Chicago

Morning Keynote Presentation
We Are What We Click: A Conversation with Bill Tancer

• Speakers:
  Bill Tancer, General Manager, Global Research, Hitwise
  Kevin Ryan, SES Advisory Board Chair and CEO, Motivity Marketing
  

Attendees may choose to attend one of the five sessions offered during this time.

Basics Track
Introduction to Search Engine Marketing B
This session will provide a clear and concise overview of the key concepts involved in search engine marketing. Who are the major search engines, and how can you best optimize them to gain "natural" or "organic" traffic without cost? Learn how to achieve top ranking or placement by utilizing search engine advertising opportunities. This is a must-attend basic session for anyone new to Search Engine Strategies events.

• Moderator:
  Rebecca Lieb, Contributing Editor, ClickZ
  
• Speakers:
  Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR
  David Hoffman, Founder, Search Smart Marketing
  

Retailer Track
Squeeze More Sales Out of Your Existing Online Campaigns I
Given the economic downturn, learn how companies are using the latest tools, like Google Analytics, Website Optimizer and Adwords, to maximize online sales without increasing their budget. Two Internet retailing companies and their agencies will discuss how they are increasing the ROI of their SEO or SEM campaigns in these tight budgetary times.

• Moderator:
  Kayden Kelly, CEO, Blast Advanced Media
  
• Speakers:
  Chris Benson, CTO, AudioEditions.com
  Todd Curry, VP of Marketing, ifbyphone
  Sandra Niehaus, VP, User Experience and Creative Director, Closed Loop Marketing
  

Link Building Track
Link Building Basics B
Discover how search engines rely on link analysis as an important component for rank web pages. Learn also how to increase traffic to your site by building quality links in an appropriate manner.

• Moderator:
  Jennifer Evans Laycock, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Guide
  
• Speakers:
  Jeff Quipp, President & CEO, Search Engine People
  PJ Fusco, Natural Search Director, Netconcepts
  Jody Farmer, VP, Strategic Marketing, CreditCards.com
  Sharad Verma, Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Search Technology
  

Issues Track
Usability & SEO: Two Wins for the Price of One I
Build a user-friendly site and chances are you've also built a search engine friendly site. Learn how good usability can help your human visitors plus bring in the search traffic.

• Moderator:
  Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner & Founder, Beyond Ink
  
• Speakers:
  Jordan Kasteler, Senior SEO Analyst, Overstock.com
  Randy Pickard, VP Product Innovation, User Centric Inc.
  Matthew Bailey, President, SiteLogic
  Kathleen Fealy, President, KF Multimedia & Web, Inc.
  Kimberly Krause Berg, Owner, UsabilityEffect.com
  

PPC Track
Advanced Keyword Research A
How many keywords do you need in your paid search account? What keywords are your customers searching for? How do customers find products after they reach your site? This advanced session will demonstrate how to target the right terms in your paid and organic search marketing, and learn where these keywords should be used.

• Moderator:
  Ron Jones, Search Engine Watch Expert & President/CEO, Symetri Internet Marketing
  
• Speakers:
  Damian Finlay, Managing Director, Epiar Inc.
  David Snyder, Search Specialist, JRDunn.com
  Martin Laetsch, Sr. Director of Search Strategy, Covario
  Monte Cahn, Founder & CEO, Moniker
  

Orion Panel
Battle of the Browsers: Personalization or Privacy
People may be passionate about their favorite political candidate, but if you really want to get sparks flying, ask what Web browser they use. Not since the early days of the Netscape vs. Microsoft Internet Explorer browser battle has the development behind Internet browsers stirred so much debate. Join us for a spirited discussion as we evaluate the merits of Google's new OS browser, Google Chrome, along with Firefox 3.1, WebKit, Opera 9.6, and even IE 8. With so many choices just a software download away, questions swirl and our panel of experts have the answers. Ensuring privacy protection related to monitoring and collection of user data and the personalization process are all part of the conversation.

• Moderator:
  Kevin Ryan, SES Advisory Board Chair & CEO, Motivity Marketing
  
• Speakers:
  Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land
  Mike Grehan, Global KDM Officer, Acronym Media
  Gary Stein, Director of Strategy, Ammo Marketing
  

Basics Track
Turning PR Efforts into SEO Results B
Search engine optimization is one of the most effective ways to reach target audiences. Unfortunately, most organizations are focused solely on how SEO impacts marketing and advertising and are failing to take advantage of the unique and very impactful results that are generated when SEO is applied to public relations. Organizations that capitalize on the convergence of marketing, advertising and public relations stand to benefit from more successful, less-costly campaigns, while organizations that fail to integrate PR into SEO efforts stand to miss out on a valuable opportunity.

Optimizing press releases for natural search offers organizations the opportunity to drive traffic from authoritative third party sites. It also provides another means to generate fresh content for the organization's web site and the ability to determine whether or not an organization's message is connecting with intended audiences. In addition, natural search optimization can generate new leads and show measurable results. These tools are often less costly than traditional advertising programs and leverage existing advertising content to communicate more directly with consumers.

This session will provide real-life examples to show how organizations can achieve maximum results for any communications campaign through natural search optimization of press releases.

• Moderator:
  Andy Atkins-Krüger, Managing Director, WebCertain Europe Ltd
  
• Speakers:
  Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR
  Sarah Skerik, Vice President, Distribution Services, PR Newswire
  Jiyan Wei, Product Manager, PR Web, Vocus
  Jolina Pettice, Senior Account Manager, TopRank Marketing
  

Sponsored Session G
Google Site Search: Fast, Relevant, Customized Search Results for Your Website
Over the past decade, website search has increased in importance from a technical feature to a core marketing and sales asset. End-users are increasingly losing patience with multiple navigation options on websites and are looking to search as the answer. To this end, Google's Nitin Mangtani will be discussing how customers are using Google Site Search to grow their businesses and how you can do the same for yours.

• Speaker:
  Nitin Mangtani, Lead Product Manager, Google Site Search
  

Link Building Track
Viral Link Building I
Getting relevant links to your website can be a tedious task. First you have to create content that is worth linking to and then you have to request every link from the right source. When you add submitting to directories, forums and blogs, paid inclusion, sponsorships and link trades you have a huge arsenal of link acquisition tactics. But none of these are as effective as "viral link building".

Viral link building is the act of creating content so link worthy, that people will start spreading it for you. During this session you will hear many examples that could be applied in many situations. You will add great new tools to your link building toolbox and outsmart your competitors without the huge expenses normally attached to link building.

• Introduction by:
  Stewart Quealy, VP, Content Development, Incisive Media
  
• Speaker:
  Peter van der Graaf, Advanced Search Specialist, Netsociety
  

Issues Track
SEM Small Business Blitz I
This session will provide a rapid fire take on how to tackle the most popular SEM tactics with a small staff and an even smaller budget. It will feature practical, affordable ideas and real world examples on PPC, SEO, Viral, Blogging and Social Media. This isn't a "how to do this" session so much as a "how to do it cheap and effectively" session.

• Moderator:
  Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster
  
• Speaker:
  Jennifer Evans Laycock, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Guide
  Amber Naslund, President, Altitude
  Carrie Hill, SEW Expert, Certified SEM & Promotion Account Mgr, Blizzard Internet Marketing
  

PPC Track
Pay Per Conversation A
For marketers to become successful in their SEM efforts, PPC can no longer stand for "Pay Per Click" — it must stand for "Pay Per Conversation." Many marketers agree that the current state of the economy is having an impact on their marketing plans. That's why every dollar and click matters. Every click is a potential customer trying to engage you; will you continue the dialogue or have them bounce off your landing page just moments after they arrive? What you want to do is engage and persuade your visitors to keep taking the next click, all the way through the purchase funnel. To achieve that, you must demonstrate the value of your products and services in all your marketing, especially when sales are decreasing. You do that by planning content to improve relevance and test continuously until you have the best conversation. This session will show you how to identify missed conversations and what you can do to improve them and your PPC ROI.

• Introduction by:
  Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner & Founder, Beyond Ink
  
• Speaker:
  Bryan Eisenberg, Co-founder, Future Now Inc.
  

Attendees may choose to attend one of the five sessions offered during this time.

Basics Track
SEO Tools B
If you are responsible for your company's search engine optimization, then you know that you need all of the various tools of your trade close at hand. This session will describe the tools that will help you to accomplish your tasks including indexing, competitive analysis, site ranking, diagnosing and remedying problems, page level information, site level information, on-page optimization and much more.

• Moderator:
  Sage Lewis, Search Engine Watch Expert & President, SageRock.com
  
• Speakers:
  Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
  David Naylor, SEO, Bronco
  Bob Briski, Software Marketing Consultant, Raybeam
  Horst Joepen, CEO, Searchmetrics
  

Retailer Track
A Case Study From American Greetings: Rethinking Optimization I
What happens when you combine thousands of keywords across 2 engines with 3 products and a single, optimized landing page? Nothing much really. In this session, attendees will learn how American Greetings became post-click marketing mavens by discovering the inherent value of AdGroup-level testing & iteration for increased lift. American Greetings & ion interactive will explain how and why they moved from a single optimized landing page to testing over 40 landing pages tightly matched to each individual search AdGroup--enabling them to deliver the right content to the right people in the most compelling format. Attendees will hear real American Greetings examples — what worked and what didn't — that achieved increased engagement, increased conversions and increased behavioral data that impacted their bottom line. Session takeaways include best practices for running simple, high-impact A/B tests that any front-line marketer can easily implement and understand.

• Moderator:
  Rebecca Lieb, Contributing Editor, ClickZ
  
• Speakers:
  Tessa Fraser, Marketing Manager, Online Media, American Greetings
  Anna Talerico, Executive Vice President, ion interactive
  

Link Building Track
Advanced Link Building A
How far is too far in optimizing your internal link structure? If you operate a network of sites, can natural interlinking be perceived as link spam? How should you handle affiliate links? Advanced linking issues like these and more will be explored during this session. This session is designed for experienced marketers. Beginners should only attend if they've gone through the Link Building Basics session earlier in the day.

• Moderator:
  PJ Fusco, Natural Search Director, Netconcepts
  
• Speakers:
  Michael Gray, President, Atlas Web Service
  Wil Reynolds, Founder, SEER Interactive
  Chris Boggs, Manager, SEO, Brulant, Inc., recently acquired by Rosetta
  

Issues Track
Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues I
More and more site owners are concerned that they might get penalized accidentally or overtly because of duplicate content. If you run mirror sites, will search engines ban you? If you have listings that are similar in nature, is that an issue? What happens if you syndicate content through RSS and feeds? Will other sites be considered the "real" site and rob you of a rightful place in the search results? This session looks at the issues and explores solutions.

• Moderator:
  Eric Enge, President, Stone Temple Consulting
  
• Speakers:
  Benu Aggarwal, Founder & President, Milestone Internet Marketing
  Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director, Omni Marketing Interactive
  Sharad Verma, Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Search Technology
  

PPC Track
Managing Automated PPC Bid Management A
PPC bid management tools like those from Atlas and Omniture allow automated control over the bidding process that promises better ROI and increasing competitive advantage. But managing the automation tools requires an understanding of how these tools work their underlying algorithms and how best to set them and monitor them to achieve desired results. The session will include panelists who are real users of the tools and not representatives of the tool vendors.

• Moderator:
  William Flaiz, VP, Search Engine Optimization & Web Analytics, Razorfish
  
• Speakers:
  Brad Geddes, Founder, bgTheory.com
  David Szetela, CEO, Clix Marketing
  Anton Konikoff, Founder and CEO, Acronym Media