Announcing a new Meetup for The Vancouver Search Engine Marketing Group!

What: Vancouver SEM Monthly Meetup. Mark The Date: Presenter: Ani Lopez – SEO for Multi-Country-Language Projects: Target Europe / Latin America

When: Monday, March 8, 2010 6:00 PM

Where:
Ceilis Irish Pub
670 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC V6B 1E3

Learn more here:
http://www.meetup.com/VancouverSEM/calendar/12102380/

Dear SEMPO Members,

We are pleased to bring to you an exclusive offer to participate in what will be one of Toronto’s most anticipated marketing conferences. The Art of Marketing will be in Toronto on March 2^nd, 2010 and will feature 6 international bestselling authors and speakers all live and in person including Seth Godin, Dan Heath, Mitch Joel and many others.

The Art of Productions – the company organizing the event is allowing SEMPO members and your guests the opportunity to participate in this exciting event and take advantage of the preferred rates. By using the promotional code RD26 you will benefit from a $50 savings, additionally groups of 3 or more will receive an additional $50 savings when the tickets are purchased together.

We invite you to visit www.theartofmarketing.ca for all the event details including agenda, speakers and ticket availability.

To register right away and take advantage of the preferred rates please follow this link https://www.theartofmarketing.ca/register/step1/promo_code:RD26

We look forward to seeing you on March 2^nd at The Art of Marketing.

Announcing a new Meetup for The Vancouver Search Engine Marketing Group!

What: Vancouver SEM Monthly Meetup. Mark The Date: January 11, 2010
Presenter: John Hossack, from VKI Studos on “Ugly Jerry”

When: January 11, 2010 6:00 PM

Where:
Ceilis Irish Pub
670 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, BC V6B 1E3

Our presenter and topic for our first meetup of 2010 are set. We’re just finalizing a few technicalities.

Mark the date and we’ll be posting details soon

Learn more here:
http://www.meetup.com/VancouverSEM/calendar/12102380/

The second of a two part series on Social Media, the engaging and informative luncheon consisted of a panel of 4 esteemed Social Media experts including George Moen, president of Blenz Coffee, Richard Sandor, managing director of DDB Vancouver, Chris Breikss, president of 6S Marketing; and Ryan Holmes, CEO of Invoke Media.

Moderated by Steve Mossop, president of Ipsos Reid, each panelist gave real-world examples on how their clients, and their organizations use Social Media to reach their goals.

When Blenz President George Moen discovered his customers were having conversations online without him, he realized he had to get involved to control his brand. Moen enjoys the instantaneous feedback he receives by regularly interacting with his customers on Twitter and Facebook. A Blenz promotion offering a daily $5 prize to anyone who uses word “Blenz” in their Tweets has helped attract over 1600 Twitter followers.

Moen admits to arriving “Late to the Party” but now looks at all Social Media options as a smorgasbord. By selecting the best platform for each task, Moen is able to maximum the features each platform has to offer. With the arrival of Foursquare in Vancouver, Moen was quick to get involved by recognizing newly appointed Mayors at Vancouver Blenz locations resulting in a story in the Vancouver Sun.

Moen says the biggest challenge to implementing a social media strategy is resistance to change within the organization. “Technology moves fast, people don’t”, says Moen.

Ryan Holmes, CEO of Invoke Media, outlined their social media strategy for the launch of HootSuite 2.0. HootSuite 1.0 was released in December 2008 as a free web-based professional Twitter client. Existing HootSuite users were offered the new version in advance of the release date by Tweeting, “I Upgraded to HootSuite 2.0 because …” Users could then have some fun and finish the Tweet anyway they liked. The promotion was so successful, HootSuite 2.0 became one of the Twitter “Trending Topics” within 7 hours after the launch. Aside from the time required to design the strategy and a few technical issues, there were no other direct costs to the campaign.

Chris Breikss, President of 6S Marketing, shared part of the Social Media strategy they designed and implemented for the Opus Hotel. Prior to working with 6S, their primary method of communicating with their clients was through their newsletter. 6S setup up a master Twitter account and 4 additional sub-accounts for each business group. They then gave the Opus staff a set of guidelines on Tweeting which bypassed the lengthy approval process of the newsletter. Breikss pointed out that while Social media ROI is harder to measure than SEM, there are some metrics available. With 1700 followers on their primary Twitter account along with 2500 Facebook fans, Opus was able to increase communication with their audience 100 fold.

Richard Sandor, Managing Director of DDB Vancouver, took us through the spectacular “Where is This?” campaign for the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC). As with all their projects, they started by defining the business goal. In this case, the goal was to convince Canadians to travel within Canada on their vacation. Using a Flickr group, a YouTube channel, and working with bloggers to spread the word, they asked individuals and tourism sites to upload their best images of Canada to the localsknow.ca website. Using 4,000 uploads, they put together “Where is This?” TV spots that drove viewers to the Locals Know website where they of course they discover that locations are all right here in Canada.

During the Q&A Steve Mossop asked, “Canadians spend as much as 50% of their time online using some form of social networking site. So why are Canadian companies only devoting 11% of their adverting budgets online?” While no one had a definitive answer, with online advertising accounting for 24 percent of the total UK ad market, the opportunity for growth in Social Media marketing in Canada is enormous.

Take advantage of the early bird prices for IMC Vancouver on September 16-18 if you purchase your ticket before Friday Sept 4.

* IMC Vancouver 2009 will cover each of the important methods of marketing online in order to get the highest quality of traffic to your website.
* Learn the new industry best practices in converting more of your site visitors to: Spend more time on site, achieve better sales and user signup conversion, and better site engagement overall.
* IMC is a conference not only to get the best industry insight but also to meet and connect with those that are the writing the new rules of marketing in Internet Marketing today.

If you are a SEMPO Member, the discount code for your group is:

sempo10

and is good for 10% off any of the ticket options (which equates to ~20% if they register for both days since we already offer a $50 multi-day discount). Every attendee will still receive the $50 AdWords credit for EACH day they attend, issued by Google after the seminar via email.

The url for registration is: http://www.bgtheory.com/adwords-seminar-for-success-toronto-2009/

The event name is:
AdWords(tm) Seminar for Success – Toronto
The event is at:
Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport
3311 Caroga Drive
Mississauga, Ontario, CA L4V 1A3
8:30 am – 5:00 PM

8/25/09 AdWords 301: Advanced Account Optimization focuses on best practices for Keywords, Ad Copy, and Landing Pages in addition to a deep dive into Quality Score, the Content Network, and Geographic Targeting. This day is jam-packed full of tips and techniques you can functionally use to improve your accounts overall performance.

8/26/09 AdWords 302: Advanced Conversion Optimization concentrates on how to increase your conversions and your profits! Topics include Bidding Types and Strategies, Tracking Conversions, Split Testing, and Account Organization. The information included in this session can have a positive, dramatic impact on your bottom line – this is a must attend event!

If you have any questions about this PPC learning event in Toronto, please ask Leslie Clark: leslie@bgtheory.com

The press release below is available at: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/8/comScore_Introduces_Ad_Metrix_Service_in_Canada

For more information on this report, please communicate with:

Sarah Radwanick
comScore, Inc.
press@comscore.com
1-312-775-6538

It is with great pleasure that I receive yesterday a press release from Acquisio, a tool that I use and love, about the recent agreement with Emovendo and their software, PageVester. I believe this latest addition to their already outstanding product will put it in its own class.

Please find the full press release below.

- Combination Will Provide the Industry’s First and Only End-to-End Paid Search Productivity Suite –

Montreal, QC, Canada – August 10, 2009  – Acquisio inc., a leading provider of Paid Search Management Software, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all assets of privately held Emovendo, including its flagship product, landing page application PageVester (http://www.pagevester.com). The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re thrilled to announce the latest addition to our offering. This is an important milestone. Our customers will soon be able to gain control over the part of their marketing campaigns which has been in the hands of IT for so long, the infamous landing page” says Marc Poirier, Co-Founder of Acquisio.

“This technology allows marketers with absolutely no design or IT skills to assemble professional looking, dynamic landing pages, complete with forms, validation rules, and so much more. The application is also fully integrated with salesforce.com and can automatically feed it with every new captured lead”, explains Martin Le Sauteur, CEO at Acquisio.

Marketers using the Acquisio SEARCH platform will now have complete control over the entire cycle of their clients’ marketing campaigns. Alexandre Pelletier, founder and former CEO of Emovendo, says “Not only does PageVester allow users to rapidly build and deploy professional landing pages, it also supports the creation and management of A/B tests with Google Website Optimizer”. A/B tests allow marketers to present alternating versions of the same page to its site visitors in order to determine which one provides the best ROI.
Marc Poirier adds “Tweaking ad copy and bids is essential stuff, but it will only take you so far. You need to work on  post-click activity. This is where PageVester comes in. It delivers instant value to its users by simplifying landing page creation and A/B test implementation.”

About Acquisio
Acquisio is the creator of Acquisio SEARCH (http://www.acquisio.com) a Software-as-a-Service solution designed specifically for on-line advertising agencies managing pay-per-click campaigns on Google, Yahoo and BING. Acquisio’s set of applications empowers campaign managers, allowing them to spend less time building and launching campaigns, and spend more time on strategy and intelligent campaign refinement.
# # #

Contact:
Marc Poirier, Chief Marketing Officer
Acquisio inc.
450.465.2631 x210
mpoirier@acquisio.com

On September 16-18, 2009 Alexandre Brabant, Co-Chair Of SEMPO Canada Search Marketing Association & the Vancouver Online Marketing Mashup Group, will be attending the Internet Marketing Conference in Vancouver (BC) Canada. For this occasion, SEMPO Canada will have a booth and you will be able to drop by and ask any question about Search Marketing. Everything you need to know about Starting your own Search Marketing campaign from people who eat, sleep and breathe Search Marketing. Many members from the local Search Marketing Community & also members of SEMPO Canada will be present. The Internet Marketing Conference Vancouver will be held at the Four Seasons in Downtown Vancouver (BC) Canada, 791 West Georgia Street.

Here is more about The Internet Marketing Conference Experience:
Speakers and participants from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Asia are traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to take part in Internet Marketing Conference (IMC) on September 16-18, 2009. To this occasion, all aspects of doing business online will be covered: web analytics, strategy, content, search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), e-mail marketing, social media, on-site behavioral targeting, multivariate testing, and much more will be covered.

Learn how to acquire and retain customers by optimizing your marketing:
The program will mix presentations with discussion panels and networking opportunities. Meet with those who have dared, pioneered, and succeeded. Learn from mistakes by others. Whether you’re an advertiser, a marketer, or a business analyst, our goal is to provide you with valuable and actionable knowledge. Newbies and seasoned Internet marketers alike will find something they can take back to the office. IMC is produced by experts, for experts, and for all of you who’d like to become experts. Over the past nine years, it has been held in eight North American and European cities.