Small Business Search Marketing » Conferences/Educ.

SMX West 2012: Speaking Pitch Form Closes This Week (Here’s What I’m Looking For)

Matt McGee — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:02:05 +0000

I’ll be coordinating four sessions at next month’s SMX West conference in San Jose, and time is running out if you’re hoping to speak at the show. I think at least two of the sessions I’m coordinating should be of great interest to most SBSM readers, so more on that below. First, some details:

The deadline to submit a pitch to speak on any open session is this Saturday, January 7th.

On the conference website, there’s basic info about speaking at SMX shows, and here’s the speaker pitch form to get your name in the running.

My Sessions

As I said, I’ll be coordinating four sessions even though I’m not attending SMX West this year. Another moderator will step in and run each session in my absence. But I’ll be overseeing and selecting speakers for these sessions:

Day One (February 28)

Hardcore Local SEO Tactics

We did this session at SMX Advanced last year, where it was a HUGE hit — so we repeated it at SMX East, too. We’re keeping the session name for SMX West, but my goal is to not repeat the same content that we’ve already done twice. I’ve let the speakers from Advanced and East know that I’d love for them to pitch again for SMX West, but that I’ll be looking for new content this time around.

Solving Problems & Seeing Success In Google Places

This is another local search/SEO session, but this one is more focused on Google Places and the various issues that come up when using it. I’m looking for pitches about things like

dealing with merged listings
bulk upload tactics and tips
reporting problems and getting help from Google
other strategies and tactics specific to Google Places, especially as they relate to overcoming the many issues that local business owners and marketers fight through with Google Places

Day Three (March 1)

SEO Essentials For Migrating Websites

This is a very specific and tactical-based session to help webmasters/companies that are facing the prospects of moving to a new domain, a new CMS platform, a new web hosting company, etc. I’ll be looking for a variety of SEO tactics that can help the audience learn how not to lose the SEO trust/equity that they’ve built up on their existing domain/CMS/etc.

Life In A [Not Provided] World

The title here refers to Google’s recent decision to not share keyword referrer data from searchers that are logged-in to their Google account. But rather than pitches that are rants against Google’s decision, I’m looking for speakers to help the SMX attendees learn how to deal with Google’s change. There are already two confirmed speakers on this session, but I should have room for at least one more.

So, there ya go!

If you have some tactics, strategies and/or case studies to share with the SMX audience, please consider submitting a pitch before Saturday on any of these sessions!

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

SMX West 2012: Speaking Pitch Form Closes This Week (Here’s What I’m Looking For)

Welcome GetListed Local University – Western New York Attendees

Matt McGee — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:30:40 +0000

If you’re reading this while at the GetListed Local University workshop, a big welcome to you. Thanks for visiting SmallBusinessSEM.com. In my presentation, I mention a couple dozen web sites, articles, and other links that you may not have had time to jot down while I was speaking. If that’s the case, here are all the references I made in chronological order:

Stats
Nielsen: Social Media Report Q3 2011
comScore/15miles: Local Search Study: 69% of consumers likely to use a small business if it has a social networking presence
Search Engine Land: What Social Signals Do Google & Bing Really Count?

Blogs
Jeremiah Owyang: Web Strategy: How To Evolve Your Irrelevant Corporate Website
HubSpot: Active Business Blogs Draw 6.9 Times More Organic Search Traffic Than Non-Bloggers
HubSpot: Study Shows Business Blogging Leads to 55% More Website Visitors
Dr. Cynthia Bailey: Dr. Cynthia Bailey: Skin Care Blog
Mike Blumenthal: Understanding Google Maps & Local Search

Facebook
Facebook for Businesses
Report: Only 3% to 7.5% of Fans View Posts From A Facebook Page
Facebook Advertising

Twitter: Getting Started
Hawaiian Airlines
WeFollow.com
Twitter – Who to Follow

Twitter: Content Ideas
Punch Pizza (and Passion, Pizza And Social Media Produce 10,000 Customers For Punch Pizza)
AlbionsOven
WoodhouseSpa
Mid-Columbia Insurance

Foursquare
Foursquare
Gowalla
Yelp
Facebook

Reviews
Nielsen: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most
Local Search Ranking Factors
Yelp FAQ (most reviews are positive)
Bazaarvoice Industry Statistics (most reviews are positive)
5 Ways Negative Reviews are Good for Business (bad reviews are okay)

Reputation Management
Google Alerts
Yahoo Alerts
Bing News
Twe.pe
SocialMention
BlogPulse
Yelp Business Owners’ Guide
MyReviewsPage.com

If you have any questions or feedback about my presentation or the session in general, feel free to leave a comment below. There’s also a Contact button at the top of the page. I’d love to hear from you!

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Welcome GetListed Local University – Western New York Attendees

GetListed.org Local University: Next Stop, Western NY

Matt McGee — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:38:17 +0000

The next stop for GetListed.org’s Local University is less than a month away, and it’s also likely to be the last stop of the 2011 calendar year. We’ll be in Western New York on November 1st and you can read on for details of a $40 discount code good for either morning or afternoon session.

To be more specific, we’ll be in Ellicottville, NY — about an hour south of Buffalo, from what I understand. We’ll be doing an intense-but-fun, four-hour workshop from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, and then repeating it again from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Topics will include optimizing local business listings, local SEO tactics on your website, getting more out of analytics, and I’ll be covering social media tactics with a local twist. As always, no sales pitches — this is pure educaton.

Did I mention that Google Places will be sending a speaker, too? True ‘dat.

Registration is open now at $129 for either the morning OR afternoon session. BUT I’M BETTING YOU’D LIKE A $40 DISCOUNT CODE, WOULDN’T YOU?

Go to the Western NY Local University page and then choose in the upper corner if you want the morning or afternoon session. On the registration page, use the coupon code mcgee2011 and you’ll be able to register for just $89.

Don’t delay — there’s only enough for 200 people to attend, and I’ve already seen that both sessions have strong early sign-ups. We’ll see you in Ellicottville in a few weeks!

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

GetListed.org Local University: Next Stop, Western NY

Welcome GetListed Local University – Burley Attendees

Matt McGee — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:11:52 +0000

Morning Presentation

Trust
SEO Success Pyramid

Stats
Nielsen: Social Media Report Q3 2011
comScore/15miles: Local Search Study: 69% of consumers likely to use a small business if it has a social networking presence

Twitter
Punch Pizza (and Passion, Pizza And Social Media Produce 10,000 Customers For Punch Pizza)
AlbionsOven
WoodhouseSpa
Mid-Columbia Insurance
Twitter Advanced Search
NearbyTweets
ChirpCity
LocaFollow

Facebook
Facebook for Businesses
Cari McGee Real Estate fan page
Cari McGee web site (fan page widget in right column)
Facebook Social Plugins
Facebook Advertising

Foursquare
Foursquare
Gowalla
Yelp
Facebook

Reputation Management
Google Alerts
Yahoo Alerts
Bing News
Twe.pe
SocialMention
BlogPulse
Yelp Business Owners’ Guide
MyReviewsPage.com

Afternoon Presentation

Blogging: Content Ideas
Wordtracker Keyword Questions
Keyword Discovery (for questions, too)
Yahoo Answers
Facebook Questions
Quora

Blogging: Headlines
Marketing Experiments: Site Headlines Tested

Blogging: Blog Commenting
Case Study: Power of a Blog Comment

Twitter
WeFollow.com
Twitter – Who to Follow

Facebook
Report: Only 3% to 7.5% of Fans View Posts From A Facebook Page
Mid-Columbia Insurance – Facebook page

What Fans Want
comScore/15miles: Local Search Study

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Welcome GetListed Local University – Burley Attendees

On OPEN Forum: A Crash Course in Search Marketing

Matt McGee — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:56:21 +0000

My latest contribution at the American Express OPEN Forum is now online, and it’s a two-parter that’s geared toward small business owners who are relatively new to SEO and PPC. I’ll explain:

The first part is a Crash Course in SEO and PPC, the two foundational pieces of search engine marketing. My task with the article was to provide a big picture guide that references some of the excellent articles already published on OPEN Forum for further reading.

The second part is an interactive SEO/PPC quiz that’s based on the articles that I listed in the “crash course.” So, if you’ve read those articles, you’ll do well on the quiz. It’s 25 questions, as I recall, and it tracks your points along the way.

Enjoy, and good luck if you take the quiz!

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

On OPEN Forum: A Crash Course in Search Marketing

Local University Coming to Idaho Next Week

Matt McGee — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:48:52 +0000

After a short summer break, GetListed.org’s Local University seminar series is back in action next week: We’ll be teaching all about local search marketing in Burley, Idaho. It’s happening on September 27, and you can still register for just $149 for the full-day workshop.

You may not be familiar with Burley, but I am: It’s part of the Twin Falls, Idaho market and that’s where I got my first TV sports job at a network affiliate almost 20 years ago.

But enough about that stuff. I’m looking forward to sharing strategies and tactics for using blogs and social networking to reach local customers. And, as we did in Spokane earlier this year, the Burley event is one, full-day workshop that runs from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. (Unlike some cities where we’ve done two identical 4-hour workshops on one day.)

Burley is a short drive from Boise, Idaho Fall and even Salt Lake City — so, if you’re interested in learning how to use the web to get more local customers, register today and we’ll see you in Idaho next week!

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Local University Coming to Idaho Next Week