SEM Local Events

While the talented folks at Work Industries are rebranding themselves to Boxcar Marketing, a dynamic clever name to move ideas online, we are again organizing a Search Engine Marketing 101 Seminar on April 11 in Vancouver (BC) Canada and we hope you can make it. Here is some more information about it. 

So, do you want to attract more visitors to your website? (who does not want more visitors to their site?)

Register for the QuickLearn business training series. Our Friday, April 11 session is Search Marketing 101.

QuickLearn: Search Marketing 101
presented by Alexandre Brabant of eMarketing101.net
and Monique Trottier of Boxcar Marketing

Date: Friday, April 11, 2008

Time: 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Location:
Workspace
400, 21 Water Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 1A1

Map to Workspace

Cost: $150
REGISTER HERE

Search marketing is one of the cheapest, most cost-effective ways to promote your company and drive qualified leads to your website.

Most people find search engines to be a mystery. How do I get my website to rank higher in search listings for key phrases related to my business, products or services? Should I consider paying for advertising placement on search engines?

Effective search marketing and optimization is the key component to any successful online presence. If you are unsure of how search works, how to integrate search into your existing promotional campaigns, or why search is important to your business--this is the session for you.

Monique Trottier is the president of Boxcar Marketing. Her online expertise spans blogging, podcasting, web design, email newsletters, search marketing (PPC and SEO), online media relations, and writing for the web. Monique writes an online newsletter called “Underwire: Full support for non-techies,” and she is a frequent presenter at national conferences, a guest lecturer at Simon Fraser University and has appeared on Tech TV Lab with Leo.

Alexandre Brabant is the president of Vancouver-based eMarketing 101. He is a leading Search Marketing Specialist and the Co-Chair of SEMPO Canada, Canada’s Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization.

Register for QuickLearn here.

For more information on QuickLearn or to register in person, contact Monique Trottier at 778-837-9012.

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On Tuesday the 4th of December from 7:00AM to 9:30AM at the Terminal City Club, 837 West Hastings Street, Vancouver VKI Studios will be hosting the first WAA & eMetrics breakfast event.

This event will feature Jim Sterne, founder of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits, and founding Chairman and current President of the Web Analytics Association. Jim will be speaking about the current maturity of the web analytics industry. He will share insights into the level of expertise among today’s practitioners; challenges they face; the opportunities that are available; and the role we play as companies adopt the continuous improvement method of marketing optimization (at VKI Studios we have branded this as our Hippo Tango service) and truly start listening, engaging and participating in a dialogue with customers.

In addition to Jim’s presentation VKI Studio’s John Hossack will be presenting a recent case study that we have put together on marketing/landing page optimization. This case study will focus on the use of web analytics and testing (in this case Google Analytics and Google’s Website Optimizer) and the importance of planning and process to maximize results.

This event is targeted at people who want have an interest in marketing optimization, web analytics, and testing. I hope that attendees will gain a solid understanding of the current state of the analytics arena from Jim and an appreciation of the benefits of becoming a data driven organization and the importance of planning and process from my presentation.

You can register here.

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Work Industries posted a message this week that all barcampers should read. Essentially, since this year’s Barcamp is heavily overbooked, everyone who participate/attend Barcamp 2007 this weekend must confirm their name on the list. If you’re not sure you’re coming, please strike out your name and post the name of the top person left on the waiting list in your former place.

If you’re on the waiting list, are you sure you’re available to come? If not, please cross out your name. If you’re still keen on coming, check back on the list to see if you’ve been added to the first 120.

We don’t mean to be too anal about this. We just want to make sure that all the people that want to be there and can be there do get to be there.

Also, with regards to the Barcamp T-Shirts, I hope this isn’t true, but apparently the T-Shirts are fuschia (!) this year. They have 120 Barcamp T-Shirts and they go out on a first-com first serve basis. I’d better be there soon then

Finally, althought Barcamp has a lot of sponsors, the Barcamp organizing committee is suggesting a donation of $20 for each T-Shirt, to finance all the unconference activities. Any monies left over will be rolled into financing next year’s proceedings.

Please pass the message around to all barcampers.

For Questions, please communicate with James Sherrett: james{at}adhack{dot}com

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Wow, what a weekend! I attended the Telus Snowboard Festival over the weekend which is heavily sponsored by Yahoo Canada. I was invited along with all their major Clients in Western part of Canada.

As such, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the staff at Yahoo Canada for organizing such an outstanding event for all the search marketing advocates who took the time out of their personal life to attend. More specifically, I would like to thank a lot of people from the Yahoo Canada Toronto office: Melissa Newal (the organizer), Carolyn Cramer, Jon Finnie, David Bellemare, Mark Lajoie, Iain Wilson & Martin Byrne for keeping us entertained the whole weekend. They did a fantastic job and I can’t wait for next year. I hope their managers share my enthusiasm.

Over the weekend, I had the chance to talk to Carolyn (and all the other Yahoos) about my views of the state of search marketing in Canada and why business people are still resistant to change their media plan to incorporate search marketing as part of the mix. There are a lot of topics that can be brought in to this discussion but in a nutshell, Canadians fear change. We all agreed on this. I have been doing this for so many years now and I think time is our best ally. It must be frustrating to be in the sales position and hearing the same objections from clients over and over again. Carolyn, this battle is not easy but it is worth fighting for. Search rules all spheres of marketing and no one can convince me otherwise. Thank you Carolyn for all the pleasant conversations that keep me excited to continue doing what I love the most. 

Do I have pictures of all of us partying? Of course!


Mark Lajoie, David Bellemare & Carolyn Cramer

Martin Byrne, Jon Finnie & Iain Wilson

And some pictures of the big air show:

And the Yahoo Party:

Can’t wait for next year! 

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Next week, I will be attending a very interesting local event called CaseCamp Vancouver V2. CaseCamp is a marketing unconference open to anyone. Presenters share case studies of their work, with the goal of creating a commons for discussion, learning and networking. The event will be held on March 27, 2007, 6h00PM at Cafe Republic, 958 Granville Street. First presenter starts at 6h30PM.

You can subscribe for updates through or visit CaseCamp Vancouver V2 website for more info. Everyone interested in the use of Technology in Marketing should attend.

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