[Susan F. Heywood] is a Phoenix, Arizona-based marketer, educator and entrepreneur who specializes in creating relevant customer conversations and content using social media and other Web technologies.

In 1995, Susan joined the team at Tempe, Arizona-based technology seller [| Insight] (Nasdaq: NSIT,) where she was fortunate to have the opportunity to get an early start working in the emerging area of Web marketing. During her eight years at Insight, Susan held several positions where she was able to develop and implement a variety of unique, low cost and highly effective marketing and public relations plans and programs. Susan's work at Insight began in public relations, and included roles related to business development using direct marketing, Online marketing, co-marketing and referral programs.

Results included:

• Generation of millions of dollars in technology sales
• Acquisition of hundreds of thousands of new customers
• Growth of 450% in relevant reciprocal partner Web link participation
• Expansion of referral program participation by 312% and
• Increased editorial coverage to 250 Million press impressions per quarter.

Because of Insight's legacy as a direct marketing company and its innovations and early adoption of Web marketing and sales tactics, Susan was able to promote Insight and its Web offerings in the "dot com" days of the mid- to late 90's. Led by John-Scott Dixon, Insight's Web team built the company's site on a solid, ROI-focused operational foundation, resulting in profitability. Unlike many Web 1.0 projects, Insight's Web presence continued to grow even during the bust experienced by so many companies at the turn of the 21st Century.

In 1998 Susan was awarded a Copper Anvil award in the category of feature writing by the Phoenix Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for her feature article about Insight entitled "Winning the Electronic Commerce Game" that appeared as a cover story in Electronic Commerce World Magazine. Susan's writing has also been published in other publications including DM News, Direct and Event Solutions and numerous newsletters and Web sites.

Prior to joining Insight, [| Susan worked in various sales and marketing capacities] for two software development companies, a financial services company, an insurance company and a direct mail advertising company in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Before she moved to Phoenix in 1990, Susan was co-founder and Vice President of RapidMail, Inc, a Davenport, Iowa full-service direct mail marketing company and mailing list broker.

Susan and a business partner started RapidMail as part of graduate course work at [| St. Ambrose University], from which she earned her [| MBA with Marketing Concentration] degree in 1989. While an MBA student, Susan served as President of the MBA Senate and represented the Graduate student body on the SAU Steering Committee.

Since leaving Insight in 2004, Susan has concentrated her efforts on [| teaching], [writing], and practicing interactive marketing, especially in the growing area of social media. She currently teaches marketing classes in the MBA program at [| University of Phoenix Online], where she especially enjoys working with MBA students nearing graduation who are creating Integrated Marketing Communications plans as part of their final projects.

Susan also [| teaches Online] writing and business management courses at [| Axia College] and [| Western International University], manages several Online entrepreneurial ventures and numerous [| Squidoo] lenses, and works on content development, search optimization and marketing consulting projects. She has used, tested and written about both paid and organic search techniques and contextual ad programs since 2002.

Susan's current research and study is focused on the growing area of social media technologies, including blogs, wikis and Online communities and RSS. A blogger [| DirectMarketingMBA.com/Blog] since 2003, Susan quickly recognized the growing potential of social media. In December of 2004, her DM News article, The Virtually Infinite ROI of Blogs discussed, among other points, the search optimization benefits that blogs can create, and the ROI that these new technologies can generate at little or no advertising cost.

Susan finds Web 2.0 the ultimate blend of PR, Direct Marketing and Interactivity. She's called social media the most exciting development that she's seen in nearly two decades of working with and studying evolving Internet and Web technologies.

To [| learn more about Susan and her work], please visit [| DirectMarketingMBA.com/Blog] to read the blog and find links to Susan's latest projects and shared content links or search for [| "Susan F. Heywood" on Google], Yahoo! or MSN for links and information.