Fighting IP Extremism with Online Video – The Lawrence Lessig Interview
Grant Crowell of ReelSEO writes, “We caught up with Professor Lawrence Lessig, founder of Standford Law school’s Center for Internet and Society, and the opening Keynote Speaker the Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008 conference for ‘Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy’. We asked Professor Lessing if he believes there is significant IP extremism (i.e., legal restrictions) with online video content for both amateur and commercial use, and what video-specific solutions does he see in his proposal of a ‘hybrid economy’ – protecting freedoms for video amateurs while producing incentives for video professionals.”

Measuring Success In A 2.0 World
Mike Sachoff of WebProNews writes, “At the SES Chicago session “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World” the panel discussed different strategies to use to track success.

How Low Performing Banner Ads Can Actually Increase Conversions
Nathania Johnson of Search Engine Watch writes, “In a couple sessions at SES, I’ve been hearing about how banner ads can drive people to search. So while they may not be clicking on your display ads and converting off of them, they may send people to a search engine to find your product or service.”

SES Chicago: Getting Your Viral Campaign Going
Abby Johnson of WebProNews Video Blog interviewed Chris Winfield, the President of 10e20 about getting started with a viral campaign.

Day 1: My Daily Takeaways From SES Chicago
Grabanski of the AimClear Blog writes, “Whereas conference coverage typically focuses on 1 session at a time, we thought it might be interesting to assign one of our bloggers (me) the role of providing a more global overview of their day spent in sessions. We hope you enjoy the format of bite-sized chunks of key points gleaned from multiple sessions.”

Josh Todd explains Campaign Measurement
Josh Todd, the Director of Acquisition Marketing for Constant Contact, explains the challenges of measuring online/offline advertising campaigns.

Live Blogging Day 2 at SES Chicago
Jeff Woelker provides Day 2 live blogging coverage of SES.

Welcome to SES Chicago 2008!
Sage Lewis, the President of SageRock.com, says, “Today is the first day of Search Engine Strategies 2008. Watch this video to see what the week will be about and all the things that will be learned.”

Universal & Blended Search from #SES Chicago 08
Shawna Fennell of the Yahoo! Store Blog writes, “First of all, I thought this session was really fascinating! When you look at how much search engines have changed over the last 10 years, it is truly amazing!”

SEO Samba at SES Chicago
Dave Naylor checked out one of the exhibitors on the show floor of SES Chciago 2008 and writes, “Behold a fully fledged SEO automation platform Seo Samba and DaveN is at the SES Chicago Conference to see it. SEO Samba promises much in terms of SEO process integration, facilitation of SEO best practice and a scalable content management system.”

» Full story

I’m one of the speakers at the Video Search Engine Optimization session on Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. And tonight, I did a double-check to see if there was any last-minute news about online video that I should be aware of before tomorrow’s panel.

And I read this: “YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008.” Holy Mackerel!

Here are the details: According to comScore Video Metrix, more than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 92 videos per viewer in October. Google Sites attracted a record 100 million online video viewers, or more than two out of every three Internet users who watched video during the month. This means that Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.4 billion videos viewed, with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98% of all videos viewed at the property.

Specifically, 99.5 million viewers watched 5.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (53.2 videos per viewer).

But, YouTube isn’t a video search engine. It is a video sharing site. Which means that YouTube doesn’t crawl the videos on your website. You need to upload your videos to YouTube in order for them to be found when someone conducts a “YouTube Search.”

Fortunately, I have a YouTube case study to present at tomorrow’s session. It’s a follow-on story that I shared at SES San Jose on a similar panel. Li Evans of KeyRelevance interviewed me after that session a couple of months ago. So, you can see that this “Holy Mackerel” story has been told before.

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe

Still, I can’t tell you how many times people ask me how to optimize video for Google Video. Ummm. How do I say this? If YouTube is accounting for more than 98% of all videos viewed at Google Sites, then Google Video accounts for less than 2%. Right?

So, video search engine optimization appears to be round-off error. What is more important is optimizing video for YouTube. That’s what I plan to talk about tomorrow. It may be a little surprising. But no more surprising than the latest data from comScore.

Thankfully, I have good news to report. E-commerce spending last week was up 7% year-over-year, according to comScore.

Even better news is that the gains from Black Friday, Cyber Monday and last week have made up for the 4% drop in sales for most of November which marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

There is a caveat for some of you search marketers, however. Many advertising budgets are shifting dollars towards paid search - possibly making e-commerce more competitive and ad bid prices higher.

Another thing e-tailers are using are incentives, such as free shipping, and coupons. They’re using them because they work. All of this can cut into your margins, but perhaps not as bad as missing out on sales altogether.

This holiday may have to be the most fluid and flexible one in recent memory for search marketers. Keep an eye on your analytics and on your paid search accounts. Don’t assume the ad that was there yesterday is working fine and dandy today. Vigilance is the name of the game in this volatile economy.

Tell us what you’re seeing in your industry and niche by leaving a comment!

But at night, when I go to the networking cocktails, it’s a testosterone festival.

Maybe you’re rocking it so much that you don’t need to network. Maybe you feel so good about the economy that you’re not worried about your job. Maybe you love working for the man so much that you never want to start your own company or become an indie consultant.

But on the off chance that you do want to advance in your profession, but you’re curling up in your pjs and watch reruns of Sex and the City instead of hangin’ at Kitty O’Sheas, we need to talk.

Sure, the sessions and keynotes are a great way to learn stuff, but it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if you don’t have clients, are busting out a bunch of manual work instead of streamlining your process with awesome search tools, or are out of a job. All of those things could happen unless you get your butt down to the bars.

By networking alone, I am seeing the potential for my non-SEW 2009 work to bring in thou$and$ more. That’s a different financial scenario than you’ll hear by flipping on the cable news channels and crying in your Cheerios (no matter how cute you look in those flannel jammie pants!).

So, how do you do said networking?

Step 1. Go down to the bar.
Step 2. Put a drink in your hand. (non-alcoholic is fine if that’s how you roll)
Step 3. Walk up to someone you don’t know.
Step 4. Stick out your hand for a shake and say “Hi, My Name is (fill in the blank) and I’m from (fill in the blank with your company). What’s your name?”
Step 5. Listen.
Step 6. Ask questions about that person. Get them to talk about themselves.

What kind of questions, you may ask? Well, first you’re off to a good start by just asking that very question to me. Here are more:

1. Where are you based? (i.e. Where do you live?)
2. How long have you been in your position?
3. How many people are at your company?

Pay attention to those answers and get curious. Turn your curiosity into more questions and you’re golden.

If you’re really drunk brave, you’ll pull a harmonica out of your coat pocket and say, “I dare you to go up and play with the band.” (What? That sentence seemed like it came out of nowhere? That’s because you weren’t down at the bar last night.)

Seriously, though, I’m not going to lie to you. Some people will be snobby. Not many, but a few. Wrap up your time with them and move on to more laid back people. Your time is valuable and spend it with people who make it worth your while.

Oh - and the more you do it, the easier you’ll be. Once you’ve met a few people - you can look for them and hang out with them at future cocktails, lunches, etc. You’ll inevitably meet who they know and expand your network.

You just have to get started. So get out of the pjs, into some jeans and down to the bar. Don’t worry, Sex and the City will be on again tomorrow night. Same bat channel, same bat time.

The entry titled “Tough times” was written in all lower case - written in a casual tone despite the seriousness of the occasion to those leaving. Obviously “saying goodbye to colleagues and friends is never easy” but perhaps it deserves more than what looks like a casual note jotted off in a hurry.

A sale of Yahoo at $31 may have led to as many layoffs, but the departing employees would have more money than the 4 months severance ValleyWag reports to fall back on. A sentence in the About page for Yahoo Anecdotal - though not directed at this situation - has a resonance I can’t get out of my head.

“Much as we’d love to help resolve your concern, support issues are way out of our realm.”

Combine that with the slides ValleyWag acquired for layoff instructions to managers and one sees the big business actions of this declining corporation.

The Twitters of the employees as they have been given the news and their friends reactions have made this day seem like an industry tragedy - which in the short term it definitely is. Hopefully though some of these people go on to create new companies and products that build on its continued future.

Read more from the source

One of the participating charities (and a favorite of yours truly) is Doctors Without Borders, one of the only charities assisting in the current crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and helping Somalian refugees who arrived in Yemen this week. Here’s what their theme looks like:

That “I’m Feeling Lucky” button sure does take on a whole new meaning when you are reminded of what millions of less fortunate people face every single day of their lives. These people would love to have the “problem” of cutting back on Christmas.

It’s far too easy to forget the needs of people around the world and here at home. But these iGoogle Themes for Causes can help you keep charity constant in your life.

Read more from the source

But for those of you who couldn’t attend because your travel budget was cut because of the recession, here’s a quick summary of the search engine marketing tips and SEO tools that – ironically – could help your company weather the downturn in the economy better than your competitors:

The Rich Are Different Than…
Anna Maria Virzi of ClickZ writes, “An examination into the online behavior of the most affluent or ‘upper crust’ people was an eye-opener for Bill Tancer, Hitwise general manager. He shared this following anecdote during the SES Chicago keynote on Tuesday to make the point that online marketers have access to information that can inform marketing strategies.”

Bill Tancer on Search Patterns in 2008
I interviewed Bill Tancer, the General Manager of Hitwise and author of the best-selling book, “Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters,” following his morning keynote presentation. I asked Bill to elaborate on some of the search engine user behavior he saw in 2008 and forecast what patterns we might see in 2009.

SEM Tips For Small Businesses
Mike Sachoff of WebProNews covered the the “SEM Small Business Blitz” session the speakers focused on how to use social media in an affordable and practical way.

Lawrence Lessig on Copyright Laws
Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, who gave the opening keynote at SES Chicago 2008 on Monday, talks about the problems and shortcomings of current copyright laws and discusses solutions on how to revise copyright laws to end the war on prohibition and build on a new hybrid economy.

I Drool, You Drool, We all Drool for New Tools
Manny Rivas of the AimClear Blog writes, “Take time to research the overwhelmingly huge list of SEO tools out there, and you’ll quickly see there are hundreds (if not thousands), all sorting the very same data. Some cost arms, legs and sometimes skin off the back, but many are appendage-friendly (free). This SES Chicago session, succinctly titled ‘SEO Tools,’ was moderated by Sage Lewis, Search Engine Watch Expert & President of SageRock.com.”

Live Blogging Day 3 at SES Chicago
Jeff Woelker of Written By All Of Us, a Slack Barshinger Blog, was back at it for day 3 at SES Chicago. He writes, “Hope you’ve been enjoying the last two days.”

Interview with Amanda Watlington on Podcast & Audio Search Optimization
Shana Albert of Social Desire writes, “Right now SES Chicago is going on….. the only major Search Marketing Conference and Expo in the Midwest. I had the good fortune of being able to interview Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit…. She was on the panel of the Podcast & Audio Search Optimization session. Here is my interview with Amanda.”

Sally Falkow at SES Chicago 2008 with Matthew Bailey
Sally Falkow of ExpansionPlus interviewed Matthew Bailey of SiteLogic about social media measurement, content strategy, and search engine optimization (SEO) at the 2008 Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo in Chicago (SESChicago08).

A Special Message to the Ladies Attending SES Chicago: Woman to Woman
Nathania Johnson of Search Engine Watch has this observation about women at SES Chicago: “I see you at the keynotes. I see you at the sessions. I see you in the expo hall during the day. But at night, when I go to the networking cocktails, it’s a testosterone festival.”

» Full story

While at Google, Nishar contributed to mobile efforts and most recently oversaw product development for Asia-Pacific.

Nishar is the latest of a string of Googlers leaving to join startups or build their own companies. While the current economy makes this a risky move, LinkedIn is one of the few startups bucking the trend. In fact, if you’re one of the many finding yourself “in between jobs” right now, LinkedIn is a great place to network.

Read more from the source