Are you an SEO/SEM in Mexico or Brazil?

I'll be visiting Mexico from Feb 16-24 and Brazil from Feb 24-Mar 3 for the purposes of meeting other SEO's, learning about the local search marketing environment and culture, and generally beginning to learn more about and promote those two countries as excellent SEO targets for international businesses.

If you live in either place (specifically Mexico City, Acapulco, Cancun, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) I'd love to meet with you - I'm also looking for local contacts and sources, and can in turn introduce you to my other contacts and sources internationally. I'll buy the beer :)

And, just to make this post more interesting, I'm in the process of finishing up (finally) my book (International SEO) and I'd like to share with everyone the top 20 international SEO/SEM countries (there may be a few surprises in here for some people):

This list was created by comparing overall population, internet users, internet penetration, broadband subscribers, and user growth for 194 countries. Ranked in order of internet broadband users:

1. United States
2. China
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. Korea, South
6. United Kingdom
7. France
8. Italy
9. Canada
10. Spain
11. Brazil
12. Netherlands
13. Taiwan
14. Australia
15. Mexico
16. Turkey
17. Russia
18. Poland
19. India
20. Vietnam

I intend to meet with SEO's and other search marketers in every single country before publishing the book, hence my trip to Brazil and Mexico.

Cheers,

Ian

Yahoo (YSM) Mexico Upgraded to Panama

I just received an email today from Yahoo informing me that Mexico is now on the new Panama PPC system.

This is good news for international SEM's like myself, since the old Yahoo kinda sucked. Worse, it was really, really hard to integrate into PPC software like Omniture Search Center.

I haven't played with it yet, but I'll keep you updated.

Ian

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Email (translated into English with personal info removed, I apologize in advance for my bad Spanish):

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Advertiser, Congratulations!

The new Yahoo! Search Marketing has been activated. Our system has new and advanced features that are very easy to use and that will help you connect better with the vast and valuable audience of Yahoo! and sites associated with Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Your new Sponsored Results account

Your new user name is' XXX '. Before you can access your account, you will be asked to reestablish your password. After this, you receive an email with instructions.

After you reset your password, you can access your account at https://login.marketingsolutions.yahoo.com/es_MX. If you cannot click on the link, please copy and paste it into your Internet browser.

To help you have a successful start, we suggest you become familiar with your new account by logging in today at https://login.marketingsolutions.yahoo.com/es_MX. Please be sure to have a full campaign and add your billing information. We suggest that you add the page to access your account in your favorites for a easy access in the future.

The new Sponsored Results account structure

The interface of your account is as follows:

Administration - Manage your account information, including information payment and billing. In addition, allocate your daily spending limit, user privileges, and other options.

Please note that all information in your account, including the balance and budget, have been transferred to your new account with Sponsored Results of an account number again. However, we will continue accepting pesos as payment. The amount will simply become the equivalent amount of US dollars according to the current exchange rate.

Control Panel - See a list of all your campaigns, a summary of performance and alerts that require your attention.

Campaigns - Here is where you make the most of managing your account. You can see all your campaigns, ad group, ads and keywords. You can also create or edit campaigns, accessing the auctions and forecasting tools.

Reports - Access to numerous reports of performance to monitor the success of the campaigns, including: impressions, clicks, conversions and costs.

Access to its previous account

You still have access to their previous account (for consultation reporting only), which will be available the next six months, but you may not make any changes.

We are very pleased to have you as an advertiser and we thank you for trusting Yahoo! for your business. If you need assistance, please contact our customer service team at:

Mexico (+52 55) 3003 - 1909 or the interior at no cost to 01800 to 123 - 8593 Argentina (+54 11) 4837 - 8108 Or by email: latam-cs-ysm@cc.yahoo-inc.com

Sincerely,

Yahoo! Search Marketing and it's Partners