#SES, beloved shorthand for Search Engine Strategies, is one of those industry events that holds a special place in our calendar’s heart. Last week, scores of professionals and luminaries from all walks of the online marketing industry ventured to the Moscone Center in sort-of-sunny San Francisco for the west coast arm of the mainstream conference and expo. For three days, attendees soaked up killer tactics, tips and takeaways from a colossal swath of case studies, site clinics, keynotes and of course, casual shop talk during session intervals.
Weren’t able to make it this year? No worries. From the AIMCLEAR team, Erica Sendros, Manny Rivas and yours truly, Lauren Litwinka, were a part of that crowd, tweeting and blogging like mad men. And mad women. Noteworthy coverage poured in from other reputable resources across the web. We’ve culled 55 definitive coverage posts from #SESSF 2011 and shared them here, should you find yourself with 183 hours of some spare time. Whether you’re looking for high-level takeaways or end-to-end session transcriptions, read on.
Search Engine Strategies San Francisco 2011 | AIMCLEAR Blog Coverage
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Social Media Solutions for the Wallet-Conscious: Two Cents from #SESSF
Day 1 of #SESSF kicked off (post-keynote) with Social Media Solutions on a Budget, and a team of social-savvy pros ready to share their two cents. Moderator Christopher Heine, Staff Writer, ClickZ News, introduced speakers Nathan Bransfordt, Social Media Manager, CNET/CBS Interactive, Jeffrey Harmon, Chief Marketing Officer, Orabrush, and Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR, and kicked things off. This session was brimming with actionable tactics and inspiring case studies of companies getting things done with social media, despite the constraints of a tight budget.
Bill Hunt Blueprints Mastermind Keyword Modeling @ #SESSF.
In this solo session on Advanced Keyword Modeling, Bill Hunt, President of Back Azimuth Consulting, looked at using keyword research data oftentimes pinned against organic and/or PPC keyword performance to determine success and opportunity. He examined several reporting formats and concepts that showcase keyword data in a way that yields results. At a very high level, this process is about conceptualizing how the data you have available whether from keyword suggestion tools, historical PPC performance or the recently altered search engine result pages (SERPs) can be organized, segmented and classified to best give insight into new opportunities.
Search PPC at 20,000′: #SESSF Stats, Tactics & Takeaways.
This year’s Introduction to Paid Search session at #SESSF was delivered by Brad Geddes(@bgtheory), founder of Certified Knowledge. Jam-packed with oodles of stats, titillating trivia, actionable tactics & tips of the trade, this session was must-attend for entry-level PPC marketers. Brad offered up valuable information from various big-wig providers and offered great advice on how to successfully implement a paid search program of your own.
Gussy Up Your Content! #SESSF Tips for Making Stale Content Sexy
As a brand, getting your content shared is important. And content that gets shared is often sexy, in some way– whether it’s entertaining, informative, or just fun to pass along. But not all marketers have the luxury of writing copy for lingerie and foxy sports cars. What of those marketing home insurance and funeral parlors and B2B medicinal equipment? Gussying up such content so that it excites people is no easy feat. And doing it on the cheap? Pfft. Like Me! Social & Viral Content Tips for Making Your Brand More Sexy featured moderator Noran El-Shinnawy, Director of Marketing, BoostCTR, speakers Liana Evans, Author and Co-Founder & CEO, LiBeck Integrated Marketing, Jeffrey Harmon, Chief Marketing Officer, Orabrush, Mike La Rotonda, CEO and Co-Founder, Votigo, and Jeff Revoy, Chief Product, Marketing & Strategy Officer, iContact. The team took turns sharing case studies that showcased… arguably less than sexy brands… and how they were able to gain meaningful traction by means of social media in a cost-effective manner.
Prepare for Battle! Online Brand Protection Tips From #SESSF
Breaking news: You can’t really control whether or not negative feedback about your brand exists on the web. But! There are actionable tactics you can execute to not only save your skin in the face of an online reputation crisis, but help prepare for a similar flare up in the future, should one arise. Andy Beal, CEO of Trackur, was at Search Engine Strategies San Francisco 2011 to deliver a solo presentation filled with tools, techniques & expert advice for Protecting Your Brand Online.
WordPress SEO: Embrace the CMS, Empower the People #SESSF
Moderated by Matthew Bailey (@sitelogic) and featuring speakers Christopher Auman (@sanctuarymg), President and Senior Strategist of Santuary Media Group, and Paulo Pessanha (@treetweet), Director of Search Marketing at TREE, WordPress: Power to the People offered in-depth looks at the SEO capabilities of sites like WordPress. The trio truly empowered attendees, stressing that anyone can use WordPress, and dolled out a list of mind-blowing plug-ins to prove it. The expertise flowing from this panel touched everything from WordPress applications to the seeming ease with which SEO is managed and implemented on a WP-powered site.
Landing Page Optimization Tactics: Show That LP Some TLC! #SESSF
A well optimized landing page can make the world of difference between regular old eyeballs on your site and true blue conversions. If you’ve got a low conversion rate on (because of?) your landing page, you are seriously missing out. Landing page pro Bryan Eisenberg was ready, willing and eager to lead panelists Nathan Richter, Strategic Services Director, Monetate and Joe Weller, Marketing Director, RealNetworks through a crash course in Landing Page Optimization. The case studies delivered pulsed with actionable takeaways and stimulating statistics pulled from sweet A/B case studies.
Get Exposed! Deep Content Marketing Optimization Tips from #SESSF
A true content wizard, Lee Odden’s (@leeodden) Content Marketing Optimization session reminded the audience that content can make or break your website. When you’re looking to optimize, you have to take everything from rich media to web pages to digital assets to PDF documents to both created and shared content into account. Always remember: “If it’s searchable, it’s optimizable.” With so many people looking to break into the already well-established online marketing realm, brand marketers have to go after the Holy Grail of content marketing optimization – that is to say, they must be efficient and improve the impact of their SEO and social media efforts.
PPC Quality Score: Cracking the Code @ #SESSF
The ever-elusive PPC Quality Score, often regarded as enigmatic a mystery right up there with the ancient sphinx, has attracted, baffled, bewildered, and haunted many a marketer since the dawn of paid search. The Ads in a Quality Score World session welcomed moderator Matt Van Wagner and panelists Fred Vallaeys from Google, Paul Corkery from Microsoft, and Craig Danuloff, Founder of Click Equations and author of the book Quality Score in High Resolution, who dropped some serious Quality Score knowledge.
Additional Noteworthy#SESSF 2011 Coverage
Bruce Clay Blog | #SESSF 2011 Live Coverage, featuring…
- SEO 2.0: Less is More
- The Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing
- Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues
- SES San Francisco 2011 – Automating Social Media
- Search: Where to Next?
- Search on Mobile Devices, QR Codes, Mobile & Social: The Next Mobile Frontier
- SES San Francisco 2011: Getting More from Google+ and the Google +1 Button
- SES San Francisco 2011: View from the Top Keynote
- SES San Francisco 2011: Google Ad Innovations
- WordPress: Power to the People
- Protecting Your Brand Online
- SES Live: Protecting Your Brand Online – Search Engine Roundtable
- SES San Francisco 2011: Bringing SEO In-House
- HTML5: A Cowpath on a Cliff
- Global Opportunities in PR, Social Media & Mobile
- SES San Francisco 2011: Social Media Metrics
- SEO is Dead. Long live SEO!
- Conversion Tools of the Master Craftsman
- Conversion Triggers: Persuasion Strategies for Digital Marketers
- Social Media Solutions on a Budget
- Advanced Keyword Modeling
- Meaningful SEO Metrics: Going Beyond the Numbers
Search Engine Roundtable | #SESSF 2011 Live Coverage, including…
- SES Live: Automating Social Media: Creating & Distributing the Message
- SES Live: HTML5: A Cowpath on a Cliff
- SES Live: SEO Competitive Analysis
- SES Live: SEW Labs – The Use of Video in Social Media
- SES Live: Place Search & Facebook Ads: an Eye Tracking Story
- SES Live: SEO is Dead. Long live SEO!
- SES Live: Information Architecture for the Modern Website
- SES Live: Landing Page Optimization
- SES Live: SEO 2.0: Less is More
- SES Live: Content Marketing Optimization
- SES Live: Social Media Signals in Search
- SES Live: Local + Social: the Future of Promotion
- SES Live: Social Media Solutions on a Budget
- SES Live: SEW Labs – Social SEO
- SES Live: Search: Where to Next?
- SES Live: Search on Mobile Devices, QR Codes, Mobile & Social: The Next Mobile Frontier
- SES Live: Advanced Keyword Modeling- Search Engine Roundtable
- SES Live: Advanced Link Building, Panda Solutions, SEO Tools, and More!
- SES Live: User Generated SEO
- SES Live: Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues
- SES Live: Getting More from Google+ and the +1 Button
- SES Live: Like Me! Social & Viral Content Tips for Making Your Brand More Sexy
- SES Live: Killer Facebook Targeting Tactics
- SES Live: Google + Facebook = Success: Getting More Lift With Social Media
Phew! Well that about does it. Congrats to the entire SES crew, and a big thanks to all the speakers, vendors, and attendees who made this #SESSF 2011 totally rock. Until next year… cheers!
