "What I Learned Report" when you send us your notes that we can combine into one document that you can tweak and forward to management to illustrate what you learned from the event. Some in-house SEOs have now have to write a report to justify every conference - you don't have time for that, so we'll help you out!
• It's a limited number of 30 in-house SEOs only. No agencies, no vendors, no bloggers and no press. We are vetting registration the list to help ensure that every attendee is truly an in-house SEO and not a consultant masquerading as an agency.

Event Details: http://www.InhouseSEMexchange.com

Comments from In-house SEOs that were Instrumental in Creating this Event:

"In-house SEOs will benefit from the safe haven of this event so that we can share openly, get input from people who have been through their challenges and get several solutions from a room full of people who the unique challenges of in-house SEO."
- Duane Forester, Senior Program Manage, SEO - Microsoft/MSN

“The needs of search marketers doing SEO in-house are broader than the topics covered at most conferences. It’s not just about basic tactics: you also have to deal with organizational, political and process-related challenges. Insights into how to get past these hurdles often come from peers at other companies who either are or have been going through similar challenges. Having a day that is dedicated to enabling these conversations is priceless.”
- Olivier Lemaignen, Group Manager, Global Search Marketing – Intuit

"Even though other search marketing events are really useful, what’s particularly great about this add-on day to SMX is that we get the benefits of a search conference combined with the opportunity to interact with in-house SEOs in a way that facilitates knowledge transfer, relationship building and ways to overcome obstacles specific to in-house SEOs.”
- Brent D. Payne, Director of Search Engine Optimization, Tribune Company

Registration details:

• The early bird pricing ends 5/1.
• Register at: http://www.InhouseSEMexchange.com
• You do not need to attend SMX Advanced to attend the In-house SEM Exchange, but you do save if you attend both!
• SMX has a couple of promos for travel

See you in Seattle!

In-house Only Mixer at SMX West (sponsored by SEMPO)

In-house Search Marketers, there is a special event just for you at SMX West. 

The SEMPO In-house Only Mixer is a great place to talk about search, not get a sales pitch, and really talk candidly with other people facing the same challenges you are facing.

I guarantee you will walk away with solid solutions to implement at your company. (if you don't find a good answer, hunt me down and I'll help you out! Pic so you can spot me)

Hope you can make it!

SEMPO In-house Only Night at SMX West
(this event is exclusively for in-house search marketers)

Who: In-house marketers, SEOs, SEMs, etc. 
What: Food & drinks served (courtesy of SEMPO)
When: Tuesday, Feb. 10th, 5:30 pm - 7:30 PM
Where: Camino Real room at the Hyatt (conference hotel)

Why: This is your chance to talk to people in the trenches. Come with your challenges, leave with answers.  Whatever challenge you have, someone has already been through it and will have solid advice for you.

In-house SEOs, I want to hear you vent!

I'm working on something for in-house SEOs that has gotten a very positive response from both in-house newbies and some of the best in-house veterans that I know.

To make it better, I need more input:

• What are the problems you are having related to implementing SEO at your company?  
• Who in the company is your biggest opposition?
• What are the reasons people are giving you for not doing SEO?
• What happens when you walk into the meeting?  Are you even invited to meetings?
• If you could change everything, what would you do differently?

Give me a jingle and vent! 

2009 In-house SEO Events to Start the Year Off Right

In-house SEO Day at SMX West
SMX West Conference
February 12, 2009
Santa Clara, CA  (just outside of San Jose, CA)

In-house SEO Advocate and founder of SEOinhouse.com, Jessica Bowman, planned the day and a stellar line-up that will give you the best-of-the-best in-house SEO tactics and sucesses.

Hear from in-house SEOs at:

• Cisco
• Nickelodean
• AOL
• Yahoo
• Microsoft

 

How to Create a Successful In-house SEO Program

Half-day workshop at Search Engine Strategies New York
Monday March 23, 2009 Chicago, IL

Led by Jessica Bowman

Part workshop, part training, this session allows you to create a game plan for what you need to be doing for your in-house SEO program, right now, to make SEO top of mind, high on the priority list and get your SEO changes live on the site.
Register by January 9th and Save!

In-house SEO Roadmap Training & Workshop

January 22, 2008
February 25, 2008
April 15, 2008

If you have less than 2 years under your belt as an in-house SEO, this is where you'll define how to get the program in order and set the game plan that will get your SEO program moving forward, faster, once you get back into the office.

Wondering what other In-house Search Marketers are paid?

Wouldn't it be great to know what in-house search marketers are making with your job title?  Or your next job search? Then fill it out, and pass this to all of the in-house search marketers you know!

Each year (OK, this is the 2nd year), SEMPO sends out an annual survey to help the in-house search marketing community identify what is the going rate for in-house search marketers.

If SEMPO gets enough people to fill it out, they can even break out the data geographically, that means you could find out what in-house search marketers are making in your city.
Makes ya salivate doesn't it!  It won't take long.

All of the in-house search marketing community will thank you immensely.

In-house SEO Day in New York City October 8th, 2008

October 8th will be a jam-packed day, completely dedicated to in-house SEO.

If you're in-house, you need be at SMX In-house SEO Day.

This track is filled with speakers who have figured it out so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel.  10 in-house SEOs will tell you what worked, what doesn't and give you the advice that they had to "figure out" on their own.

Just a few of the things you'll learn:   

• What successful in-house SEOs are doing daily/monthly/weekly
• If you were recently assigned SEO, what you need to do to get the ball rolling
• If you're an SEO manager, what successful in-house SEO managers are doing all day
• How to get SEO into the development life cycle, and how it's being done at other companies
• Innovative tactics for getting around obstacles from IT -- for example, you'll hear a case study about one in-house SEO who used Facebook to get developers to make the necessary SEO changes

More importantly, you'll have the chance to mix-and-mingle with other in-house SEOs to talk about challenges, solutions and bounce ideas off each other.  These relationships alone are worth the price of your flight to New York.

See you there!

Have you had to break up with your PPC agency?

Let's face it, break-ups happen. Unfortunately, breaking up with your search marketing agency can get more complicated than you envisioned when you signed the dotted line.

If you've had to break up with your PPC agency, get on stage to talk about your lessons learned at SMX East in New York on October 6, 2008. They're looking for speakers for this session:

Breaking Up (With Your Agency) Is Hard To Do
When a client and an agency part after a search marketing campaign, who owns what? On the SEO side, code and ownership is often clear. For PPC, who owns the quality score associated with an account? Knowledge from landing page tests? This session looks at legal uncertainties and offers suggestions for resolution.

If you're interested, pitch to speak.

Most common Mistakes and Keys to Success for In-house SEO

Ready to learn exactly what to do (and what not to do) as you build your in-house SEO Program.

Now is your chance to see some of the things I do with companies on when building a successful in-house SEO program.  We'll go through the top 10 mistakes (and what to do instead) and the 10 keys to making a successful SEO program work well.

It's a 2-hour webinar packed full of things that you can add to your SEO initiative start getting people on board and bought in to SEO.

 

You’ll learn things not taught in search marketing articles - practical advice for how to get SEO changes through the system and live on the site.

Webinar is ideal for: Any company implementing SEO, even if you are using an agency.

Register Now

 

You can Over-optimize and Get a Penalty

I often get the question, "can you over-optimize" a web page and the answer to that is, "yes."  I've mostly seen it for overuse of header tags, but as Search Roundtable mentions, you can over-optimize for phrases and get a penalty from Google.

SEO & Social Media Need to be 2 Peas in a Pod

If your company is considering adding social media to the marketing mix, make sure that it's going to hand-in-hand with SEO. 

I would strongly encourage you to consider SEO & Social Media to be run by the same group, and if it's different people, then they need to be linked at the hip because you will go so much further with combined efforts than the combination of two separate efforts.

Conversation Marketing had a post on the importance of SEO & Social media not being separated. It's worth a good read, especially if your company is going to start doing social media.