The DFW Search Engine Marketing Association has grown considerably from an informal get together of “black hat” SEOs to a vibrant community of search marketing professionals across all fields of marketing.

From our informal origins, 2009 proved to be a pivotal year in the growth of our organization. Under the leadership of Tony Wright, we made substantial gains in a number of areas including:

1. Formalized our back-office infrastructure for member information and credit card processing online.
2. Improved our website with monthly updates and a new look.
3. Moved our meeting structure from quarterly to monthly.
4. Held the biggest event in the history of DFWSEM with over 230 people in attendance.
5. We not only have the return of all of the 2009 board members, we have also elected four new members to the board. These professionals bring considerable passion and expertise in search marketing and compliment our current board members.
6. We have created and filled a number of new positions within the board including the election of a board Chairman, Vice Chairman and three new vice president slots for programming, membership and communications.

And while 2009 saw considerable strides in our clubs growth, we have an ambitious agenda for 2010.

Starting in January 2010, meetings will be FREE for current members! No longer will members be charged to attending our monthly meetings. This is a major step forward in showing true financial benefit for our members. Non-members will pay $35.00 to attend each meeting.

In addition, we are actively planning our role for PubCon Dallas, April 13-15. As many of your know, PubCon is one of the leading events for search marketing and we are proud to be the organizational sponsor of this national event. Look for more information in the months to come but make sure you plan on attending.

Throughout 2010 we will continue to bring a broad scope of search marketing topics for our monthly meetings – with an increased emphasis on social media and how it affects traditional SEO and SEM activity. With recent announcements by Google and Bing and Twitter, 2010 will see the convergence of social media platforms and search engines. At DFWSEM we will make sure you are informed of how this convergence impacts your role in search.

And finally, we will continue to fine-tune our back-end operations, making it easier to pay dues, process credit cards and to spotlight the work of our community. DFWSEM wants to make it easy for you to participate and to help you grow your connections and showcase the work you do.

As the oldest search marketing organization in the US, DFWSEM is proud of what we have accomplished to date and look forward to the challenges of 2010. We have evolved to be a community of search marketing professionals – regardless of the type of “hat” they wear.

With your continued involvement, we will fulfill our goal of being THE community of search marketing professionals in DFW and continue to grow to keep our members informed and successful.

Sean Jackson
President – DFW SEM

• 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.

Jeff Martin, Assoc. Dir. of Search Marketing for TouchStorm, to speak on video optimization strategies.

On July 15 at 6:30pm at the Renaissance Hotel In Richardson Texas, the DFW Search Marketing Association will be hosting its monthly meeting on “Online Video Optimization – Strategies For Leveraging Online Video”. To purchase tickets for the event, go to http://dfwsem.memberlodge.org.

Jeff Martin, Assoc. Dir. of Search Marketing for TouchStorm, will be presenting a comprehensive overview of online video optimization strategies, including:

• The case for using online video
• What (little) investment it can take to succeed
• Examples of successes
• Video keyword research
• Optimization strategies and tactics to get ahead
• How to utilize the social aspect of online video sites to increase views, subscribers, and revenues.

“Video optimization is an emerging area of search marketing,” says Tony Wright, president of DFW Search Engine Marketing Association. Tony continues, “Jeff is a pioneer and thought leader in this area and we are very honored that he will be sharing his hard earned insights into this emerging field.”

This presentation is ideal for both professional and amateur video enthusiast – including traditional broadcast media professionals looking to extend the reach and distribution of their video work online.

Tickets for the event on July 15 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.

About Jeff Martin

With more than 14 years of history in the digital space, Jeff’s experience spans diverse sectors including the federal government, health care, travel, defense, communications, technology, retail, finance and not-for-pro?t. American Airlines, Northrop Grumman, Zales, Experian, Sprint, Hitachi, Sun Products Corporation (‘all’ detergent) and Land O’ Lakes are some of his distinguished clientele.

Jeff has been sought out as a search expert by publications such as Forbes, Wired, Internet Retailer, The Age and Revenue Magazine. He was utilized as a search expert for the landmark Lane’s Gifts v. Google class action lawsuit. Currently, he serves as a moderator at Search Engine Watch, and is an officer on the board of the Dallas Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association.

For TouchStorm, Jeff heads up all client search marketing programs as well as Howdini.com, where he has played a key role in the optimization of Howdini’s video content through its distribution channels, which has had a signi?cant impact on reach. Jeff also serves as a technical liaison here, having a background in web development and service technologies as well.

With the advent of YouTube becoming a top search engine, Jeff developed competitively superior strategies for optimizing Howdini content so it competes favorably with older, more established video titles.

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. For more information, visit http://www.dfwsem.org.

DFWSEM is sponsored by Ecordia (http://www.ecordia.com).

Sponsoring DFWSEM

DFWSEM Association members cumulatively represent over $100,000,000 in annual search engine ad spend, and sponsorship is a great way to get your message in front of this group of decision makers and key influencers. To find out how to sponsor a monthly meeting or other opportunity, contact Tony Wright at tony.wright@wrightimc.com.

DFWSEM Speakers Bureau

Many members of DFWSEM are actively speaking at various interactive marketing conferences, including SMX, Search Engine Strategies, ad:tech, and WebmasterWorld, among many others. If you are looking for someone to speak about search engine marketing related topics, or would like to interview a member, feel free to contact the group for more information at 214.210.6793.

The DFW SEM Association welcomes requests to speak to the group at info@dfwsem.org.

On June 16, 2009 at 6:30pm at the Renaissance Hotel In Richardson Texas, the DFW Search Marketing Association will be hosting its monthly meeting on “Content Optimization – Strategies and tactics for improving sales conversions”. To purchase tickets for the event, go to http://dfwsem.memberlodge.org.

Sean Jackson, CEO of Ecordia will be presenting a comprehensive overview of content strategies that improve the capture and conversion of search engine users within the sales process. Specifically Sean will review:
•    The role of quality content in PPC and SEO
•    Apply the sales funnel process to content creation
•    Strategies and tactics for maximizing returns on PPC and SEO investments
•    Examples for content that converts

“A key element of every SEO and PPC campaign is the creation of quality content,” says Tony Wright, president of DFW Search Engine Marketing Association. Tony continues, “Sean brings unique insights into the content optimization process and we are excited that he is sharing this with our community.”

This presentation is tailored specifically to search marketing professionals who use either PPC and/or SEO for their marketing. In addition, copywriters who provide content for search engine marketing should also attend.

Tickets for the event on June 16 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.

About Sean Jackson

Sean Jackson is the CEO and co-founder of Ecordia – a content optimization technology company in Dallas, TX. Sean is a frequent speaker at industry and business events including PubCon and the upcoming Microsoft SparkStart event on June 12. Sean is the co-creator of the Ecordia platform suite of products including the Ecordia Content Optimizer, Ecordia Content Hub and Ecordia SearchTag technologies.

Sean has strong ties to the Dallas/Fort Worth community serving as Vice President of the Dallas-Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association, a Member of Colonial Country Club, the Marketing Committee of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Tournament and a Member of the Dallas Roundtable. Sean is also Past President of the Dallas Ad League. He is a regular speaker at the Texas Christian University Neeley Entrepreneurship Center as well as other organizations.

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. For more information, visit http://www.dfwsem.org.
DFWSEM is sponsored by Ecordia (http://www.ecordia.com).

Sponsoring DFWSEM
DFWSEM Association members cumulatively represent over $100,000,000 in annual search engine ad spend, and sponsorship is a great way to get your message in front of this group of decision makers and key influencers. To find out how to sponsor a monthly meeting or other opportunity, contact Tony Wright at tony.wright@wrightimc.com.

DFWSEM Speakers Bureau
Many members of DFWSEM are actively speaking at various interactive marketing conferences, including SMX, Search Engine Strategies, ad:tech, and WebmasterWorld, among many others. If you are looking for someone to speak about search engine marketing related topics, or would like to interview a member, feel free to contact the group for more information at 214.210.6793.
The DFW SEM Association welcomes requests to speak to the group at info@dfwsem.org.

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.