By guest writer Paul J. Bruemmer, Director Search Marketing Red Door Interactive

Billed for the ?advanced? search marketing community, SMX proved to be quite valuable for those starting out with in-house SEM operations, or with 3-5 years experience. It likely was quite overwhelming for any entry level SEM?s. For those with 10+ plus years, it was a plum opportunity to network with the best and to be in step with the latest industry trends.

SMX: An introduction

As compared with other SEM shows, all the same faces and subject matter were present with a spin toward audience response and involvement.

Overall, I will score Search Marketing Expo with an 8 out of 10 power points and a full 10 for effort. Clearly, the team responsible for planning and delivering the event can be proud, and congratulations to those in the background who helped keep it all together.

The location was a welcome change, certainly one could break away to get the feeling of rest and relaxation in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The audience seemed to be made up predominantly of in-house SEM?s and practitioners.

There were two tracks, Paid and Organic, which from a knowledge-transfer point-of-view, often made it difficult to get the whole picture; I wanted to be in two places at the same time. It is mandatory for in-house SEM?s and practitioners to have a well-rounded understanding of both paid and organic search in order to deliver best practice search engine marketing strategy and tactics.

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