1.) It takes away any free time I have.

2). It’s hard to think of things to blog about.

3). I can’t write very well .

4). Does anyone read this?

5). I’m easily distracted.

Now what were we talking about? Oh yeah, I don’t really know why I blog but I will tag the following people and keep this meme going.

Christy Arneson Jones – SEO Jealous
Chris Brown – Branding & Marketing
Andrea Schoemaker – Pimp My Blog
Matt McGee – Small Business SEM
Emory Rowland – ClickFire

Search Engine Strategies sem training will include;

Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques – Shari Thurow
This presentation will demonstrate how these skills are essential for building a user–friendly, search–friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers.

Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques – Debra O’Neil-Mastaler
Need links? In order to rank well and successfully promote your online business, you need an effective link building program as part of your over-all SEO strategy.

Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness – Matt Bailey
Analytics are a gold mine of information, just waiting to be uncovered. The results of your campaigns, effectiveness of the website, and the efficiency of your rankings can all be measured with a good analytics program.

Getting Found in All The Right Places – Greb Jarboe – Amanda Watlington
Everyone who promotes Web sites as part of their work should attend this workshop. Web marketers should understand how to optimize and leverage their content and its distribution across news, blog, social, image, audio and video search engines.

Viral Marketing & Link Baiting – Jennifer Laycock
In this workshop, you will gain a better understanding of the concepts, ideas and implementations that are required to launch a viral marketing or link baiting campaign.

Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy – Nan Dawkins – Rob Key
The power of social media, together with its increasing visibility in search engines, has made it incumbent for brands to engage in these “Web 2.0” environments, including blogs, social networks, wikis, and more

Last year’s winner Ben Wills wrote a great piece on social media and has been a busy guy since he won. The new  Marketing Pilgrim SEM Scholarship Contest is on again and “this time it’s bigger, better and badder than before!”

I entered this contest last year and really enjoyed the challenge of driving as much traffic in a week as I could. I finished 12th out of 48 entries and had a great time doing it. My entry was in the last week when other procrastinators like myself waited until the last minute. So we were competing against more weekly entries than the others.

This year all entries will be printed at the same time and there will be 5 finalists instead of the 4 last year. Contestants will also have 4 weeks to promote their story. The finalists are chosen based on the number of unique page views they have and then the excellent panel of judges picks the final winner.

The deadline for all entries is April 6, 2007.

1. There will be ONLY ONE ROUND OF ENTRIES. Unlike last year – with four weekly deadlines – there will be just one chance to submit your article.
2. The biggest suggestion from last year was that one week to build traffic to an article, really didn’t demonstrate the true abilities of a search marketer. This time around, you’ll have a full 4 weeks to spread the word, drive traffic, build links, etc.
3. We’ll have five finalists this year, instead of four.

Once again the panel of judges is a who’s who list of the search marketing world.

Kim Krause Berg – UsabilityEffect.com
Jim Boykin – WebBuildPages.com
Rand Fishkin – SEOMoz.org
Andrew Goodman – Page-Zero.com
Michael Jensen – SoloSEO.com
Kalena Jordan – SearchEngineCollege.com
Jennifer Laycock – SearchEngineGuide.com
Todd Malicoat – Stuntdubl.com
Boris Mordkovich – SearchMarketingStandard.com
Lee Odden – TopRankBlog.com
Elisabeth Osmeloski – SearchEngineWatch.com
Neil Patel – PronetAdvertising.com
Barry Schwartz – RustyBrick.com
Brett Tabke – WebmasterWorld.com
Laura Thieme – BizResearch.com
Aaron Wall – SEOBook.com

This is one contest you don’t want to miss either as a participant or a reader. There were some great articles last year and I imagine this year there will be even more. 

If you don’t want to miss the contest updates and deadlines, subscribe to the RSS feed. Best wishes to all the contestants!

Dave was held in his chair by an unknown force and could only manage to move his fingers. He pinched himself twice, hard and he wasn’t dreaming. What did this alien want? Dave’s mind raced to the stories he’d heard about aliens. Make it stop, he thought.

The alien was uncomfortable sitting in the earthling’s kitchen.  This is the closest it had been to a human. It had seen humans before but this was different. They really do pinch themselves the alien thought, it’s not just a myth.

The alien held the earthling in his seat and thought about its mission. They could not fail this time. The universe was theirs and only this planet stood in the way. The mission was to decide if they will attack this planet and destroy all life, or let it be and just take what they want.

They would study it by the acronyms used on this planet The captain took the UN. Several other aliens were on acronym teams like the URL, HTTP, W3C or the CIA, FBI, KBG or the KAOS, UNCLE, PLOOP and there was the AMA, DMA, IMA team.

This was the alien’s first full contact mission and he was excited about his acronym. The alien could have taken NASA but it wasn’t interested in ancient history. It had heard of this SEO on earth and knew that was the most exciting thing ever in the history of humans at least according to those that wrote about it.  Once the alien completed the mission, it would be a hero back home.

Dave squirmed as much as he could in his seat and tried not to look at the alien directly. It didn’t work, he couldn’t help but stare. As the alien stared back Dave sensed the alien say something but not move its mouth. He didn’t hear it clearly at first but then he heard the letters, S E O.

“Did the alien really say S E O to me?” Dave pondered. Again he heard the alien say the letters, S E O.  So Dave responded “S E O” and the alien pulled out a key and pointed it at Dave.

The alien already knew S E O and wanted the human to tell him something about it. If not, he would zap him. If the human said S E O again the alien would send him flying into the wall. It had no time to waste with this human.

Dave thought he got a response from the alien and said again, “S E O”. Bam!!!!  Dave and his chair went flying across the room. He hit his head against the wall and the next thing he knew, Dave was right back at the table still stuck in his chair.

The alien hoped this human learned his lesson and would tell it what it wants to know and do it now. It didn’t want to be the last one back to the mothership.  The first one back got an automatic promotion. The alien that brought back the most helpful knowledge would be made a captain and have his own ship.

Dave thought if he wouldn’t say anything he’d be fine but the alien again said “S E O” and looked to him to respond. Dave thought quickly and said “search engine optimization” and saw the key come out just before his chair and head hit the wall again.  Back at the table his head was hurting bad and he didn’t know what to do.

The alien had just about enough of this human and was about to go to plan B, when the human cried out, “It’s like baking a cake. SEO is just like baking a cake.”

Mmmmm, cake. The alien had eaten cake on several cattle mutilation missions. Once  it got caught stealing a cake but nobody believed the human who reported it. Now the alien was interested. If seo is like cake, this mission will be the best yet.

Dave noticed the alien’s eyes get big and cringed at the thought of the key. The alien instead put down the key and said ”’cake”. Now what? Dave sighed, does it want me to bake it a cake? Yes! the alien responded, “cake now.”

Dave’s heart raced. He never baked a cake before. Sure he licked the batter and frosting spoons but he never really baked a cake. He had no choice as he glanced down and saw the key sitting on the table next to the alien. Suddenly he was freed from his chair and lifted into the kitchen. This shouldn’t be too bad he reasoned, I’ll only have to do this once.

Dave luckily remembered some of the things that go into a cake and decided to do the best he could. “Okay I need flour, eggs, sugar, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract,” Dave said to the alien hoping the key didn’t come out again. Dave had them all and thought he could finally get out of this. At least he could learn more about this alien while the cake was baking.

All of a sudden Dave realized he didn’t know how much of each ingredient to add. Yes, he had measuring cups and spoons, he just didn’t know how much flour or sugar or salt he needed to bake a cake.  Dave would have to guess. 

The alien was getting angrier as the human mixed food items together. None of this looked like a cake to the alien and he reached for his key. “Why doesn’t this look like cake?” the alien asked Dave.

Dave said that all he had to do is bake the cake and it would be look right. The alien asked how long that would take and Dave responded “an hour or so.” Right after Dave put the cake into the oven, the timer went off.

When Dave heard the timer go off he thought it must have been set wrong. The alien saw his puzzled look and explained one earth hour had passed. How could that be,  Dave wondered, do you really loose time in alien abductions.

Dave didn’t care, he was just happy the cake was done. Now the alien would leave him in peace. As he headed up to get the cake out of the oven he remembered he didn’t have any frosting. Maybe the alien wouln’t notice. After all, he only told the alien it was like baking a cake, not frosting one.

Dave took the cake out of the oven and saw that it had fallen and was only half as big as it should have been. Maybe the alien won’t notice Dave thought as he turned to show the cake to the alien.

The alien was glad the cake was done and could report back to the mothership all about SEO. All the other aliens loved cake and it could tell the others how to bake them. The human turned with the cake and the alien saw it was only half the size of the other cakes it had seen. Not only that, there was no frosting and the alien loved frosting.

Out came the key and Dave went flying across the room with his fallen cake and slammed against the wall. The cake went bouncing down the hall and Dave was thrown back in his chair and pinned there. The alien was furious. “Cakes should be at the top of the pan. How come this cake has fallen? ”

Dave was really frightened and didn’t know what to do. Suddenly he burst out  without thinking, “You have to buy a cake to get one that goes to the top. I can help you do that. You shouldn’t bake a cake yourself since you can buy them.”

The alien was happy again. It would be a hero after all. “How do you buy cake?” the alien asked Dave. “I can go buy cake for you now,” he replied. Suddenly Dave and the alien were in the car headed for the bakery.

It took them no time at all to get to the bakery and buy a dozen cakes. Dave drove the alien to a field outside town and helped it carry the cakes onto the spaceship. All the aliens stared at Dave and he hoped none of them approached him. After the cakes were aboard the spaceship, Dave found himself at home in bed.

The alien had made it back last after all and was worried someone had already got the promotion he wanted so bad.  The captain reported that the UN was not a threat to the aliens since they they can’t get anything done on this planet, they sure couldn’t control the universe. The KAOS, UNCLE, SPECTER,  team said that these very secret organizations and they couldn’t find anything out about them.

Unfortunately the team covering the CIA, FBI, KGB disappeared from the monitor that was covering their activities. The team that studied the  URL, HTTP, W3C were up next but they wanted everyone to go onto a computer to see their report. The AMA, DMA, IMA team talked about how wonderful their team was and how they are going to do great things for the planet. Nobody believed anything they said.

So now the alien that learned SEO was up. “SEO is like cake” the alien told his fellow travelers. It reached back and pulled out one of the dozens cakes and was mobbed. All the aliens loved cake and they couldn’t get enough. The captain announced, “You’ve done a great job and you are promoted to captain. We will not attack this planet but will come here for the cake”.

And that’s how Dave saved the planet and all of those that live here by teaching SEO to an alien in his kitchen.

Their answers shocked us as we soon realized many of the young students knew quite a bit, not only about seo, but also about the people involved. Many of the kids read blogs like Search Engine Land, The Daily SEO Blog, Bruce Clay’s Blog, Cre8pc Blog, Search Student, Shoemoney, Pronet Advertising, Search Marketing Gurus and others.

We asked some of the students to write a short note to their favorite blogger or seo and listed below are nine of their notes. I’m sure you’ll be as surprised as we were. Please leave a comment for the kids and encourage them in their seo endeavors.

Rand Fishkin,
I heard you’re getting married, congratulations. I watched the superbowl to see you propose but you weren’t there. I’m happy you and Bruce Clay’s daughter Lisa are finally getting together. I saw a video on the Internet where a girl was going to be sick because you proposed to Lisa. That was sad. I wish you the best.  Susie

Danny Sullivan,
My dad said you were an original gangster and you had to move to England but now you and your gang are hiding out in Search Engine Land. What’s it like there? I really want to come but my dad said it’s not for little kids. I know I would like it there. If I runaway could I stay with you? Do you play ping pong there? Do you have any dinosaurs? Joey

Lisa Barone,
I have to call you “the lisa” because my name’s lisa too and I don’t want you to think that I think that I’m like you at all  cause I’m not. You’re smart and kind and I’m dumb and mean. But I like you, not like those other people. I know now they were just voices in my head, so I don’t listen to them anymore. I’m sure you know what I mean. I really want to meet you sometime.  “not the lisa” lisa

Kim Krause Berg,
Wow, I’ve never met a sex goddess before. Do you always get to wear your crown?  Do you have to be voted “Most Radical Female” or “the Freakiest Female” in high school to become a sex goddess? That must be really neat. I had a doll once but that wasn’t a real sex goddess. I just  liked to pretend. It was fun until my little sister took it away from me. Can you come over to my house and play? I miss my doll. Timmy

Chris Hooley,
I wish I could ride a saber tooth tiger. You must be really brave. Timmy’s dad was brave. He’s dead now. I wish you wouldn’t ride that tiger cause I’m scared you might die. Have you ever tried a horse? I know you can’t drive a car cause you wreck it so maybe a horse would be better for you.  Are you really a eunich? Sally

Neil Patel,
I also want to be a princess! What do you need to do? I have a princess outfit but I don’t have a wand. Do you need to have a wand to be a princess? I could buy a wand with my babysitting money but my brother always takes it. Wait a minute, you’re going to school, that means you’re only a student like me. You’re not really a princess are you? Now I’ll never be a princess! Lucy

Li Evans,
You have lots of hats, you’re funny. Could you send me a hat? Our family lost all our hats in Chicago in December. That really stunk cause we need our hats to make money. Oh well, I’m sure whoever took our hats really needed them cause it was cold.  I would like to ask you a question though, and that is, are you really a pirate? Do pirates steal hats? Tammy

Jeremy Schoemaker,
It’s okay that you don’t have money to buy shoes. My mom said if you would spend less time on the internet and more time finding a job then maybe you would have some shoes. I think it’s hard to find a job without shoes. My dad said you wouldn’t need shoe money if you would sell your Hummer. I wanted to send you my allowance but my dad said you need to figure it out on your own, sorry. Kathy

Rebecca Kelley
You are my hero. I am not kidding when I say that. I’ve thought about it a lot and I’m old enough to decide who my hero is and that is you. I don’t know who other kids think is their hero but I know you are mine. I do know what it means to me and that means you are my hero. I am proud to say it and I really mean it.  Thanks for being my hero. Moon

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The presenters, all of the are well know in the search marketing industry, include;

Jeremy “Shoemoney” Shoemaker – an important player in the search engine marketing world, and his knowledge and expertise make him one of the top go-to guys for PPC, arbitrage, SEM, branding, and online income optimization. Jeremy is also a cofounder of the Elite Retreat.

Rae “Sugarrae” Hoffman – Nine years ago Rae started a small website about her son and his medical condition that became one of the first international support groups and largest website in general on the topic.

Todd “Stuntdubl” Malicoat – has been creating websites since 1997, and embraced the seo school of thought in mid 2002. He is currently an independent marketing consultant from the SEO school of thought.

Greg “GoodROI” Niland – a moderator at Webmaster World and every week he hosts the GoodKarma Internet Marketing radio show on WebmasterRadio.fm.

Michael “Graywolf” Gray – has a passion for computers and technology began in the early 1980’s as he spent his free time learning to program, and by participating in early online communities like AOL, compuserve, and Prodigy. He began publishing personal and hobby web pages in 1997 and professionally for online businesses in 1998.

If not, then you’re in for a real treat. SEO Clinic is free but not for the faint of heart. You might get some Simon Cowellesque remarks so be prepared. You will definitely get some great advice about link building, site navigation, usability, copywriting, social media optimization and other seo techniques from the people listed below, as well as the occasional guest.

Loren Baker : I’ve been involved in SEO for almost 10 years and my specializations are in basic on-site content oriented SEO, meta data, link building, local search, news & blog search optimization and social news marketing.
Carsten Cumbrowski :Carsten tends to lean more to the technical side of SEO, building affiliate sites, working with content management systems & databases, supplemental results, and even dabs in the grey hat on occasion.
Jessica Bowman :Jessica is also a long time SEO expert and her focus is on usability, driving conversions and reeling in users.
Garrett French : Garrett’s strengths are in SEO copywriting and social media optimization. Mr. French is currently starting a new company, so his time is sparse, yet his insight is valuable.
Ahmed Bilal :Ahmed is another SEO and Search Marketing specialist with expertise in professional blogging, link baiting and link building.
Rhea Drysdale : Rhea, the newest Resident Pimp, focuses on merging SEO, Paid Search, Social Media Optimization, content development, split testing and Public Relations initiatives all into one fine and effective SEO campaign.
Gemme van Hasselt : Gemme is an Internet Marketing Consultant who lives in Shanghai and specializes in SEO. With his base in China and International background, Gemme can lend some outside gathering of the box ideas to SEO campaigns.

To participate, fill out the SEO Clinic form here and cross your fingers. You’ll surely learn a thing or two and your website will only get better.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 24, 2007 — The China Search Marketing Tour has partnered with Search Engine Strategies to provide a search engine marketing event to be held May 19 – May 28, 2007. The tour will visit Beijing, Shanghai Xiamen and Hong Kong. Tour participants will attend the second Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo to be held in Xiamen, China May 25 – 26, 2007. The tour can be customized based on the participants schedule. Sign up for this event ends March 21, 2007 and the early bird discount ends March 5, 2007.

The China Search Marketing Tour was a great experience on several different levels. It was culturally enlightening, historically informative, educational and all-around fun!

The search engine landscape in China is changing rapidly as competitors scramble to take the lead in the world’s second largest Internet market. According to Analysys International the China search engine market will see a compound annual growth of more than 30% from 2006 to 2010 based on its recently released report “China Search Engine Market Forecast 2006 — 2010”. Revenue for China’s search engine providers is expected to reach 4.521 billion (RMB) approximately 528 million (USD) in 2010.

“Anyone in the search marketing industry that plans on doing business with China shouldn’t miss this tour. Chinese companies are also looking to the west to achieve global exposure for their web sites” said Ian McAnerin, McAnerin Networks, Inc., CEO and host of the China Search Marketing Tour. McAnerin added “This is definitely a first mover opportunity for search marketers around the world.”

Brooke Schumacher of B-line Marketing and host of the eMarketing Talk Show said of last year’s event, “The China Search Marketing Tour was a great experience on several different levels. It was culturally enlightening, historically informative, educational and all-around fun! ” She added, “What could be more exciting than traveling, learning, conversing with SEOs and witnessing large-scale web adoptions and profound global changes?”

For more information go to China Search Marketing Tour or to join the tour call 1.800.865.6221.