Mike Duncan will be speaking at Board Retailers Certification Program, Survival of the Fittest, in Orlando, Florida on January 5th from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm for the Retail Finance and Retail Technology Courses. In its second year, Survival of the Fittest is designed to provide retail attendees an in-depth look at Retail Finance and Retail Technology, two areas of significance in today’s retail environment. For more info on this series please visit Board Retailers Association.

Click here for the complete agenda.

E-Commerce Strategies that Produce Results
Mike Duncan, CEO Sage Island
Your website is a vital extension of your business, so it’s crucial to have a marketing plan behind it that maximizes your investment. In this seminar Mike Duncan, CEO of Sage Island teaches effective strategies that help fine tune an ecommerce site into a profitable sales generating machine. As featured on CNNMoney.com, Mike speaks to the digital age of customer service in specialty retail and the necessity of a well designed website. By skillfully integrating Internet Marketing, social media, product recommendations, Live Chat, and more, Mike knows the successful e-Commerce strategies that make conversions and increase your bottom line.

Retail Technology
 Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables focused on eCommerce Integration, Marketing, Supply Chain Management and Inventory Controls, QR/Mobile Codes, PCI Compliance, POS Software and Multi-Channel Retailing. If you have an online and brick-and-mortar shop, this is the course for you. Confirmed speakers include leading retail technology experts RMSA, e-commerce and marketing guru Mike Duncan of Sage Island Marketing who boasts a number of industry retail clients including Ambush, ZJ Boarding House, Christy Sports, Modern Skate & Surf and Forerunner Ski. Also confirmed to present are Clarinova who recently announced deals with LSpace and Sanuk, Leisure Trends Group (LTG), the industry’s premier research market intelligence firm and Nationwide Payment Solutions.

Everyone’s been talking a lot lately about the impact of Twitter in search results, and of course, the ubiquitous “likes” from Facebook. It’s clear that social media has impacted SEO, as Google is changing the way it returns search results.  But what about this change is any different than the others?  SEO is constantly evolving and transforming and the addition of social media in search is yet another way to keep us on our toes. If you missed this article on Mashable,check it out.  And if you want to talk to us about your own site, contact us anytime.

How Social Search Will Transform the SEO Industry

Sage Island is happy to announce the recent launches of both the ActionSportsNow website and blog.  ASN is a new, quickly growing business headquartered in Wilmington, NC.  ASN is an online database of shops, retailers, camps, resorts and independent contractors who serve the action sports industry.  Sage Island worked with ASN to develop their new website in DNN; the site features a search for action sport retails by industry segment and location.  The custom programmed search was developed based on the unique features offered by ASN.

The newly launched ActionSportsNow WordPress blog offers an online platform for ASN to stay connected with their customers and provide up-to-date industry and sports related news.  The site feeds news into the website, by sport, to offer the latest news to ASN users, no matter what source they are visiting.

ASR Marketplace
August 13-15, 2010
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA

Buyers looking for the latest products for the upcoming season know exactly where to find them — at ASR. Twice a year the Surf/Skate Lifestyle and Fashion industries invade San Diego to conduct business and preview lines for the upcoming seasons. ASR tradeshow provides an authentic and efficient forum for buyers, sellers, media, and the investment community to conduct business and move the action sports industry forward. It’s the platform that unites brands of all sizes with an unmatched national and international buying audience.

Mike Duncan, Sage Island’s CEO, will be presenting three different seminars during the show.

The Board Retailers Association (BRA) hosts Survival of the Fittest – BRA Retail Certification Programs August 12th, 2010. Retailers are encouraged to take advantage of the trip to the trade shows by attending a full-day of certified retail education focused on current market issues facing specialty retailers.

Strengthening Your Website’s Presence through an Integrated Marketing Plan
Presented by: Mike Duncan, Sage Island Marketing Agency
10:00 am on August 12th

Your website is a critical component of your business. At a time when online competition has never been so fierce, it’s crucial to have a marketing plan for your website that drives results. This seminar, presented my Mike Duncan, CEO of Sage Island addresses the necessity of a well designed, innovative site, and how to properly market it through a hands on  approach of planning, analysis, and optimization. Mike speaks to the art of  SEO and PPC tactics and how to  expand your brand on the web to drive results.

Ten Ways for Retailers to Improve Website Presence
Presented by: Mike Duncan, Sage Island Marketing Agency
Saturday, August 14th at 11:00 am

In the ever changing world of retail, competition has never been more fierce. Your website is a critical component of your business. This seminar teaches a fully integrated marketing approach leading you through the basics of a well designed, innovative site, and how to properly utilize e-commerce solutions. Learn how to build and expand your presence on the web to drive sales and maximize your bottom line.

Leveraging the Power of Social Media
Presented by: Mike Duncan, Sage Island Marketing Agency and Danny Keith, Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop
Saturday, August 14th at 2:00 pm

Over the last few years, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have gone from college networking sites to marketing powerhouses. Businesses today tap into Facebook to reach their audience in more targeted, local, and efficient ways than ever before.  This seminar, presented by Danny Keith, owner of the Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop, and Mike Duncan CEO of Sage Island, teaches the latest tactics and applications that elevate social media from self promotion sites to professional lead generating tools.

We’re looking for a motivated, creative and analytic thinker with excellent communication and leadership skills to join the Traffic and Search Strategy team in our Wilmington, North Carolina office.

As a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Specialist, your responsibilities will be to design, develop and implement PPC campaigns on major search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.

The SEM Specialist will also work with Account Executives, Graphic Designers, Programmers, and other team members to drive paid search engine traffic success and will be charged with establishing best practices on optimization of a variety of different PPC campaigns for a variety of unique customers. Additionally, you will be responsible for developing and implementing keyword strategies, including working with business owners to understand their specific PPC needs and developing strategies, plans, and campaigns accordingly.

The SEM Specialist will also work with developers to evolve in-house SEM tracking and reporting tools and keep current on SEM developments within the industry.

Responsibilities
* Create, manage and optimize PPC campaigns in support of business goals for Sage Island customers.
* Continuously review and optimize PPC campaigns, including thorough analysis of profitability of campaigns, keyword lists, landing page quality, downstream feedback of lead and traffic quality, etc.
* Serve as internal search expert to ensure best practices are shared and leveraged by all groups.
* Continuously improve tracking, reporting and profitability of the SEM efforts.
* Analyze and translate quantitative and qualitative data from web analytics tool into actionable SEM plans
* Research and develop best practices to identify new market opportunities and maximize program profits with improved paid campaign performance and organic rankings

Skills
* Knowledge and experience with the creation, management, and optimization of PPC campaigns
* Experience with PPC campaign management and optimization tools
* A quantitative approach to traffic measurement and experience with collecting and interpreting site visitor statistics
* Experience using Microsoft Office programs (Excel, Word, etc.)
* Must be detail-oriented with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
* Strong written and verbal communication skills a must
* Ability to work individually on a project or in a team environment
* Self-starter approach to work, with an eagerness to consistently meet and exceed objectives and take on more responsibility.

Qualifications/Requirements
* 1 – 3 years experience in marketing
* Bachelors degree, preferred Marketing, Journalism, English, Communications

Full-time with benefits package. Send us a cover letter and resume. Specify Marketing Specialist in subject line to jobs@sageisland.com.

If you’re like me, you’re constantly learning something new when it comes to SEO.  Keeping up with the ever changing trends is hard enough, understanding exactly how search engines work can get overwhelming. Recently I stumbled upon what is now my go-to SEO Reference:  The Beginners Guide to SEO. If you haven’t read through this tutorial (which chances are pretty good you have, since it’s the world’s most read SEO guide)  I recommend you visit the site! You can read online or download a copy of this really helpful information.

Recently there has been a backlash in the SEO industry against what is deemed to be a non-scientific approach when it comes to SEO testing or collecting statistical data. Some people argue that you have to treat SEO as part of computer science and be very strict about it. Following this logic you are basically forbidden to do any SEO testing yourself unless you have some actual scientists doing the research.

While I am not sure why some people attempt to push in this direction I can only say it won’t work. SEO is a craft not a science. First off there are far too many variables to determine in SEO to be able to treat it scientifically. Also, if anything, SEO would have to be a social science as most things in SEO depend on human behavior. People writing algorithms, people linking, people creating content.

Read more at http://seo2.0.onreact.com/seo-is-a-craft-not-a-science