It's Hard to be <strike>Google</strike> SEMPO

"Even the most significant effort at professionalism for search marketers thus far is a wreck, and I believe it's largely due to contradictions like this..."

You mentioned the SEMPO logo giving false trust, but don't forget about the TRUSTe logo. Ben Edleman's Certifications and Site Trustworthiness says "But those same seals feature prominently on sites that seek to scam users -- whether through spyware infections, spam, or other unsavory practices." He goes on to say "Of the sites certified by TRUSTe, 5.4% are untrustworthy according to SiteAdvisor's data, compared with just 2.5% untrustworthy sites in the rest of the ISP's list. So TRUSTe-certified sites are more than twice as likely to be untrustworthy."

And that was last weeks headline.
I think he's 100% right.

SEMPO has pretty clearly stated from the beginning that a SEMPO logo means you've paid the fees to become a member. They do not screen or have any standards for members other than fee payment.

It's been a point of contention since the early days, but as far as I know, SEMPO has nothing to do with standards, just promotion.

John's just seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Would you want to be a member when one of the chairmen and "SEMPO Circle Members" can't even get indexed in Yahoo?

Run screaming away from them and don't look back.

You're right Stottie, it is "clearly stated", but the problem is most prospective SEO buyers don't take the time to read it or things like TOS. An association logo or an "authority seal" carries an implied "trust us" even when there is a disclaimer to the opposite.

I blogged on this in: "Do You Trust "Certified Authority Seals"?"

I attended several of the early SEMPO organization meetings at the SES conferences and the argument came up every time... the SEMPO logo to an average consumer looks like a seal of approval.

The other argument that came up with the "no standards" issue was that anyone could join... if someone saw the SEMPO seal on a bulk mail spamming site or other site that you might not want to be associated with, it degrades the value of the seal and can even have a negative connotation.

The Board overrode those concerns and insisted SEMPO was to be an organization for anyone who wanted to join and the mission was to get higher paychecks for people working in the search marketing industry by promoting search marketing to large corporations.

I think that has a lot to do with why their membership is so low compared to the number of firms out there.

I've got to feed my kids. Every now and then, SEMPO sends me a juicy lead for a client who actually has a budget. Yes Scottie, I sure do wish they would have a code of ethics and enforce it.

It'll be interesting to see if SEMPO leadership shows up to comment on this thread. Come on folks, have a little courage and show yourselves. We know you're lurking.

I was with them for quite some time and gained nothing. I admire someone trying to set up an association - but I did notice that two dogs (real woof woof ones) are members and that just about kills the credibility for me.

I'm not a cheap bastard but like to swim in better circles.....

Everone has got to "feed his kids" if you have them. But, an extreme "ends justifies the means" position on this would would be to vote for a President who could make you money in the short term on one of his/her positions, but would "ruin the world" for your kids and grandkids on other more long term postitions.

Rather than "diss" SEMPO (I believe the problem is SOME of the past and present board members - without mentioning names - who are "ends justifies the means" people), what is going on with the SMA-NA? I really liked the way they stood up for Aaron and spoke out against TP.

We are not a standards or governance body. We are a global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry and marketing professionals engaged in it.

That’s not an easy mission. But, SEMPO keeps working to provide a foundation for industry growth through building stronger relationships, fostering awareness, providing education, promoting the industry, generating research, and creating a better understanding of search and its role in marketing.

It’s an ongoing process – and we think we’re making progress.

SEMPO now has more than 500 individual and corporate members, which represent thousands of marketers.

SEMPO conducts annual research which covers all of search engine marketing, not just pay per click advertising. For the past two years, this research has shown search engine optimization to be the tactic in the highest demand.

SEMPO has launched a training Institute to teach best practices in formal peer reviewed curriculum online for global access.

SEMPO has formally launched six regional working groups.

SEMPO issues more than 18 press releases a year to promote the industry and the organization.

SEMPO delivered presentations about search engine marketing at 16 different events in 2006 alone, including ad:tech local, EyeForTravel, SIPA, and financial forums.

SEMPO’s monthly newsletter outlines other current activities.

As for becoming a certification or industry governance board, SEMPO has addressed this as members and at a board level. But, in a minimally regulated and highly subjective industry, that does not seem possible. Also, in many countries where we have members, doing so would be a restriction of trade, which is illegal.

While some mistakenly believe that SEMPO only wants members and that we don’t care where they come from, that is not true. Let me state this as clearly as possible: SEMPO has no way to monitor the individual practices of members, but we can, and do, advocate ethical practices and integrate that into our training and outreach to the marketplace.

The SEMPO board would certainly be interested in reviewing a formal proposal from anyone who wants to submit a plan for creating and maintaining a process of defining and enforcing business ethics and standards. Non-members as well as members can submit such a proposal – and the SEMPO board will review such a plan.

In fact, SEMPO started a Task Force for Metrics & Standards last year, and we encourage those who are interested to join the group and get involved in defining the risk/reward in attempting to be a standards body.

Meanwhile, we’ll try to roll with the punches. While it isn’t easy being SEMPO, its mission still seems worth the effort.

We are a global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry and marketing professionals engaged in it.

That’s not an easy mission.

Especially when the chairman talks trash about SEO.

SEMPO conducts annual research which covers all of search engine marketing, not just pay per click advertising. For the past two years, this research has shown search engine optimization to be the tactic in the highest demand.

Perhaps the chairman could take a look at it.

The SEMPO board would certainly be interested in reviewing a formal proposal from anyone who wants to submit a plan for creating and maintaining a process of defining and enforcing business ethics and standards. Non-members as well as members can submit such a proposal – and the SEMPO board will review such a plan.

Unlike internal SEMPO research, eh?

Wow. I hadn't read that article about SEMPO before. I wonder if the membership has declined rapidly over the past two years, because of this:

and comments like this:

Gee. It's tougher to be SEMPO than I thought!

SEMPO has pretty clearly stated from the beginning that a SEMPO logo means you've paid the fees to become a member. They do not screen or have any standards for members other than fee payment.

Keep in mind that the Better Business Bureau works the same way. If you don't pay, they don't report on you (positively or otherwise).

If SEMPO had a more visible way of showing that their member companies were reputable, their membership might be worth while. As it stands now, I'm unconvinced.