Early this morning, as we made our way down the The St. Regis Deer Valley Hotel’s scenic funicular to begin the journey home, I was moved  by  Park City Utah’s stunning mountain terrain by dawn’s snowy light.  The romantic mood was fitting, especially given my gratitude for the experience of speaking yesterday at  MediaPost’s prestigious Search Insider Summit. I’ve been traveling a lot folks, so it takes a bit more right now to get me emotional…

Google’s semi-radical shift to instant while-you-type SERPs mostly served to codify the dumb-em-down effect caused by the herding users via the search suggest Ajax box.  In tandem with Google’s sad business decision to neuter the AdWords Keyword Tool, both users and all but the best PPC marketers are now forced to operate predominantly on the short tail. This represents big G’s jihad to consolidate inventory…

St. Paul’s historic Lowertown district matured from the city’s “Lower Landing” on the Mississippi River to a thriving national warehouse and distribution center. Serving burgeoning businesses throughout the upper Midwest from 1880-1920, many structurally stunning buildings were designed by nationally celebrated architects.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, St…

Now that the AdWords keyword tool has been dumbed down, we’ve received many inquiries seeking updated advice regarding keyword research best practices.  For those depending solely on Google’s free tool, the new reality is stark.  In truth, it’s not that radical a change for many pros, because we’ve always used an assortment of tools– mild to wild–to build out our KW baskets…

A firestorm has erupted on the Mayo Clinic Facebook Fan Page wall. Whether the allegations against Mayo doctor Avearas Slucis, accusing him of being a racist are true, the spiteful rhetoric makes for one ugly fan page.

This is the double edged sword of user generated content in all it’s ugly splendor. If the content has cycled off the fan page, click the “older posts” button at the bottom for an most unbelievable ride through user-generated Facebook disaster…

More analytics mavens are becoming aware of Woopra, a relatively inexpensive software package, available on the web and as a desktop application.  Woopra is best known for its gorgeous daily dashboard (pictured above) and extremely useful real-time analytics features (below).  For this post, we’ll use the desktop application.

What’s less known is Woopra’s killer KPI reporting capabilities, using custom segmentation features Woopra calls “Filters…

Chris Winfield is one of the most sociable and pleasant online marketing pros in the business.  Seemingly contrary to his East Coast roots, Chris has way more of a California-laid-back swagger.  Don’t mistake this vibe for lack of intensity.  Dude is extremely passionate, has an impressive quiver of clients,  experience, heart and business acumen to back the swagger up with action and results…

Attendees sat stunned at #SMX East as Baris Gultekin, Group Product Manager, Google AdWords, Google, Inc. clarified that the ubiquitous AdWords Keyword Tool now only provides keywords Google deems “commercial.” It’s been obvious anyway by degraded results over the last few weeks. This represents a shift of seismic proportions to those who utilize the tool for demographic research purposes, in and outside of AdWords…

Google.com/alerts have been the reputation monitoring rage for years now.  Most companies seem to feel safe under the Google alert notification blanket. It’s true that Google alerts keep reputation managers apprised of a lot of content, conversations, news, media, etc… However Google alerts alone are far from a complete picture of what’s going on out there. This post offers a guerrilla list of RSS feeds, perfect for reputation monitoring, for mining alerts from major sites including YouTube, Google, Facebook & Twitter…

Data is starting to roll in on the effects of Google’s elegant UI/SERPs adaptation Google Instant. The concept of SERPs that configure as users type is not new, but it appears big G’ has laid claim to mass paradigm busting.  Marketing chatter ranges from ridiculously hyperbolic to ho-hum with good reason. Instant instantly appoints already-dominant brands’ godly brand-status & likely makes growing brand awareness more expensive for everyone else…

aimClear’s demographic research product includes social media influencers from a number of channels ranking from Facebook and YouTube to forums.  We then challenge Community Managers to take these “friend leads” and convert them to organic friends over 3-5 days, at a “cost per friend lead” calculated from how much time the friend-conversion takes.  This post samples techniques to identify and qualify friend-leads, influencers and several holistic tactics proven to convert those leads to friends…

B2B, B2C…B2 anything, every marketing department would love to somehow crack the social media code. Be it by content marketing, participation in Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Flickr, Digg, Delicious, etc… invariably, the conversation turns to the same question: “What are we going to do and who’s going to actually execute on this every day at the office?”

Then comes the obligatory: “How are we going to measure it?” and, “When will we set business goals?” or, “Are we just doing this for the hell of it ‘cause everybody else does?” All are reasonable questions…

In March 2010, usage of Facebook’s internal search engine jumped approximately 48% to peak at 2.7% of U.S. searches.  Though April and May U.S. search share dipped, these numbers are still rather substantial given Facebook search’s obvious people-focus and legendary limitations.  That said compared to Google’s monolithic 63.7 percent of American search share, Facebook’s internal search usage does not seem like a big deal…

Privacy? Just to prove that we shouldn’t say “Facebook” and “privacy” in the same sentence. These numbers plain and simple don’t lie.

Here’s data profiling Facebook users “interested” in Lesbians, weed and those who (ummm…) love their feet in the UK.  Don’t eat them all at once.  (Disclaimer: We’re not passing judgment so please don’t kill the messenger…

The sun has barely risen over downtown Seattle and, uncharacteristically, there’s not a single cloud in the 5:30AM AM sky. Elliott Bay and Mount Rainer are just visible, peeking between the architecturally diverse city buildings, highlighted in contrast by Northwest Pacific morning sun.

The view from my 31rst floor downtown Westin hotel room is nothing short of stunning. Good morning Seattle…

From the inception of search in the early 90’s, individuals and monolithic companies revolutionized the world’s information management.  Since then post BBS pioneers have taken over the marketing world. Over the years, as contextual advertising platforms evolved and blossomed into robust platforms like Facebook and DoubleClick, there have been naysayers.  Contrary to nearly half a decade of “SEO is dead” hyperbole, SEO is and always will be king…

There are over 120 million English speaking Facebook users in America, over the age of 14. From the United Kingdom down to India, over to New Zealand, across to Australia and beyond, significant populations in many nations also speak English as an official language and are active on Facebook.

We’ve studied FB penetration in countries around the world where English is one of the official state languages…

aimClear is pleased to announce that our very own Merry Morud will join me on the podium at SMX Advanced London: 17 & 18 May, 2010, Grand Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden. We’ll be co-presenting on the Social Media Track “Killer Facebook Marketing Tactics” session.  It will be an honor to once again join Moderator Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land on the big stage…

It’s a bit like eating an elephant, a labor-intensive conundrum of today’s online marketing ecosystem. The more keyword, contextual and competitive data available to mine, the more effort required to properly research a product’s proper place. The effort is completely worth it.

Regardless of channels we plan campaigns in (flavors of SEO, PPC, Social Media, etc…), the objective of demographic research is to attain a data-driven and comprehensive familiarity with products and categories…

The disdain on their faces is usually palpable.  I’ve been experiencing subtle Facebook derision from mainstream SEOs now for two years. Last week’s edition was a conversation with Greg Boser, President and CEO – 3 Dog Media, a new friend and brilliant speaker on the SMX Search Marketing Conference series circuit.

Dude is a salty-dog SEO genius. However, as we each shared what we were planning to discuss with Australian conference attendees, I had barely started when Greg made it clear, with nary a word, that Facebook demographic segments are a bunch of bullshit…

At SMX Sydney last week, I was approached by a number of zealous attendees (prior to my Facebook PPC presentation) who informed me that they “reckoned” not enough of Australian or New Zealand citizens participate on Facebook to make FB marketing worthwhile.  The reality could not be further from the truth.  Read on for a breakout of basic demographics and a few fun samplings from categories, brands, places of employments and other interest segments from Australian & NZ markets…

Greetings from #SMX Sydney Australia, 2010. The exuberance here could light a continent.  Sydney is a shimmering study in architecture, culture, wealth & bustling cosmopolitan life. I am a lucky dude.

Take the cloistered urban grandeur of New York, mash it up with a healthy dose of San Fransisco northern CA charm and exotic melting pot romance…well that’s Sydney.   When I arrived yesterday (has it been only one day), a friend took me for a walk for miles…

Using blogs for SEO is a strategic linchpin of many a marketers’ content tactics.  Composing optimized headlines to title posts that are catchy, research driven and relevant to readers, is a classic search engine optimization mission.    This post offers two blogging SEO case studies, for constructing posts titles.

Blog post headlines are key on many levels. Most blog CMS (content management system) installations mirror the post headline as the HTML title tag, arguably the most important SEO ranking factor, for the post detail page…

One of the more challenging aspects of running an online marketing agency is mashing our process into legal agreements. Out of the legalese we typically cover in our documentation (fee structure, NDA, Term, Termination, Indemnification, Arbitration, etc…) none is more delightfully daunting than the obligatory “scope” exhibit.

Because our work is always data driven and research based, it can be tricky to make legal promises that set realistic expectations based on fact-sets as yet undiscovered…

Wow, Day 1 was a Whriling Dervish at SearchEngineStrategies New York 2010!  The content struck me as seriously next gen’. We heard plenty of new terms today like “attention frontier” and “sliding window.”  Our good friend Simon Heseltine won the engraved iPod while Lee Odden and Chris Boggs rocked the house with their well-honed approach to leveraging digital assets…

During SES New York, aimClear will be giving away 3 iPod nanos®. There’s no obligation, (absolutely no data-mining). Each iPod Is Engraved With “#SESNY Search Engine Strategies 2010. Entering is super easy and there will be three big chances to win, one each day of SES NY. The only catch: you must be a badge-carrying Search Engine Strategies New York 2010 attendee holding a Platinum, Speaker, Press or Exposition pass…

Search Engine Strategies New York is an annual conclave of rare depth and importance.  In search marketing, channels evolve at blazing speed and staying relevant is an intense and ongoing commitment.  As part of our commitment to stay cutting-edge-current, aimClear team members hit the road for about 80 days of training each year. SES New York is on the shortest-list of must-attend seminars we would simply never miss…

Google is planning to test ultra-high speed broadband networks and is considering one or more trial locations across the country. Google Fiber, so you’re considering moving to Duluth.. Join the club. In 1982 I came to visit. After a decade-long love affair with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) to the North, I finally made it here in 95’ and never left.

Google, over the coming days, we’ll be sharing aspects of our community and why aimClear, an internationally known search marketing agency, thrives here…

It’s remarkable really. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will take the stage for a “Fireside Chat” with Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.com and conference co-chair, to kick off SMX West on March 2.  In his inaugural address directly to the search marketing community, Mr. Ballmer will discuss Microsoft’s evolution in search and his vision of the future.

Given the Microsoft/Yahoo search deal, his appearance is an especially notable gesture…

Though social media participation has exploded, we meet businesses nearly every day  that have barely, clumsily or not dipped their toes in the in the water.  They ask, “Should we have a Facebook page,“ “What about YouTube” or “Gee, should we be tweeting?”

These entrepreneurs are usually full of life, energy, present a history of offline success and have little idea what to do about social media…