My friend James from Up In Ontario wrote a story today on Google’s influence on how we seek and connect with information, across generations. He talks about how his grand-parents perceive our intense daily use of Google. Very touching. You should read it. The Onion also talks about the same topic where they report the launch of “The Google”, the same great Google search engine results with a different interface to appeal to older adults. Hilarious in a typical Onion’s style. 

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A friend of mine sent me this great article today by David Meerman Scott from Web Ink Now on why you should avoid working with Advertising Agencies to develop your site. The article presents a few reasons why Ad Agencies are so bad at it. It also provides examples. Here they are:

Reason #1: Ad Agencies focus on aesthetics over information.
Reason #2: Ad Agencies focus on the wrong part of the sales cycle.

I know I talked about this a few times lately, but please allow me to add a few of my own:

Reason #3: Ad Agencies can’t communicate (they don’t listen).
Reason #4: Ad Agencies don’t realize they are being caught lying.
Reason #5: Ad Agencies don’t care about online users.
Reason #6: Ad Agencies treat you like a consumer rather then a person

I believe that in order to communicate properly, you have to be a good listener. Listening is the basis of all good communication and at this, I think most Advertising Agencies fail dramatically. A few months ago I wrote this post summarizing my thoughts on why the Next Ad Agency must listen. Online users are now in control of most of the talking. They are empowered and they are using this power to communicate. Who needs an Ad Agency to “communicate” manufactured stories to us, while we are sharing real stories and experiences between one another?

Feel free to read the article on why you should avoid an Ad Agency to build your site. If you need good partners to build or redesign your site, please let me know, and I will point in the right direction.

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It is with a lot of regret that SEMPO Canada announced last week that Nurun / Ant Interactive 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 the Nurun / Ant Interactive 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 Search Marketing talent in Canada 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 such a major icon in the Canadian web economy leaving our organization.

I have been working hard to launch and support SEMPO Canada in order 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.

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C’est reparti! La nouvelle saison 2007-2008 de C’est Extra Vancouver commence demain le 22 Septembre 2007 au Backstage Lounge sur L’île Granville. Venez danser sur la musique française et québecoise des années 60 à aujourd’hui. Encore une fois, toute la francophonie de Vancouver se donne rendez-vous. Près de 200 personnes sont attendu. Les festivités commencent vers 22h00. Manquez pas ça!

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And here again another cool introduction video from Lee Lefever from Common craft. This one is a Google Docs tutorial, what it is and why you should use it to manage your documents. Just like the other tutorial tech videos he made, this one is really well done and is worth sharing around. If you don’t know much about Google Docs, you should absolutely view this:

Click To Play

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I want to talk about the Search Engine Marketing job Market in Canada because I feel I need to clarify a few things. I have seen too many companies lately who are looking to hire a Junior Search Marketing Specialist with 2 years of experience (or so) or freshly out of school and expect to pay them $25-35k a year. If you are one of those, I have some news for you: that person does not exist. Why? Because there are simply no school that teaches Search Marketing. Demand for serious Search Marketing Specialists at all levels keeps increasing and there is a scarcity of talent in this field, which does not yet regenerate itself. In desperation, and after they have been searching for months to fill positions, business owners are calling me and ask if I know anyone. They are telling me that their job posting on Craigslist is not generating anything. Strange isn’t it? The gap between offer and demand keeps growing and the situation is alarming.

Therefore, I think there are misconceptions that would need to be broken here. Unfortunately, and I have met a lot of people that were *somewhat* interested in Search Marketing, I don’t know anyone remotely as passionate about search as I do. Hands on SEO with the motivation that leads to results can only come from 2 places (as far as I know): the owner of a company, a professional self-taught Canadian SEO such as Chris Breikss, Darcy Foster, Chris Genge, Ross Dunn, Jim Hedger, Ken Jurina, Andrew Goodman, Andrea Hadley and a bunch of others in their respective teams. That being said, what puzzles me here is that business owners are looking for SEO talent in the wrong places with unreasonable expectations with respect of the current job market. Proof? In all honesty, it does not seem normal to me to post an SEO job on craigslist and not receive anything back, especially when the job has been posted for months. If you are looking for a junior SEO, which seems to be the brand of choice these days, you are not the only one in that boat. A lot of business owners are going fishing for SEO pros that will work full time for us but those who have the knowledge already have their plate full with their own business.

The main issue here is that there is no Search Marketing education program nearby to fill the accrued needs. Since this is a new market, it is currently filled with disconnects and the sooner business owners will acknowledge the state of search marketing in Canada, the sooner we will be able to elaborate solutions.

Recommended Solution:
If you represent a University, a College, a School or everything in between, I seriously recommend that you start developing search marketing programs so that people in your community can learn about it. SEMPO Institute will help you. I will help you. The only program in Canada that has been brought to my attention lately was one from Fanshawe College in London (Ontario) with only one search marketing course and only as part of a full-on marketing degree. Universities want to position themselves as online & web savvy but most don’t have a search marketing program in place, which is the basis of any online promotion. They pretend but they don’t walk the talk. Maybe their Ad Agency can help. I doubt.

Other Solutions:
Take Action: Join SEMPO Canada sempo.ca and start beating the drum locally. We need help to fill the growing demand of search marketing specialists of the canadian business community.

If you don’t do any of this, you have no right to complain that you can’t find the people you need.

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This post has nothing to do with search marketing but I will soon come back to my regular programming on eMarketing 101 material.

My good friend YB - pronounced why be - (which actually stands for Yvan Binette) has been playing guitar and bass for more than 25 years. He has been singing in countless bands since we were kids, making his own materials throughout these years and performing in literally every town in La Belle Province. Every time he mentions he’s got a new band, I always hope it will go through. Now, I have to tell you, his latest band, The Dizzy Racers is going to rock the place. You can listen to a few songs on the site and watch the Nitro video which is extremely well done. The video was made as part of the promotion of the title song for the soundtrack of the movie Nitro which was released a few months ago in Québec.

Last summer, the band got invited to open up for the festivities of the Grand Prix de Montreal on the main stage on Crescent Street. Listen to this, let me know what you think and share. If you have ideas on how to bring the band on the west coast, let me know. Rock on!

You can buy The Dizzy Racers debut album online. 

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I have been chatting for the last few days with Joe Harkins, owner of On a Roll Media and he has been looking for a Junior SEO Professional in North Vancouver (BC). If you know anyone who would be interested, feel free to email Joe: joeh{at}onarollmediainc{dot}com. Here is the job description:

Do you like working in a fun, team environment for a growing, entrepreneurial company? Are you interested in Internet marketing and search engines? OnARoll Media Inc., a company located in North Vancouver, BC, markets a network of International content websites and is looking to fill a junior position Internet Marketing Coordinator who will coordinate Internet initiatives to increase targeted website traffic and build brand awareness.

The ideal candidate should have previous experience with SEO/SEM, online marketing and/or affiliate marketing; and familiar with response measurements. Excel, Word, HTML and Internet proficiency is a must. Attention to detail, top-notch client relationship skills, and resourcefulness are pre-requisites of this position. Compensation will be performance based, with great benefits!

Responsibilities:
· Co-ordinate and execute search engine optimization strategies to increase targeted traffic primarily though SEO including: paid and non-paid strategies, third-party link development, keyword analysis, and updating website content.
· Identify, co-ordinate and implement additional strategies to increase site traffic through social networking, blogs, and RRS feeds.
· Maintain and update site content to ensure content is optimized for search engines including: keyword enrichment, Meta tags, and complete internal and inbound links.
· Develop keyword inclusion documents provided to editorial team.
· Proofing of site content for SEO purposes.
· Review, coordinate and report on site usage and search engine metrics in collaboration with 3rd party website analytics program.
· Research and utilize the most effective technology/software/services that will attract and drive targeted website traffic.
· Set up and execute on-site lead generation tactics for data capture (through email marketing, refer-a-friend, surveys, contests, etc.).
· Coordinate the addition of new products applied to the websites.
· Coordinating functional enhancement projects with 3rd party web development firm
· Quality-assurance testing of websites.
· The Internet Marketing Coordinator will report to Internet Marketing Manager.

Requirements:
· Knowledge of SEO/SEM and experienced with “white hat” SEO strategies
· Proven ability to increase website visibility and targeted website traffic using SEO/SEM strategies.
· Knowledge and experienced executing online marketing strategies.
· Fluency in 2nd language (Spanish, Italian, German, or Swedish) highly desirable.
· Knowledge of poker and/or European sports is preferred.
· Experienced with content management systems.
· Experienced with website analytics (ie: Google Analytics).
· Experience with international SEO is preferred.

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Marketing Tip: People read from left to right! This may sound obvious but when it comes to writing strong Page Title Tags, which appear prominently in SERPS (Search Engine Result pages), most people are clueless. Since Page Title Tags are considered the most important piece of text on any given page, you should pay attention on how you are doing it.

Web Page Title Tags for Search Engine Optimization & Web Usability

Page Title tags definition: in HTML code, the title tag specifies the title of your Web page. It is code which is inserted into the header of your web page. The World Wide Web Consortium describes the title as a required element in an HTML document: Every HTML document must have a TITLE element in the HEAD section.

Now, here are some tips on how to write effective page title tags:

Page Title Tag Length:
Microsoft’s browser displays the first 95 characters of your title tag
Google shows the first 66 characters of the title tag (crops the rest) - it is not clear if the rest of the sentence is factored in for ranking purposes.
Yahoo shows the first 120 characters
Your page title should be composed of a primary title (Google) and secondary title (for Yahoo) separated by an hyphen (-)

Title Tag SEO Advices:
Make you Title Tags no more than 95 characters in length, even if Yahoo accepts more. The length of the browser bar is more than enough to write something compelling
Every page of your site should have a unique Page Title Tag
Put the most important keywords first at the beginning of the Title Tag (primary title), especially keywords related to the content of that specific page.
Put in your secondary title the information that is relevant for all the pages of the site (site theme)
Consider using Geographically specific keywords, especially if your business is mostly local
2 repetition of the same word is allowed in the Page Title Tag. You can do this twice. Make sure repetition is not side by side. More than this, it is considered spamming.
Capitalize The First Letter of Every Word To Make it Easily Readable.
You Don’t Need to Capitalize *stop* words like: the, of, it etc.
NEVER use the words “welcome” “site” “homepage” “introduction” “bienvenue” as in this example from the Canadian Tourism Commission on its home page
It is not necessary to put your web address in the beginning of the title tag as you can see in this example of bad Page Title Tag

Other examples of unoptimized page title tag usage:
Canadian Tire’s One Word Page title Tag
Starbuck’s Use of the word Homepage on their Page Title Tag
Walmart Canada’s Use of the word Welcome on their Page Title Tag

Here you can find the full description on how to write great Page Title Tags.

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I said this to someone today: switching from the Montreal Canadiens’ jersey to a Vancouver Canucks’ Jersey is a big step in a man’s life. I am really happy that my friends gave this to me as a birthday present. It means a lot. I will wear with a lot of pride on and off the ice. Merci les Boys!

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I represent a group of French guys from Quebec and we are looking for some other French Speaking hockey players (if possible, not mandatory) to complete the teams. We have an ice time every Wednesday at UBC from 8h00PM to 9h15PM, starting next Wednesday, September 19. This will be a weekly event, for 32 weeks. The cost is $25 per game (drop-in fee) or $600 for the whole year ($18.75 per game). Please communicate with me if you would like to join us or get additional information. There are still plenty of spots available. Alex Brabant (778) 371-9988 or reach me at abrabant{at}gmail{dot}com. Thanks!


Groupe de Hockey Le National

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As you might know, it was my birthday last Saturday, September 8. For the occasion, I got something that has NEVER been given to anyone I know for a special occasion: A LINK. My new friend Boris Mann from Boris Mann Consulting wanted to be clever and he came up with this idea. If it is coming Boris, you can expect something out of the ordinary since he is one of the most passionate & creative individuals I have met (and I am trained to think that I am in the top 5 when it comes to passion). I was really impressed. He said, Alex, for your birthday, I am offering you a link from my home page, which is a PageRank 7, to any of your pages, and with ANY keywords you want. A link of that quality with such a level of control on the anchor text and title attribute is extremely valuable. For the time being, you have to be an SEO specialist to fully appreciate the value. But, this is about to change as everyone with a site should hunt for more incoming links.


Boris Mann

Another friend of Boris, Duane Storey, decided to do the same thing. He has a PageRank of 6. If you don’t mind, I will get back to them. My birthday gifts are waiting.

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I love these studies. Whereas an impressive amount of money is spent everyday on banner ads, a new eye tracking study shows that online users are trained to ignore them. Usability Expert Jakob Nielsen, who’s been studying how people interact with webpages since there were webpages to interact with, follows up on previous explorations to show once again that people not only ignore content that looks like advertising, but need things plainly spelled out for them.

The task was simple enough: find the country’s current population. Nielsen even gave them the website to use. But 86 percent of users failed to find the answer even though it was displayed in large red letters in plain sight.

“Users tend to ignore heavily formatted areas because they look like advertisements. Thus, about 1/3 of users never even saw the Population Clock. However, most people did fixate on this area because it’s not as overly formatted as most promotional features. So, most users saw the Population Clock; they just didn’t use it, even though it contained the exact information they were looking for.”

For more info on this story, read the full article here.
You can find a related article on the same topic here.

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