AttentionMax

The New York heat wave has passed, but search advertising is getting really hot! No, I’m not talking about the Google + Yahoo - Microsoft deal! I’m talking about our SEMPO New York Meetup Group for search marketers and technology companies!

At 6:30pm on Wednesday, June 18th, the SEMPO New York Working Group will host the first Great SEMPO NY Debate at Stitch, 247 W 37th St. The topic, “Which is the best way to manage search engine marketing, In-House or Agency?” was selected by the constituency, and edged out “Is search recession proof?” (64% vs. 49%).

The more vocal members of the SEM community will form two debate teams and cover key angles:

• Average life of the agency-client relationship
• Satisfaction levels of SEO and PPC agency work (SEMPO data points to be provided)
• Effects of agency consolidation
• Moves by the major search engines to work directly with brands
• Moves by the major search engines to better work with agencies
• Dearth of PPC and SEO talent in the market
• Skills required for in-house vs. agency staff (and how to acquire such skills)
• Cost analysis (staff, education, tools, etc): building an in-house team vs. outsourcing
• Hybrid models

Please RSVP here if you’d like to attend. If you’d like to participate as a debater, please contact me. Drinks are courtesy of the evening’s sponsors, Clickable (my company) and DoubleClick. (NO RSVP=NO FREE DRINK TICKETS.)