Almost seven years ago I was part of Americorps and worked for a nonprofit as a community organizer. We specialized in housing and neighborhood revitalization. I loved the nonprofit world for its focus on education and for helping make our community better. I became a hub of my own neighborhood and people told me what was going on. It was a fun time. As part of my compensation I have money to go back to school that I have to use before it expires.

Help me decide what I should take. I’ll go to Utah Valley College because I live about 2 blocks from it and it’s the easiest. I could take fun classes like skiing, ice skating, or yoga. Or, there are other courses like business finance, powerpoint, marketing, advertising, or even public speaking. On the business courses I really want to take a class based on the quality of the teaching as much as the subject matter. Some of you have attended UVSC, do you have any recommendations for me?

My friend Boris at the SEO magazine Search Engine Standard let me interview him by email about how they got started. He is also offering newspapergrl readers a really good price ($4.95) on a subscription. So if you know any SEOs, this could make a great gift. It would be great reading for small businesses trying to understand how search marketing can help their business.

The idea for the magazine started because 5 years ago not many people knew about search engine marketing. That presented a problem because the company sold a product called AdWatcher (www.adwatcher.com), an ROI tracking and click fraud management tool. A little early in the game, they needed to inform people about search marketing so they started a web site and later published a book (Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook). The book sold about 5,000 copies during the first year or so - not bad, especially for a first book and self-published.

Later, Andrey Milyan, who is currently the editor-in-chief for Search Marketing Standard had the idea of a quarterly magazine about search engine marketing. Milyan was working as an in-house SEO at a Bridal magazine at the time. Now two years later they have a staff of 7 people and the magazine is going strong. Boris reached out to me several months ago and keeps me updated, which is another great way to publicize your product (find bloggers who write about the subject and reach out to them).
Boris set up a coupon code so you could subscribe to Search Marketing Standard, and get a 67% discount, which makes a 1 year U.S. subscription cost just $4.95 (International - $6.60). Use coupon code: 67PILGRIM (I asked him to make it available for Marketing Pilgrim writers too. If your company wants to offer a special discount for your product, please contact me, I think this is a great idea).

For every new subscriber until Dec. 10th who uses the coupon code, they’ll donate $1 to Toys for Tots.