Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®

Internet Marketing Conference Tips: Chris Sherman Third Door Media

Figuring out how to get the most out of internet marketing conferences takes experience with plenty of conferences, including events like Search Engine Strategies happening in San Jose this week. So it seems fitting to follow up on Danny Sullivan’s advice with the insight of fellow Minnesotan, Chris Sherman.

Chris is co-founder of Third Door Media as well as the SMX conferences, has a search marketing consulting business and has been as involved with the details of conference programming, moderating and speaking as anyone you can find.

When torn between going to one session over another, go to the one that has fewest attendees. With so many people live blogging conferences these days, the odds are good that someone (or many) will be covering the popular session, so you’ll effectively get a two-fer even without personally attending both.


Internet Marketing Conference Tips: Chris Sherman Third Door Media

Internet Marketing Conference Tips: Danny Sullivan Third Door Media

What better follow up to our impressive list of internet marketing conference tipsters during SES San Jose than sage advice from one of the most visible people in the search marketing industry, Danny Sullivan. As co-founder of Third Door Media, parent to Search Engine Land, Search Marketing Now and the Search Marketing Expo series of conferences, Danny Sullivan is one of the most often quoted experts in the search engine industry.

Online marketing Blog readers may remember this interview with Danny Sullivan and Neil Patel before a SMX Social Media Conference. You can also find him on Twitter and his personal blog, Daggle


Internet Marketing Conference Tips: Danny Sullivan Third Door Media

Getting the Most Out of Internet Marketing Conferences

Josh Bernoff & Charleni Li @ Web 2.0 Expo

With Search Engine Strategies San Jose just around the corner, I thought it timely and appropriate to share insights on how you can get the most out of marketing conferences.

TopRank is very active attending, speaking and blogging a variety of internet marketing events, conferences and workshops. These aren’t the only reasons to attend a marketing conference though and the next 9 posts will offer some excellent insights from TopRank as well as a incredible mix of industry thought leaders that may just compound the value of your staff already attending plus motivate you to send more.

Recession or not, look no further than the headlines in any business publication and you’ll see increasing numbers of articles offering advice on how companies can best deal with tighter marketing budgets.


Getting the Most Out of Internet Marketing Conferences

SMX Advanced 2008 Wrap Up

TopRank Marketing Editor
TopRank Marketing Editor
Online Marketing, Search Marketing Expo, SEO

Working hard at SMX Advanced

With all the sessions, speakers, networking and photo-snapping going on in the last 2 days at SMX Advanced in Seattle, it’s surprising any attendee got anything else completed at all.

While I didn’t attend every session (can’t be in three places at once – just not possible for this girl :)) I managed to get to quite a few where I learned a lot of valuable information and got a feel for what everyone was talking about.

The main theme I noticed in Seattle this week was the idea of value, and how to increase value. With the idea of the recession looming over our heads like a dark cloud, there are many people who want to see their dollar going as far as it can.


SMX Advanced 2008 Wrap Up

SMX Advanced: Day 1 in Photos

TopRank Marketing Editor
TopRank Marketing Editor
Online Marketing, Search Marketing Expo

SMX Advanced at a glance

Day 1 at SMX Advanced has wrapped up quite nicely. Below are some of the session highlights and the gorgeous Bell Harbor Conference Center.

Danny Sullivan welcoming us all

Danny Sullivan opening the show this morning in Seattle.

Blow Your Mind Linkbuilding Tactics

Everyone milling around, getting ready for the first of this mornings sessions

Blow Your Mind Linkbuilding Tactics

Blow Your Mind Linkbuilding Tactics panel this morning

Building Value for your SEM Business

Building Value for your SEO Business session, where we learned that we must invest in our clients and employees to increase the value of the company

Buying Sites for SEO

Buying Sites for SEO panel, featuring Shoemoney in a fantastic video. You can view his SMX Advanced video here.

Danny and Matt
Danny and Matt, dressed as twins, during You & A with Matt Cutts to close the conference today.


SMX Advanced: Day 1 in Photos

SMX Advanced: You and A With Matt Cutts

Danny and Matt

Watch out link-and site-buyers alike! Matt Cutts is in town!

For those of you know don’t know (is there anyone out there who doesn’t?), Matt Cutts is the head of Google’s web spam team; which means any secret we are hearing at SMX Advanced, Matt is making sure the shady tactics aren’t working anymore next week.

Beginning with a pop culture comparison, Matt states that risky link building behavior is a lot like Milli Vanilli. If you do something that will benefit your site right away, like lip synching your way to a Grammy, you will get caught and it wont benefit your company in the future. You will be stripped of your Grammy and acquire a drug problem. And your site will be banned. 🙂


SMX Advanced: You and A With Matt Cutts

SMX Advanced: Blow Your Mind Link Building Tactics

Blow Your Mind Linkbuilding Tactics

Technical issues flavored the beginning of this session at SMX Advanced in Seattle. However, "oopsies" notwithstanding, Blow Your Mind Linkbuilding Tactics was informative with plenty of advice for gaining the authoritative inbound links web sites need to rank well in the search engines.

The session was packed with link builders looking for new and cutting edge linking information. While we listened, Greg Boser, Roger Montti, Jay Young, Stephan Spencer and Todd Friesen did their best to share with the audience how to get the best links. Their tips included:


SMX Advanced: Blow Your Mind Link Building Tactics

SMX Advanced 2008 Preview

TopRank Marketing Editor
TopRank Marketing Editor
Search Marketing Expo

SMX Advanced Logo

SMX Advanced is less than a week away, and let me tell you, I am excited. Not only is Seattle one of my favorite cities in the country, but the agenda for the 2 day long search marketing event looks outstanding.

Along with the keynote speakers – Kevin Johnson and Matt Cutts – here are a few other sessions I am really looking forward to.

SMX Advanced Day 1


SMX Advanced 2008 Preview

How Many Conferences Can You Attend in 30 Days?

Audience

Conferences are a big part of TopRank’s marketing and content promotion strategy and it looks like a busy summer is ahead of us. Numerous events are coming up quickly – enough to make your head spin. Here is a summary of our involvement with PRSA, DMA, PUSH, SIS, SES and SMX events over the next 30 days:

05/14/08 – MIMA: Duality Reality – Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise?
The local interactive marketing association along with inspiration and motivation from Doug Pollei, there will be a very interesting panel of in-house Interactives discussing how large companies (General Mills, Best Buy, Target, Fingerhut and OptumHealth) are adopting and measuring social media programs. If you’re in the Twin Cities this week and involved with social marketing now or in the future, this is a MUST ATTEND event.


How Many Conferences Can You Attend in 30 Days?

What Conferences Are You Attending?

Facebook Marketing Panel Web 2.0 Expo

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:


What Conferences Are You Attending?

SMX Sesion: 8 Tips to More Effective Blogging

dsc00450.JPGThe Wonder Twins Track at SMX West: SEO and Blogging, provided the audience with information on how to best launch and promote a blog.

Here are 8 tips, from Aaron Wall of SEOBook, on how to gain traction for your blog.

Own a Niche

  • Owning a smaller niche is an easy way to starting building personal brand
  • #1 player gets more play in the media

Make Formatting a Priority

  • Ensure you have a clean appealing design
  • Highlight best practices
  • Include an “About Us” page
  • Make it easy for press to contact
  • Leverage pictures/video/sketchcasting

Write clearly

  • Write headlines like a wire service writer
  • Use simple words and short sentences
  • Use bulleted lists/headers/sub-headers

Filter

  • Create Google news alerts

SMX Sesion: 8 Tips to More Effective Blogging

Live from SMX: Tips on Social Media Marketing

smx_west175×78.gif

Sitting in the SEO & Social Media session, Barbara Boser the Social Media Director for 3 Dog Media, shared some great tips on marketing with social media:

Be prepared & Commit to Social Media

  • Know that it is time consuming
  • Read and learn what is popular
  • Look for tools you can use on the sites and on the web

Your Profile

  • Research to be sure that your profile isn’t the same as any of the other top users on the site
  • Be anonymous if you’re promoting your own site
  • Choose a unique name
  • Choose an avatar that’s memorable
  • Get a gmail account
  • Get an IM that goes w/ your user name

Live from SMX: Tips on Social Media Marketing