New Mediapost Article: Stressed Out at SMX

My latest MediaPost rant bewails the fact that SEM trade shows do a great job of educating newbies about basic search tactics, but do a very poor job of providing anything but 101-level info, which means that exhibitors looking for a meaningful conversation with advanced-level prospects are left holding a very expensive bag.

New Mediapost Article: Crisis of Confidence Threatens Everyone in SEM

My latest Mediapost rant discusses why (Search Engine Marketing) will self-destruct unless the industry somehow manages to reform itself. Frankly, I think that it may be too late to save it, because there are too many people making money from incompetence, waste, and greed (kinda like Wall Street before its big fall).

New Mediapost Article: Is The Ad World Finally Taking SEM Seriously?

Advertising Week is an annual ritual in New York that often brims with self-congratulatory silliness, and I tend to avoid it like the plague. Advertising -- at least in my mind -- is largely based on lies, spin, the creation of false needs and false consciousness. Frankly, if we as a nation spent less on advertising and more on improving products, we'd all have a better world. Still, as I write in this week's MediaPost, there's a bit of good news: this year's Advertising Week appears to be paying more attention to SEM (Search Engine Marketing), a far less wasteful, less obnoxious, and more profitable form of marketing that deserves its day in the sun.