Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization

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The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is one of the first industry organizations of search engine marketing firms. A non-profit professional association, SEMPO was formed in 2003, to promote search engine marketing and provide educational resources to members and consumers.

1 Founding members
2 Current Board Members
3 Information and Activities
4 Sponsors
5 SEMPO Involvement in the Industry
- 5.1 Click Fraud
- 5.2 Size of Search Engine Marketing Spend from SEMPO annual survey
6 SEMPO External links

[edit] Founding members

The organization was started by the following industry players and all were the original set of Board of Directors:

Barbara Coll (WebMama.com Inc)
Dana Todd (SiteLab International Inc.)
Kevin Lee (Did-It)
Noel McMichael of (Marketleap, later acquired by Digital Impact)
Christine Churchill (KeyRelevance)
Fredrick Marckini (iProspect)
Jessie Stricchiola (Alchemist Media)
Brett Tabke of WebMasterWorld was added as a Board Member soon after the launch of the association.

Danny Sullivan (formerly from Search Engine Watch) was briefly on the founding Board of Directors, then served on the original Board of Advisors, along with Chris Sherman of Search Day, Dan Boberg from Overture, Chris LaSala from Google and Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray.

[edit] Current Board Members

The following Board of Directors for fiscal year 2007 (March 2007-March 2008) was elected following a general election by the SEMPO Membership. SEMPO Board Officer titles are indicated:

Chris Boggs Avenue A/Razorfish - Secretary
Massimo Burgio, Global Search Interactive
Fionn Downhill, Elixir Systems
Dave Fall, DoubleClick Inc. - Treasurer
Duane Forrester, (Sports Direct Inc.)
Sara Holoubek, Free Agent Consultant
Gordon Hotchkiss Enquiro - Chairperson
Bill Hunt Global Strategies International
Kevin Lee Did-It
Jeffrey Pruitt iCrossing - President
Tanya Rietze, (Hewlett-Packard)
Dana Todd SiteLab
Dave Williams 360i - Vice President

[edit] Information and Activities

Represents over 500 member companies globally through initiatives to support a general mission of outreach and education, to expand and influence the growing search engine marketing (SEM) industry.
Provides free information as a public service, such as research, case studies, webinars and learning materials for search engine marketing.
Launched new SEMPO Institute for search marketing training courses.
A way to get involved with other members of the SEM community worldwide, and further the mission of the maturing search engine marketing industry.
Committees include Research, Education, Global Working Groups, and Metrics/Standards are open to all members, are are working on a large number of activities and issues.
SEMPO's Annual State of the Search Market Survey is widely referenced by press and industry analysts, and is one of the largest research benchmarking studies of SEM in the North America market. 2007 will mark the 3rd year of the survey. Surveys will also be deployed in Japan and Europe in 2007.

[edit] Sponsors

SEMPO's sponsors include Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, Verizon Communications, Search Engine Strategies, and Atlas. Its membership includes search engine marketing firms and consultants, Web developers, inhouse marketing professionals, and advertising agencies. Corporate and individual members are welcome from multiple countries.