As part of my role as Director Search Marketing for Cossette Media in Vancouver (BC), I have been informed that we are looking for a great web developer contractor to work in the Fjord Interactive division. This position can lead to a full time position. Please find some more information on this position below:

Job Description: Fjord Interactive
Title: Web Developer/Programmer

We seek a Developer/Programmer with a desire to push the interactive technology bar. You are a coder with a clear understanding of database integration. You possess strong communication skills and effectively work within a cross-functional team.

Responsibilities:
* Work closely with technical director to understand technical requirements.
* Provide updates on project progress and assist in the budget-costing process from a technical development perspective.
* Make recommendations about technologies and software packages for project-specific requirements.

Qualifications:
* Knowledge of ASP(X)/PHP(4/5) connecting to MSSQL/MySQL databases.
* Ability to create strict and pixel precise (X)HTML/CSS
* Experience producing tabled and table-less layouts. 
* Comfortable modifying Wordpress and Drupal type cms and blogging tools. (asset)

Sample job posting for this position:

Web Developer Wanted - Contract

Agency seeks a junior developer/programmer familiar with interactive media technologies. Candidates should have some knowledge of ASP(X)/PHP(4/5) connecting to MSSQL/MySQL databases, the ability to create strict and pixel precise (X)HTML/CSS, and experience producing tabled and table-less layouts. Your ability to modify Wordpress and Drupal type cms and blogging tools would be considered a strong asset.

If you’re interested, email us a quick note with your experience and industry knowledge, and impress us with samples of your work. (Portfolio required.)

Contact :

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Hier soir le 24 Mars 2007 avait lieu une autre soirée C’est Extra Vancouver ou la francophonie se donne rendez-vous chaque mois, au Backstage Lounge sur L’île Granville, pour danser sur la musique française et québecoise des années 60 à aujourd’hui. Encore une fois, ce fût un grand succès. Près de 200 personnes étaient au rendez-vous. Organisé de mains de maître par le DJ Eric Lenger et son associé Martin Talbot, ils ont su avec brio animer la foule juqu’à tard dans la nuit. Je convie toute la francophonie Vancouveroise à la prochaine soirée C’est Extra Vancouver dans un mois. (date à confirmer).

Organisateurs:
Eric Lenger

Martin Talbot

Quelques photos de C’est Extra Vancouver - 24 Mars 2007:

Voice d’autres photos de C’est Extra Vancouver. Pour plus d’info sur les prochaines soirées francophones C’est Extra Vancouver ainsi que sur le Spectacle de Louis-José Houde, visitez le site officiel de C’est Extra Vancouver.

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Un ami m’a envoyé ce vidéo sur nos chers glorieux, les Canadiens de Montreal. La chanson thème du groupe Mes Aieux en arrière plan a été tres bien reprise. C’est sûr que c’est plus facile de prendre pour les Canucks par les temps qui courent, mais je me réserve quand même le droit d’espérer que mes deux meilleurs équipes se retrouvent dans les séries.

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Next week, I will be attending a very interesting local event called CaseCamp Vancouver V2. CaseCamp is a marketing unconference open to anyone. Presenters share case studies of their work, with the goal of creating a commons for discussion, learning and networking. The event will be held on March 27, 2007, 6h00PM at Cafe Republic, 958 Granville Street. First presenter starts at 6h30PM.

You can subscribe for updates through or visit CaseCamp Vancouver V2 website for more info. Everyone interested in the use of Technology in Marketing should attend.

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This morning, I had a nice little chat with a colleague, a brilliant copywriter named Steve Kellas.

Steve knows how to tell a good story. So we talked about words. Words can help you sell, feel, touch, smell - anything. God, you can do a lot with words and we were talking about a client of ours which try to sell online - without words. I can’t disclose who that is but as it applies to everyone trying to sell online, please consider this your very own case analysis.

Then a few hours later, I came across this article: Organic Search Marketing needs words.

Wow, how timely. I love it. I keep saying to people, stop focusing all your efforts on design, colors & images. If you want to be successful online, you have to team up with a brilliant copywriter and tell a good story. SEOs, the professionals, not the task, then tint a little bit of the copywriter’s world for optimizing gently the web content for search engines. Without words, we can’t optimize anything. Surprisingly, in the article I mention, the guys are discussing how they should have talked about the need for words more in their book about search engine optimization. They also provide great examples of common mistakes where site owners avoid using words in their site. 

Steve, I wish I would bump into you more often. Thanks for reminding me on the importance of great copywriting. 

And you, what’s the story you want to tell?

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Last week, a colleague sent me this document, which I would like to share with everyone. It includes all the latest trends in search marketing including data on each search engine, keywords, sites and studies about search engines marketing. You will find search engines market share data, search engine by gender, top vertical categories & keywords, average cost per click per category and so much more.

What I found most interesting though is the top 12 (and worse 12) online marketing tactics used by online marketers to generate traffic to their site. I guess this is the part I loved the most especially since it is based on a survey of real people doing real online advertising and it ranks banner ads at the second lowest spot for online marketing tactic effectiveness. Check it out:

Since this is the case as the study shows, why are still so many advertisers doing it then? I can’t figure out the interest of purchasing anything online that interrupts people. Even pop-ups and pop-unders are actually more effective, according to this study. Feel free to give me your comments on these stats. You might find something that slipped through my eyes and that I need to pay attention to. 

Please find below the full link of this phenomenal resource on search engine marketing current trends:
http://adage.com/images/random/searchfactpack2006.pdf

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If there is one thing I have always followed since I have been in the search marketing business, it is rise and fall of every search engine. As such, every 6 months MSN is making major statements on how soon they will grab Google’s share of the search market, and every month we can find a search engines ranking report presenting how each of the search engine has fluctuated. A few days ago, I came across a complete search engines ranking report on Search Engine Land’s blog. The findings follow the same trend that has existed over the last few years, where Google makes slight incremental rise, month over month. On this, I found this table pretty revealing:

As you can see, despite their regular announcements, MSN is still struggling to be in the race. I don’t mind announcements, especially when they come from Microsoft, as long as it is supported with a real plan of attack, which I can’t wait to hear. This will be the topic of my next post where I will comment on Steve Ballmer stating that Google is “One-Trick Pony” and that the search giant does not have success in business areas outside of search engine advertising.

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As a lot of people know, I have been actively involved in the creation of SEMPO Canada working group with a few other leaders in Search Marketing in Canada such as Ken Jurina & Gord Hotchkiss. As part of this effort, we are always recruiting new SEMPO members to join the Canadian troops and continue the revolution of changing the face of marketing in Canada. As such, SEMPO Canada working group is pleased to announce a new member on the team. Brian Ussery from NuRun & Ant Interactive is joining the Canadian Search Marketing group and we believe his extensive experience in Search Engine Optimization along with his leadership skills will help us grow the Search Marketing industry in Canada. Here is some more info on Brian as you may also find in the SEMPO Canada Founding Members area.

Brian Ussery is the SEO Technology Specialist at NuRun | Ant Farm Interactive. With 9 years of experience, he is responsible for solving high-end technical issues related to natural search, which encompass design, architecture, technology and branding. Brian also helps identify new state-of-the-art enabling technologies as well as web service applications on the Internet, and other platforms for nurun | ant farm interactive. Brian and his team work with the world’s most widely recognized brands, as well as some of the fastest growing medium-sized online companies.

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Since the last few months, I have been actively involved with SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, located at Sempo.org, and as part of this initiative, I am thrilled to announce the formation of SEMPO Canada and soon to be launched Sempo.ca. Here are some more about it:

SEMPO Canada is a SEMPO Working Group founded in November 2006 by Ken Jurina & Alexandre Brabant, which focuses on improving the growth, awareness and understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM) including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Link Building, Pay Per Click (PPC) Management best practices in this new field of marketing and how it uniquely pertains and is of relevance to Canadians worldwide across any sector, vertical or industry. SEMPO stands for: Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. SEMPO Canada will play the integral role of educating on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) through attendance of, exhibiting and presenting at numerous conferences, seminars and tradeshows throughout Canada. These events will be attended by SEMPO Canada Working Group members with the intention of recruiting further members to SEMPO as well as SEMPO Canada.

Since November 2006, SEMPO Canada members have made three educational presentations at the University of Alberta, represented SEMPO Canada at the Canadian Information Processing Society annual conference as well as Bar Camp in Vancouver, been interviewed on CBC Radio, and presented at the Government of Canada Business Link Centre to multiple Canadian cities via video conference. By Feb 01/07, SEMPO Canada intends on having a modest website, Sempo.ca complete with blog (consistent with the brand of sempo.org), grow membership to 12 members, and present at additional educational institutions and seminars.

In early 2007 SEMPO Canada looks to promote SEMPO and the SEMPO Canada Working Group through the involvement specifically
with the Toronto Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference where SEMPO Canada intends on exhibiting at a manned booth, presenting on panels and co-sponsoring a wine and cheese event with support from corporate sponsors and SEMPO.org.

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Today, I will give you a little background on how Sempo.ca came to life.

After 2 consecutive years attending the SEMPO Global Committee General meeting during Search Engine Strategies in San José , I was somewhat disappointed to notice that they were few initiatives or committees within SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, to promote Search Marketing in Canada. As the ONLY Canadian present in that room that day, and I know who the Search Marketing leaders are in Canada, I could not believe that I would not meet either Andrew Goodman, Jim Hedger, Gord Hotchkiss, Ken Jurina or any other that I have learn from over the years in the multitude of sessions during SES & countless articles & blogs. I was MAD.I am not exactly sure what arises when someone gets this mad but usually something noticeable happens. And I am glad it did. Of course I started to ask some questions about where my mentors were and then I thought, maybe they are already too busy to get involve in this, so I have to start beating the drum and bring this to their attention. Thankfully, they listened.

After the SEMPO meeting, we head out to have a few more drinks, despite the fact that it was already late & I chat some more with Dana Todd about joining SEMPO & working at it. I felt inspired like I have never been and thrilled to realize that we share the same vision and the fierce determination to bring this forward. I am now part of the team, even more so than the organization that I belong to, that brought Search to life since its infancy, 10 years ago. For their accomplishment so far, I am extremely greatful to the founders of SEMPO and I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. Without them, I would not be here holding the flame and pass it on to you, fellow Canadians. That being said, SEMPO Canada will do everything it can to bring Search Marketing best practices in your business so that you can pass it on to others.

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I am pleased to announce that I will host a session on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for blogs at Northern Voice 2007 Blogging Conference in Vancouver (BC) which will be held on Friday, February 23 2007. This session will be presented during MooseCamp, which is the un-conference as part of Northern Voice.

This session will present how to maximize your Blog’s visibility in search results including how to write search engine friendly Blog posts through keyword-rich Blog titles & content and how to capitalize on the long tail of search queries through Blogging. Other topics covered include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) basics, how to create good internal linking with anchor text, link baiting, deep linking and other relevant topics such as Blogging best practices for maximum online distribution. This session will be presented by Alexandre Brabant, Director of Search Marketing, Cossette Media and owner of eMarketing101.ca. As part of this conference, Alex will present the latest development with Sempo.ca and will kick-start the recruitment process for SEMPO Canada 2007.

Here is more on Northern Voice:

Northern Voice is a two-day, non-profit personal blogging conference that’s being held at the UBC main campus in Vancouver (BC) Canada on February 23-24, 2007. For even more info please visit the Northern Voice website.

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On behalf of the great executive team we are working with at the SEMPO General Committee, which includes Massimo Burgio, Bill Hunt as well as Dana Todd, we are very proud that our SEMPO Canada Annual plan was approved on November 20, 2006. This is the start of the vast expansion of Search Marketing in Canada and you may feel confident that founding members of SEMPO Canada will do everything they can to support Search, Coast to Coast.

Our Annual plan is modest for 2007 and includes the creation of this blog on sempo.ca as well as attendance to major Search Marketing Conferences in Canada, such as Search Engine Strategies in Toronto in the Spring of 2007. We will also attend numerous smaller conferences in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto & Montreal. If you host an event and would like one of us to attend and present Search Marketing Fundamentals, please feel free to get in touch with us on the contact us page.

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