if you are a mid to large sized retailer or publisher and are in need of a quality SEM, here are a few that top the list of decent search engine marketing agencies (in alphabetical order):

360i
avenue a | razorfish
iCrossing
iProspect
GSI - Global Strategies International
Performics

some smaller agencies that might be of interest:

BarkleyREI
Critical Mass
Zeta Interactive (formerly DigitalGrit)

i would definitely recommend choosing an agency that has experience in more than one area of online marketing as the synergies across programs could provide you with economies of scale. for example, having a single agency that manages your paid and natural search programs in parallel could save you a lot of money in the long run.

this is merely a rant to say that i can't stand the term "web 2.0". the word has no real meaning and no real definition.

i have such a hatred for the term because i am surrounded by it on a daily basis and yet no one can explain it to me fully or give me examples of what it is.

somet things that get mentioned are:

video optimization
blogging
AJAX
user reviews and interaction
wiki's
blah blah blah

stupid. i want to gag myself when people try to sound like they know what they are talking about by using the term web 2.0

end of rant.

so i've been checking out the beta of the Spock search engine and i'm not sure i like it.

it seems to be a hybrid social network/search engine as far as i can tell.

and it's just one more way for creeps to try and find out more information about someone.

i don't know if i think this is just a horrible idea or a valid search "tool" for end-users looking for information.

anybody have any comments about this new engine?

in the world of large, database-driven ecommerce websites, implementing quality seo tactics can be somewhat difficult. especially with restrictions inherent to many content management systems.

on top of that, the internal bureaucracy of large corporations prevent them from updating their own websites. Marketing and IT resource constraints wreak havoc on timely implementations.

what is a Fortune 500 company to do?

one remedy to these SEO woes is the implementation of a proxy technology solution.

what the heck is that?

it is basically a way for a site to be optimized remotely by a third party. leaving the optimization work to the experts while not touching the native site.

the proxy environment basically creates a mirror image of the native site but appends the native pages with keyword optimized content such as Title tags, meta description tags and body content.

without requiring the resources of the company's IT or Marketing departments.

there are a few different providers of proxy solutions providing varying degrees of optimization.

what experiences have you had with proxy technologies? would you recommend it for large ecommerce websites?

this is for the ad agencies, creative web designers and marketing heads of the world...

i've had the misfortune of dealing with clients who spend large sums of money developing microsites for their customers (entirely in Flash) and then shortly before making them live, ask us to help them with search engine optimization.

duh.

if this wasn't 2007 i wouldn't comment as such but many of these individuals have heard of and are well aware of SEO. to the point of knowing that they have to do it for their sites.

and yet over and over again i deal with customers who think that building a single url, all-flash website is somehow going to rank well on top, extremely generic keywords.

these are highly paid individuals.

i say shame on them, but i also think: shame on the ad agencies and development/design firms for not thinking outside of the box.

am i just being too critical? does anybody else think this is pretty rediculous in this day and age?

i am all for a nice flash element on a website but please keep it to a minimum. hybrid html/flash sites can look amazing (for the designers out there) and yet still be functional and seo-friendly.

how is it that these shops just don't get it?

who is missing the boat here?

sorry for the rant. but i guess everybody is entitled to their own opinions.

let me know your thoughts.