Technical piece done for Sitelab.com’s newsletter.

All work copyright Larissa R. Young, unless otherwise noted.

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SES NYC 2005 was recently upon us, and some of the crew here at SiteLab got the chance to check out the lineup and material available. We must say, there was quite the turnout – most of the sessions were standing room only. Quite a few of the major players were there, including people from e-Marketing News, Page-Zero, Key Relevance, Success Works, ClickZ, Future Now, PR expert BL Ochman, and many more.

A very brief summary of the events – because trust us, there was a LOT to take in – is below, followed up by 10 points of what lies ahead.

Key Relevance had a few things to say on KeyWord Selection – like understanding what phase your buyer is in so you can target your responses better. NicheBot and Google’s Traffic Estimator are both tools that can help out your research efforts and find out the “why” behind the search. SEO Research Labs gave us some great keyword research as well as advanced SEO/SEM coaching. For example, half of search terms are 3 words or more, giving an easier time at ranking organically. These guys are also responsible for a Search Engine Marketing Business Kit, soon to be published at SitePoint.com. The Search Term Analysis Toolkit with a handful of modifiers and analyzers are also in the works.

A representative from Trillian had several items – keyworddiscover.com being one – with different case studies on related terminology, seasonal trends, KEI, and predictions on daily traffic. A quick tip from them – everyone uses free tools, so a more competitive stance comes from the paid ones. ComScore’s Steve Dennen showed up with some pricey (there’s that “paid” reference again) yet cool tools – passive tracking on actual consumer search activity was one; competitive search marketing modules was another.

Outrider brought up challenges for the audience that involved some pretty common objections – lack of time, understanding, budget, and sometimes just plain not wanting to put forth much effort were a few. He also mentioned scenarios were advertisers would be faced with a lack of TV and print ads. Andy Beal from KeywordRanking.com showed us that a targeted customer does not always react immediately to marketing, as well as SEM and Traditional Marketing should be able to compliment each other. Prepare your SEO campaigns in advance, identify seasonal offline campaigns, and give yourself a chance to guide your consumers to search for your preferred keywords. Keep up to date with your competitors’ branding so that you can see trends for yourself, all while staying ahead of them.

Brad Byrd from NewGate Internet went over Search in general, and how unique its’ characteristics are. The budgeting can be flexible, the pricing is driven by the market, and results are not only tangible but trackable. Anvil Media (next up) went over content and what it can do for both us and the end user. Some of the top performing content types include: press releases; articles, FAQs, blogs, directory listings, and glossary. Jensense.com’s Jennifer Siegg talked about content creation tools, including a stats program, customer service requests and questions, copywriting books, dictionary and thesaurus and professionalism. Two of her highlights were taking a look at secondary wording (versus primary) with keywords, and good content versus length; meaning 250 – 300 words sometimes works better than 3,000. Message boards / forums also came up, proving that as long as its’ search friendly you’ll have your content written for you and your referrals will fly.

FutureNow talked about persuasive online copywriting, treating your audience as a single reader, and having customer-centric methodology. In the end – what do you really want from your customer, and what do you need to do to persuade them?

Harrison Magun from AR Search presented an overview of European search, stating that there are about 190 million internet users in the US, combined in Europe there is about the same. An important fact is that you can buy a listing on yahoo, but users in foreign countries surf on specific sites such as Google.it, etc, so trying to reach foreign users on Google.com is probably not going to happen. He summaries saying that you need to realize whether your business really has customers in Europe. Maasimo Burgio, Ad Maiora’s representative, tried to bring us up to date statistically somewhat on Europe, since not all of us know what its’ like while living here in the States. The UK is the #1 country in terms of SEO/SEM services and awareness. The search advertising spend is on average about 15% (UK is 50%).

Local Search was tackled next, looking at the two content areas it comes from – internet derived, and local content (business mailing lists, direct mail, etc). LocalLaunch! added an additional content area - user-derived local content, provided by the user, business owner, or customer. There are also competitors out there can provide content that dictate how your listing is displayed. Acxiom and InfoUSA are good providers of helpful data in this category. Ratings and reviews also give an extra level of info, showing how paid search can control the ads and the listings. 60% of Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s) conduct 75% of their business from customers within a 50 mile radius – and the problem (or opportunity) is that 3% of SME’s are using paid search. To round this out – why do national advertising? Not only for its’ great visibility, but it tends to be inexpensive as well, especially for IP-targeted campaigns.

Inceptor’s Mike Sack was then up with research showing that over 90% of online searches result in an offline transaction; trackable by calls, lift measurement, post-purchase surveys and promo codes. The bottom line, however, is that PPC ads will cost you more money in the end. This led us into brand and trademark discussions, and Jeff Rohrs (a moderator) put up slides on some definitions of trademarks, as well as policies for Google and Overture.

We then heard where search might be headed, and Oshoma Moma said that today’s reality is that there are billions of web links, making it potentially easy to leave many needs unanswered. Search engines and portals are great ways to publish data and will continue to be beyond 2005. Blogs were also mentioned (courtesy of Amanda Watlington from APR), touting their ability to enable conversation on a one to one basis, and showing that blog content and RSS allows instant content gratification. News and Webfeed search were mentioned, as were different news aggregators and the recurring link spam problem out there. After taking a look at all of this, it brings us to 10 points you should keep your eye on for certain:

Pay Per Call – What converts better, someone simply clicking through to your site, or an opt-in lead on the phone?

Click Fraud – It’s out there, and it may account for 20-50% of your clicks. SE’s are working on stopping this more effectively.

Inbound Links – These are key! You don’t just need quantity, you need quality. Sites in high regard with many other sites pointing to them are your best bet.

Blogs are Your Friends – These are definitely helpful; not only do they build traffic from interested, willing-to-participate viewers, but they’re updated quite a bit.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) – RSS readers are being incorporated by a growing number of apps and browsers, bringing you highly involved people, much like blogs.

Press Releases – Cheap and effective traffic builders… as long as you have something real to say.

Most Search Engine Users Don't Use Advanced Functions - They’re more likely to use three (or more!) words, giving them better search results.

Vertical Search Portals Are Just Around the Corner – These provide category or industry-relevant results to the user.

Second Tier PPC Search Networks, Good Keyword Deals – Check these out, there’s potential for not only good price but a better ROI.

Avoid Overpaying for Keywords by Using Good PPC Tools – Keep up to date on auctions, it’s in your best interest.

Bold Interrupters in PPC Copy Can Increase Clickthroughs - Try making certain keywords in your short PPC copy bold. It gets attention and may increase CTRs.

Test Everything – Copy, layout, colors, concept… test it all and keep solid track on your results. It can launch you to 40% and beyond.

Go to Your Own SES Show – There’s nothing wrong with meeting new people, catching the energy of this industry, and definitely get some face-time in.