You’ll get a chance to mix, mingle and talk shop with the best & brightest in Utah’s search and digital marketing community.

SLC|SEM members attend free, a limited number of non-member tickets available now for just $15 – first come, first-serve!

What, When & Where

Drinks, Light Snacks & Networking

Wednesday, May 16th, 6pm – 9pm

The Leonardo 3rd Floor event center
209 E 500 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Registered attendees may tour the museum (on the same day of) our evening event at a reduced entry fee of just $5 (regularly $14!).

Speed Networking Topics & Discussion Leaders

• Paid Search – Allison Schwam, SkullCandy
• Paid Search, Display – Mandi Hudson, WGU
• Organic Search, Panda/Penguin – TBD
• Search and Social Signals – Chris Bennett, 97th Floor
• Link Building – Andrew Pincock, Trafficado
• Local Search – Davey Demille, Boostability
• Analytics –Aaron Wester, Deseret Digital Media
• Hiring/Recruiting Issues – TBD
• Tips for Job Seekers – Frederick Salem, Technical Recruiter
• In-House Teams – Scott Cowley, Zagg

The format will be similar to speed dating but with topic tables. You will change tables every 20 minutes and participate in a new topic with new people.

Each table will have a leader to facilitate discussions. You will meet new people, discuss your most difficult challenges and share successes, swapping tips & resources to solve common problems.

Be sure to bring your business cards or devices to capture contact info! Start at one table & work your way through a couple more throughout the evening!

Who Should Attend:

• All current SLCSEM Members!
• SEO/SEM pro’s who have not yet joined – just $15!
• Marketing Directors & Strategists
• Marketing Analysts & Data Junkies
• HR People / Recruiters looking to find digital marketing talent in Utah

We do ask that members pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space accordingly and open up additional tickets to non-members a week before the event.

You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership.

SLCSEM.org will still host an evening event from 6-9pm on June 12th, “Advanced Local Search Tactics”, featuring speakers David Mihm of GetListed & Bryan Phelps of SEO.com. Registration will be opening shortly for the evening event.  *A limited number of Non-member tickets may be available for sale for the evening’s SLCSEM event.
SLCSEM.org, Utah’s professional association of search marketers is co-hosting a special 4-hour educational seminar,  bringing the GetListed.org LocalU series to Salt Lake City, Utah at partner venue, The Leonardo.

In addition to representatives from Google & Bing, the event features nationally recognized experts in local search marketing, including David Mihm, author of Local Search Ranking Factors and Matt McGee of SearchEngineLand.com, who will be teaching attendees the basics of Local SEO.

What Will Local Businesses Learn?

Speakers will demystify SEO (search engine optimization) for local businesses and provide actionable tips and advice that businesses can leverage for immediate results, either by doing it themselves or understanding what questions to ask of an SEO service provider.

This event is ideal for local and small to medium sized business owners and marketing managers who need to learn the fundamentals of local SEO (search engine optimization) to get more website visitors, local customer leads for professional services or foot traffic to their local establishments.

Google & Bing To Speak To Utah Audience

Nearly 97% of consumers look on Google first for local products and services, and businesses which top the list of search results are winning customers by optimizing their website, local phone number and address information to reach more customers.

For Utah business owners who may have attended the Utah Get Your Business Online event hosted by Google at the Leonardo in October 2011, this seminar will build upon the basics learned there.

How To Use Google To Grow Your Business

Learn to use Google’s local products to acquire new customers, while also engaging & retaining existing ones. We’ll start by walking through claiming your Place page, and then explore other local products.

Don’t Miss The Local 411 From Bing

Understand how the online marketing space is evolving and learn why a strong online presence coupled with local advertising results in more customers and brand loyalty.  Discover how Bing can help you get started.

Who Should Attend?

Professional service providers, local shops, restaurants and other types of local businesses can benefit immediately from implementing what they learn at the seminar.

Examples of businesses that can benefit from Local SEO:

• Accountants
• Attorneys
• Boutique Shops
• Day Spas
• Dentists
• Fitness Centers
• Landscapers
• Plumbers
• Restaurants & Bars
• Tourism & Activity Providers

See Your Business Listed In Similar Results

Attendees can learn hands-on, practical tips for improving their local presence with online marketing with little or no cost. Businesses who have already implemented SEO fundamentals can learn how to enhance their online presence with additional site links, reviews and social signals to get more clicks and calls from other leading online sources.

Online marketers often have access to an enormous wealth of web analytics data, which gives us unique insight into the behavior of prospective and current customers – the problem is, many search marketers are simply too overwhelmed with large data sets to do anything with them.

In the evening’s keynote, along with local member speakers, we’ll discuss turning analytics data into actionable marketing strategies and how to use information to solve common business problems.

About Dennis Goedegebuure

In August 2011, “Dennis G” joined Geeknet Inc. as Vice President of Internet Marketing, where he is responsible for driving more web traffic to sites such as Slashdot, Sourceforge and FreshMeat.

Prior to Geeknet, Dennis G. spent 9+ years at eBay, operating in a variety of roles on the Internet Marketing team, ultimately spending three years spent leading the SEO strategy for 22 global eBay marketplace sites.

Dennis’ technical expertise and marketing savvy, as well as his unique brand of personality and speaking style has wowed digital marketers at events around the world, and now he’s planning to share his insight with SLCSEM members!

When: April 18th, 6 – 9pm @The_Leonardo

• 6 – 7pm: Food, Drinks & Networking
  
• 7 – 7:15pm : Opening Remarks by SLCSEM.org
• 7:15 – 9pm:  

• Keynote by Dennis Goedegebuure, GeekNet Inc.
• Local Member Speakers:
• Maria Corcoran, Adobe @mariacorcoran
• Richard Carey, Search Marketing Manager, Adobe  @g_richard_carey
• Q & A

Who Should Attend: 

• All current SLCSEM Members!
• Marketing Directors & Strategists
• Marketing Analysts & Data Junkies

NOTE: Free Tickets are only available to current SLC|SEM members on a first-come, first-serve basis.

We do ask that members pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space accordingly and open up additional tickets to non-members a week before the event.

Please DO NOT register unless you or your company has already purchased a membership. You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership.

Limited tickets may be available to non-members for a fee, if space allows. You must pre-register in advance and pay online or at the door.

VENUE:
Held at partner venue, The Leonardo – the newly renovated Arts, Science & Technology Museum in Downtown Salt Lake City.

Registered attendees may tour the museum (on the same day of) our evening event at a reduced entry fee of just $5 (regularly $14!).

Join us for an evening of exceptional company, conversation and content. Drinks & food will be available.

Special Guest Speaker: Dennis Goedegebuure! @TheNextCorner

Dennis is the Vice President of Internet Marketing for Geeknet, Inc. In this role he is primarily responsible for driving more traffic to sites like Slashdot, Sourceforge and Freecode. Prior to Geeknet Dennis was with eBay for 9+ years in various roles on the Internet Marketing team, last as Director Global SEO. He started his eBay career in The Netherlands office working for both eBay and Marktplaats, which is their local classifieds site.

When: April 18th, 6 – 9pm @The_Leonardo

• 6 – 7pm: Food, Drinks & Networking
  
• 7 – 7:15pm : Opening Remarks by SLCSEM.org
• 7:15 – 9pm:  

• Keynote by Dennis Goedegebuure, GeekNet Inc.
• Local Member Speakers:
• Maria Corcoran, Adobe @mariacorcoran
• Richard Carey, Search Marketing Manager, Adobe  @g_richard_carey
• Q & A

Who Should Attend: 

• All current SLCSEM Members!
• Marketing Directors & Strategists
• Marketing Analysts & Data Junkies

NOTE: Free Tickets are only available to current SLC|SEM members on a first-come, first-serve basis.

We do ask that members pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space accordingly and open up additional tickets to non-members a week before the event.

Please DO NOT register unless you or your company has already purchased a membership. You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership.

Limited tickets may be available to non-members for a fee, if space allows. You must pre-register in advance and pay online or at the door.

This was the second SLCSEM.org event held at The Leonardo and the venue held up its standard as an excellent place to host a large group of online marketing professionals.

The reception area provided a light and fun atmosphere for food, drinks, catching up with friends, and networking with new connections in search. (See over 100 photos from the networking & content session on the SLCSEM Facebook page.)

The presentation began with a brief breakdown of the history of search. Danny Sullivan quickly went over how search has evolved from the days of keyword stuffing, to the search plus your world update earlier this year.

Using Search Engine Land’s Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors, Sullivan showed the elements of search and how they have been added over time.

When the presentation turned to inclusion of social media into search ranking factors Sullivan compared it to the way that voting has evolved in the US.

Just like a person was only qualified to vote if they owned property, it was only those that had a website (owned online property) that had a vote. That is until social media started to factor into search rankings, now anyone can vote on search rankings.

After affirming that SEO is definitely not dead, the conversation turned to mobile search optimization. Sullivan presented data on how mobile searches have different behavior from desktop and tablet searches. Mobile users are more likely to search at night, but as activity increases after hours, bounce more, and even convert at a much lower rate than other searchers.

Sullivan then discussed how mobile users are enlarging the spectrum of what we refer to as “search”. The advent of specialty apps that enable users to easily find what they search for most requires SEM professionals to look at search beyond the standard search engines.

As a search marketer, it is your responsibility to optimize not only for Google and Bing, but also for other platforms where “search” is an activity of Yelp, Urban Spoon, Maps, etc.

Key Takeaways: State of Search with Danny Sullivan

• The Hunt for Quality: Search engines are searching for the best key indicators of quality content. The indicators have moved from keywords, to links, to social. Focus on quality content and as the key indicators move you can move with them.
• There’s an App for That: Apps are changing the way we need to think of search.
• Search is Answers: An app is just a gateway to answer a question. Gateways are changing, but SEO is more important than ever.
• Change is Good: Changes in the way people find answers online create new opportunities for the SEM industry. There are now even more diverse ways to take advantage of search and help consumers find their answers through your organization/client.

The best thing about paid search advertising? It’s effective, cost-efficient and resulting sales can be attributed directly to your efforts.

Get tips from three Utah based search marketing pros to build better paid search campaigns and manage your ad spend effectively.

All attendees can enter to win an iPad 2, courtesy of our event sponsor, Marin Software! (must be present to win)

Who:

Featured local speakers sharing case studies and best practices include: 

• Allison Schwam, Paid Search Manager, SkullCandy.com
• Robert Brady, Paid Search Tactics for Mobile, Trafficado.com
• Ryan Hutchings, Director of Online Marketing, VacationRoost.com

Held at partner venue, The Leonardo – the newly renovated Arts, Science & Technology Museum in Downtown Salt Lake City. 

209 E 500 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

SLC|SEM hosts its monthly networking and educational seminars for search marketers at this fantastic venue. Registered attendees may tour the museum (on the same day of) our evening event at a reduced entry fee of just $5 (regularly $14!).

Join us for an evening of exceptional company, conversation and content. Drinks & food will be available.

NOTE: Free Tickets are only available to current SLC|SEM members on a first-come, first-serve basis. We do ask that you pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space accordingly and open up additional tickets to non-members a week before the event.

Please DO NOT register unless you or your company has already purchased a membership. You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership.

Limited tickets may be available to non-members for a fee, if space allows. You must pre-register in advance and pay online or at the door.

All attendees can enter to win an iPad 2, courtesy of Marin! (must be present to win)

When: March 14th, 6-9pm 

• 6 – 7pm: Food, Drinks & Networking Sponsored by Marin
  
• 7 – 7:15pm : Opening Remarks by SLCSEM.org
• 7:15 – 9pm: Case Studies & Best Practices presented by local search marketers 

What: Paid Search Madness! 

Paid search advertising can be one of the most cost-effective means of driving more customers to your business – whether you operate purely online, or have a bricks-and-mortar or service-based business. 

Yet navigating the complexities of paid search can be challenging without properly setting clear conversion metrics, target CPC’s (cost per click) and CPA’s (cost per acquistion) goals.

If you’re running Google Adwords, Microsoft Advertising for Bing/Yahoo, or buying Ads on Facebook – at any level of monthly spend, you’ll want to attend this event to brush up on the current best practices for running paid search campaigns to maximize your return on investment. 

For those not directly responsible for managing paid search campaigns, attending this event will still offer valuable insight into online search behavior and provide an understanding of how paid search works alongside your other marketing initiatives -from organic search (SEO) to social media strategies. 

Who:

Featured local speakers sharing case studies and best practices include: 

• Allison Schwam, Paid Search Manager, SkullCandy.com
• Robert Brady, Paid Search Tactics for Mobile, Trafficado.com
• Ryan Hutchings, Director of Online Marketing, VacationRoost.com

Held at partner venue, The Leonardo – the newly renovated Arts, Science & Technology Museum in Downtown Salt Lake City. 

209 E 500 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

SLC|SEM hosts its monthly networking and educational seminars for search marketers at this fantastic venue. Registered attendees may tour the museum (on the same day of) our evening event at a reduced entry fee of just $5 (regularly $14!).

Join us for an evening of exceptional company, conversation and content. Drinks & food will be available.

NOTE: Free Tickets are only available to current SLC|SEM members on a first-come, first-serve basis. We do ask that you pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space accordingly and open up additional tickets to non-members a week before the event.

Please DO NOT register unless you or your company has already purchased a membership. You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership.

Limited tickets may be available to non-members for a fee, if space allows. You must pre-register in advance and pay online or at the door.

Photo by @DaveyDeMille

Even with the bad weather threatening, experts from all over Utah showed in force to learn what strategies to implement into their video SEO.

With the announcement that the gurus from the Sundance Institute and Bing.com’s video search team would be there, the crowd was buzzing with anticipation. In a cruel twist of fate, Bing.com’s team was unable to make it to the event due to a snow storm. I have to give credit to local speakers Morgan Vidakovich (@morganvi)and Ash Buckles (@ashbuckles) and discussion leader Ryan Hutchings for stepping up in a tough situation and still making it a great event.

First up was Morgan Vidakovich, who is the Marketing Manager for the Sundance Institute.  She spoke in depth about some of the tactics, strategies, and challenges her team faces.

Photo by Ryan Nadeau (@Dealership)

One interesting statistic she gave was that organic search traffic makes up about 60% of the traffic for the Sundance Film Festival; predictably, the traffic peaks during the festival and after drops off. The Sundance Film Festival is just a part of what the Sundance Institute is doing throughout the year.

To manage this, Morgan has been heading up marketing on different initiatives to help secure consistent traffic throughout the year.  With a blend of YouTube, social, and organic SEO tactics, they are starting to see a difference.

Next up was Ash Buckles from SEO.com talking about actionable video SEO for marketers.

He highlighted his case study using one of the saddest wheelie videos on YouTube to date. Even though Ash has thoroughly ticked off the dirt bike nation with his footage, the 60 thousand views can’t be denied. According to Ash, factors that helped this (and other videos) rank well include:

• Keywords in title
• Number of views
• Number of comments
• Category & Tags
• +1/Shares/Tweets/Embeds
• Favorites
• Ratings
• Sentiment (Likes/Dislikes Ratio)
• Channel Views
• Number of Subscribers
• Links
• Video Sitemap

A key indicator that the marketer needs to take into account is the dislikes. Ash said that if you have too many negative comments or dislikes, it can affect your rankings in a negative way.  So the old adage of any press is good press does not necessarily fit into video marketing.

Ash went on to talk about how most video search results are coming from YouTube, even  the top results in Bing, so it is the best platform to get the furthest reach. For more information, you can get his slides on slideshare and are embedded below:

January’s meeting was a great event with some useful and interesting information – despite the snow. Make sure to catch the next SLC|SEM event on February 22, where we will have the pleasure of hearing from Danny Sullivan, the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land. I will see you there.

About the Author: 

Devin Doxey is an entrepreneur at heart with wicked programming and SEO skills that have lead him to TechMedia Network where he is currently an SEO Marketer. At TMN, Devin monitors over 20 sites, selectively choosing keywords and strategies that bring in over 20 million unique viewers each month. He can be found on Twitter at @dhdoxey and/or on Google Plus.

Danny Sullivan will be in Utah for his annual ski & snowboard vacation – and he’s agreed to spend the evening relaxing with the SLC|SEM crowd, sharing his insight on the current state of the search engine marketing industry.

Last year during his speech at the UofU Online Marketing class, #Panda rolled out – what could happen this year?

Don’t miss it!

When: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 – 6 to 9pm

Become a member now to ensure you have a seat at this event: http://www.slcsem.org/membership/

Join us for an evening of exceptional company, conversation and content. Drinks & food will be available.

NOTE: Free Tickets are only available to current SLC|SEM members on a first-come, first-serve basis. We do ask that members pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space and catering needs accordingly. Please note that not all events will have non-member tickets available.

Please DO NOT register unless you or your company has already purchased a individual or corporate membership. You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership. Membership seats are non-transferable to individuals not employed by the corporation holding a membership.

PRESENTING SPONSOR: 

VENUE: 

This evening seminar for search marketers in Utah will be held at our 2012 venue partner, The Leonardo – the newly renovated Arts, Science & Technology Museum in Downtown Salt Lake City.

Each month, we host our networking and educational seminars for search marketers at this fantastic venue. Registered attendees may tour the museum (on the same day of) our evening event at a reduced entry fee of just $5 (regularly $14!).

Event Location: 

The Leonardo
209 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Getting There & Parking:

• Ride Trax Light Rail to the Library stop!
• Metered street parking nearby / free in evenings (not available on 400 S.)
• Paid Parking in the underground Library Square lot, accessed on the south side of 400 S.

Danny Sullivan is the leading analyst in the search engine industry, providing insightful commentary and reporting on search engine technology updates and key issues such as online privacy.

Sullivan is often interviewed and quoted by major news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR and USA Today, among many others, for his extensive knowledge about leading search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

In his keynote address, Sullivan will speak to the current state of search marketing, focusing on how popular search engine features can affect local / small businesses, to mid-size companies and major brands using search engine marketing (both organic and paid search advertising) to reach online consumers.

Local search results, search advertising, social networks and personalized search features are likely to be hot topics of the evening’s discussion, as Sullivan will take questions from the audience.

Who should attend:

Join SLC|SEM for an evening of exceptional company, conversation and content. Drinks & food will be available.

Become a member now to ensure you have a seat at this event: http://www.slcsem.org/membership/

NOTE: Free Tickets are only available to current SLC|SEM members on a first-come, first-serve basis. We do ask that members pre-register for each event as early as possible so that we may plan space and catering needs accordingly. Please note that not all events will have non-member tickets available.

Please DO NOT register unless you or your company has already purchased a individual or corporate membership. You can become a member of SLC|SEM online now and be guaranteed a seat to attend networking events with an annual membership. Membership seats are non-transferable to individuals not employed by the corporation holding a membership.

PRESENTING SPONSOR: 

 VENUE: 

This evening seminar for search marketers in Utah will be held at our 2012 venue partner, The Leonardo – the newly renovated Arts, Science & Technology Museum in Downtown Salt Lake City.

Pre-Registered SLC|SEM attendees may tour the museum (on the same day of) our evening event at a reduced entry fee of just $5 (regularly $14!).