I gave a Webcast presentation for OEN (Oregon Entrepreneurs Network) last week titled “Capturing Market Share in a Recession with SEM“, which we just posted in the SEM resources section of our site.

Enjoy!

Ben

I opened up a box of Barnum’s Animals Crackers this morning as a brunch snack and offered my Amplify teammates who braved the “Arctic Toot” this morning some crackers.

Ben came over and grabbed a couple.  He commented, “You know, every other kind of animal cracker, be it from a bin or a store-brand or whatnot, just doesn’t compare to the tried and true Barnum’s Animal cracker.”

Nothing truer has ever been spoken.  You can buy some cheap animal crackers in a bin somewhere… but they’ll leave you with a weird taste in your mouth.  Or will just be way too “vanilla-y.”  Or kinda nasty and stale.

The same can be said of looking for search engine optimization help.  You can go for a reputable, well-known company’s solution.  It might cost a little extra but you know you’re getting quality animal crackers in awesome packaging.  Or you can opt for a “cheaper” solution… which will come in shoddy packaging and leave that weird taste in your mouth.

I’ll take Barnum’s Animals Crackers every time.

I recently had two different discussions with people in entirely different industries asking specifically about LinkedIn. One was simply asking about how to make LinkedIn more useful for them. The other person hadn’t joined LinkedIn but had received a number of requests. So – I thought it would be interesting to explain how I use it and get your feedback on how and why you use LinkedIn.

My general position is that LinkedIn is a great personal branding tool, and I also really like it as an always up to date rolodex (more on this below). I’d debate the efficacy of LinkedIn as an SEO / link  tool, but it is definitely helpful from an online reputation management standpoint. Whether we’re talking about your personal online reputation or your company’s reputation. Full profiles with full names, company names, and links to company sites can help own that search results page, and it makes it easier to find you when someone wants to hire you for a job but lost track of your contact info.

I think like anything of these other tools, a little bit of maintenance goes a long way. I have a recurring appointment in my calendar where I actually set aside about a half hour a week to update Facebook and LinkedIn specifically.

When I meet people at networking events or new clients or whatever, I make a point of collecting their business cards simply so I can add them as LinkedIn contact. I used to add new contacts to my Outlook contacts and never talk to or hear from them again. Now – I get updates on what they’re up to or when they get a new job etc. and if I want to send them a message to congratulate them on that new job or to get together for lunch or whatever  – I always have the right email address when I send the message via LinkedIn.

On LinkedIn specifically, here’s what I like to do:

• Maintain & build a full profile – keep it up to date
  • Employed? Link to your company site
  • Not employed? Link to your personal site or blog – or even your downloadable & printable resume
• Keep your connections up to date – add new contacts as you meet people
  • When you login to LinkedIn, scan your network updates & see what your connections have been up to
  • Check out the “people you may know” and add people that you actually know
• Fill in the “what are you working on” status update thing
  • For example – I just updated my status & said “Ben is working on a blog post outlining how I use LinkedIn”
• Got an open position or need help with something? Send the info to your LinkedIn connections and ask them to help you spread the word.
• Join some groups, participate in discussions
• Ask or answer questions
  • Tip: see the Q&A link, find a category that applies to you, and subscribe to it so that you see the questions on your start page / feed reader every day. Then just reply to the ones that look easy to answer quickly.
• Write & ask for recommendations
• Generate leads & business by getting listed in the service provider directory

For good measure – here’s a link to my profile: Ben Lloyd on LinkedIn
What did I miss? How do you use LinkedIn? Why do you use LinkedIn?

Announcing a new job opening: Search Engine Marketing Specialist. See our careers page for more information.

Amplify-Interactive, a Portland Oregon search engine marketing agency, is hiring a Search Engine Marketing Specialist. The specialist will have the unique opportunity to help drive this next phase of growth for Amplify Interactive, and learn the fundamentals of search engine & web site marketing – an increasingly important aspect of the marketing mix.

• Search Marketing Specialist: The specialist will help with all aspects of the business, including campaign planning, execution & tracking as well as assisting in client & project management. The ideal candidate is enthusiastic, detail-oriented, hardworking and has a desire to work in a small-business environment.

If you think you fit the bill, check out our careers page for more information and submit your resume.

I understand this blog post may sound a bit… promotional. But what can I say – when I’m at work, I’m dialed into search marketing. And when I’m not at work, I still think about search marketing. So, naturally, I thought about one of our clients (The Fertile Soul) when I watched Baby Mama last weekend, which stars the delightful Tina Fey (30 Rock for life!) and Amy Poehler (SNL). Granted, Poehler was supposed to be annoying in the movie… but she pulled off a ‘funny annoying’ role in one of the best movies of all time (hint: it ain’t Old School).

Baby Mama was not very funny at all. I snickered at Steve Martin’s character and that was about it. Greg Kinnear played the typical “Greg Kinnear” role where he gives that weird smile / laugh which a lady falls in love with and he’s a single older gentleman with a child & a fantastic heart. Don’t get me wrong – I love the Kinnearian! But this role was his typical thing.

But as I sat there hating the movie, my mind wandered into thinking about surrogacy vs. natural infertility treatment, like the type advocated by our client, The Fertile Soul. In a real-life “Baby Moma” story, the main character wouldn’t have had to put up with an annoying Amy Poehler-like character or the feelings she went through while going through her surrogacy process had she known about The Fertile Soul. The Fertile Soul provides what are called “fertility retreats” which individuals attend to try to become fertile naturally through natural medicine, acupuncture & other natural techniques. Interestingly enough, Tina Fey’s character seemingly never came across this alternative (and much less expensive) way to try to get pregnant.

Had she given The Fertile Soul a try, who knows – maybe she would have gotten pregnant naturally before having to put up with Poehler. But then again, had she done that… she would have SPOILER ALERT I’m kidding I wouldn’t spoil that for you! SPOILER ALERT DISENGAGED and yadda yadda yadda the movie ended.

And there you have it. The story of Baby Mama could have possibly been never made had Tina Fey’s character tried a less expensive & natural way to become fertile. And, a little bit of me wished she did… so I wouldn’t have had to sit through that movie and waste an hour and a half of my life.