Online Marketing Blog

Jeremiah Owyang posted recently asking his readers what conferences they would be attending in the coming months and I thought that would be a great question for Online Marketing Blog readers as well.

Over the past 3 years we’ve been focused on search marketing conferences but have expanded more into direct marketing, interactive and PR. We’ll continue that trend the rest of this year but with more conferences outside of search as our online marketing agency evolves.

Conferences that I’m attending in the coming months include:

• May: ACCM in Florida
• Jun: PRSA Digital Impact in NYC

With the changes last year in the search marketing conference industry there has been disappointing side-taking and rumor mongering but also a healthy dose of optimism about what more competition will do for attendees. I would think the sustainability and success of any conference is in large part dependent upon attendees needs being met. Whether your primary business is interactive marketing, public relations, advertising or SEM, online marketing and PR oriented conferences offer a variety of benefits.

Because of Online Marketing Blog readers’ varied marketing and PR related interests, this week’s Poll aims to identify the top motivations for readers to attend marketing industry conferences:

The last day of WebmasterWorld’s Pubcon is literally a gathering in a pub. This is the genesis of how Pubcon was started, an informal gathering of members from WebmasterWorld. Through the efforts of Brett Tabke and the community, it has grown into one of the finest search marketing conferences with thousands of attendees, major corporate sponsors, top notch speakers and a spirit like no other event. There’s a real sense of community and “co-opetition” amongst participants that makes it a great place to learn and network.

Here are my final favorite photos from Las Vegas Pubcon and a few with friends from iEntry afterwards.

Looks like Lee has been working hard trying not to get in trouble out there in Las Vegas at the WebmasterWorld Pubcon conference this week. At least, his posts show he has been productive!

Below are the Pubcon session overviews, photo posts and video interviews with other folks hanging out in Vegas. Lucky!

Pubcon 2007 Sessions:

• Pubcon Keynote: Craig Newmark of craigslist
• Pubcon Session: In House SEO
• Pubcon Session: Enterprise SEO
• Pubcon Session: Blogger Reporter Panel
• Pubcon Session: Press and Public Relations Campaigns

Pubcon Photos:

It was my first Microsoft party last night and it turned out to be a doosy. I went with Rich Ord, Mike McDonald (who won a Zune) and Tiffany Doughty from iEntry (WebProNews). We arrived at about 7-7:30 to see lots of familiar faces. There was a Guitar Hero competition, sushi, glowing drinks, mini hamburgers, a huge outdoor patio and from 55 floors up, the view was amazing. There were bad Billy Idol and Gwen Stephani lookalikes, dancing, a little debauchery and plenty of conversations.

There were indeed a few photos that I could not upload to Flickr. However, please enjoy these:

The last session of the day for me was “Press and Public Relations Campaigns” with Robin Liss of Reviewed.com and Joe Beaulaurier from PRWeb. Moderation duties were scheduled to be handled by Brett Tabke but were switched at the last minute to Melanie Mitchell, VP of SEO/SEM at AOL. Sorry Brett, but I don’t think anyone had a problem with the switch.

Robin presented a case study for a promotion on the iPhone her site wirelessinfo.com did using multiple channels including Digg and a YouTube video that went viral. Joe presented the multiple media format press release options offered by PRWeb.

If someone has a better photo, please link in the comments

On day three, the last day of sessions at WebmasterWorld Pubcon here in Vegas, I participated on a panel called, “Search and Blogging Reporters Forum” with Rand Fishkin and Andy Beal.

Moderation duties handled by Mike McDonald. Basically, it was a round table-style discussion about blogging in the SEO industry as well as blogging as a marketing tool. There were some good points about using blogs as a public relations tool as well as some debate about hosting team blogs separately or all under the company domain name.

I met Melanie Mitchell at last year’s Pubcon and was amazed at what a job being a Vice President of SEO/SEM at a company like AOL must be. The insights she shared in a keynote presentation at the WebGuild’s Searchnomics conference were impressive so I was fortnuate to get a few minutes of her time to do a short video interview on what she does for AOL and what some of her challenges and accomplishments have been.

Be sure to check out the TopRank SEO video channel on YouTube for interviews from Pubcon and many other search marketing event.

While walking the WebmasterWorld Pubcon exhibit hall floor I ran into Brett Crosby from Google. We talked about some of the new enhancements that have been added to Google Analytics. The addition of site search tracking in Google Analytics was of particular interest to me and I thought I would share here.

Be sure to check out the TopRank channel on YouTube for more SEO interviews.

View from the Wynn

I finally arrived in Las Vegas and bumped into Detlev Johnson while checking in to the Wynn. He showed me his cool new Blackberry Curve.  It’s a cool phone but I don’t have Tmobile and am not sure about switching networks again.  He has a pet name for it that really fits, but I can’t mention it here. If you see me at the conference, ask. Better yet, ask Detlev.

Next week offers one of the most significant opportunities for those in the search marketing world to up their knowledge, industry networks and have a great time doing it. WebmasterWorld’s Pubcon conference in Las Vegas has acquired a certain gravitational pull that’s impossible to ignore. There are many reasons why this is true, so I’ve pinged a few Pubcon veterans to share why they love Pubcon and why it’s something search marketers should seriously consider getting involved with.

The big year of 2007 is winding down and there are more than a few conferences coming up. It’s been a busy year for TopRank speaking events with our involvement in the search, direct marketing and public relations industries. Here are our remaining speaking events this year. We hope to see you there:

Nov 1, 2007 - Bulldog Reporter’s PR University - Teleconference
“Boosting Web Traffic: Best New Ways PR Can Supercharge Websites to Drive Investors, Journalists and Customers to Visit Online”

Nov 30, 2007 - Advanced PR Technology Conference - San Francisco, CA
“Press Release Optimization” and “Corporate Site SEO”