For my first interview with other Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) members I am honored to chat with Paul Jahn of Localmn.com. Paul is a great local talent with expertise in search marketing.

Hi Paul, please give us a capsule of your background and how you have come to focus on local internet marketing and your localmn.com business and blog.

Paul: I can actually pinpoint this to 2001 while working for by sister and brother-in-law at BuyOnlineNow, an online office supply e-commerce site. Even though it’s online “only”, customers would often call asking where they could buy our products in their local area. The “search online - buy offline” light bulb then turned on, but unfortunately it was 2001 - two years before the infancy of local search marketing. I guess you can say that it has been a waiting game.

In 2003, Localmn launched and it wasn’t until mid-2006 that I started the blog. I really enjoy working with both and it makes me stay knowledgeable of new trends.

Congratulations, I know you accepted a new job offer recently. Can you tell us about your new gig?

Paul: Thank you very much Chris, and yes I can! In January, I joined the Aware Web Solutions team as an Internet marketing manager. We’re a full Web solutions consulting firm with an increasing demand for search engine marketing and advertising, email marketing, local search, social media, and other forms of online marketing. The synergy within the Internet marketing team, and Aware as a whole is just amazing. It has been a wonderful first couple of months, and it’s sure to continue.

You also do some writing for Search Engine Guide, describe that opportunity for us and who you have met through that and other interactive marketing ventures?

Paul: Sometime in 2005, I submitted a local search article to SEG. A half hour later I received an email back from Robert Clough. He really liked the article, and it winds up he’s a St. Paul native and an avid Vikings fan! Since then, Jennifer Laycock came on board as their editor, and I got to know her as well and continue to submit articles on a somewhat regular basis.

A couple years before, I became involved in Jill Whalen’s High Rankings forum, and was lucky enough to win a contest to be a guest at the 2003 Chicago Search Engine Strategies event. That was my first search marketing conference and I was just floored by all the talent. Overall, I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of cool and talented people, and have learned a lot along the way.

How has being a part of MIMA been useful for you and what are its greatest features?

Paul: MIMA has been great on both a professional and networking level. On a professional level, they bring in some of the best local and national experts for presentations, seminars, and events. It’s always a great learning experience!

The networking aspect is a great way to meet other professionals, too. Plus, my old coworkers at FindLaw usually represents quite well. During the 2006 MIMA Guthrie holiday party, I counted about five current and five past employees, and that number may be low. Everyone was just having a great time chatting with each other about “stuff”. It goes to show how much respect everybody has for each other.

How can MIMA continue to grow?

Paul: I really don’t know and would probably just say to keep doing what they’re doing. I’m certainly not the only one who has benefited from it. That reminds me, I need to re-up!

How would you describe the Twin Cities online marketing arena? Is it growing at a good pace?

Paul: Definitely! It’s a small enough community where you can literally get to know everybody. It’s a large enough community where there is a lot of incredible talent in all aspects. Plus, the Twin Cities is home to some of the nation’s top ad agencies. Many of them incorporate online marketing at some level (or would like to), whether it’s search marketing, user-generated media, local search, or online video marketing. I see the two industries starting to work very well with each other. – at least in the Twin Cities.

What is the latest cool thing when it comes to local internet marketing that applies to all local markets?

Paul: Boy, that’s a tough one. There have been a lot of local flavor-of-the-months lately. Ratings and reviews have been around for many years, although has now become prevalent in local search marketing. Testimonials on your own Web site are great, but when you see positive, unbiased, 3rd party reviews for local businesses big or small, this can truly take people away from their computer, and to your door. These ratings and reviews are all over local search results, and even in Internet yellow pages. As a local consumer, I have benefited from this many times over.

As a fan of Gopher hockey I was excited to see you post on the Gopher hockey win in the WCHA finals and link to a video of the OT winning goal. How long have you been a fan of Gopher hockey and what draws you to it?

Paul: Growing up in Rochester, the two main Minnesota college hockey teams (then) were the Gophers and the Bulldogs from Duluth. Since Minneapolis was closer, I naturally gravitated toward the Gophers at an early age. I went to college in the middle of Washington State where hockey is pretty much non-existent, so I just remained a Gopher puck fan.

Some are calling the Gophers the “New York Yankees” of college puck. What your reactions to that?

Paul: I kind of agree, and am a little bummed that I do. I love the fact that the vast majority of the Gophers are from Minnesota itself, but they do get the breaks. The Final Five is in St. Paul every year, the media loves them, and they seem to get very favorable seeds come tourney time.

Thank you much Paul for your time and letting us get to know you a bit more. I’ll be cheering for those Gophers in the NCAA tourney.