Toronto Searches Engine Strategies Conference 2006

by Lisa Stewart - BigFoot Web Marketing

Finally able to put pen to paper and write about last week's Search Engine Strategies conference in Toronto last week. The conference ran from April 25 to April 26th at the Toronto Convention Center.

This was my first time going to the SES conference. I have been working as an SEO professional for last 3 years and despite my best efforts I have always had a conflict and I was very excited to finally get to a conference. I was also excited by the fact that Toronto is my home town and was nice to go back for a couple of days and get a taste of the big city.

The conference is much smaller in comparison to others- maybe 1400 in attendance. I spoke with several attendees and most said that Toronto was a favourite because of this; they liked the intimate atmosphere and felt they really got a chance to meet people and not be overwhelmed, they were able to ask questions and get answers in sessions that sometimes are very crowded at other host cities.

I started a little early and went by the hotel Monday night to meet up with Matt Bailey. I met up with Matt and his wife Stacey at the hotel bar early Tuesday night. I was pleased by his friendliness and candor and his willingness to spend time with a relative unknown, although given Matt’s passion for openness and accessibly I shouldn't have been surprised at all. Both he and his wife were very gracious despite their long drive. Matt was enthusiastic about his web marketing consulting firm, SiteLogic and talked at length about his plans for the coming year. Matt would also speak later in the week - giving his presentation during the "My SEM Toolbox" session. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Matt speak- don’t pass it up- he makes if the driest of data sizzle.

There were an ample supply of sessions to attend- what was nice was having different skill levels available and there was very little overlap so I was able to go to most of the sessions that interested me.

This year I have been focusing a lot of energy on viral marketing and link baiting. I have been encouraging all my clients to use a blog as a marketing tool and was particularly eager to attend the session "RSS, Blogs & Search Marketing."

It was at this session I met my newest SEO idol- Greg Jarboe. Greg Jarboe is President and Co-Founder of SEO-PR, www.seo-pr.com, a search engine optimization and public relations firm specializing in news search, blog search and vertical search. Not only does Greg have a brilliant mind and an important message- he was an incredibly compelling speaker. Greg is a big believer in the use of blogs by businesses as a marketing and PR tool – of using a blog to not only promote your business- but as a tool to establish yourself as an expert and authority in your field. Greg communicates with authority, humour and clarity and at the risk of gushing; I have to admit I was very impressed by him. I will make a special point of attending any events where he will be speaking.

At the conference Google was heavily promoting its free Google Analytics, formerly urchin. Urchin was out of the price range of most small businesses and I was interested in why Google is so eager to give away something that many companies are charging a lot of money for. One feature to take advantage of if you are small SEO firm or working on your site is the free Google Analytics session being offered in the vendor’s area. Google’s Mountain View staff were out in full force answering questions and offering free one on one session- worth going to if you have never used site analytics software or if you are interested but intimidated by Google Analytics. I spoke at length with Paul Botto of Google Analytics who said that even Google was surprised at the positive response of the widespread release of Google Analytics. He said that the demand and use of GA surpassed their 2 year projections in a matter of weeks.

When I asked what Google hopes to get out offering the java script based site analyzer for free to their Adwords clients he offered the explanation that that their mission was to give their customers tools to make choices about more profitable keywords and getting a better ROI. Their main target is small business owners managing their own PPC campaigns. A better ROI for the small site owner would probably lead to a larger monetary investment into an Adwords campaign.

There was a cocktail reception held in vendors' area- where the most often asked question was- what happened to the Google party? It seems the party was by invitation only – and invitations were mainly given to big Adwords clients in the Toronto area. Many SEO’s were put out by this- and when I asked any of the Google staff what the story was on the party- no one seemed to know the answer. I do know that many of the attendees had been looking forward to the party- as last year it was a big success- and were very disappointed that they were left out this year.

Because of an urgent family problem I wasn’t able to attend the last day of the session- a big disappointment for me. I had been very excited to attend another workshop where Greg Jarboe would be speaking and also Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media Inc.

The conference was well worth the time and effort of going. If you are new to SEO or have never gone to one- meeting other professionals is invaluable, just in terms of networking. I met up with one woman – normally very shy -who was reluctant to come because she didn’t know anyone. I spoke to her this week to see how she made out and she had gone out with a group of 20 on the Tuesday night and had a great time.

I rarely (actually never) meet others in the same field on a day to day basis and being in whole roomfuls of link builders, data analysts and researchers was a fantastic opportunity. The level of openness and willingness to share ideas was very surprising to me and not something I expected. Without question everyone I talked to was excited to be there and happy to share information and ideas.

In terms of money- going to a Search Engine Strategies conference is a small investment to make in yourself or business. You will learn more in a 75 minute session than hours of surfing the Internet and gleaning through forums. There really is no substitute with meeting people face to face. I just can’t recommend it highly enough. I have all ready told my husband to start packing for San Jose!!

For more information on attending a Search Engine Strategies Conference in your region, visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/.

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