2010 SEMMY Winners Announced

Whew. The 3rd annual SEMMY Awards are finally in the books. The winners in all 17 categories were announced this morning, and it’s a really great collection of articles. I’m proud to say that there are several first-time winners on this list, from several blogs/sites that were never even nominated before. That makes me happy, and suggests to me that the SEMMYS are on the right track. (I’m also proud to see my guest post on Small Biz Trends from last year win — it’s the one in the Small Business category below.)

Here’s the full list of winners:

• SEO: Surviving and Thriving as an Ecommerce SEO
• PPC: Discovering Keywords On the Cheap
• Social Media: 7 Reasons Your Social Media Marketing Failed (and how to fix it!)
• Local Search: Google Maps’ New Rules – Thoughts on Assumed Names and DBAs
• Link Building: 10 Goals For Link Building Campaigns: Moving Beyond “Get More Links”
• Blogs & Blogging: Guest Blogging: The Ultimate Guide
• Viral Marketing: 5 Must Do’s After A Successful Viral Marketing Campaign
• Analytics: Google Analytics For Local Search: Tracking Traffic From The 10 Pack
• Reputation Management: Be Proactive With Your Reputation Management
• Small Business: If I Were Launching a New Small Biz Web Site Today
• Google: Google Enables Real Time Spam and More
• Search Tech: The SEO geeks guide to information retrieval
• Design & Usability: Everyday Usability – 14-Point Checklist for Success
• Online Marketing/General: Thinking Positively About Negative Reviews
• Industry: 10 Questions to Evaluate a Social Media ‘Expert’
• Copywriting: Does Your Copy Need a Makeover? 7 Tests That Measure the Verbal Impact of Your Business Message
• Rants: Ignore the Silly Man, SEO Still Matters For SMBs

What’s Next for the SEMMY Awards

Every year there’s some grumbling and griping about the SEMMYS and how they’re organized. (BTW, if you’re not familiar with how it all works, I had a good conversation with Kim Krause-Berg in the comments of her post here.)

There was a lot less griping this year, which obviously pleases me. But I’ll say what I’ve said before: If anyone has constructive ideas and suggestions for how to make the SEMMYS better, I’m all ears. There’s a contact form right on this blog.

For now, the eight-person nominating committee is already busy nominating articles for next year’s awards. The committee will do that all year, and then next January I’ll roundup the judges to choose finalists in each category and we’ll go through the process again. I’m thinking it would be nice to find some new judges next year, not because I’m unhappy with the folks volunteering as judges now — but because it’s been mostly the same group for three years now, and there are a lot of smart, new people in our industry who I think would add a good voice to the process.

Thanks

First, to web designer extraordinaire David Mihm for all his time and energy keeping the SEMMYS web site in great shape.

Thanks also to the volunteer judges and nominating committee members for their time. They’re all listed in the Contributors & Judges blogroll on semmys.org.

Thanks to the folks who voted for winners in any/all of the 17 categories. There were more votes cast this year than either of the last two years.

Thanks to everyone across the industry who chooses to embrace the SEMMYS, especially those who do so without taking it too seriously. It’s odd to me that some well-known sites/blogs ignore the SEMMYS, but that’s their choice. Life goes on.

And thanks to all the excellent writers and bloggers who continue to teach me and the rest of us with your great articles, blog posts, and other types of content. I hope you see the SEMMYS as a token of the industry’s appreciation for you, whether you win or not.