Ideas for Business

The iPhone 3G and iPhone OS 2.0 are causing quite a resurgence towards the iPhone platform — new users and previous iPhone users alike are both feeling like they have a brand new device in front of them. The App Store allows people to download desktop-class applications directly to their phone and it’s amazing.

However what gets me more excited is the splattering of advanced web technologies that are now in millions of people’s hands courtesy of the Apple and the iPhone. Technologies like CSS3 and sqlite that have only been implemented in the tiniest slice of browsers are now able to be taken advantage of on the iPhone.

Safari performance in iPhone OS 2.0 has been dramatically improved, and this is important because it will continue to allow developers to create great web applications instead of simply going the native Cocoa route. One of the beautiful things about creating applications for the iPhone is that you get to pick which technologies you want to use and implement them where they make the most sense. With the advanced layout rendering capabilities present in Safari, you can create some seriously powerful design logic just by using CSS3 selectors to manipulate your content.

Safari and Firefox have implemented many parts of the CSS3 specification, but the problem is if you’re releasing an application to the masses, you have to support the big ugly dog in the corner, Internet Explorer. All the cool things you can do with CSS3 don’t matter if you’re still supporting older browsers, but on the iPhone you’re only supporting one browser and it happens to have fantastic standards support.

So go ahead and bust out your shadows, rounded corners, and background images, Safari on the iPhone can take it.

The BIGLIST update of SEO blogs comes to you this week on a Monday because, hey, that’s the way we like to change things up here at Online Marketing Blog. This edition of the BIGLIST Update is chock full of blogs that offer SEO how to’s and practical insights as well as a good showing of social media topics. Enjoy!

• Tim Nash - Very nice UK SEO blog from Information Architect Tim Nash on topics ranging from advanced SEO to programming with several good articles on SEO basics, snake oil SEO tricks to watch for and SEO training courses.

• seogadget - London based Richard Baxter’s Ubuntu, SEO and geek stuff blog with plenty of screen shots and how to posts.

• Social Media Club - Official blog for Social Media Club written primarily by Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells for the social media community and those seeking to learn more about social media. Promotes sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards, and media literacy.

• Conversation Marketing - Long time internet marketer Ian Lurie pulls together search, design, development and more with this compliment blog to the free online book, Conversation Marketing.

• ClickEquations Blog - Craig Danuloff writes this insightful paid search product blog from Commerce 360 on PPC, analytics, and internet marketing in general.

• Google News Inside - Jonathan Dingman covers all things Google with his personal perspective.

• SEOWorld - Strategies and tips on SEO from Jon Rognerud at Entrepreneur.com who has written a book on SEO in conjunction with Entrepreneur Press. It says he’s a “recognized SEO expert” and past employee of Yahoo/Overture but to be honest, I’ve never heard of him.

• Smackdown! - Michael VanDeMar tells it like it is or at least how he sees it in the search marketing world.

Congrats to those search marketing blogs that made the list. Let’s hope you can keep up the good work and keep earning the BADGE. (link back optional)

Sponsored By: SES San Jose 2008 - Sign Up Now Save 10% with this code: SJ10TR

You’ve probably picked up that this week is about SES San Jose from Dana and Ashley’s “15 Things Not to Miss at SES San Jose” followed by Jessica’s “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” post.  I am also headed out to sunny California next month. There’s plenty to take in on a trip to the Golden State including the beautiful weather, celebrities, good wine, and, of course the Search Engine Strategies Conference.

Here are a few of the sessions I’m planning on covering:

More Customers, Fewer Costs - Why Marketing to the ‘Long Tail’ Makes Sense
Who doesn’t want more customers and fewer costs? Isn’t that a business’ dream? This session will be interesting as there have been recent stories on how the long tail is not as effective as we once thought. I still believe in the long tail though.

Semantic Search: How Will It Change Our Lives?
What? Change my life? That’s a pretty big promise. However, that’s what search does. It works to give the best results, which continually improve based on users needs. Just think back over the past few years; there has been blog search, universal search and local search all up and coming. Sounds like semantic search is next. Wouldn’t you agree?

Storyteller Marketing: How the Art of Storytelling Matches Up With the Business of Marketing
Ahh, story time. Everyone enjoys a good story, but where does that fall into play with SEO and online marketing? I can tell you a story about most anything, but throw in some package testing and spigot lingo and it’s a bit more difficult.

7 Proven Ways To Get Your Website On Page 1 Organically Then Convert
If it was only that easy right? I’m a bit skeptical here. If there are 7 proven ways, then as soon as they tell us, everyone will use them and, well, you can only have 10 on page 1. I hope this isn’t to high level and just about content, links and the stuff we already know.

Identify, Analyze, Act: SEM by the Numbers
Analytics is huge to a site’s success. How your visitors get to, and interact with, your site is extremely important and the stats hold all the secrets. But finding all the bits of gold that is buried in analytics can be tough to find. Hopefully they’ll show some secrets and insight into the best places to be looking. A little sad though that analytics based on Star Trek doesn’t appear on the schedule.

Google Dance
After a few refreshments Thomas will also be getting his groove on at the Google dance; even if he doesn’t know how to groove well.

Getting Vertical Search Right
Yes, it’s the world wide web, but you don’t have to compete with everyone. Being the best in your vertical is all a site needs to do. But how does one target some, but not everyone?

SEO Rehab & Intervention
Let me grab by celebrity attitude and I’ll be ready to go. I know none of my site’s have issues, but I’ll be sure to find issues in your sites.

Advanced Paid Search Techniques
PayPerClick is like the black sheep in SEO. It’s not organic or social, but it is a proven method for generating traffic and conversions. These paid links are OK! Just be careful not to blow your entire marketing budget in a few days or get a bunch of unqualified traffic. There has to be a happy medium.

SearchBash
More groovin and movin and networkin’ with ya’ll!

With all those sessions, the California palm trees and happy cows may not get enough attention. However, with all the knowledge poring in and great networking, there will be more than enough to keep busy.

If you’re going to SES San Jose next month, what sessions are you planning on attending? If you’re not sure, check out the full conference schedule.

Sponsored By: Search Engine Optimization

Originally written by Burt Bacharach, the song Do You Know the way to San Jose, la la la la la… didn’t actually come to fruition until the lovely Dionne Warwick won her first Grammy for Best Contemporary Pop Female Vocal in 1968.

Although I wasn’t around in 1968, I understand the anticipation Burt must have had waiting for this song to hit the main stream. I have been chosen as a TopRank blogger at the upcoming SES conference in San Jose, CA, (and yes, I have been singing the song for days now ) and the anticipation has got me on the edge of my seat!

San Jose is not only recognized as the capital of Silicon Valley, it is the safest big city in America. I have had the pleasure of visiting most of the west cost cities, including L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, and even Santa Cruz, but this will be my first visit to San Jose.

The line up of events at the SES Conference is sure to make an exceptional trip! The sessions I will be covering at SES San Jose include:

Tuesday Morning Keynote:
We will kick off the day at SES with an extra large caramel latte and Satya Nadella, Senior Vice President, Search, Portal & Advertising Platform Group with Microsoft

Global Search for the B2B SEM:
The global market represents a huge opportunity for those who can master the nuances of local customs and languages. In this session, leading global B2B marketers will discuss the opportunities the global market represents in the B2B landscape while sharing their advice on how to optimize for global search, manage foreign contractors, and track ROI in multiple currencies.

Advanced B2B Marketing:
Forget consumers. You want leads! Leads that become opportunities that convert into booked business! This panel of B2B marketing professionals will share the latest tips and trends in using search to find those niche decision-makers to drive business.

News Search SEO:
I’m a little partial to this event, not just because Lee is one of the speakers , but because news search engines offer a great way to receive targeted traffic related to breaking topics or to help with a public relations launch.

Social Media Analysis and Tracking:
Social search can be used to drive traffic, conversions and increase ROI by monitoring conversations happening in cyberspace, often in real time. In this session, we review real world examples of successful campaigns that have leveraged social media and Buzz Monitoring tools, together with solid understanding of business goals, to increase profitability.

Maximizing SEO Returns with User Generated Content:
With user generated content, you are reaching customers who are ready to buy and customers who are participating in a community. This session centers around how to maximize SEO returns by developing an SEO strategy that satisfies both markets at all phases of the buying cycle and scales to enterprise websites.

The Business Case for SEO Content Development: Turning Words into Actions!
Poor site content can resulting in sluggish search engine rankings, low conversion rates and lost opportunities. This session discusses developing strategies to create value-add content that dovetails with lead generation, sales and readership goals.

Creating a Cohesive Search Strategy Across Multiple Business Units:
In this session, David Roth, director of Search Marketing for Yahoo!, will explain how Yahoo! defines, measures, and manages online marketing success across a variety of online business models. He will also describe how SEM plays an integral role in meeting marketing objectives, and share strategies for defining and leveraging life time value metrics to drive standardization and results across a broad scope of marketing challenges.

Post Click Marketing: Converting Search Engine Traffic:
Traffic alone doesn’t make money - Taking advantage of what happens AFTER the click is a key component to making money online. Driving traffic, rankings, social media mentions, paid advertising clicks and ultimately conversions and ROI is quite dependent upon the content you put on your site.

Once I find my way to San Jose, you can anticipate that I will be posting daily commentary, event photos and highlights from SES, so stay tuned! Find more info on the Search Engine Strategies conference here.

Sponsored By: Start a Career in Search Marketing Announcing the best online SEM courses from SEMPO Institute.

TopRank is sending five team members to the SES San Jose Conference August 18th-22nd, an event we’re sincerely looking forward to, especially with 80% of the sessions new to SES.  Since this will be my first time attending the SES conference in San Jose, I am excited about all of the new sessions we will be attending.

My team mate Dana Larson has been to multiple search marketing conferences over the past year and is eager to discover what is new and different at next month’s event. Together, the two of us would like to share our “Top 15 Things Not to Miss at SES San Jose 2008″:

1. Your flight there. Ha!

2. Universal and Blended Search Session, Day 1 - Dana is anxious to hear what is new in universal and blended search since last years’ session.

3. Igniting Viral Campaigns session, Day 1 - This session promises to unveil the secrets of Web 2.0 techniques and technologies to help small and mid-size businesses stand out amongst the crowd.

4. Expo Hall Opening, Day 2 - Discover the latest products and technologies relevant to online marketing and see what the big names in search are up to by stopping at the many booths for your complimentary branded goods.

5. Landing Page Utopia, Day 2 - A good landing page is key to the success of any paid online advertising campaign. Ensure your pages convert clicks to conversions by attending this session led by a panel of top online marketing experts.

6. Ashley and Dana “getting their groove on” at Google Dance - Don’t miss the social event of the search marketing industry. Bring your dancing shoes and get ready to network!

7. Q & A with Google - See what happens behind the curtain at Google in this exclusive opportunity to ask the insiders how the search giant deals with a variety of issues, from spam to paid links and beyond.

8. Starbucks on the way to the Wednesday morning keynote - Trust us, you’ll need it. And you’ll definitely want to be awake for “Why does search get the credit for everything?”

9. Successful Tactics for Social Media Session, Day 3 - This session covers some popular social media services to leverage for marketing as well as best practices to penetrate them.

10. Black Hat, White Hat: Play Dirty with SEO - Where do you stand on the Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO ethics issue? Learn both sides of the argument by attending this session.

11. Ashley and Dana “getting their groove on” at Webmaster Radio Search Bash - Let loose after a long day of stimulating sessions at this fun bash put on by Webmaster Radio. There is usually plenty to see and do to keep you busy late into the night.

12. Thursday Keynote: Chip Heath, Author of “Made to Stick” - Learn how to produce marketing ideas that translate into results from idea guru Chip Heath.

13. The 3G iPhone Local Search Demos Session, Day 4 - See how companies are using mobile technology like the iPhone to revolutionize local search on the mobile device. What are the odds that Lee will have bought the team iPhones by this time?

14. Best Kept Secrets to Search Session, Day 4 - Top search engine marketers share their go-to tricks and shortcuts for online marketing success in this interactive session.

15. TopRank Blog’s Coverage of SES San Jose - Check out TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog throughout the conference for regularly-updated reports in the form of session summaries, photos and insights from the TopRank team in attendance. You’ll feel like you’re there!

For more info on the event, including a full conference schedule, hotel info and registration, check out the site for SES San Jose.

If you’re attending SES San Jose, what are your “can’t-miss” sessions?  (Outside of the 2 sessions Lee is doing day 3 “Blog SEO” and “News Search SEO” of course!)

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