Chicago SES Day 2 Highlights

The best tips, quotes, quips and insights from Day 2 of the Chicago Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo:

• When conducting keyword research, don't depend on one source.
• Search engines provide some nice keyword research tools and they're free!
• Create a culture in your company where your search marketing will be seen as a team effort and a No. 1 priority.
• Impressions and clicks do not matter. Conversions matter.
• Evaluate under-performing keywords. If everything is right, then lower the PPC bid until the ROI is better or kill the keyword.
• Your domain name is the first online impression of your company.
• Before you buy a domain name, make sure it's not black listed.
• There are so many videos that going to YouTube now and searching isn't working anymore.
• Search is going to continue, but it's going to change.
• Is the information in Twitter effective for marketing? Absolutely.
• With online press release optimization, make sure your keyword is in the headline, in the first paragraph and in the landing page. Be consistent.
• For link building, directory submissions have not gone away.
• Other link building ideas: sponsorship, in-kind donations, internal links, testimonials.
• Do not rely on buying links. This is not a good practice. If you are buying links, do it in moderation.
• Look at specific niche directories for links.
• If you are going to submit to DMOZ, then do it once and forget it.
• If you are starting off, there is so much you should be doing before you even think about buying
  links.
• The SES Expo started today. There was a mad rush for swag.
• ...more to come.