Is There A Need For More Search Conferences In Canada?

We’re all familiar with the main search engines conferences that take place out there with the top three being Search Engine Strategies, Search Marketing Expo and Pubcon.  Of the big three, only Search Engine Strategies features a conference in Canada.  That conference being SES Toronto that takes place in June.

Really that is the only major search engine conference to take place in Canada.  Yahoo Canada feature a couple of events in Canada throughout the year, and MSN does the same.  However the lack of search related conferences in Canada is a bit of a concern.  What are the reasons for this?  Here are a few of our theories.

1. Canadians Are Not Interested in Search - well  at least not compared to our friends to the south of us.
2. Canadians Simply “Fly South” for the Conferences - with a number of conferences taking place on the sunny west coast of the US in places such as San Jose, Santa Clara and Las Vegas, many Canadians simply attend these shows as opposed to SES Toronto and the like.
3. There Are Simply Not Enough Search Engine Related Conferences in Canada - this is very true.  I would like to see more search conferences in Canada.  In fact cities such as Kelowna, BC, Calgary Alberta, Halifax, NS, Vancouver, BC, and Montreal, Quebec would be great cities to host such an event.

For now, we’ll have to attend the US shows and events such as SES Toronto.

Search Engine Strategies Toronto takes place from Jun 16-18th this year.

• Organized by two of the world’s leading search authorities, SES Toronto Conference Chairman, Andrew Goodman and SES Global Content Director, Kevin Ryan.
• Delivers real-time actionable information you need to grow your business through search engine marketing;
• Teaches the ins-and-outs of search engine marketing from top search experts and the search engines themselves;
• Provides a unique setting to network with fellow marketers and search engine industry professionals and discuss the trends in search engine marketing;
• Grants access to the world’s most comprehensive gathering of search engine marketing & optimization-related solutions providers and potential partners & affiliates;
• Get the latest event information at the SES Blog.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo Toronto 2008 features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion.

Online Marketing Experts Get Together in Vancouver

Speakers from Europe, the United States, and Canada are traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to take part in Internet Marketing Conference (IMC) on September 11–12, 2008.

All aspects of doing business online will be covered: web analytics, strategy, content, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, social media, on-site behavioral targeting, multivariate testing, and much more.

The target audience for the conference includes marketing executives, sales executives, web analysts, Internet marketers, and all other occupations that see Internet as key to business success. The motto of the conference is that it’s by experts, for experts, and for those who’d like to become experts.

Speakers and panelists include Eric T. Peterson (Web Analytics Demystified), Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester), Tom Leung (Google), Bob Page (Yahoo!), Jason Burby (ZAAZ), Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo (Capulet Communications), Robbin Steif (Lunametrics), Xavier Casanova (Liveclicker), and Jonghee Jo (Victoria’s Secret). More speakers will be announced soon.

IMC has had a total of more than 2,000 participants since it started. It is the longest-running conference produced by Europeans about Internet marketing and has been held in such cities as New York City, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Montreal, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Stockholm.

The conference is being brought to Vancouver in cooperation with IIMA (The International Internet Marketing Association), an organization that helps marketers understand the value and potential of marketing on the web.

Twingly, Earthbound Media Group, and Web Analytics Demystified are some of the sponsors you will meet at the event.

For more information, visit www.internetmarketingconference.com or contact Lennart Svanberg at +46 708 54 15 06 or info@internetmarketingconference.com.

Top Canadian SEO Companies - March 2008

Here is a look at the top SEO Compnaies in Canada as of March 2008

Rankings for Canada (March, 2008) are from TopSEOS.com

Organic Optimization

1. Acroterion Inc.

2. Enquiro Search Solutions

3. Hot Banana Software Inc.

4. 6S Marketing Inc.

5. Beanstalk

6. First Page SEO

7. 9th sphere

8. SitePosition

9. Epiar Inc.

10. The SEO Network

Check Out Sempo Canada

Online marketers looking for industry information or to learn more about search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM) should check out SEMPO Canada.

SEMPO Canada is Canadian Non-Profit Professional Search Marketing Association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing in Canada. This Working Group was founded in November 2006 by Ken Jurina & Alexandre Brabant and focuses on improving the growth, awareness and understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in Canada including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Link Building, Pay Per Click 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.

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.

Canadian Directory: Try Canada.com

You know there is something that can be said for a good old fashioned relevant directory.  TryCanada.com is a small little Canadian directory that features Canadian sites only.  There are two ways to get into TryCanada.com:

1. Fill out the form “Add your url” to submit your Canadian website. If it meets the requirements (read the Submission Guideline), your site will be added and shown in this format : title, description, url, city. This is your “title”, which is going to be clickable (as a hard link).
2. If you give a link back to TryCanada somewhere on your website, you earn the right to get 1 anchored keyword in your description. You aren’t dreaming : this means an extra “contextual text link” pointing toward your homepage (or a different page of your choice). So there is no need to have this page linked directly from your homepage, as other directories demand. And that’s not all. If your backlink is placed on a page having a Google Pagerank of 3 or more, you get a printscreen of your website (a thumbnail image of 65×50 pixels) with an “Alt” repeating your anchored keyword. This could be the deal of a lifetime; click here to see an example. Remember, 1 quality link to Try Canada = 1 Screenshot + 1 Extra Contextual text link.

TryCanada.com and add your site today.

Online Marketing to Triple by 2011 in Canada

eMarketer projects that online advertising spending in Canada will pass $3.0 billion by 2011, roughly triple its value in 2006.  

Canada is one of the world’s most advanced online cultures. Broadband penetration is over 60%, and more than 63% of the population uses the Internet. But online advertising has been slow to take off—until now.

Get the eMarketer report here.

Google Finance Canada

Just a reminder for our Canadian readers. Google Finance Canada is a great resource for finding out information about the markets and business in Canada. Google Finance Canada is a great tool for finding items such as:

• Top financial news from Canadian sources
• Search with a preference for Canadian companies
• Front-page high level economic data from the Bank of Canada
• Portfolios in Canadian currency (or the currency of your choice)
• Equity data from the Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, and Canadian mutual funds

In addition, stock quotes and charts for Canadian-listed companies are now available through the Google.com web search.

Top 25 Canadian Web Properties - Dec 2007

Microsoft Sites maintained its position as the top property with nearly 22.5 million visitors,
reaching 94 percent of the Canadian online population. Microsoft was followed closely by Google Sites with 22.3 million visitors, Yahoo! Sites with 16.3 million visitors and Facebook.com with 15.4 million visitors.

Driven by holiday shopping, Apple Inc. and Best Buy Sites both gained several
spots in the December rankings, while The Weather Network Meteomedia (#12) and
Telus Sites (#24) also moved up several positions.
 

 

*Ranking based
on the top 100 Canadian properties in December 2007.

** Excludes
traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile
phones or PDAs.

Strong Canadian dollar weakens satisfaction with Canadian car sites

The Canadian dollar’s rise against the ever-weakening greenback was one of 2007’s news items of the year in Canada. The loonie’s increasing strength was a source of pride for Canadians, but also of frustration. Across many categories, prices did not change to reflect the increased purchasing power of the Canadian dollar, and many Canadians frequently looked south with an envious eye to see that Americans were still enjoying significantly lower prices on many goods, notably cars. The perception that Canadian car-buyers were getting a raw deal was widely-held and was well-documented by the mainstream media.

But did this backlash against a perceived pricing imbalance go so far as to affect customer satisfaction on Canadian automotive sites? I looked at the movements in the cumulative iPerceptions Satisfaction Index (iPSI) score for 9 Canadian auto sites from mid-October to the end of December and compared that against the movement of the C$/USD$ exchange rate. The results are eye-opening:

Some conclusions:

1) Customer satisfaction, as measured by the iPerceptions Satisfaction Index, plummeted from 7.2 to 7.0 during the week that spanned October 29th to November 5th, when the loonie hit its peak against the US dollar.

2) Even when the Canadian currency began to lose ground against the US dollar, the collateral damage to auto site satisfaction continued unabated, as the iPSI held at 6.9 through the first three weeks of December. According to published reports, auto sales slowed 5% in the month of December, despite generous discounts and incentives.

3) Interestingly, a stronger Canadian dollar in the latter half of December correlated with higher satisfaction on the Canadian car sites. The composite iPSI for the 9 sites closed December back up at 7.0. This could be evidence that Canadian car marketers are now being more proactive, offering bonus programs targeted at achieving fairness, if not full pricing parity.

4) Finally, take a look at some verbatim feedback culled from one of the studies during the time period I looked at. These reflect the frustration of ordinary car buyers, as well as their collective sense of being taken for a ride

- “Bloated prices based on the old Canadian dollar.”

- “Finding how much Canadians are being ripped off as compared with the USA.”

- “MSRP pricing is still completely out of line with US pricing. I am now considering importing a vehicle from the US if Canadian auto retailers don’t adjust MSRPs or offer exchange rate rebates of some sort.”

Powerful stuff, indeed.

Canadian Internet Usage Stats

They say that Canada is one of the most wired nations in the world. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Canada has a strong economy (especially when compared to the US) and Canada has a smaller population which should provide a larger per capita percentage of Internet users. So we were looking around for some Canadian Internet usage stats and came up with some interesting findings.

For example, did you know that

• By mid 2007 an estimated 85% of Canadian households with Internet access used broadband connections.
• Over 95% of Canadians live in communities served by high-speed Internet access.
• Rapidly increasing demand for cable VoIP is fuelling demand for cable broadband in Canada.
• By the end of 2006 Canada had the ninth highest broadband penetration in the world.
• In Canada, broadband is defined as speeds in excess of 64Kbps, a lower threshold than in other countries.
• By end-2006 although Canada’s wireless carriers offered coverage to more than 98% of the population, only 58% of all Canadians were mobile phone customers.
• Online sales more than doubled in Canada from 2003-2006, and nearly half of Canadian retail firms now have a Web site, compared to the 42% that did in 2005.
• It is expected that the average amount that Canadians spend online will grow strongly over the next three years. Seasoned online buyers (rather than new ones) will drive overall market growth.
• Canadians are either on par or ahead of their US peers in purchasing electronics, travel and event tickets online.
• Canada is a world leader in Internet adoption, time spent online and electronic banking and bill payment.
• With the number of subscribers to wireless products and service totalling close to 13.9 million by mid-2004, almost 43% of Canadians now have access to a wireless device.
• In 2007, Canada had approximately 22 million Internet users representing a 67.8% penetration rate. (Source: ITU)

According to the Computer Industry Almanac Inc, 2005 Internet Usage looked like this: