Best practices for paid search, SEO and corporate blogging were among the interactive offerings at the 2006 Trends in Online Marketing, Blogging and Event Management seminar.

As the editor of iMedia Connection's entertainment industry newsletter, Entertainment Spot, I'm used to exploring the way movies are marketed. But at this week's 2006 Trends in Online Marketing, Blogging and Event Management seminar in Long Beach, California, I learned a bit about how movie theaters can be marketed-- as a venue that facilitates more interactive corporate meetings.

Sponsored by National CineMedia, the seminar -- which took place in a large, modern movie theater -- was designed to provide attendees with a more personalized, more interactive training experience. Through the use of large-screen video, state-of-the-art sound and a comfortable, laid-back seating arrangement, attendees viewed and participated in presentations on a more intimate level than would be feasible in cavernous conference centers or chilly hotel ballrooms.

Most importantly, though, the forum allowed for an intimate discussion on some of the hottest topics in interactive marketing, including paid search, natural search and blogging.

The value of search
Jupiter Research has indicated that 90 percent of the adult internet population has used a search engine, with 41 percent using one at least once a day. And with eMarketer estimates of ad spends reaching nearly 10 billion dollars by 2009, paid search is obviously one of the strongest tools available to marketers. To help marketers play a successful role in the paid search game, Patrizio Spagnoletto, the director of marketing for Yahoo! Search Marketing, presented a comprehensive 101 course on the subject.

Spagnoletto outlined the process for designing and implementing a search campaign to drive awareness, leads and purchases. He recommends that, in order to leverage paid search to its best advantage, marketers need to carefully match the keywords they choose with the specific needs and intentions of their customers at the time of the search. For example, customers who are beginning to search for video equipment information will be reached most effectively with general terms and product classes ("DVD player," "home electronics"), while customers who are actively ready to buy online can be reached through keywords of specific product names, nicknames or store locations ("Panasonic DVD-LX9;" "TiVo").

Spagnoletto also provided suggestions to help marketers tailor their search ad copy to achieve better results. For sponsored ads, he recommends accurately describing exactly what users will find when they go to a site, such as using the purchased keywords in the title and description of the ad, and including brand names of products. For general listings, he suggests including your company's pricing and promotions, and avoiding the use of superlatives, such as "lowest."

Organic search campaigns
While Spagnoletto's presentation focused on how to design paid search campaigns for optimal results, MoreVisibility president, Andrew Wetzler, covered the other end of the search spectrum: how to optimize your website design and architecture to achieve better natural search results.

Wetzler's presentation stressed the importance of best practices in this arena, which includes making sure that your methodology is consistent with the submission criteria and guidelines used by each of the search engines, including Yahoo, Google and MSN. He also outlined three key considerations that make a site search engine friendly:

1. Linking. The more relevant sites that link to your site, the better. In addition, outbound links are beginning to take on a greater measure of importance, so be sure to make careful, targeted decisions when it comes to the sites you link to.
2. Relevance. Size up the degree to which your site speaks to the keywords you choose, so that the traffic you receive will not be frustrated by not finding what they need on your site.
3. Search architecture. Make sure that your page structure and link structure intuitively direct customers to the place on your site that has the information they searched for.

Wetzler also recommends that marketers who optimize their sites for search build a realistic timeframe for results, as organic search can take longer than the immediate and localized paid search methods.

Corporate blogging
In the final presentation of the day, VeriSign Information Services' VP of sales, Sean Downey, outlined the dynamics of this powerhouse technique for creating conversations with consumers, rather than talking at them. Downey reminded the audience that blogs are meant to project human voices, so while they have the power of engagement and authenticity, it's important to remain within certain boundaries when creating your content, lest your blog be exposed as the false voice of a corporate shill.

According to Downey, while marketing with blogs is more immediate, honest and accountable than traditional marketing, there are very specific guidelines that corporate bloggers should follow, as well as unique pitfalls to watch out for. He cautions marketers: "Do not think of [blogs] as an extension of your current marketing plan."

Overall, Downey says that those creating blogs need to be fair, and need to be strong enough to live up to the criticism. To this, he provided a few basic recommendations:

1. Use an outsider for your blog. The time-sensitive nature of blogging makes it difficult for staff to keep up with. And often, your staff is too close to the story to present an objective, open view of the topic.
2. Set up the blog with its own name, rather than using the creator's name as the "brand" for the blog.
3. Encourage uncensored comments. This is more likely to provide an opportunity for a compelling dialogue than to present a crisis.
4. Get rid of internal review cycles. Endless reviews can bog down the process and could undermine the authenticity factor.
5. Take risks. Trust your customers to understand your position and appreciate the ability to get involved in your corporate decisions, successes and struggles.