My Next Chapter with WrightIMC

On to the next chapter in my career!

Today is my first day with WrightIMC - a Dallas, Texas-based full service digital marketing agency. I'm very excited to join the team and work with some very experienced, knowledgable and talented people.

I will be working as VP of Operations and will be working with the entire team on supporting digital efforts across the client base. My goal is to share the knowledge and experience I've gained over the years as in-house SEO/Webmaster as well as the last 9 years working with WPP agencies on clients both large and small. 

Spring 2021 Update - Upcoming Speaking Appearances

2020 was certainly a challenging year. You can see from my last post that I was anticipating heading to Florida for Pubcon and, later, to Kansas City and Austin for Digital Summit events. Needless to say, those events were canceled due to restrictions brought on by the worldwide COVID pandemic. 

I am very happy to report that live events are coming back! The first event at which I will be speaking is Pubcon Florida, which will be held in Miami August 3-5 2021. I'm honored to be invited back to speak for the 12th year in a row in this 20th Anniversary year for Pubcon.

My presentation is called "Earning and Keeping Your Customers' Attention" and I'll be covering how you can better earn attention through organic search by answering the information needs of people who are searching for information about the products and services you offer. 

Update (May 28, 2021) - I am very happy to announce that I will also be teaching in the Core SEO Masters Workshop on August 3rd along with Joe Laratro and Eric Enge. 

In September, I will be doing a similar presentation during Digital Summit Detroit. That session will be called "Performing Consumer-Oriented Organic Search" and will focus on building a framework for topical keyword research that is human-centered and data-driven to earn more attention - and thus more traffic - to your website. 

If you're at either event, stop by my session and say "hi." 

Elmer's Speaking Appearances in 2020

Updated: March 9, 2020.

2020 is going to be a busy year for me as far as speaking engagements go. I'm very excited to share what I have confirmed so far this year.

I presented at Pubcon Austin in February. Yes, that's already passed. But, if you missed me there, please consider joining me at Pubcon Florida. I will be presenting on a panel with Veronica Romney in which I'll talk about earning people's attention and she will talk about converting them afterwards.

Due to concern about the COVID-19 virus in Florida, Pubcon Florida has been postponed. Stay tuned - I'll update when the dates are announced.

Next I will be in Kansas City presenting at Digital Summit, which will happen May 13-14, 2020 in Overland Park, Kansas. I will be presenting on a Human-centered and data-driven approach to SEO content strategy. This is an updated version of the presentation I did last October at Digital Summit Detroit.

The next stop on my tour will be Austin again. This time I'll be at Digital Summit Austin which is being held July 15-17, 2020. I'll be doing another updated version of human-centered and data-driven approach to SEO content.

If you happen to be at any of these three events, please look me up and say, "hi."

Starting A New Chapter with GTB

Nearly 3 years ago I made a move back to Metro Detroit to take on the opportunity to be Director, Organic Search (SEO) assigned to GTB. I was a "hybrid" employee in that I worked for one WPP agency, Rockfish, but was permanently assigned to a WPP sister agency. It was, and still is, a great opportunity to go back home to the Detroit area after living in Texas most of my adult life. It's great to be closer to friends and family around Michigan. To be sure, I still miss friends and family in Texas; and, I do sometimes question my sanity for moving back north when I'm shoveling snow and thinking about warmer climes around Austin. Still, it's been great and the future looks bright.

At the end of 2017, Rockfish merged with VMLY&R. When that happened, I lost a lot of connection with my "real" employer. It wasn't due to anything in particular - and it certainly wasn't the people because VMLY&R has a great culture and everyone was most welcoming to me. But, as things evolved with the businesses, relationships with clients and my work it became apparent that the hybrid approach wasn't the best way to move forward. A change was needed, and it happened this past weekend.

Now, I am an employee of GTB. My title change, and I'm getting my paycheck from a different part of WPP, but nothing else has really changed. I'm staying in Metro Detroit and will keep doing what I've been doing for nearly 3 years now.

Here's to the next chapter!

US Search Awards Judging Panel

I'm very happy to announce that I will, once again, be a judge for the US Search Awards. This is my 3rd year on the panel and it is quite an honor to be selected to be on the panel. The US Search Awards will be presented in Las Vegas on October 9, 2019 during the week of Pubcon.

Have you considered entering? Do you have some amazing work in the area of SEO, PPC and content marketing? If you do, consider entering. Get details here: https://www.ussearchawards.com/ .

One of the great parts of being a judge is seeing the excellent work others are doing in our industry. Some of the work is quite impressive, indeed. In order to win, your project really needs to be the best of the best.

Here's a hint: The best entries are the ones that give the most details. Don't be shy and don't skimp on the numbers. If you can't share because of client confidentiality agreements, then you might not want to waste your time. But, if your clients are on board - share the great work you did on their behalf!