Chris Silver Smith from KeyRelevance to Present at the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association

DALLAS, Apr 20, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- On April 22, 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel In Richardson Texas Chris Silver Smith will be presenting his insights on the elements of optimizing websites for local search results to the members of the DFW SEM community in North Texas.

Chris Silver Smith, Director of Optimization for KeyRelevance, will cover the basic elements of optimizing websites to be found in local search results, along with a select few advanced local optimization techniques.

This presentation will be of interest to companies and marketers who provide natural search optimization to large and small businesses which have geographic, location-specific presence.

"Chris is one of the industry thought-leaders on local search optimization," says Tony Wright, president of the DFW Search Marketing Association. Tony continues, "We are excited that he will be covering a very important part of search engine optimization - local search."

According to a recent study by comScore, the surge in annual growth of local search has far outpaced growth of overall web search.

"The study found that local search -- the practice of using online search tools to find local businesses, products, or services -- grew 58 percent in 2008, reaching an annual total of 15.7 billion searches. By comparison, overall U.S. Web core searches grew at a much smaller rate of 21 percent year-over-year, nearing 137 billion searches by the end of 2008. Local searches stand at 12 percent of core searches on the top 5 portals."

Businesses and search marketing professionals that want to learn more about this fast growing area of search marketing should attend the DFW SEM event on April 22, 2009. To register online, go to http://www.dfwsem.org for more details.

About the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM)

The Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Organization (DFWSEM) is dedicated to education and promotion of the Dallas/Fort Worth search engine marketing industry, conversing various topics related to search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click search (PPC), as well as other emerging media. The group meets monthly at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas, and is open to anyone interested in search engine marketing, including in-house marketers, independent consultants, and agencies.

Initially founded in 2003, DFWSEM is the oldest and longest running local search engine marketing group/meetup in the country. Member agencies include DexterityMedia, Vizion Interactive, iCrossing, Range Online Media, Key Relevance, MarketNet, AffGoo, Creative Support, Did-it, SearchDex, WrightIMC, and Bridgepose. For more information, visit http://www.dfwsem.org.

DFWSEM is sponsored by Lead Maverick ( http://www.leadmaverick.com).

Sponsoring DFWSEM

DFWSEM Association members cumulatively represent over $100,000,000 in annual search engine ad spend, and sponsorship is a great way to get your message in front of this group of decision makers and key influencers. To find out how to sponsor a monthly meeting or other opportunity, contact Tony Wright at tony.wright@wrightimc.com.

DFWSEM Speakers Bureau

Many members of DFWSEM are actively speaking at various interactive marketing conferences, including SMX, Search Engine Strategies, ad:tech, and WebmasterWorld, among many others. If you are looking for someone to speak about search engine marketing related topics, or would like to interview a member, feel free to contact the group for more information at 214.210.6793.

The DFW SEM Association welcomes requests to speak to the group at info@dfwsem.org.

SOURCE: DFWSEM