To set the stage, when our agency was invited to attend the 2011 Agency Summit at Google Headquarters in Mountain View CA, I was ecstatic to meet my maker.

I would not call myself a Geek, nor a Marketer or a Sales Guy. I’m a Search Engine Marketer. The Googlers (Google Employees) call me an SEM. SEM’s represent an emerging breed of professionals constantly seeking to out-wit, out-analyze, and out-game, the most competitive algorithm in the digital age.

Now put yourself in my shoes, to make a comparison it felt like waiting in anticipation before the first coin toss at a football game, first pitch of a baseball game, or even the feeling of lights dimming at the movies before the sequel to that epic saga you had followed since you were a kid. The show was about to begin. The crowd of SEM’s looked right, left, then down at their tablets, laptops, and mobile phones. We were all frantically, checking in, tweeting, and finishing that last email as our host stood confidentially in the front of the theatre ready to introduce the delivery of the state of SEM and focus of Google and most excitingly what’s next?

Allen Thygesen delivered the “State of Search” address. He focused our attention on Small Business market penetration and the future of complete digital adoption. He noted that only 30% of companies have a website and in his opinion (and his opinion matters) Small Businesses represent the largest growth opportunity for Google. His remarks really energize SEM’s (link back to part 1 for a full description of our tribe) as GoldenCommunications serves a large community of small and medium size business here in Orange County, CA. Allen spoke about a secular shift from offline to online and a clearly demonstrated demand for local search results. Allen mentioned “there is headroom here” as we are still at an early adopter stage. I personally agree as it’s not ok, NOT to compete in the online space, not with all the tools, transparency, and direct customer intelligence we gain through online marketing.

Another great presenter, Ryan Gibson spoke about the challenges, best practices, and new strategies in search. Ryan related that “Search is hard to do well.” However, with an onslaught of new tools added to the performance analytics suite through Google Adwords and Google Analytics he shared that the people who truly understand the analytics of auction based media will be positioned well now and in the future as all digital media may adhere to these foundational principles as the media space expands.

Follow the latest Ad innovations from Google

Now back to my personal journey inside the heart of Google. What is the heart of Google you may be asking? Well if you think it’s only an algorithm, then you made the mistake I did and forgot that there are people behind the algorithm. And as I was thinking deeper, people are really the heart of any company…

I’d like to focus this final thought on one Googler, his name is Adam Grunewald he is part of Google’s Agency Strategy team his job is helping SEM’s like myself win auctions on behalf of our clients. Over lunch Adam helped find solutions to a very complex search wall my team had not been able to overcome. He not only gave insight into the algorithm but more importantly gave insight into our online business.

Inside the heart of Google are people, these are really smart people, really helpful people, that can really help accelerate your business. Google Headquarters is a fun and fascinating place, but truly what impressed me most is the heart of Google. And for that, SEM’s like me are personally grateful to working with such a great business partner.

Last night I was invited to participate in Muzeo Bowl IV charity event for Muzeo’s ENIRO arts education program with the OC Fine Arts Storage Team, a company that specializes in the storage and installation of art installments,  and what a BLAST that was! Muzeo is one of the newest museums in Southern California, and hosts some of the coolest world-renowned exhibits. Right now they have a really neat Gold Exhibit featuring gold from the year 700 and 1100 AD  from now until May 29th with a really cool Chocolate Exhibit following that in June, so if you are an OC Choc-aholic, get your fix and make a day of visiting the museum in June.

The ENIRO progam is a program for at-risk youth and school children to allow them to visit the museum and expose them to wonders of art and history. Kids can always use our support, so if you would like to make a contribution to the museum and their arts education program, visit here.

The event was pretty amazing! The 300 Anaheim is a great bowling facility to host any party or event. The food and service was top notch, and the overall bowling experience was exceptional. In attendance were business and teams from all over Orange County including Pacific Enterprise Bank Corp, Anaheim Union High School District, the Anaheim Ducks POWER PLAY GIRLS, the Mayor of Anaheim Tom Tait, and more! Special thanks to the Muzeo Bowl IV Committee for all of their hard work, and especially Sandra Day for being such an amazing  and inviting host.

CEO of Golden Communications, Jason Lavin, will be speaking at a SEO/SEM seminar on May 13, 2011 at the Montage Resort. Reigster Here and learn how you can Excel Your Business and beat this recession!

At our SEO seminar in late January, we had the opportunity to talk and meet with @maryannewendt.

She had mentioned that she was putting together an #OCtweetup in conjunction with @bigtrain, @yelpoc, @charmforcharity, and @dealgooder at Il Fornaio in Irvine to help support saveourbeach.org! Without hesitation, we all signed up and payed a visit Thursday evening to support the cause. Not only did we get the chance to check out products from local businesses and charities, we met and networked with some of the most passionate people involved with social media in Orange County!

@Maryannewendt is a purple loving techie and social media enthusiast, who put on the amazing fundraising event! She introduced us to some of our new favorite local brands including Big Train, DealGooder, and saveourbeach.org!

Big Train had an amazing selection of samples from their natural line of beverage mixes, but I must say, the Organic Chai was amazing, and left us wanting more!

DealGooder is an amazing local concept where companies can set up deals online that are promoted to the growing DealGooder network. A portion of the proceeds from each deal goes to charity, but what makes this program great is that DealGooder donates the money to a multitude of charities in Orange County! What a great community initiative! People get to save money on local brands while benefitting a local charity!

And last but not least… saveourbeach.org, a non-profit organization committed to cleaning our California coastline, had an amazing presentation of creative recycling. Meeting the founder Kim Masoner and listening to her story of how she started the organization, and how she was able to get support for her project from across the country was truly inspiring. Currently, she spends all of her free time spreading the word and getting people involved in helping to make the world a better place! She even makes blankets from recycled plastic grocery bags to give to the homeless in her spare time! Towards the end of the night, Kim gave my friend @veganvagrant one of the blankets that she had on display so that he could give it away to his eco-friendly subscribers on his vegan blog for one of his next contests, so be sure to check it out!

All in all, the #tweetup was a huge success! Saveourbeach.org was able to raise a good amount of money to help fund future projects, we met some great people, and we were able to learn about new products and services all while supporting a good cause! What a great way to use social media to bring people together to support one another, while also helping to make a positive social and environmental impact on the Earth!

Friday was a beautiful day at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, where Jason Lavin, CEO of Golden Communications, gave his well known SEO seminar. The crowd of business owners was standing-room only and they were filled with both insightful questions and responses.

Learn how you can Excel-Your-Business and be at our next seminar.

It’s a great thing when business owners come together to share their expertise. This happened at the PortTech LA Chamber in the beautiful Port of Los Angeles on Tuesday, July 13^th 2010. A wide range of businesses was represented, from Scandinavian technology imports to environmental monitoring and highway technology.

The uniting factor between all of the businesses, however, was the need for a stronger web presence. Jason’s topics included SEO, SEM, organic vs. sponsored links, and Google’s use of AdSense, AdWords, PageRank, and Analytics.  Several “real live” customer’s examples were used to illustrate to the group exactly what it looks like to attain an optimized website.

The meeting lasted just under 2 hours, but it seemed as if it went by in a flash.  The group had great questions and hopefully everyone took home one thing that will change the way they look at their website!

ALSO… we could not resist… we are now proud to announce that Golden Communications is a member of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce!

Jason Lavin guest speaker at PortTech LA

GoldenComm was present in Las Vegas a the “E-Commerce Still Rockin’ in 2009” AspDotNetStorefront Developers Conference on July 13 – 16.

Jason Lavin (CEO Golden Communications)
Robert Anderson (CEO AspDotNetStorefront)

Jason Lavin (CEO Golden Communications)
Ethan Giffin,(CEO of Groove Commerce)

The conference, held at MGM Grand was a HUGE success with over 100 attendees. It was four days of E-Commerce Strategies. More then ever we feel confident that our clients are on the “right” platform for E-Commerce. Thanks to Rob and the entire staff at AspDotNetStorefront for putting on a first class event.

Jason Lavin (GoldenComm's CEO) currently in action at the SEO seminar in St. Louis

Jason, expert and guru of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing, hosts another seminar.  Currently, he is teaching about ad verbiage and landing pages, and how that plays in Google AdWords and Analytics tracking.  Today’s SEO seminar is hosted at The Charles Knight Center at Washington University, in St. Louis, Missouri.  The town is terrific, the facility is STUNNING, and the weather could not be better for us!

Check out Golden Communication’s next SEO Workshop and Register today!

Steve Churm and crew put on a great event at The Island Hotel in Irvine on Wednesday night for Churm Media’s annual “HOT 25″ event.  Churm Media is one of GSC’s favorite clients and we have been working with them for the last two years.  Currently, GSC helps Churm Media with seven web properties, OCmetro.com, OCfamily.com, inlandempirefamily.com, SouthlandGolfMagazine.com, OCMenus.com, BodyBeautifulMagazine.com and ChurmMedia.com.

Way to go Churm Media… LOVE the energy that you bring to Orange County Business!

It was awesome to be around some of the most gifted Pilates instructors on the world at the Body Arts and Sciences, International (BASI) Pilates’ annual faculty and host studio conference. 

Rael Isacowitz (founder, BASIpilates.com) gave a nice introduction to me as we gave the instructors a preview of a Pilates OnDemand Software Program that we think will forever change the way people practice and document Pilates exercises.  Check out the video here.