Search Marketing Expo

Is the un-conference the future of the Online Marketing conference?

August 2, 2007 By John W Ellis 2 Comments

As I gear up for my speaking engagement at BarCamp Nashville on August 18^th, I began to wonder if this concept could be the future of the Online Marketing conference.

BarCamp is promoted as the un-conference. It’s a spin off of Foo Camp, an annual invitation-only un-conference. However, the BarCamp philosophy takes “open-sourcing” to a whole new level.

Like many conferences, BarCamps are organized through the web. But unlike other conferences, that is where the organization stops. There is no model, no format and no standard to follow. They have very little rules, but even those are flexible. Anyone can initiate an event. BarCamps, like BarCamp Nashville, consist of presentations scheduled each day by attendees, mostly on-site, using white boards, napkins, or whatever can be found.

Could the un-conference idea be the future of the Online Marketing conference?

This would eliminate unnecessary vendor presentations. The casual atmosphere, and possibly even alcohol, will encourage a “true” open exchange of ideas. We could all open the doors to our “tricks and techniques”. Everyone could present on any topic. The audience will dictate the demand. If they like the topic they will listen. If not they move on.

I realize tradition in the search engine marketing world is to keep ranking tips secret. But for a fun event, with limited people, why not truly “open-source” all online marketing ideas?

Who wants to present the first Search Engine un-Conference?

** Find more articles from John W Ellis at http://www.johnwellis.com

Filed Under: john ellis, Search Engine Strategies, Search Marketing Expo, SEM Conferences

SMX or SES – Pick One

June 5, 2007 By Manoj Jasra 2 Comments

A post from Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz says that Incisive Media (guys who run Search Engine Strategies) wants to introduce a speaker exclusivity agreement.

This would mean that if you speak at SMX, you cannot be an SES speaker, and likewise, if SES gets you as a speaker, they’d require that you don’t also speak for SMX – SEOMoz

However, a comment from Kevin Newcomb (editor of Search Engine Watch) on Rand’s post assured that rumor was false.

If this was true it would be pretty big news because there is SO much overlap in terms of speakers. Strategically, it maybe one of the options Incisive has in order to keep the SES shows competitive. Speakers would potentially have to select whether to speak at SES where the content is a lot less advanced but there is more opportunity to network with potential clients OR SMX where you’re dealing with advanced topics, new age tactics and practitioners from the industry.

Filed Under: Search Marketing Expo, SES, SMX

Inside Search Marketing Expo – Seattle

June 4, 2007 By Manoj Jasra 1 Comment

SE Round Table’s Tamar Weinberg provides an in-depth analysis of the first day’s events at the 2007 Search Marketing Expo in Seattle.

You & A with Matt Cutts

A live question and answer session with Google’s own Matt Cutts. Here are a few of the questions that were posed to Matt:

I have a question about image results in the search results page. How is this going to evolve?
Why does Google love Wikipedia? When will you break up with him?
A lot of people have found that supplemental pages don’t come up. Is this the way that they’ll be in the future, or will they be found in search results if there are links in the near future?

Matt Cutts finished the session by asking everyone what they’d like to see from the Webmaster Console.

Duplicate Content Summit

Issue and concerns over duplicate content featuring personnel from the major search engines: Vanessa Fox, Google; Amit Kumar, Yahoo; Peter Linsley, Ask.com; and Eytan Seidman, Microsoft Live.

This session addressed items such as:

Why duplicate content matters
How to avoid having people copying your content
How each of the search engine handle duplicate content
The definition of duplicate content
Legitimate reason to duplicate
Accidental Duplication
How users can help the Search Engines

SEO, Meet SMM

Social media marketing experts spoke about leveraging social media in addtion to traditional SEO Strategies. The speakers included: Rand Fishkin, Cindy Krum, Neil Patel and Todd Malicoat.

Topics covered included: