Columbus, OH May 7, 2008 -- Leading online marketing experts will be gathering in Columbus on May 19th for an intense day of sessions, training and education, as the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) hosts "Building a Roadmap for an Integrated Marketing Strategy", the group announced today.

The event will be held from 8:30 am until 4 pm at the Northpointe Conference Centre. Registration for the event is available at OhioWebLeaders.com.

The conference will focus on integrating online and traditional marketing campaigns to generate more sales, leads and awareness online through corporate websites.

"Ohio is home to a vibrant online marketing community," said Bill Balderaz of Webbed Marketing, a Columbus-based Internet marketing agency one of the charter members of OWL. "Online marketing agencies, technology firms, software solution providers, web design firms, and other Internet marketing experts all call Ohio home," he added. "This event is about bringing the online marketing community together to share knowledge with the larger marketing community."

The one day session will feature six sessions covering a wide range of topics including web design, search engine marketing, blogging for businesses, viral marketing and search engine marketing.

"Our goal is to have marketing managers from around Ohio attend this event and leave with a solid roadmap to help them drive more business with their web sites," said Tom Augustine, President of MindsOn Marketing, a marketing communications and web development agency. Augustine will be leading the web design session at the event.

"In one day, attendees will learn the basics for creating a solid integrated marketing campaign that uses both online and traditional tactics to drive visitors to their websites--and turn those visitors into sales and leads," Augustine said.

The conference will also feature Columbus-based ClearSaleing, ClearSaleing helps Internet retailers and direct marketers improve the performance of their search engine marketing and any other form of online advertising and prove their results through a technology that measures and optimizes online advertising. The company was founded by Ohio entrepreneurs Mike Lanese and Randy Smith and former Google executive Adam Goldberg.

"ClearSaleing has great clients and partners here in Ohio," Goldberg, who will be speaking at the event, said. "We're excited to take part in this event. This event is brining some of the most innovative online marketing minds in Ohio together. I'm looking forward to being a part of it."

The conference will feature a session on blogging for business by Jennifer Laycock, Editor of Search Engine Guide. Laycock, an internationally known speaker and blogger, specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing consultant and in-house trainer, Jennifer's clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children. She has been the featured speaker at dozens of online marketing events around the world.

"We're thrilled to have Jennifer Laycock featured at this event," Balderaz said. "Her support is key in building a strong online marketing community in Ohio."

"Blogging is one of those things that tends to get misunderstood in the marketing realm. Companies either push too hard, or don't push hard enough," Laycock explained. "Learning how to leverage blogs for conversation with customers and seeing the amazing results that can come with reaching out to your community online can go a long way toward helping a company improve their business prospects on the web."

Nihar Bihani, an organic search engine expert formerly with Columbus-based ECNext, will lead the day's session on organic search engine optimization. Bihani has managed organic search engine optimization programs for some of the largest and most visited business web sites on the Internet.

The conference will also feature a panel discussion with Ohio marketing managers who have successfully integrating online and traditional marketing to drive more business via the web.

"Integration is key," said Amy Marshall of Webbed Marketing, who will be leading the panel with Randy James from MindsOn Marketing. "The most successful web sites attract visitors from multiple channels, including both traditional and online campaigns."

"We're excited to have attracted such an all-star line up to our first event in Ohio. We know that attendees will learn a lot from the experts who are in this world every day. At the end of the day, we want marketing executives to leave knowing they have a plan to drive more business from their websites," Augustine said.

About Ohio Web Leaders
The Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is an innovative group of marketing professionals located in Ohio who have a passion for helping businesses use the Web to drive their growth. By forming OWL and bringing similar professionals together with similar goals, we can learn and network with one another.

The mission of the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is to provide a platform for marketing professional to share effective Internet strategies that work to learn, integrate and understand how to utilize the Internet to grow their business. From building a compelling website to influencing target audiences online, Internet marketing strategies are quickly becoming a critical component to many businesses to drive their goals. And because the market is ever-changing with new ideas and technologies, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest online marketing trends and run your business. OWL wants to help marketing managers get access to the people and information they need to take advantage of the marketing opportunities using the Web.