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US Search Awards 2013 – I’m a Judge! #ussearchawards

Those nice people at Don’t Panic Projects have asked me to a judge for the US search awards that will be handed out at Pubcon in Vegas this October.

I’m joining people like Rand Fishkin (professional crush/swoon), Chris Boggs and Richard Gregory (who I have not seen for donkey’s years)!

Not going to say I’m humbled and honoured etc because I’m English and we don’t do that sort of thing. I will say though, that I’m looking forward to seeing what people submit.

I recently judged the Performance Marketing Awards in the search category and was totally astounded by the ingenuity and attention to detail the shortlisters possessed; so seeing how they measure up to US strategies and tactics will be fascinating.

Read more on the judges and awards here and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

Oh and if you’re a search marketer, please share this post so the awards get some more visibility.

London in 2 Weeks & Maggie’s Moves

Just 2 weeks until our book launch reception in London. Thrilled JWT have agreed to host it. I remember reading up on their graduate training scheme way back in 1994 and not having a clue where to start filling out the application form.

How things change with the passage of time and a little experience?!

I’m looking forward to spending time with friends and family, as well as shoehorning in a few pints of 6X and other English bitters that I miss quite a bit.

More 5 star reviews keep coming in for the book on Amazon (links here) and we’ve published some more excerpts on Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land, Gurbaksh Chahal from RadiumOne, Jaron Lanier from Microsoft who is the “Father of Virtual Reality” and Vanessa Fox, formerly from Google, she set up their webmaster tools community and now runs her own consultancy and marketing intelligence software called Nine By Blue from offices in Seattle.

Yesterday I spoke about the book at the Microsoft Trends Council in Redmond. A few senior folks showed up to hear me talk about the lessons learned from the book. Feedback was great. I think they find it valuable to hear what others are saying and doing in digital-land, and I think the historical nature of the book lends itself very well to understanding what might work for businesses in the future.

One potential other lesson they raised was practice. The notion that many of the Pioneers have honed their technical and business expertise over many years through experience. More on that on the Delightful Communications Blog by the end of the week.

Lastly, here’s a “cute” video we shot of Maggie just before Christmas of her dance moves:

Enjoy and you’ll here more from me next week!

Meet My New Company: Delightful Communications

Today is the official launch of my new business: Delightful Communications

Ever since I was 12 years old I have wanted to start my own company.

At school I would ask the teachers to stock the library with all manner of entrepreneur-type magazines and books, and you could often find me voraciously reading them, pausing only occasionally to stare out of the window and daydream about what it must be like to be your own boss.

Well, when fortune forced me to pull a sad face 8 weeks ago, those dreams started to become a reality as I realised now was the time to make them real.

The reaction to me leaving my seven-year role at Microsoft was overwhelming. Literally hundreds of people emailed or commented either wishing me well, or wanting to talk about possible new jobs or business partnerships.

To everyone who contacted me, I’d like to thank you very much again. The words of encouragement were the well-needed boost to the inkling that now was the time to set up on my own. I thought long and hard about the positions I was asked to try out for, and am grateful for the time people took to uncover potential roles for me.

After many discussions with my wife and family, coupled with the wise counsel of some of my closest industry friends, Delightful Communications was born.

The consultancy builds on the three areas I had the most success with during my time at Microsoft:

- Social Media Integration

- Digital PR

- Personal Branding

To understand more about how I’ll be helping my customers, click through to the site that has been so beautifully put together by Dave Naylor’s team at Bronco.

Clients and partners I’m already working with include: Sociagility, Nine By Blue, 3 Monkeys, Haiku Deck, Zaprica, Barokas PR and The Seattle Theatre Group.

I’m also thrilled to be getting into the “Big Data” space by taking on a part-time role as “US Ambassador at Large” for Majestic SEO. I’ve been watching their impressive development, and the strides my friend Dixon Jones has been making in the industry for the last few years. I am looking forward to learning from the team, and helping them reach more people throughout the US who are in need of the wealth of actionable information their platform holds.

As I said eight weeks ago, my time at Microsoft was an incredible experience. I spent seven years working with some of the smartest and most astute minds in technology and advertising, and I’m sure our paths will cross again over the next seven.

With my book – Pioneers of Digital – launching in just twenty five days, and a growing list of speaking engagements, I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me over the next few months!

Thanks again everyone for all the support and words of wisdom. It’s meant so much to me and my family!

Thanks too to the guys – Blake and Jess – from the video production company, Cherry, who put together this video of my career highlights. We had quite a ride shooting all those interviews over the years.

Cheers,

Mel

Zhang Minhui from China’s Sohu on Advertising to Half a Billion Users

This article has been re-posted from the Pioneers of Digital Blog.

Sohu.cn in China has the largest combined search, social and entertainment portals in the world. With over 505 million internet users – more than the entire population of the USA – Sohu contains many of the world’s most populated sites.

Zhang Minhui managed Sohu’s brand advertising and commercial content across its digital platforms during the key years of growth from 2002-2010, which makes him one of the most influential pioneers of digital.

Minhui negotiated how marketing would work through search, social, gaming, mobile, news and interactive media. Where Sohu created the formats, Minhui made it commercial.

A chapter profiling Zhang and Sohu also traces the four key periods in China’s recent and groundbreaking digital history.

Pioneers of Digital launches in October – pre-order your copy now by visiting Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for the next ‘reveal’.

PS: If you liked this snippet from the book, please share it with your friends and followers using the buttons below and help us spread the word!

Thanks,

Paul

Danny Sullivan – Helping Search Marketing Be "Legitimate and Valuable"

This feature on Danny Sullivan was cross-posted from the Pioneers Of Digital Blog

The third in our series of posts revealing our Pioneers of Digital is Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land.

A trail-blazer in the very important but often misunderstood (and underutilized) area of digital – Search Engine Marketing – Danny fell into journalism and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) through a burning passion to “understand things” by taking those things apart and reassembling them, helping anyone keen to learn from him understand the essence of whatever “it” was in a much more accessible way.

The chapter charts from 1996 the inception and success of his former brainchild Search Engine Watch, how he launched some of the best attended digital conferences in the world, what happened when he invited a representative from Yahoo! to attend the first one in 1999, what he does with his Lego, and his mantra for success in a fast-paced industry like online advertising and internet marketing.

The book launches soon, so pre-order your copy now by visiting this page: Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for number four out of our twenty digital pioneers.

Thanks,

Mel & Paul

Jess Greenwood from R/GA on Creativity & "Being Interested"

This article on Jess Greenwood has been x-posted from the Pioneers of Digital blog.

Last week we revealed Avinash Kaushik from Google as one of our Pioneers of Digital.

Today, we’re pleased to say Jess Greenwood, formerly from Contagious Magazine and now at R/GA, also agreed to be interviewed about her fantastic work at the London-based magazine and the growth of the publication and off-shoot divisions as “must go to” sources of industry creative inspiration and trends.

During a career that has had many twists and turns, Greenwood first became aware of the power of digital through a BBC comedy and the online community that grew up around it.

In her chapter, we’ll tell you what that show was, give you her sound advice for measuring the effectiveness of advertising online, and let you have some strong pointers as to what personal traits are needed to get into and survive in the industry.

To order the book visit this page Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for insight into our next Pioneer!

Thanks

Mel & Paul

Avinash Kaushik from Google – A Magnificent Opportunity

This post was cross-posted from the Pioneers of Digital Blog: Avinash Kaushik from Google “A Magnificent Opportunity”

As we promised last week, from now until the book’s launch, we’ll be giving you a more detailed sneak peek into the Pioneers of Digital we chose to profile and why their contributions to digital have been so important.

Today we kick off with Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Digital Marketing Evangelist and author of hugely successful books on web analytics and an incredibly helpful blog.

One of the best presenters in the business, Avinash has inspired thousands of marketers around the world to grasp the “magnificent opportunity” we all have to succeed in our business goals through digital.

In the chapter about him we reveal his colourful career journey from a tiny town in India, via the Middle East to Mountain View and his current role at Google, documenting more than a few hair-raising & “ah-ha” moments along the way!

We thank Avinash and Google for letting us tell his story. You’ll enjoy reading it we promise!

To order the book visit this page Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for insight into our next Pioneer!

Stay tuned….

Mel & Paul