The oldest, largest, and arguably best internet marketing conference will take place in Las Vegas on November 8th, 9th and 10th, 2011, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The session grid is huge, with 9 sessions running concurrently at most times, and this year I’m proud to have been selected to appear in three sessions, more than ever before.

First, Wednesday after lunch I’ll be speaking in the web hosting session, with David Vogelpohl of Marketing Clique, Ralf Schwoebel of Tradebit Inc., and Michael David of TastyPlacement. The moderator will one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,  Stephan Spencer of… almost everywhere!

Thursday morning, I’ll be moderating the always popular SEO / SEM Tools session, with Aaron Kronis, Jim Boykin, and Christine Churchill

Finally, Thursday afternoon,I’ll be in the “WordPress SEO and Installation” session with Carolyn Shelby, of CSHEL Search Strategies Lisa Brown of B. Unlimited Group / WordPressAngel, and Ben Cook of Direct Match Media, and the moderator will be Brian Combs of ionadas local.

Three sessions will make for a busy week, but it promises to be an exciting and educational one too. If you’er thinking of attending, be sure to book soon, and don’t forget to look me up while you’re there and say hello.

I just got confirmation that I will be speaking at PubCon South, in Austin Texas, on March 8 & 9, 2011.  I still haven’t been given my session topics, but I’m really looking forward to attending this conference.

The last time I was at one of the “non-Vegas” Pubcon events was several years ago in Boston, when Malcolm Gladwell gave the keynote speech after his great book, The Tipping Point came out. The 2000+ people conferences are great, but I really do like the small conferences, and if I remember right, Boston only had about 500 attendees.

Things have come a long way since then, and I don’t expect it to be quite that small, but I’m really looking forward to connecting with old friends and making some new ones.

Are you going to go? Would you like a discount code? I’ve not got one yet, but typically speakers are provided with discount codes and I’ll post mine here just as soon as I get it…

Matt Cutts is the head of Google’s Webspam team, and each year in the past, he’s been a participant in the “search engine smackdown” at Pubcon.

This year he had the stage all to himself, and I was in the second row for the session as he talked about the current state of Google, and about where they are going in the future,  and then I just sat idly by while he took some Q&A from the audience.

As always, Matt covered a lot, and there’s some great coverage of the session at places like Outspoken Media and Search Engine Land, and even an interesting mix of live blogging and chat at Search Engine Roundtable, but I thought I’d write down a few questions that I wish I had asked…

1. Why are certain industries (like ours) being excluded from localization? These industries rarely if ever show any local results, and this dates all the way back to the  7 pack, 10 pack and even earlier

• Web hosting
• Web design
• software programming
• Internet marketing

I suppose there’s an argument to be made that all these services can be done online, but often people really are looking for local help, like a web host in their home town, etc.

The speculation I’ve read is something akin to: “Too many SEO’s were abusing the system, and found it easy to game” or similar reasons, but I find that hard to believe, considering you still allow the locksmith industry to remain localized.

So what’s the deal? Why are our industries being singled out?
2. Why are there still so many inconsistencies from city to city and phrase to phrase in these new merged search results? At Pubcon it was about two weeks into it, and now they’ve been live for a month, yet they’re still a bit wacky.

For example, search “mechanical bull rental in Scottsdale”  vs. “mechanical bull rental in Phoenix , and see how differently they appear!

Why should the composition be different? There are likely similar per-capita searches by people wanting some cowboy fun in either city, and just as many service providers, so it makes no sense.

For that particular phrase, Scottsdale is devoid of any localaization, while Phoenix has been completely converted. Other phrases though, such as “event planning” demonstrate that it’s s not a “city by city” thing, but rather “phase by phrase”.

Without getting too technical, how do we explain this sort of absurd inconsistency to a layperson / client who is coming to use for answers?

3. Why is Google Webmaster Tools not consistently sending malware notifications to site owners when malware is found?

In a WMT account with multiple domains, we’ve had to click into the domain before noticing any malware warning stripe, or seeing any notification message at all.

In the past two months I’ve written about it twice, once at SEMpdx and once here, and I’ve sent in messages to Webmaster Tools that have gone unanswered. I’ve Tweeted a bit, and had some folks reply with “Us too! We thought somethign was up…”

Anyway – this seems important….

4. Why did Google take away such a valuable research tool? Marketers the world over are mourning the loss (in the Adwords Keyword tool) of the SIMPLE ability to get approximate impression counts on a batch of phrases that WE paste without the “suggestions”.

While there’s certainly always room for innovation, and the tool has gotten better, sometimes we don’t WANT  phrases added, removed, suggested, etc. and we just want the facts as we deem them necessary. Can we PLEASE get it
back?

5. Will you try our SEO Automatic app for Android?
OK, this one is totally self serving, and I admit it, but I think Matt would really be impressed!

I mentioned our SEO Automatic review to Matt at Pubcon 2009, and told him that we had an iPhone SEO review app, but now he has an Android, I think, and we released our instant SEO review for Android this year – Matt, I sure would love to hear your opinion!  ;)

Besides these, what other questions might I have asked?  What would you have asked?

I have personally suffered from many of these afflictions below, and as a result, I’ve had a loss of productivity, loss of time, and most likely a loss of income.

This started out to be a quick list of things that I could do to improve in 2008, and it wasn’t going to be an actual list of New Year’s resolutions.

But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized they applied not only to me, but to employees and probably to Internet marketers all over the planet.

One thing led to another, and the list started growing, and the next thing you know, it’s a blog post.

In 2008, I hereby resolve to:

1. Pay less attention to visitor counts, and more attention to conversions.
One of the best tips overheard at Pubcon 2007 was from Rand Fishkin, pointing out that it’s much easier to double your conversions than to double your traffic. Take better advantage of the traffic you already have, instead of chasing after traffic that you don’t, and and you’ll make your clients much happier.

2. Spend less time in forums, reading peoples advice whom you don’t know
Forums are one of the biggest time wasters on the Internet, and although many are filled with valuable information & advice, they are also frequently the source of misinformation and rumors.

Unless you’re actually researching an issue for a solution, try not to get sucked into the pointless theoretical conversations, and wandering around these communities filled with anonymous users.

Instead, save yourself valuable time, and try asking specific questions in one of the communities or web pages where experts are hanging out, offering to answer specific questions with their reputations on the line; and you can also ask me too!

3. Spend more time reading the blogs and articles written by industry leaders
Unlike many forums, when a search engine expert posts something on their own personal or company blog, they have a reputation to protect, so you can bet it’s usually going to be accurate.

If it’s not true, the rest of the internet marketing community will be all over them with comments, pointing out any factual errors, and keeping them accountable for what they say. (See my “recommended reading” links on the left for more)

4. Pay less attention to search engine ranking reports
It doesn’t matter where you rank for any given phrase, because ranking itself makes you no money. The actions taken by a visitor after they reach your website that’s far more important, and analyzing visitor behavior is a much more valuable service you can provide than ranking phrases for your clients egos.

The hard part is of course getting clients to understand this, but once you’re making them more profitable, they’ll quickly get the picture.

5. Develop more niche affiliate relationships for products or lead generation
It’s highly likely that the most profitable website in the world has not even gone online yet, and every day new opportunities, new inventions, and new ideas pop into people’s heads all over the world.

By developing more “affiliate” relationships as opposed to flat rate services, you will have more incentive to do a good job, add quality content, and develop the valuable links. You both will be much happier in the long run, making everyone more money.

6. Stop worrying about keyword density & the search engines
Running your text through a keyword density analyzer and agonizing over small changes that will get you to that “magic percentage” is a complete waste of time, especially since the magic percentage changes every week. By providing valuable information, tips, knowledge and content to your readers, or to your client’s readers, is going to provide a greater long-term benefit, as the search engines get smarter at determining the subject of a page.

7. Unsubscribe to most of the “Guru” newsletters
The proliferation of “get rich quick” schemes seems to be accelerating rather than declining. More and more self-proclaimed “experts” continue to develop and share their email lists, to which they market “the next big idea” in the form of downloadable products, e-books, linking schemes and membership sites you can join.

The VAST majority of these products and schemes are just recycled ideas anyway, and you can get back a significant portion of your time by simply unsubscribing. Trust me, if it’s something “really good”, you’re going to hear about it anyway.

8. Develop more video content, and do it properly
It’s all about content, no matter what industry you’re in or what you’re trying to accomplish. You know you’re already behind the pack when it comes to producing and distributing video content, but nobody is likely that far out in front of you.

Video is undoubtedly here to stay, and by completing all of the the meta-info, and by supplementing your video pages with surrounding text, you’re going to better capture the attention of your audience, attract more inbound links, and basically, do much better than the next guy.

The day may not be far off when videos can stand on their own and actually be indexed by the search engines for content, but for now that’s just wishful thinking, so don’t be lazy.

9. Participate more often in the Sphinn community
Whether you’re trying to increase your own visibility, or you’re trying to stay up to date on the latest information available about the search marketing industry, you’ll find no hotter community than Sphinn. Everybody who’s anybody has an account on Sphinn, and nothing goes on in this industry that escapes attention there.

Read, vote, submit, and comment (when appropriate) as often as you can, setting aside at least a little bit of time each day.

10. Attend at least one major industry event annually, such as Pubcon, SMX or SES
You’ll never have a better opportunity to mingle with the experts and pick up inside bits of information weeks before the rest of your competition does.

Barely half of the value even comes during the sessions, with incredible information and relationships to be acquired at lunch time, in the halls after sessions, or over cocktails in the bar. You’ll simply never get the really best stuff by only reading all of the great live bloggers who were (or werent) there.

I have a few more too, that pertain to my business personally, that include doing more speaking about search, and continuing to increase my use of my own  Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In, accounts. I also want to escalate my activity and improve in all things Web 2.0 and social,.

I also vow to work less in 2008, sleep more, and spend more time with my kids, Mikkel and  Matthew by helping coach on some of their various sports teams.

Anyone have any more to add to this list?

I was packing this afternoon for my trip to Los Angeles for the local search engine strategies conference, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t even planned out my session attendance for either one.

It only took me a minute at the SES website, because without multiple tracks, there wasn’t much to choose from. It’s a show focusing on local search though, so I expect to learn a lot about an area I’m not really that strong in, and where there have been a lot of innovations.

On the other hand, PubCon hasd a lot to choose from, so planning ahead took me a while. Here’s my current game plan for PubCon Las Vegas 2007, but as usual, it’s subject to change.

The entire session grid is here, where you can see that at any given time there can be as many as five sessions running at once.

Day 1
The first morning session is the Kickoff Keynote Address by Craig Newmark (o1f Craig’s List fame, so that’s certainly going to be something to see

The next session holds no big draw for me, so I think I’m actually going to attend one of the 101 panels, likely Classic and timeless hits because I’ve been doing a lot more teaching myself, and I certainly have something to learn from each of the presenters.

However, anyone not already comfortable with social networking would probably want to attend this panel for sheer star power and packing a lot of information into a short amount of time.

Following that I think I’ll find Monetizing social media traffic to be the most enlightening. Last year I attended the concurrent PHP databases presentation, and it was very good, if not over my head at times.

After lunch the first day, four of the best pros on the planet will be talking about link building campaigns and strategies, and that’s probably not one to miss.

However, there are some great presenters in every session this period, and they all promise to be excellent. This is one of the frustrating things about any conference… deciding which sessions to attend.

After that, 96 strategies for link baiting is the only clear choice for me, and the last session of the day still has me on the fence. On the one hand, it’s tempting to think that I will learn something valuable in the link buying session but the reality is that none of the good stuff can even be mentioned in a session like that for fear of the wrong person finding out something valuable.

Most likely I’ll attend something that has more practical information to share, like Forums and communities, building, management and optimization. I’ll also point out that this is the same time slot for fellow SEMpdx‘er Scott Orths’ presentation on Web analytics

Day Two
Wednesday opens with a Keynote Address by Richard Rosenblatt and I’ll be following that up at the interactive site review session with Dixon Jones and Rae Hoffman. Dixon is a great guy, and if you’ve never seen Sugar Rae during site reviews, you’re missing out.

The last session before lunch is another tossup, and frankly I wonder if another 101 session isn’t the best option, taking a top-down look at site design at SEO site design & organic structure. Sometimes hearing well presented fundamentals over again can be a valuable experience.

After lunch on day two comes my own session, Web hosting and SEO issues, and I’m excited not only because it’s my first Webmaster world speaking engagement, but because I get to sit with some real pros, including my favorite presenter Jake Baillie.

After that there’s a break, and then a domain name auction followed by a reception with the Google engineers. If you think you’re going to learn anything from the Google engineers, you’d better be a fast talker, because every time I’ve had a chance for a one-on-one conversation with one of them, they’ve pinned me in the corner and had nearly as many questions as I have! Seriously, they’re all nice, and usually willing to answer anything you can throw at them within reason.

Day 3
Matt Cutts kicks off day three with his “Coffee with Matt Cutts” chat supersession, and that’s always informative.

The second session of the day I may hit up Brand management unless I can weasel my way onto the site review panel. When Brett at Webmaster World accepted my application to speak this year, he did tell me I’d be on a review panel as well, and this is one that still isn’t listed as full for speakers

The third session is going to have to be the Search and blogging reporters forum, with four of the most respected names I know in search. Then again, there’s another empty review panel just sitting there…

After lunch I think I’m most interested in startup costs of getting in the video game , but will likely end up in Multivariate testing and conversion tweaking because that’s where I can do the most good for my remaining clients.

Following that is the site review session that I’d really most like to sit on, (are you reading Brett?) with Greg Boser, Todd Friesen, and Seth Wilde, but when I’m not added to that panel I’ll either go to word-of-mouth marketing or just go back to my hotel room and pout

Surprisingly the last session of the day is not the “search engine smackdown” that seems to be conspicuously absent this year, but instead it’s just another breakout with four to choose from.

To be perfectly honest, at this point I’ll probably be hanging about in the halls trying to get invited to something private, but if that fails I’ll probably go to the Blue sky small business roundtable.

*edited – Thursday night I’ll be attending the Microsoft party at the Ghost Bar in the Palms. (I’m not sure why I got an invitation, but I’ll be there anyway). Someone commented below about an SEO poker going on tournament too, but the link seems to be down.

Day 4
There’s nothing going on in the morning, but at 1 p.m. comes the “Pub” part of PubCon with the location yet to be announced. If you see me there, please come up and introduce yourself, don’t be shy, and if you mention you read this on my blog, I’ll buy you a beverage and talk search for a while.