SEMPO Canada, the Canadian Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (www.sempo.ca), needs your input to help grow the awareness and use of search engine marketing services by Canadian companies and organizations.

To date only 60 companies in Canada have answered the SEMPO Survey on Search Marketing. We’re Canadian, we can do better than that!

Time is running out. We NEED your support to get an accurate and trustworthy sample size.

Please take the time to answer the following survey, now:
http://www.sempo.org/learning_center/research/sempo_research/sempo_2007_state/

Why is this survey so important?
Canadians do not get Search Engine Marketing! We need to know why. There is a lack of understanding of the benefits and value Search Engine Marketing offers. As a result SEMPO Canada, a non-profit division of SEMPO.org, has raised the funds to invest in identifying how Canadian companies view and use search engine optimization and marketing. An international study has been commissioned which is now cross-segmented to include and isolate results specifically from Canadians . The results of this survey will be published by SEMPO in a free report on the status of Search Marketing in Canada. We really need your help to increase the number of Canadian respondents in order to provide valuable feedback to the Canadian Search Marketing Industry as a whole.

Your participation counts more than you think.

If you are willing, we ask you to please blog about this survey. Feel free to use copy from this e-mail or from the following blog.

Lastly, please email people who you know in Canada personally to ask them to take the survey. We appreciate any help you can give us!

With your help, we are hoping to bring the sample size of Canadian respondents up to (at least) 100 in the last week of the survey. Deadline of the survey is February 1, 2008.

More on SEMPO Canada:
SEMPO Canada, the Canadian Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, is a non-profit association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing in Canada. This Working Group was founded in November 2006 by Ken Jurina and Alexandre Brabant and focuses on improving the growth, awareness and understanding of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in Canada, including best practices in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Link Building, and Pay Per Click Management, and how it uniquely pertains and is of relevance to Canadians worldwide across any sector, vertical or industry.

Your help means a lot to us in improving the growth of Search Marketing in Canada.

Thank you for your support,

Alexandre Brabant & Ken Jurina
Co-Chairs SEMPO Canada
canada-chair@sempo.org

Canadian Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization
www.SEMpo.ca
www.SEMpo.org

As you might know, SEMPO Canada, the Canadian Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization is involved in the launch of SEMPO’s 4th annual State of Search Marketing Survey. Whether you are seasoned in SEM or still wet behind the ears, your input is valued and needed! Therefore, if you have been involved in the preparation and/or implementation of a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Plan in 2007 or if you know someone in your organization, we want to hear from you.

Please take a few minutes to answer the 4th Annual SEMPO Survey.

If you are not involved in Search Marketing, please forward to the appropriate Canadian people within your organization and network. Your help means a lot to us in improving the growth of Search Marketing in Canada. Feel free to blog about it and thanks for you collaboration!

More on SEMPO Canada:
SEMPO Canada is Canadian Non-Profit Professional Search Marketing Association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing in Canada. This Working Group was founded in November 2006 by Ken Jurina & Alexandre Brabant and focuses on improving the growth, awareness and understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in Canada including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Link Building, Pay Per Click Management best practices in this new field of marketing and how it uniquely pertains and is of relevance to Canadians worldwide across any sector, vertical or industry.

Thank you so much for participating.

Alexandre Brabant & Ken Jurina
Co-Chairs SEMPO Canada
Canadian Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization
canada-chair@sempo.org

It is with a lot of regret that SEMPO Canada announces that it has lost one of its members, who decided not to renew their SEMPO membership and therefore withdraw from all SEMPO-related activities involving the growth of Search Marketing in Canada. They simply stated that they were not getting enough of this relationship and this position was shared by every member of their team. In an industry that is in development, especially in Canada, I would like to take a moment to ask for your feedback on the nature of these relationships between SEMPO but especially the underlying expectations that business people may have in regards to SEMPO, SEMPO Canada and the Canadian Search Marketing Industry in general.

It is becoming a common understanding that the Canadian business community expects more out of this industry than they contribute to its growth. We are facing a scarcity of talent since very few schools, colleges or universities have a search engine marketing learning curriculum. The industry does not regenerate itself yet, which is why it is adequate to raise the question why we would see major icons in the Canadian web economy leaving our organization.

We have been working hard here at SEMPO Canada to create an entity that anyone can call upon when they need support on Search Marketing and as such I would like to ask you for suggestions, criticism or any type of input that you may have so that we can fulfill your expectations in a way that would entice you to stay in and contribute. In the long run, everyone will benefit from it.

We are all in this together.

It took a few rounds of iterations but we finally finished it. Ken Jurina and I completed a 5 Question article/interview that has just been published on Onedegree.ca. It presents our current and future initiatives to foster awareness and stimulate the growth of search marketing in Canada. Read about it here.

Here we grow again. SEMPO Canada Working Group is pleased to announce a new member on the team. Linda Gharib from Microsoft Corp. is joining the Canadian Search Marketing group of experts and we are very pleased that her experience in Search Engine Marketing along with her strong market relationships will help us grow the Search Marketing industry in Canada. Here is some more info on Linda as you may also find in the SEMPO Canada Members area.

Linda Gharib is a Search Media Analyst at Microsoft Corp. based in New York. She partners with Canadian and Fortune 500 companies advertising on the MSN network, to optimize their search marketing campaigns, to improve ad relevancy, and to increase return on investment.

Before joining Microsoft, Linda was responsible for managing the marketing and investor relations functions at Kaplan Fox, a law firm specializing in securities and antitrust litigation. Linda developed integrated marketing strategies mainly targeting pension funds and institutional investors. Linda interned at the Legal Marketing Association and worked on marketing campaigns for the Direct Marketing Association.

Linda holds an MBA in Marketing from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and a BA in English & Media Studies from Hunter College. She also studied Art in Italy and International Marketing in Switzerland.