Mike Levin

Current

Director of SEO Strategy at 360i
Inventor and Creator at HitTail.com

Past

Lead Marketing Engineer at Hachette Filipacchi Media
Vice President at Connors Communications
Director of eBusiness at Scala

Webmaster at Prophet 21
Design Student at Drexel University
President at Philadelphia Amiga Users Group
Student Intern at Commodore

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4 more...

Education

Drexel University

Recommended

51 people have recommended Mike

Connections

454 connections

Industry

Online Media

Websites

Mike Levin’s Summary

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The mission of any company is to get and keep customers. That's the lens through which I see my field of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media optimization (SMO)--as core to every business, because reaching out to self-directed searchers is the first line in getting and keeping customers. Today with 360i, I regularly consult on search strategy and enthusiastically tackle the biggest natural-search problems in the industry. Whatever the situation, I work with an entrepreneurial spirit and mindset. Feel free to reach out to me for a chat.

Mike Levin’s Specialties:

I live between build and buy--building when necessary, and buying when possible. In particular, I connect people and spark off discussions, mostly for winning customers through real-time keyword/user tracking, system-agnostic content management, and compelling human relationships forward through systems you hardly know you're using. My platform today is Linux, Apache & Python. It used to be SQL Server, IIS & ASP. I also know OS X, JavaScript, XML, XSLT, Linux, Adobe CS4, and other technologies.

Mike Levin’s Experience

Director of SEO Strategy

360i

(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

July 2008 — Present (1 year 5 months)

Optimizing big name-brands for high traffic generic terms is one of the biggest challenges in SEO. Such clients have simultaneously the best assets and the most constraints, often making the challenge feel like pushing on a rope. While anyone can optimize for niche product sales-leads, only a few have the capability to drive meaningful amounts traffic on generic non-brand terms to established and constrained big-brand sites.
Inventor and Creator

HitTail.com

(Internet industry)

June 2006 — Present (3 years 6 months)

Created the popular HitTail.com keyword tracker and suggestion website, plus a whole suite of the usual SEO support tools such as a ranking monitor and crawlers for site analysis. Developed and introduced actual real-time search intelligence tools to business tools back in 2006, and was recognized as one of the most innovative analytics products of 2006 by Business Week Magazine.
Lead Marketing Engineer

Hachette Filipacchi Media

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Publishing industry)

November 2007 — May 2008 (7 months)

Organically doubled traffic across multiple sites, optimized AdWords campaigns, trained Editors, Producers and Technical staff on SEO best practices, created new publishing and tracking systems.
Vice President

Connors Communications

(Online Media industry)

August 2004 — October 2007 (3 years 3 months)

"Productized" natural search optimization, built team, overhauled Intranet, created Extranet, worked agency-side SEO, created the Web 2.0 HitTail.com keyword research site, closed new business and up-sold.
Director of eBusiness

Scala

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

June 1999 — August 2004 (5 years 3 months)

While incentivized by a percentage of company gross profits as "Webmaster", I created public website, lead-capture system, sales force automation system, order management, manufacturing and fulfillment systems, secure Web store, content management system, unique tracking system, and user-identifier system. Created and managed a private community of resellers and public community of product advocates. Targeted and secured lasting top search positions on variety of key terms, across all major search engines. Pioneered organic long tail keyword landing page strategy, and in doing so, played major role in giving a name to the new emerging industry of digital signage.
Webmaster

Prophet 21

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

1998 — 1999 (1 year )

Overhauled and search-optimized website, integrated website with sales force automation, worked with many groups including Sales, Marketing, Telemarketing, Inside Sales, and IT departments. Created the company's first Intranet. Learned who Michael Bosworth was, and put a name and methodology (Solution Selling) to a process that I had been intuitively carrying out anyway.
Design Student

Drexel University

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

September 1988 — June 1992 (3 years 10 months)

Design student. Studied under John Langdon, one of the most remarkable designers on the planet, responsible for teaching me how to make the reversible logo "ambigram" featured in my profile pic.
President

Philadelphia Amiga Users Group

(Computer Hardware industry)

June 1989 — June 1991 (2 years 1 month)

President of Philadelphia area Amiga Computer users group, where I was privileged to lead a kooky, artistic and genius group of technological rebels (about 200 people) holding their meetings in the heart of hostile territory--Drexel University, the first campus that required all their students to buy computers... Macs!
Student Intern

Commodore

(Public Company; Computer Hardware industry)

1988 — 1991 (3 years )

Student intern at Commodore during the Apple ex-patriot Harry Copperman days (in Education Marketing) during heyday of beloved Amiga computer and the Video Toaster. Witnessed first hand the demise of a technology empire. Attended shareholder meetings at the nearly inaccessible Lyford Cay Club in the Bahamas to make impassioned and ultimately meaningless appeals to Irving Gould and Al Haig. Learned many life lessons.

Mike Levin’s Education

Drexel University

BS , Graphic Design , 1988 — 1992

An interesting school to have attended--mostly, a commuter Engineering school. It fed my need for a technological environment, having been the first school to have required their students to buy a computer, which happened to be Apple Macintosh. But also features a strong, pragmatic media art and design school, spanning that technical/artistic divide that is so prevalent and required to be a successful Web developer these days.

Additional Information

Mike Levin’s Websites:

Mike Levin’s Interests:

dogs, cats, camping, new technology, seo, search engine optimization, blogging, science

Mike Levin’s Groups:

Scala, HitTail, SEMPO

LinkedSEO
On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs
Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) - OFFICIAL GROUP FOR THE ORGANIZATION
Startup Specialists
! Most Recommended - Gold Award!
NEW YORK CITY
Drexel University Nesbitt School of Design
Commodorians
NY Tech Meetup
Scala Connected Signage
Search Marketing Careers
iBreakfast