• Simon Serrano from  Match.com
• Tory Smith from Travelocity
• David Wright from Click Here
• Mark Barerra from Vizion Interactive
• Gautum Kapur of ISHIR Digital
• Dan Sturdivant from Enversa

This powerhouse panel of local interactive marketers will discuss a variety of topics on the merits of outsourcing search marketing, in-house or a hybrid approach. The panel will draw on real-life experiences with outsourcing search engine marketing, doing it in-house and taking the hybrid approach of outsourcing some tasks and doing others in-house.

This presentation is ideal for marketing professionals who want to learn from the panels experience on the issues, challenges and benefits of building “the right” type of search engine marketing team for their organization.

Tickets for the event on August 11 at 6:30 pm are $10 for members and $30 for non-members and can be purchased online at http://dfwsem.memberlodge.org. For more information about DFW Search Marketing Association, visit our website at http://www.dfwsem.org.

Event Sponsor – Match.com
The DFW Search Engine Marketing Association would like to express its sincere gratitude for sponsor the DFW SEM Monthly meeting. Their continued support of the search marketing community in North Texas is indicative of their commitment to search marketing professionals. For more information on jobs available with Match.com, go to http://www.match.com/matchus/careers/index.aspx.

About the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM)
The Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Organization (DFWSEM) is dedicated to education and promotion of the Dallas/Fort Worth search engine marketing industry, conversing various topics related to search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click search (PPC), as well as other emerging media. The group meets monthly at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas, and is open to anyone interested in search engine marketing, including in-house marketers, independent consultants, and agencies.

Initially founded in 2003, DFWSEM is the oldest and longest running local search engine marketing group/meetup in the country. Member agencies include DexterityMedia, Vizion Interactive, iCrossing, Range Online Media, Key Relevance, MarketNet, AffGoo, Creative Support, Did-it, SearchDex, WrightIMC, and Bridgepose.

DFWSEM is sponsored by Ecordia.

Panelist include Tony Wright, President of WrightIMC and Derick Schaefer, Managing Director of Orangecast Social Media Marketing.

Tony and Derick will delve into the details of the strategies and techniques they have developed over the years to monitor and improve a brand or companies reputation online. This presentation will provide practical examples and insights that every company should be aware of as they promote their brands online. Topics covered will include:

• tools and techniques for reputation management,
• practical examples of reputation management work for different companies,
• strategies and tactics for crisis communications.

“Reputation Management is a fast growing segment of online marketing,” says Sean Jackson, vice president of the DFW Search Marketing Association. Sean continues, “This presentation will be a hands-on detailed review of the key elements needed to protect and defend a brand’s perception online.”

Businesses and search marketing professionals that want to learn more about this fast growing area of search marketing should attend the DFW SEM event on May 13, 2009.

About the Presenters

Tony Wright, President of WrightIMC
Tony has extensive experience in online crisis communication and brand reputation strategy, including corporate blogging and corporate monitoring, most notably directing the online corporate reputation management strategy for American Airlines immediately following the events of September 11, 2001.

As President of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Search Marketing Association, Wright is a sought after speaker at industry events, including Search Engine Strategies, E-tail and others. His frequent contribution of articles, columns and quotes to various national and trade publications are widely read and cited. Wright’s work for his clients has been recognized in several local and national award campaigns, including the Excellence in Interactive Marketing Award, the Katie Awards, Webawards and the PRweek awards.

Derick Schaefer, Managing Director of Orangecast Social Media Marketing
Derick Schaefer is the founder and Managing Director of Orangecast Social Media Marketing in Dallas, TX. Orangecast provides eMarketing solutions for a variety of industries including Reputation Management Services. As a part of their Reputation Management practice, Orangecast has successfully removed or displaced content on sites including CBS Televisions “The Insider”, RetailDish, TMCNet, and Hollywood Gossip.

Prior to founding Orangecast, Mr. Schaefer spent 15 years in the software and technology industry including a 10 year career at The Microsoft Corporation. While at Microsoft his roles included Principal Consultant for Microsoft’s Consulting Services Division and a Sr. Director of Technology and Services Sales for Microsoft’s Global Accounts Organization. During his time at Microsoft, Mr. Schaefer volunteered his time with the US Secret Service and the FBI in the investigation that amounted to Operation Avalanche—the largest and most successful prosecution against child pornography in US history. Ironically, the success of Operation Avalanche lead to a sequel effort by the UK called Operation ORE that turned out to be one of the largest law enforcement blunders in UK history which lead to reputation management issues for both the US and volunteers involved.

Next meeting – Wed 22 April 2009 – Renaissance Hotel, Richardson, TX

This presentation will cover the basic elements of optimizing websites to be found in local search results, along with a select few advanced local optimization techniques. This presentation should be of interest to companies and marketers who provide natural search optimization to large and small businesses which have geographic, location-specific presence.

Chris Silver Smith is Director of Optimization Strategy for KeyRelevance. Chris has a deep background in Search Engine Optimization, internet application development, mapping, and user-centered design. As an SEO expert, Chris is particularly specialized in local search, image search, shopping search, book search and PDF optimization. He has done research and development on search optimization for over a decade, and provided expert search marketing consulting for Internet Retailer 500 companies as well as Fortune 500 corporations.

This presentation will cover the basic elements of optimizing websites to be found in local search results, along with a select few advanced local optimization techniques. This presentation should be of interest to companies and marketers who provide natural search optimization to large and small businesses which have geographic, location-specific presence.

“Chris is one of the industry thought-leaders on local search optimization,” says Tony Wright, president of the DFW Search Marketing Association. Tony continues, “We are excited that he will be covering a very important part of search engine optimization – local search.” According to a recent study by comScore, the surge in annual growth of local search has far outpaced growth of overall web search.

“The study found that local search — the practice of using online search tools to find local businesses, products, or services — grew 58 percent in 2008, reaching an annual total of 15.7 billion searches. By comparison, overall U.S. Web core searches grew at a much smaller rate of 21 percent year-over-year, nearing 137 billion searches by the end of 2008. Local searches stand at 12 percent of core searches on the top 5 portals.”

PubCon South is the largest search marketing and social media conference in the state of Texas. The event, occurring from March 11 through March 13, is bringing together the leading thought experts in the field of search engine marketing and social media.

Speakers at PubCon south include Guy Kawasaki and Matt Cutts, along with a number of experts – including several members from the DFW SEM community.
“We created this panel to help share with our community the information we learned from this tremendous event,” says Tony Wright, president of the DFW Search Marketing Association. Tony continues, “PubCon represents a gold mine of knowledge about tactics, tips and trends that are occurring in the market. Our goal on Wednesday, March 18th, will be to share these insights with our community in North Texas.”

This panel discussion is a-must attend event for anyone who could not attend the PubCon South event in Austin, adds Tony

Join us!

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Time: 6:30pm

Where: Richardson Renaissance hotel

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Titled “Keyword Research – For Beginners to Experts” this 90 minute presentation will review the tools, tips and strategies for keyword usage within search marketing, online advertising and traditional media.

“Keyword research is not only an integral part of search marketing, it also has ramifications in other forms of marketing – both online and offline,” said Tony Wright, president of the DFW Search Marketing Association. “Christine and Shelly have put together an in-depth review of keyword research that will appeal to novices and experts alike.”

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Register here for the meeting

Rob Scott, of Scott and Scott LLP will also be returning to provide the latest updates in the legal search landscape, specifically addressing crucial topics that every paid and natural search marketer must know about. SEO’s and PPC marketers alike will not want to miss hearing what Mr. Scott has to say.

An SEO site clinic will also be featured, and attendees will have the opportunity to have their Web sites critiqued by a panel of search engine experts. If you would like to have your site critiqued, let a board member know in advance of the presentation. The will be time for approximately 3-4 site evaluations, though there will be many other professional search engine marketers in attendance to answer your questions about search optimization and marketing.Admission is free for association members, and $30 for non-members. The event is open to the public. We are also extending a special invitation to all national SEMPO members in the DFW area to attend this DFWSEM event for free.

Association memberships may be purchased at the event, $175 for corporate, and $75 for individuals.

We look forward to seeing you there.

More about the MSN presentation Keyword research: at each stage of a campaign’s lifecycle

Waterman is going to cover using the keyword research data available in the adCenter Add-in for Excel at each stage of a campaign’s lifecycle. As she takes you step by step through the tool she will discuss specific usage scenarios for each piece of data and encourage participants to ask how to complete specific tasks that are highly relevant to their businesses.

More About MSN’s Jorie Waterman

Waterman joined Microsoft’s adCenter as a Lead Program Manager in December of 2007 coming to the team with over 5 years of search marketing experience. Immediately prior to joining Microsoft she was the Senior Director of Search Analytics for iCrossing. Her focus has been on keyword research and search analytics in light of understanding what users want and need. This theme is continued at Microsoft with her work on the Keyword Services Platform team. In all she has been in the interactive marketing world for over a decade working client-side, agency-side, and now on the side of the engine. This holistic background combined with her degree in Comparative Religion from Harvard ’96 provides a unique take on understanding search data and making it actionable.

About Microsoft Advertiser and Publisher Solutions

Microsoft Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) provides world-class advertising platforms and tools for advertisers, agencies and publishers. Its mission is to make buying and selling media simpler, smarter and more cost-effective across media and devices in the Microsoft network of properties and beyond. The APS portfolio includes Microsoft adCenter, Atlas, DRIVEpm, Massive Inc. and ScreenTonic. APS businesses span search, display and emerging media including mobile, gaming, video on demand and IPTV. More information can be found at http://advertising.microsoft.com.

Now is the time to make sure that your membership is current with DFWSEM! We have a great MEMBERS ONLY opportunity coming up and we’d hate for you to be left out in the cold. If you want to become a member or are not sure of your membership status, contact us at info@dfwsem.org, or by phone at 214.459.3234. We’ll be glad to help

Presentation now available via PDF format here:
http://blog.dfwsem.org/archives/51-essential-tools-for-the-search-engine-marketer