Overall not a bad show.  We’ll be posting more on the show over the next week.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

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.
 

 

Top 25 Properties by Number of Canadian Unique Visitors* December 2007 vs. November 2007 Total Canada – Home and Work Locations** Source: comScore World Metrix
December Rank	November Rank	Property	Total Unique Visitors (000)      Dec-07
N/A	N/A	Total Internet : Total Audience	23,784
1	1	Microsoft Sites	22,449
2	2	Google Sites	22,274
3	3	Yahoo! Sites	16,331
4	4	Facebook.com	15,378
5	5	eBay	13,770
6	6	Time Warner Network	12,070
7	7	Wikipedia Sites	10,585
8	9	Yellow Pages Group	9,788
9	8	Amazon Sites	9,418
10	13	Apple Inc.	8,776
11	10	Canoe Network	8,388
12	18	The Weather Network Meteomedia	7,900
13	11	CNET Networks	7,678
14	16	Fox Interactive Media	7,670
15	14	Ask Network	7,485
16	12	CTVglobemedia	7,396
17	15	New York Times Digital	6,964
18	22	Best Buy Sites	6,812
19	19	Viacom Digital	6,702
20	17	Adobe Sites	6,226
21	20	CBC-Radio Canada Sites	5,894
22	24	WhitePages	5,294
23	23	Gorilla Nation	5,160
24	30	Telus Sites	4,945
25	25	TD Bank Financial Group	4,547

*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.

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.