I wish I was brave enough to have spinners on my wheels, a custom paint job with purple as the primary color, a braided goatee that hangs to my belly button and … well you get the idea, I would be so pimped out it would scare a pimp. That in mind, why not take the first step and pimp my Nintendo?

Spectrum Diamonds has signed The Info Group to help brand their new diamond engagement and wedding ring collection The Sylvie Collection with a national search engine marketing campaign. The campaign will focus on increasing brand awareness of this new collection, targeting searchers looking for engagement and wedding rings.

We would like to welcome Dallas Light Bulb to the fold. Dallas Light Bulb has just launched an online B2C store to service retail shoppers in the U.S. and has contracted with us to implement a search marketing campaign.

From cfl bulbs to hard to find bulbs to everything in between, Dallas Light Bulb is truly a Lighting Superstore and with a professional staff knowledgable on everything light bulb you are in great hands.

I finally took a few days away from everything and got my Google Qualified Advertising Professional certification.

To get this recognition I:
• Accepted the terms of the Google Qualified Advertising Professional program.
• Managed at least one AdWords account in a master account for 90 days.
• Built and maintained the Google Qualified Advertising Professional 90-day spend requirement.
• Passed the Google Advertising Professional Exam. (I won’t reveal my score but suffice it to say I could make the honor roll)

The next step is Microsoft adExcellence certification. Yahoo has discontinued their ad professional certifications.

On occasion I like to do keyword searches as they relate to our business and in particular the market we target which is regional/local and I’m always amazed at the sales pitches from other SEM agencies but more so from advertising agencies who are selling search marketing services.

What amazes me is to read their sales pitch on how important search marketing is to a company yet when you do a search for keywords relating to SEO or search engine marketing these agencies don’t come up within the first 4 or 5 pages of organic results. Instead where you find them is paid search only, this ought to be a clue they don’t practice what they preach or don’t have the experience to deliver real results.

This goes to my headline, why would you buy SEM services from a company who can’t do it for themselves? Why would you hire an ad agency for a search engine optimization project when they don’t show up in organic listings? How could you trust they know what they are doing when they have not managed to do it for themselves?

Quite often I’ve taken a sales call and the first words out of the prospects mouth were I searched for SEO Dallas and you guys were in the top listings so I figured if you could do it for yourself you could do it for me.

Anyone can open a Adwords account and start a paid search campaign and anyone can fill up a keyword tag so don’t be fooled by the ad agency who dabbles in search marketing, ask them to prove it. Ask them what keywords they show up for in the organic listings, if they can’t show you lots of front page results tell them to have a nice day. Search marketing is about both organic and paid search not just one or the other.

You wouldn’t hire a car mechanic who couldn’t fix his own car so why would you hire an ad agency who doesn’t show up in the search engines?

Great story by Jason Lee Miller at WebProNews on the revised White House robots.txt file. I wonder who I need to talk to about the SEO Cabinet position?

The Info Group has partnered with Elkore to create 2StepSite.com a CPA Web Design & Marketing venture. The site offers CPA’s , Accountants and Financial Services Companies the means to create a website they can update at anytime with ease and speed and one that attracts targeted visitors with Search Engine Marketing options for any budget.

“The Yellow Pages are a dying breed, now everyone “Google’s” the service or product they are seeking and Financial Services oriented businesses are no exception.” said Mark Stone, a partner with The Info Group. “So, if you’re not online you limit your opportunities to compete in todays business environment.” he went on to say. “Finally, Elkore always delivers superior web design projects and when you combine that with our experience in online marketing I know this partnership will deliver results to CPA’s, Accountants and Financial Services companies anywhere.”

CPA, Accountants and Financial Services companies 2StepSite.com offers web design and marketing packages starting from as little as $159 a month.

I just read this post on the number of advertisers Google has. What made me stand up and look was the average spend per year is 16k … now multiply that by 1 million. No wonder they crush the competition. Read the full post here.

Here we are in the New Year! I’m sure a lot of people are asking where did 2008 go but as they say you can’t look back and so I won’t except to say it was a great year with several highlights.

So 2008 was great and 2009 looks to be even better especially for search. Several questions intrigue me, like, how much will mobile search grow? How will Google promote impact search engine rankings?

I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

Parts For Your Car, a late model performance parts and accessories store, has contracted with The Info Group to improve their search engine marketing. If you are a owner of a late model Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Oldsmobile or Pontiac, PFYC.com is your one stop for parts and accessories.