The Search & Social Blog From Amplify Interactive

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As mentioned previously, I was a panelist on last night’s SEMpdx Hot Seat event.
The event was a great success if I do say so myself (I planned it after all). I don’t have a final headcount – but I believe 45-50 people attended last night, we reviewed 5 Web sites, and as an added bonus had a special guest moderator (Anne Kennedy of BeyondInk) in the house to keep things moving.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Hot Seat series – the concept is simple. We line up search experts on a panel, we put a Web site on display, then the panel tells the site owner what they could be doing better from a search marketing standpoint. Inevitably, some advice about improving conversions & usability gets doled out as well.

• www.livepdx.com
• www.sportsmanagementworldwide.com
• www.albina.com
• www.mtgxps.com
• www.gerberstore.com

A few mental notes from last night:

• Once again, I am surprised that people want help with SEO, but don’t do keyword research to know the keywords they should be targeting. From the response of the crowd – I gather that keyword research is still a bit of a mystery. You can find links to a few keyword research resources on our site.
• The next thing that always surprises me is that even the basic SEO-101 stuff gets neglected. Things like placing keywords in title tags, writing META descriptions, putting a statement on the home page about who you are, what you do and what I will find on your site, using keywords in body copy, etc.
• We need to put together a SEMpdx “beginner’s guide to SEO” or something and go over it at the top of each event. Just a short 1-sheet on the 1st ten things that search marketers look at when evaluating a site.

Next Hot Seat is slated for October – keep tabs on the SEMpdx site for upcoming Hot Seats and other SEMpdx events.