Blogs and Feeds

SES Chicago Promises a Big Finish to the 2008 Conference Schedule

SES Chicagowill conclude the 2008 conference season with a big finish.  So why is SES Chicago a big finish? By December I’m well into plans for the following year with clients. I’m usually rapidly moving through planning new strategies to how will I put them into action. I use the insights gained from this conference to help me true my thinking on the direction we have chosen. SES speakers always present not only lots of top flight strategic advice, but it usually includes many tactical insights that will make the next year easier.

I am personally going to be speaking on Wednesday, December 12, at 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. on Podcast & Audio Search Optimization, a topic that I find particularly interesting since the challenges are technical and search combined. On Friday, December 14 ,after the conference itself concludes, there are in-depth training sessions presented on a selected topics. I will be teaching one of these sessions on Optimizing for Universal Search with Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR. We have taught this session before. Each time that we teach the session, we continue to tune and hone the material just as the engine continue to tweak their universal or blended search offering. If you have not caught this session yet, I would urge you to give it a try.  

I’ve always found that each of the SES Expos has its own special character. SES New York is infused with the crowds and energy of its proximity to Madison Avenue advertising. SES San Jose is always for me the show to meet the search engines and view them up close in their own habitat. SES London and SES Toronto have a special international flair. The flavor of SES Chicago is really on how to make this thing called search marketing work. It is roll up your sleeves and make it happen. With the economy forcing us all to work not only harder, but smarter, this is a good chance to get a jump start.

Also, with this conference you get to combine a lot of learning with Xmas in the city. Each year I look forward to having a chance to see Chicago decked in its Xmas finery. The Hilton Hotel, the venue for SES Chicago is always beautifully decorated and sports an enormous gingerbread house. Yes! I’ve heard folks mention the legendary Chicago winter weather, but as I learned when I lived in MI, the real winter doesn’t usually descend on the region until after Xmas. Will I see you in Chicago? I sure hope so. Let me know. I love talking to other search marketers.

See You at SES Search Marketing Training in Seattle?

Long ago and far away, I used to live in the Seattle area. To be specific in Bellevue, right near the bridge and very close to what was then a fledgling MicroSoft. It was in the early 80's just before MicroSoft went public. Those were the days, my friend. I've been back since to visit, but next week will be special.

Greg Jarboe and I will be bringing our SES training session on "Optimizing for Universal Search" to Seatttle as part of the SES training series. Greg and I usually have just a half-day to cram a lot of learning and information into. At this session we will have an entire day to focus on this important topic. I am really stoked and primed.

As a former college professor and an adult learning enthusiast, I really get a lot out of these training sessions. There is an old adage that when you teach you learn, and nothing can be truer. So I do hope that I will see you in Seattle.  

Viva Las Vegas and Webmaster World

It seems like I just got home from DMA06 in San Francisco, CA and now I'm off tow Vegas again for Webmaster World. Vegas boggles my mind. I don't gamble, bars and nightclub entertainment are not for me, but even so I always have a wonderful time in Vegas. It is the people-watching capital of the US. I also can't remember having a bad meal in Vegas.

Pubcon should be fun. I'm on three panels -- blogging, podcasting and duplicate content issues. All three are areas that I have had recent relevant experience. Large changeable sites almost all have duplicate content issues that must be dealt with. They are one of the most interesting and challenging technical puzzles in search -- how to not be penalized for having duplicate content by search engines.

Before I go; however, I still have a lot of work to get done, sooo it will be heads down again for a little while longer.

Happy July 4th

This photo was shot by me from the deck of the U.S.S. Constitution while underway for a turnaround cruise that I had the honor of being on. She is truly a noble ship, and I see her every day from my home in Boston. Happy July 4th -- celebrate our freedom of speech by blogging.

WebmasterWorld in New Orleans

For me, "been gone too long" is not just a line in a country and western song, but it describes my blogging. So, by way of excuses, justifications or whatever you want to call them, I offer this account of my whereabouts.

June 21-24, I was in New Orleans at the Webmaster World Search Conference speaking on two of my favorite topics -- blogging and podcasting. The Webmaster World conferences are not quite like any other conferences that I have attended. They originated with a group of like minded individuals meeting in bar. Even with large numbers of attendees, there is still the atmosphere of a group of search-ies sitting in a pub over a glass of their favorite beverage.

I won't recap the sessions. For this I strongly advise going to Search Engine Roundtable where Barry Schwartz did a very thorough job. He posted his summaries of the sessions almost instantly upon each session's completion. This was a tour de force given that the hotel presented the usual challenges for Internet service.

Even though the Park Plaza advertised high speed Internet access in the rooms, I got lucky and had a room that even with hotel staff help I was never able to access the Internet. So this week has been a mad scramble getting caught up.

  As the pictures show a good time was had in spite of the challenges. The picture at the top was shot with my camera phone during one of the sessions. The photo at the right was looking out over the balconey of Bourbon Street Blues Company host to a party sponsored by a number of exhibitors. I left long before the party ended, but stayed long enough to snap this pix.

DMA Annual Catalog Conference Report

With speaking at and attending the DMA's Annual Catalog Conference, this has been an incredibly busy week. On Monday morning at the Search Marketing Basics session, I presented some of the fundamentals of search marketing best practices.

One of my many perverse occupational avocations is collecting examples of egregious spam. All too often marketers, who do not code sites themselves, do not have a working familiarity with many of the so-called tricks that are regretably still used by some search marketers. So I continue to add to and refresh my Spam Gallery. In it are examples of keyword stuffing and various other types of abuse.

One of the hallmarks of this show is that marketers get the opportunity to have paper catalogs and sites evaluated by the experts. The site clinics at this show reaffirmed for me that there are still lots of well-meaning, hardworking site owners who do not realize  what search marketing peril their sites are in. During the site clinics, we saw many examples of less than best practices. Many thanks to those who were willing to subject themselves and their sites to this learning experience. Their courage will bring them and the other attendees big dividends.

Site clinics are always fun to do since they are opportunities to see a number of sites in a limited timeframe. I do hope to continue to do these in the future.

Business Blogs: A Practical Guide Finally Available

The book, Business Blogs: A Practical Guide,is finally availalbe. This book written by Bill Ives and myself. This book has been quite an effort. We interviewed 70 bloggers. These generous individuals provided us excellent advice that other bloggers and would be bloggers can use.

KM Cluster New England to Feature Business Blogs: A Practical Guide

On June 7, Business Blogs: A Practical Guide will serve as the focus of a day-long conversational learning session. Participants at this session offered through KM Cluster®, the leading worldwide action/research network for the knowledge economy will be able to understand what blogs, wikis and Enterprise RSS brings to business and assess the opportunities blogs present for their business.

We will discuss how to devise a business blog strategy, know how to start, how to get your blog noticed, and how to sustain an audience to meet their business objectives. I am looking forward to leading this session.

Blogging Is Focus of MassWIT Networking Event

MassWIT's Thursday, May 12 networking event will focus on blogging. I'll be sharing with this group of women professionals in business and technology some of the lessons that I have learned writing my new book -- Business Blogs: A Practical Guide. In writing the book, my co-author Bill Ives and I interviewed over 70 bloggers to get a perspective on how individuals and organizations are using blogging to further their missions. In most discussions on blogging, the focus is either on a few examples or on the technology. I believe that this presents too narrow a point of view. The blogging technology simply enables the user to creatively present ideas.

I'm looking forward to this event. It should be fun!

Blogs: The Secrets of Success to Be Revealed to Internet Professionals 495

On May 10, I'm speaking to Internet Professionals 495 on Blogs: The Secrets of Success Revealed. This should be fun given that I have lots of material to draw from having just finished Business Blogs: A Practical Guide. In writing the book over 70 bloggers were gracious enough to share with us their experiences. I will be sharing some of what we learned with the Internet Professionals. It is wonderful to work in such a fast-moving space that every day brings something new.