7 replies to this topic

[Debra]

Search Marketing Association of North America (SMA-NA) Launches Membership Drive

The Search Marketing Association of North America (SMA-NA), an association for people and companies involved in the study, promotion and practice of search engine marketing is launching a major membership drive beginning August 1, 2005.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) August 1, 2005 -- The Search Engine Marketing Association of North American, officially launched February 2005 aims to be an open, democratic, and responsible, member-focused trade organization representing the interests of professionals working in the field of search engine marketing. In addition to giving its members an industry voice, the SMA-NA provides a platform to inform and educate the business marketplace of the benefits of search engine marketing. The SMA-NA is proud to stand alongside the SMA-UK and SMA-EU chapters, both launched in 2004.

“We are getting a clear message the industry wants and needs an organization to promote and support the welfare and interests of professionals working in the field of search engine marketing,” said Ian McAnerin member of the working group committee. “The association will be member driven and open to all types of search engine marketing professionals ranging from individuals to the larger search marketing firms. We are actively seeking members from Canada, Mexico and the United States.”

The SMA-NA is actively seeking new members and encourages anyone in the search engine marketing industry to apply for membership. Official elections of the Board of Officers is scheduled for early fall 2005 after the membership drive has ended. Only registered members of the organization will be eligible for nominations to the Board and can vote in the election. The working group committee plans on having its membership drive kickoff meeting at the Search Engine Strategies tradeshow in San Jose during August of 2005.

For more information visit http://www.sma-na.org.

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[mcanerin]

I got confirmation this morning that we have Room B between 6:45-7:30PM set aside on Wed Aug 10, 2005. There is lots of space, so feel free to come on by! Q&A + membership forms will be available.

Ian

[Jill]

Sounds good Ian!

Unfortunately, that's exactly the time I have to pick Jamie up from the airport, so if you don't see me there, I swear I'm not snubbing you!

[Debra]

Our membership drive has done well and we've almost met our sign-up goals! Just four (4) more members and we can hold elections and vote in a Board.

Having a Board of Directors in place is important and needed before we can implement the programs the Working Group has outlined. We've collected money through the membership drive and have outlined projects, programs and services but cannot act on any of it until elected representation is in place.

If you've been thinking about joining, now is the time! Pop over to http://www.sma-na.org and sign up today!

Thanks!

[SearchRank]

Okay, I'm in. (meant to do so earlier but procrastinated)

That is 3 to go?

[mcanerin]

YAY!

Three to go!

Thanks David

Ian

[mcanerin]

2 to go (thanks Mick)...

Damn, the suspense is killing me...

Ian

[mcanerin]

Only one more member to go before we have quorum and can call an election.

We are still deciding on the positions that will be available - we have to strike a balance between having enough people that the necessary work gets done, but not so many that the organization gets top heavy. I'm also adverse to the idea of someone having a postition but not a specific responsibility, so all positions come with an actual requirement to DO something unless the members tell me they want some VP's without portfolio or something similar.

So far, we are thinking:

EXECUTIVE

President
Secretary Treasurer
VP Public and Media Relations
VP Research and Education
VP Member Services

More Details: http://www.sma-na.org/executive.htm

CHAIRS

Internet Chair
Planning and Regulations Chair
French Chair - L'Association de Search Marketing - Amérique du Nord
Hispanic Chair - La Asociación de Marketing para Buscadores - Norte América

Chairs will run SIGs (Special Interest Groups) for certain areas of interest fo members. There can technically be an unlimited number of SIGS (ie Google, SIG, New York City SIG, Charity CIG, Women in Search SIG, Link Building SIG, etc). These are the ones currently in existence, and were formed by the working group to handle different aspects of getting the organization started. Chairs have no special authority other than over their own SIG.

More Details: http://www.sma-na.org/sig-chairs.htm

I'm interested in comments. Naturally, we will be contacting the members directly, but since I'm posting anyway I might as well use the opportunity to ask the public their thoughts? Too many positions? Not Enough? Missing something critical? We are interested in feedback *before* the elections.

My initial instinct is to make the terms for one year, but I've had several people say that two years is better - thoughts?

Finally, as a reminder, you can't vote (or run for a position) unless you are a Professional or Corporate member.

Speaking of which, we are working on a member list and I want each member to have a data sheet so they can have more information. I'd like this datasheet to be relatively free-form - since we all have different goals and backgrounds I'm uncomfortable forcing people to describe themselves using a pigeon hole system.

So the data sheet, in addition to the basic information, could have information like a portfolio of clients, a company history, a resume, an educational background, or anything else. I'm imagining that it's possible that a copywriter might want to put in a writing sample, or a programmer might want to put in links to their tools, etc. Within the bounds of good taste, I'm thinking that this should be allowed - introduce and market yourself your way. Another idea is that if you write (or submit) an article that's hosted on the SMA site, you could also link to those.

But naturally, as an experienced moderator, I'm well aware that at some point someone will want to put in nothing but a list of links to their sites - any suggested guidlines we should use that would let use give members freedom, but not turn the directory into a spam resource?

For now, I'm just thinking of some editorial guidelines and some sort of moderator approval. But I'm open to other ideas.

That's the update. Remember - only *one* more professional or corporate member needed! Many thanks to those who have signed up already. Remember, your memberships don't start to expire until after the election.

Ian