Search Goodness In Bite-sized Chunks

There's a ton of information pouring out of the Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York City, but we've done our best to bring you the best of it so far, via text and via video. Below is a representation of all of that knowledge, boiled down until each little bit fits into its own little nutshell. Or, since it's Holy Week for some, just call them SES Easter Eggs, with lots of gooey SES goodness inside, once you click the link.
What's a Widget? If you don't know, you should probably read this. If you don't know what they're good for, you should also probably read this. In a nutshell: Think of your ads as content; interaction is a good thing; and marketers should be in charge of ideas, not your IT guy. Designing for Search Engines In a nutshell: Keep it simple. URLs should be short and keyword rich; less Flash, Javascript, and Ajax, more CSS. People and search engines will thank you. Universal Search Changes Stuff Text is soooo last year. Okay, so it's this year too. But you'll need to focus on SEO for images, video, and other media to stake your place in organic Universal Search results, especially with paid search inflation, and the possibility you'll have to compete with Google, too. Live Search Tips Live Search, the other search engine. Microsofties explain that successful search marketing involves three things: content prioritization and keyword focus; site architecture; seasonality consciousness and continuous research. Vertical Search, and What It Needs Like any wallflower, vertical search might need proper socialization. A human hand like consumer reviews could really drive the success of vertical search-driven, drilled-down buying process. Convincing Visitors To Buy Easier said than done, right? Most definitely, but what isn't? Experiment with everything, coupons, shopping cart placement, content, pricing, product images. Increase your load times. But above all, listen to your customers.
Social Media Optimization Twitter and Flickr are neat and all, about as neat sometimes as a Space Pen, in case you're ever in zero gravity. Others beg to differ and say proper use of social media will drive traffic, brand recognition, and industry contacts. The Social Disease Continued Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis is so convinced of the value of social/community content, he's banking his latest venture on it. Mahalo Social wants to bring all things social into the social graph and incorporate them into search for a more human, less mechanistic experience. Good idea? Well, we'll see. Small Business, Big Ideas Buy using smart landing pages to producing unique product-related content to building relationships, a small online business owner can be more like the old man that owned the local grocery store and less like the shark trying to sell you a lemon. Hint: Give them what they want and they'll come back. Fatigued From Reading? Try a Video Mike McDonald and the video crew are on the scene and have already brought us lots of video interviews to chew on, like: Hitwise's Bill Tancer talking about vertical search and its relationship with social networks. AGIS Network's Brent Csutoras and Stuntdubl's Todd Mailcoat expounding on the marketing possibilities of Facebook and Twitter. High Ranking's Jill Whalen providing some basic SEO advice and where social media fits in with a good online campaign. Web Guerrilla's Greg Boser explaining the concept of " PageRank sculpting." ClickZ Editor-In-Chief Rebecca Lieb discussing Net Neutrality and why it's important to you.