I’m on the events planning committee for SEMpdx, and for the January 2011 meeting, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be one of the three presenters. If this seems a little self-serving, then I apologize, but I promise it will be a good one.

With the radical changes in Google that have taken place in the last two months, and considering this is still three weeks away, I’m not even positive what I’m going to speak about.

However, the other two presenters laid out their summations, so I gave it a shot.

As a somewhat “advanced” search professional, I grow tired of the plain-vanilla presentations that are designed to please 99% of the people out there, and offer very little actual “meat”.

My background is pretty diverse, and I was a Web host long before I was a full time Internet marketer, and Web hosting is a pretty spamming industry as far as what it takes to rank.

I work with a couple of clients who have major reputations to protect, and could NEVER risk being associated with some nefarious link building activity that could get their site banned.

I also work with a couple others who are less adverse to risk. They enjoy some success from skirting the edges of greyness, but still would very likely sue us if their domain were ever banned!

Finally, I’m an affiliate marketer, and that’s the most fun. When I own the domain personally, and am accountable to nobody else, I can not only skirt the edges, but I can ski right out of bounds. If my ticket gets pulled by Google, then it’s my own fault, and it would be a learning experience. (Sorry, my mind is elsewhere, since we’ve had 30 inches of snow in the past 48 hours)

Anyway, in my short session I hope to inform, educate, enlighten, and perhaps surprise a few people, as well as provide everyone with some actionable tips and awareness, so you can be aware of all the options.

Rereading this just now, it sounds like it could be good… Hope to see you there!

This year’s Elite Retreat was every bit as good as last years, and again, i’m really glad I chose to attend.  It was great to see some friends from last year, and I also met some really amazing new attendees. Once again, I feel like I learned almost as much from other attendees as I did from the speakers.

I made it to the airport in plenty of time, and just two minutes before boarding, they announced that we were still waiting for the plane from SFO, and we had an estimated one hour delay before boarding. I’m not sure how that wasn’t known sooner, but it wasn’t.

We finally got underway after more delays on our runway in PDX, and then circling in SFO too. It seems the problem is that they just don’t know what to do when it rains in California.

Since my plane was so late, I got found by the limo driver while I was wandering in baggage claim, and he took me to my hotel, where I changed and unpacked, caught up on email for an hour, and headed to the “Meet and Greet” pre-event.

The “Meet and Greet” was in a cordoned off section of the bar at the Vitale hotel. There were about 20 people there when I arrived, but others rolling in over the next three hours, as SFO airport got caught up.

There was a nice spread of food, with some hot pork sandwiches, and some killer cheese & coldcut plates, and of course an open bar. Near the end of the event they added bowls of hot almonds with crispy chopped garlic that were really amazing. I think I actually may have eaten a whole bowl full!

Besides the speakers and attendees, there were a few other invited (by Shoemoney) guests there, and I got to meet and talk with the CEO of Affiliate.com ) Scott Richter who was sponsoring the Meet & Greet. I also had a great conversation with the CEO of Triggitt.com too, Zachary Coelius.

I used to use Triggitt in it’s old form, but it’s a completely different product now – offering a floating toolbar of sorts for site owners. (Don’t ask – I’m not sure either, and we’ll just have to go check it out)

I also ran into Todd Malicoat, who was a presenter in the very first Elite Retreat, but was leaving for SEO Blackhat in Rio, so couldn’t stay this year. I’m sure he’s pretty disappointed…

Each day started with a great breakfast, followed by great presentations and leaning, then an open bar by 11, then a fantastic lunch, then some more presentations, then a networking / cocktail reception at the end of the sessions, and finally by walking nearby to a different gourmet restaurant each night and eating in private dining rooms. totally first class all the way.

Neil Patel –
Neil was the first speaker, and talked about leveraging social media, and gave a well thought out presentation that had some specific suggestions for your Ecommerce, Service sites, social Sites and affiliate sites.

Some of the action items he suggested will immediately benefit nearly half of my client sites, with potential uses for all, assuming I can get them to buy into the idea of participation.

Nearly everything Neil suggested was creative, imaginitive and legitimate, and It wasn’t even until his Q&A that the subject came up of dealing with banned IP addresses, and multiple user accounts.

Kris Jones -
CEO and founder of Pepperjam, gave his presentation about “Affiliate Marketing Search Arbitrage”, and began by saying that “Inspiration is short lived” and went on to say he was planning to give us specific action items, and he didn’t fail to deliver.

He gave a great talk, stressing importance of tracking, and going into some very specific details about identifying the most profitable and best converting keywords.

He also discussed having a strategic PPC account structure, determining your profit / loss down to keyword level, identifying and capitalizing on trends, and then gave some specifics for improving your Adwords quality Score through what he calls, “Quality Score Optimization”.

Stephen Spencer -
I was one of the people that asked Jeremy if he would invite Stephen Spencer to speak at Elite Retreat this year, because I thought he was one of the only other SEO’s in the world that could possibly contribute as much as Aaron Wall did last year.

That’s why I was disapointed when he went next, knowing that lunch was coming up in an hour. Just like with most of Stephens presentations I’ve ever seen, there wasn’t enough time for him to get though it all.

He had specific things to say and show about some advanced SEO techniques both on-page and off. He cited examples, screen shots and action items, and with my copy of his 103 slides I really did learn and get clarification on a few things.

I suspect that the level of detail Stephen put into some of the SEO stuff was excruciatingly dull for some of the PPC guys that don’t really “get” SEO, and who don’t build out sites beyond landing pages.

Also, Stephen REALLY did push the squeaky white hat image a bit too far, as he put on his tin foil hat (his words) about what Google knows and tracks. I know of at least one person who thought it was over the top – I really enjoyed our talk at dinner, Dave – and thanks a lot for your perspective, and I’d really love to work with you someday.

Also, I KNOW that there were people there that just had no interest in the finer details of thinks like site architecture and sculpting page rank, but I could have listened to Stephen all day, and felt a bit shortchanged by him having to blast through his slides in an hour.

Andy Liu -
As a venture capitalist, Andy talked about finding and structuring the deals for buying sites and businesses, which is not a space I’m going to play in any time soon. However, that didn’t take away from the fascinating processes he discussed, and while I didn’t personally get much actionable information, I learned a lot about how the game is played, and it’s pretty damn fascinating.

Chris Winfield -
Until this week, I had no idea the level of press coverage that Chris Winfield has had in the past. The number of times he’s been menioned or quoted in various publications is staggering, and he’s very open about the positive effect that’s had on his business.

Chris gave a totally fantastic presentation on PR, and he talked about how to get the press to notice you, where to get in touch with the press you’re after, attracting their attention the “right” way, and about formulating a detailed game plan to do it right.

Great information combined with some of the snazziest Powerpoint slides I’ve ever seen, I had to give Chris’s presentation a 10

Garry Vee -
This guy is amazing, and I just can’t say enough about what a motivating and inspirational guy he is. If you want to get an idea what his talk was like, go watch his keynote at Affiliate Summit then imagine talking with him in a room of 30 people for two hours, asking any question that comes to mind.

He gave a short “speech” sort of like the AFF Summit one, and then let us have at him for two hours. It was definitely an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life, although it did sort of suck that he bailed on coming to dinner with us.

Jeremy Shoemaker – Shoeoney
The second day began with Jeremy giving a short talk, then showing us actual campaigns from actual domains, and cutting to the chase about his findings via multivariate testing. It was a rare glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes at a few actual revenue generating projects, and it was really pretty surprising that he shared that level of detail.

He did an amazing job of putting this all together, and I can only hope he does it again next year.

The rest of the day was devoted to one on one talks, and I took advantage by speaking to Stephen spencer, Kris Jones, and Shoemoney about my monetization and distribution plans for SEO automatic.

During the one on one sessions, which lasted all day, there was plenty of networking going on, as well as speaking appearances by Intel’s director of social networking, Michael Brito, and Brian Norgard, the Vice President of Myspace Myads.

Both of their appearances were excellent and informative, and it definitely helped fill the void that was created last year during the one on one sessions, were we had nothing to do but network and get in line for the next one.

On the other hand, last year in just four hours I had time to speak to every panelist, whereas this year, I could only talk to three, and had to miss the other three completely. If I have one “complaint”, that would be it.

Also during the day, DK a famous chiropractor in San Diego took on the role of Julie from The Love Boat, and helped keep us focused on (semi) productive activities that interested everyone. Many thanks also to Tigh, and to Briena for keeping things running smoothly.

I’m sure there are others to thank for helping, and I’m sorry if I’m forgetting anyone. If anyone can remember someone else, please DM me and I’ll slide them in seamlessly to this post.

All in all, attending Elite Retreat has been my highlight of 2009 so far, and I highly recommend that anyone serious about their Internet marketing career plan to attend the 2010 Elite Retreat if they have another one. It’s also the “conference that keeps on giving” through our weekly mastermind group teleconferences, which I’m really looking forward to again this year.

Don’t just take my word for it though… Check out the buzz on Twitter from other attendees and organizers.

I’m leaving this moring for Elite Retreat, and I’m writing this in the airport because my flight is delayed. It occurs to me that I may not be able to productively fill all of my “one on one” time.

Have you looked at who’s speaking at Elite Retreat 2009? Can you imagine not having an agenda of questions ready to ask these guys?

in all fairness, Tigh at Shoemoney sent out a “get ready” email about a week ago, and I saved it, planning to get back to it later, and that’s what I’m going to finish up on the plane.

However, last year at ER, each and every speakers let us “wear out our welcome”, on the last night by hanging around on their own time until EVERY single person had nothing left to ask but “Where’s the bar?”

To be honest, my biggest regret from ER 2008 is that I hadn’t shown up with a mile long list of questions – I had no idea that we would have all that personally devoted time.

This year it’s different, because I know it’s coming, and so do the other 34 attendees. also, my main focus is on furthur expanding services at SEO Automatic as I bring it forward with an affiliate program and brandable agency options.

I KNOW I have a specific agenda. But, like last year, if I were to get the opportunity, what would I do if there was nothing left to ask?

So, PLEASE tell me what questions might you ask of any of these people, and I’ll do my best to get to ‘em.

Next Tuesday night, you’ll have an opportunity to hear two usability experts talk about real-life examples and case studies, and perhaps even some live reviews, (if you’d like to submit your own  site) in the February SEMpdx event.

Instead of the usual Hot Seat panel focused on nothing but SEO, two new panelists will be showing their skills:

Matthew Brown, NY Times
As Director of Search Strategy for the New York Times Company since 2005, Matthew Brown continues to drive the research and technology side of the search marketing effort for the Times, the Boston Globe (Boston.com) and the International Herald Tribune.

Matthew is responsible for the architecture and execution of solutions that deliver a more engaged audience to these online properties.

Melissa Casburn, ISITE Design
With 12 years of experience as a web strategist, information architect, project manager, and instructional designer, Melissa can get a lot done in a day.

Comfortable in both corporate and agency environments, she helps much-loved companies bask in the glow by adding stickiness to their sites.

She’s good at spreading the love too, creating experiences that inform, connect, and empower users.

As the Director of User Experience for ISITE Design, she leads a team of web strategists, information architects and content strategists whose focus is helping clients create and protect their competitive advantage online.

Are you brave enough to have your site critiqued in front of others? Maybe you just like to see others squirm? Maybe you just want to enhance your own knowledge, and stop making the same mistakes on your own site.

Join members of  SEMpdx next Tuesday, February 10th, 2009, at Hotel DeLuxe for an eventful evening of SEO and user experience, and you can sign up to attend right here.

Believe it or not, the board of SEMpdx has been getting a number of emails asking us where to register for SearchFest 2009, coming up in March.

So, I figured I would take a minute to point out the SearchFest registration, as well as the entire SearchFest 2009 agenda, and a link to our sponsors.

This year’s event promises to be the best ever, with a lineup of speakers including:

• Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land
• Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz
• Vanessa Fox, Nine by Blue
• Marshall Simmonds, New York Times
• Neil Patel, ACS SEO
• Riona MacNamara, Google
• Laura Lippay, Yahoo
• Matt McGee, Small Business SEM
• Greg Hartnett, Best of the Web

and many more…

I will be moderating two sessions myself, including SEO For WordPress, and SEO for Bloggers and copywriters.

The event will take place at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon on March 10, 2009, so what are you waiting for? Go register now!

This year’s lineup at Elite Retreat promises to be another winner, and after Jeremy took my request to heart and invited Stephen Spencer to be a panelist, I couldn’t resist, and just signed up to attend again. Stephan (among other things) is the creator of the original SEO Title Tags plugin for WordPress.

I’m also looking forward to hearing from Chris Winfield, Kris Jones, and keynote Speaker Gary Vaynerchuk none of whom spoke at ER last year year, and of course to Neil Patel and Gary Liu, who are returning again, along with Shoemoney, the conference organizer.

Attending last year will be something I never forget, and if you’ve not been to an Elite Retreat before, you might be kicking yourself for missing this one, since there’s apparently only one spot left, and attendance is supposed to be capped at 35.

Yes it’s expensive, but besides being incredibly valuable, last years group and some previous years attendees have a conference call every Tuesday afternoon that never ceases to be educational. Unlike most of the others, this is the one conference that keeps on giving all year long.

Here’s my summary of last year, from the night before and Elite Retreat 2008 Day 1 and Elite Retreat 2008 Day 2 and you can be one of the 35, and grab the last spot right here.

(I wonder if dk is coming again to be the event coordinator?)

I just spent nearly 2 1/2 hours on my 10 minute presentation for the East Portland Chamber of Commerce, tomorrow morning at Warner Pacific College.

If you’re already a search marketer you probably won’t learn much, but if you’re a small business owner, it should be enlightening.

My goal is merely to make the attending members aware of all of the changes that have taken place over the past 18 months in Google, and most of the presentation will be filled with screen shots from different types of search results that will appear when users search from the Google homepage.

I didn’t write much of a script, just took a bunch of notes, since I figure that if I can’t wing it for 10 minutes, then I really must not be very knowledgeable about my subject. At the end, I’ll likely be announcing my part in a full morning marketing presentation that I was asked to participate in before the end of the year.

If you happen to be in the area of Warner Pacific College tomorrow morning at 7:30, please do stop by and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and a muffin… Oops that reminds me, I have to get to Costco before they close…

Warner Pacific College
2219 SE 68th Avenue
Portland, OR 97215

Directions
I’m not sure of the name of the room, but it’s in the new building, right above the Cafeteria…

Next week is an SEM Hotseat event geared towards beginners. Have you come to search marketing events before and been overwhelmed?  Do you have some SEO questions that you think are too basic?  This is your chance to get that added level of detail and attention you may have been craving at other events.

Since the beginning of SEMpdx, several of us on the board have been operating under the assumption that people are no longer as interested in the basic fundamentals of search as they used to be, when we design our monthly programs.

Over recent events however, we’ve received feedback that there are a surprisingly large number of people that still don’t “get it” and would really like to have more basic information about the fundamentals of search engine optimization, and search engine marketing.

Next week’s event does exactly that, going “back to basics”, and there are still several spots left for attendance, and even a spot for a site review, I believe.

You can read more about the event and sign up directly here.

Next week’s SEMpdx presentation gets very specific regarding the local search ranking algorithm. SEMpdx is fortunate to have a new board member join us for 2009 who’s recently moved here from San Fransisco.

His name is David Mihm, he’s an expert in local search, and he’s agreed to give a similar presentation to the one he gave at SMX West in California couple of months ago.

If you’re with a local business and want to know some specific things you can do to rank your business better when your city name is used in the query, then this is one presentation you don’t want to miss.

Also at this event, I’m going to be on the 4 person panel for a mini – SEM Hot Seat event, along with David,  Todd Mintz and Lisa Williams and we’ll be critiquing three websites.

Check out more info here, and if you come, please do take the time to introduce yourself.

I’m looking forward to next Tuesday nights meeting of the Oregon Computer Consultants Association.  The subject is going to be using open source software on your desktop as a replacement for Windows, whether personal use, business use or both.

I’m so fed up with computer problems that I’ve actually considered buying a Mac, but I have a hard time believing that it would help me in the long run, and it certainly wouldn’t be economical.

I want to move to an open source environment where every problem has a solution – but just may not have been invented yet.  There already seem to be open source applications out there that do everything I could possibly want, and I’m hoping that this presentation will give me an up-to-date overview for 2008.

Here’s the Meetup group details
Here’s the OCCA website

and here are the full details of the meeting:

When:
August 26, 2008
6:00 – 7:00 Dinner/Networking
7:00 – 9:00 Meeting/Presentation

Where:
Rheinlander German Restaurant
5035 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland OR 97213

What:
Open Source Software On The Desktop

You’ve heard and read the Linux hype, you may even be running Firefox, but what’s the 4-1-1 on Linux and Open Source Software? Is it ready for the desktop? or the laptop? for Business? for Grandma?

This presentation will address those questions and more:

• What is Open Source Software? What is Linux? and why should I care?
• Are there any ready-to-use open source applications?
• How can I make money if the software is free?
• and more!

This presentation will be “only mildly technical” and audience questions and answers are welcome. Linux and open source applications will be demonstrated live.

Jesse Black, Yellow Crayon Computer Services Jesse Black is Chief Technologist at Yellow Crayon LLC, a Portland-area computer services firm serving individuals and small businesses. He is also co-host of TVLinux, the long-running community television series which promotes Linux and other open source applications. Jesse has used both Linux and Microsoft Windows on a daily basis for several years.

In a word – yes. I finally just completed my post about attending the SMX Advanced conference in Seattle. It was long overdue, having been nearly a week since I returned, but I have lots of other priorities right now including wrapping up my end of month client reporting, and attending games and practices for both of my kids baseball teams.

I had every intention of posting the wrapup here, but frankly, the SMX blog gets a lot more exposure in the Internet marketing community than I do, and I thought it was pretty good, so that’s where I’ve put it.

I’ve got four or five half finished posts that I would like to get up, along with nearly 20 barely begun ideas sitting in my WordPress drafts, but I just don’t seem to have the time. Maybe someday I’ll have the luxury of writing all day long, but in the meantime, I’m doing my best…

Maybe I’ll get lucky, and Matt Cutts will answer these questions I posed in #9…

1. Does the age of the anchor text matter? – It’s long been established practice to review your own inbound link profile, and go back to some of your old partners, and try to get the anchor text changed, but might that be “resetting the clock” somehow? Bad idea?
2. Does changing the URL of an inbound link matter? – If you can somehow actually get a link partner to change the inbound link text, then it’s probably no more difficult to get them to change the target. Anyone that’s tried it has seen that help in the past. However, does changing the target URL to a deeper link but would that “reset the clock” somehow?
3. What about changing the domain entirely for that old link? Does that “reset the clock” too?

Please head over to the SEMpdx blog, and read my SMX Advanced Top 10 nuggets of knowledge, and if you like it, please be sure give it a Sphinn!

I’ll be on a panel at Innotech this year, because for the first time, there will be live website reviews taking place at the conference,  here in Portland Oregon.

The entire conference is scheduled for next Wednesday, April 16th and Thursday April 17th,  but the live SEM Hotseat is Thursday April 17 3:30 PM in Room D135

Three members of SEMpdx,  Benjamin Lloyd of Amplify Interactive,  Kent Schnepp of Engine Works, and myself, Scott Hendison, will be on the panel critiquing participants websites, answering specific questions, and providing specific information to the site owner,  as well as to conference attendees.  The panel will be moderated by SEMpdx president Kent Lewis, of Anvil Media.

While it is not necessary to pay to attend the “Hot Seat” event beyond your Innotech pass,  if you’d like to have YOUR website reviewed, then that is something extra, but at a ridiculously low price…  Register your website to be reviewed here