About Brad Geddes

Brad Geddes has been involved in online marketing for more than a decade. Over the years, he has provided a variety of consulting services, including: usability, conversion optimization, product development, product positioning, and agency consulting, He has managed, SEO, PPC, and affiliate marketing campaigns for both himself and others.

One of his trademarks has been demystifying the more complicated aspects of SEO, PPC, and Internet advertising through writing, speaking, and training. Brad does not withhold secrets as he prefers to educate readers on the various aspects of crafting marketing campaigns to ensure the success for all parties involved.

Brad is not one to call himself an expert or guru. He prefers to train marketers and let the results speak for themselves. Therefore, instead of writing paragraphs that use the words “master,” “wizard,” or “thought-leader,” and name-drop companies he has worked with such as Amazon, Yahoo, and Google he prefers a simple bullet point list of facts to let intelligent readers make up their own minds.

As a Speaker:

  • Have spoken at more than 30 conferences and 50 sessions across several countries.
  • Such notable conferences as AdWords Days (Germany), Search Engine Strategies, SES Local, SMX, SMX Local, Kelsey, Pubcon, SuperZoo, Marketing 2.0 Bootcamp, SEO Class, and adTech.
  • Spoke at events at both Google and Microsoft.

As a Trainer:

  • One of only two Google-approved AdWords Seminar Leaders.
  • Conducted more than 55 officially Google-supported AdWords Seminars for Success, attended by more than 3,500 marketing professionals. AdWords Seminars for Success are two days of intensive training on Google AdWords.
  • Worked with Google in implementing their reseller training program at R.H. Donnelley.
  • Helped institute a training program for LocalLaunch that managed more than 40,000 PPC accounts.
  • Conducted training days in multiple countries for conferences such as SEO Class, Search Engine Strategies (in New York, Toronto, and Chicago), Refined Labs, and Pubcon.

As an Internet Marketer:

  • Built first website in 1998.
  • Started SEOing websites in 1998.
  • Started affiliate marketing in 1999.
  • Opened first PPC account in 1999.
  • Formed first agency, iDjinni Consulting, in 2002, providing usability, PPC, SEO, and affiliate marketing services.
  • Joined LocalLaunch in 2004:
    • LocalLaunch began as a boutique agency, then built a marketing platform that empowered sales forces to sell marketing products to their customer bases while LocalLaunch did all of the product’s management behind the scenes
    • Helped grow the LocalLaunch agency that provided PPC services to companies such as Red Lobster, Encyclopedia Britannica, YellowPages.com, and Yahoo.
    • Helped build marketing products that were used by more than 100,000 businesses.
    • Helped build a system that managed more than 40,000 PPC accounts.
    • Worked with companies such as Amazon, World Directories, DEX Media, and Local.com.
    • While Brad managed vendor relations, R.H. Donnelley became one of the few Google and Yahoo resellers in the world.
    • LocalLaunch was sold to R.H. Donnelley in 2006.
  • Formed bg Theory in 2008
    • bg Theory is a company dedicated to consulting, educating, and training businesses on Internet marketing theory and best practices.

Even More Stuff:

  • Author of Advanced Google AdWords.
  • Co-moderator of AdWords forum on Webmaster World since 2004.
  • Search Engine Land columnist since 2007.
  • Board member for Boost Media.
  • Active blogger about PPC and marketing since 2001.
  • Technical editor for Winning Results with AdWords, by Andrew Goodman.
  • One of the first Microsoft adCenter Excellence Members and participated in the beta test.
  • One of the first 100 Google Advertising Professionals
  • Worked with a range of companies that have spent from as little as $17.50 per month to millions per year.

More than you want to know

1999: Brad Geddes began his internet marketing career. His first endeavors were based around successful affiliate marketing models through SEO and other creative means of traffic. June: With the launch of GoTo.com, Brad quickly adopted to the pay per click model of marketing, and has made that one of his primary focuses ever since.

2001: Brad began offering eBooks and articles about internet marketing. One of his trademarks has been demystifying many of the more complicated aspects of SEO, PPC, and internet advertising. Not one to hold secrets, Brad prefers to educate his readers on the various aspects of marketing. He feels that knowledge sells, and while he is willing to share his secrets, his willingness to share information has gathered him many clients (including other internet marketing agencies) over the years.

2002: Brad Geddes formalized his offerings into a business model, iDjinni Consulting, to help businesses take advantage of internet advertising. Over the years, iDjinni has offered a large variety of internet marketing services, including:

  • Evaluate client markets, competitors, and goals for developing strategies to meet their needs.
  • PPC Management (Google AdWords, Overture, Variety of 2nd Tier PPCs, CitySearch, SuperPages).
  • Keyword research, title & description writing, ROI & conversion analysis, monthly reporting for PPCs.
  • Affiliate marketing directly through PPC engines and company website (including Google AdSense).
  • Website usability, visitor path analysis, conversion analysis, and custom landing page consulting.
  • Agency Consulting (Implementing and executing client marketing programs and serving those client needs)
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Analysis of PPC Campaigns (iDjinni writes deliverables of PPC campaign analysis)
  • Website Design
  • General internet & ecommerce consulting.

2004: July: Brad joined the LocalLaunch team as the Director of Search Engine Marketing, a leading Internet marketing firm. With over five years of experience in search engine marketing and a reputation as an expert in the particulars, quirks, and problems of Pay Per Click Management Brad was a natural fit to oversees client accounts, direct the team of PPC analysts, and manage the lead generation campaign which includes over one million PPC keyword phrases.

August: Brad accepted the position of co-moderator of the AdWords forum (known as eWhisper) at WebMasterWorld.com.

September: Published eBook Yahoo Search Marketing Genie. December: Speaking engagement at Chicago Search Engine Strategies, Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic.

2005: Technical editing for Andrew Goodman’s Book, Winning Results with Google AdWords.

February: Speaking engagement at New York Search Engine Strategies, Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic.

He became one of the first 100 Google Advertising Professionals.

June: Two speaking engagements at WebmasterWorld Search Conference: Site Clinic, Local Search Ads.

August: Two speaking engagements at San Jose Search Engine Strategies, Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic, Local Search Tactics.

October: Published eBook AdWords Keyword Research Genie.

November: Two speaking engagements at Las Vegas Pubcon: PPC Landing Page Clinic, PPC Conversions.

December: Two speaking engagements at Chicago Search Engine Strategies: Local Search Marketing Tactics, Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic.

2006: February: Two speaking engagements at New York Search Engine Strategies, Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic & Local Search Marketing Tactics.

April: Two speaking engagements at Boston Pubcon :P PC Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic, Intro to Pay Per Click.

June: Guest Podcast appearance on GoodKarma Two speaking engagements at SES Latino – Miami: Buying Search Engine Advertising: Latino Edition & Spanish/Portuguese Language Ad Issues.

August: Two speaking engagements at SES San Jose: Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic & Compare and Contrast PPC Search Engines.

September: One presentation at SES Local in Denver, Local Search Marketing Tactics.

October: Google AdWords Seminar in Chicago, New York, and Miami.

November: Google AdWords Seminar in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Speaking at two sessions at Pubcon on PPC Ad and Landing Page Optimization (AdWords Quality Score Presentation) and Ad and Landing Page Site Reviews. I also moderated a couple of sessions, Local and Mobile Local Search and Optimizing your Site For Higher Conversion Rates.

December: Two speaking engagements at SES Chicago: Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic & Compare and Contrast PPC Search Engines.

2007: January: speaking at Microsoft’s adChamps. Google AdWords Seminar in Charlotte, NC.

February: Google AdWords seminar in Washington, DC and Denver.

March: Google AdWords seminar in Seattle, Detroit, and Minneapolis. Presented at SEOClass on paid search.

April: Two speaking engagements at SES New York: Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic & Compare and Contrast PPC Search Engines. AdWords seminar in Phoenix.

May: AdWords seminar in St. Louis and Las Vegas.

June: Speaking at SMX, Pump up Your Paid Search. AdWords Seminar in Dallas, Toronto, and Boston. Three speaking engagements at SES Latino: Buying Search Engine Advertising: Latino Edition, Targeting Spanish/Portuguese Search Ads By Demographics & Behavior, Search Marketing With Latinos: Roundtable.

July: Presented at SEOClass on paid search and usability.

August: AdWords seminar in Philadelphia and Vancouver.

September: Speaking engagement at SuperZoo on an overview of SEO, site structure, usability, and paid search.

November: Spoke at Kelsey on local paid search opportunities.

2008: June: Spoke at adTech Miami on The State of Search in Latin America.

July: Resigned from LocalLaunch/RH Donnelley.

Some of the RHD Highlights over 4 years:

  • Ran the premium services agency
  • Assisted with creating and maintaining the PPC, SEO, Profile, and RegisterLocal product set
  • Managed PPC products while working closely with the other product teams to ensure they complimented each other appropriately and fulfilled client expectations
    • Customized PPC products or fulfillment processes based upon reseller needs
  • Devised a system to create effective PPC campaigns, which were personalized to each business, in a matter of minutes (often hundreds of ad copies and thousands of keywords per business).
  • Worked through processes to run scalable PPC operations in multiple languages
  • Some product resellers included:
    • Freedom Communications, World Directories, Amazon, and RH Donnelley (DexMedia)
    • Worked with Newspapers, CMRs, Yellow Pages, vertical and horizontal aggregators
  • Assisted in the acquisition process of LocalLaunch by RHD
  • Worked closely with Google, internal staff, sales trainers, and BD teams to make RHD one of the more successful Google AdWords Resellers in the world
  • Assisted in having Sales Trainers, Internet Marketing Trainers, and Operations teams certified by Google
  • Worked with a large variety of teams to position products both for both sales and the marketplace
  • Oversaw PPC Vendor stratedgies and execution (including APIs)
  • Worked with PPC Campaigns for DexKnows, Amazon Clients, YellowPages.com, Encyclopedia Brittanica, Red Lobster, and many others
  • And, of couse, much more. When you go from a team of 12 to 27 in one year, and 27 to over 140 in just one additional year – you wear many hats and assist many people into growing into their appropriate roles so the company can scale efficiently and effectively.

Formed bg Theory, LLC. Spoke at SMX Local on Managing a Local/Mobile Search Marketing Campaign.

August: Spoke at SES San Jose on Ads in a Quality Score World. AdWords Seminar in New York City and Atlanta. Guest appearance on PPC Rockstars Podcast.

September: AdWords Seminars in Toronto, Denver, Dallas, and San Francisco.

November: Spoke at Pubcon on Landing Page Optimization. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Seattle AdWords Seminar.

December: Spoke at SES Chicago on bid management. SES SEM Training on Advanced AdWords techniques. AdWords seminars in Houston and Washington DC.

2009: January: Spoke in Austin and Phoenix at AdWords Avanced Seminar.

February: Spoke at Advanced AdWords Seminar in Vancouver and San Diego.

March: Spoke at Refined Labs AdWords Seminar in Munich, Germany. Conducted Advanced AdWords Seminar in Portland and Charlotte.

May: AdWords Seminar in Philadelphia.

June: AdWords Seminar in Chicago & Boston. SES Toronto – Conducted training on AdWords techniques.

July: AdWords Seminar in Minneapolis.

August: AdWords Seminar in Denver & Toronto. SES San Jose: Solo session on Introduction to Search; Conducted Landing Page Clinic; Panel on Advanced Keyword Research Techniques.

September: Atlanta & New York City AdWords Seminars. AdWords Days (Germany): two four hour sessions on Advanced AdWords Techniques.

October: SMX East: Panel on Amazing PPC Tactics. Dallas & Seattle AdWords Seminar.

November: Pubcon: Conducted PPC Training; Panels: Navigating the Complex World of PPC; The Best Tactics in Landing Page Optimization; Moderated Local Search & Mobile panel. Los Angeles AdWords seminar.

December: Miami AdWords Seminar for Success.

2010:
February: San Diego & Houston AdWords Seminars.

March: SES New York: Panel on PPC vs SEO; conducted AdWords training session. Washington DC AdWords Seminar.

April: Published Advanced Google AdWords.

Marketing Associations:

  • SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization)
  • eMA (eMarketing Association)
  • AMA (American Marketing Association)

Other Info:

  • Google AdWords Professional
  • Yahoo Search Marketing Amabassador
  • Google AdWords Seminar Leader
  • Microsoft adExcellence Member