Posted on: January 15, 2009 by Syzlak
Bam! Welcome to 2009 reader! Your man Syzlak attended the SEMpdx PPC Hot Seat on Tuesday the 13th and blew it up.
On my first panel for SEMpdx, I was tasked with critiquing the PPC campaigns/offering PPC guidance. It was an interesting experience, unlike many of the other Hot Seat nights (that should totally be a viral infomercial for SEMpdx “Hot Seat Nites,” make it all 11pm 80s style, a little sex, a lot of dumb humor, like Viva Variety. Now, THAT was a good show. Remember Johnny Blue Jeans and all the stupid products? Baby is the Bagpipes? Baby Tastes Like Soup? Fishy Bar – the candy bar that tastes like fish??? Loved that show. Especially the episode where they played the game Plant or Animal. Contestants were given a 2 second sound bite and had to guess if the sound came from Robert Plant or a wild animal. It was unbelievably difficult, and made for a great game show.
Man, there really was nothing like the early days of Comedy Central. Shows like Exit 57, Stand-up Stand-up, Short Attention Span Theater, MST3K , Dr. Katz – all great. Then South Park came and ruined it. Now all we have (aside from Daily Show & Colbert) are MADtv reruns and Dane Cook specials. Seriously, when are people going to realize that not only is Dane Cook a theif, but he’s also about as funny as Andy Dick), this time the audience didn’t seem to be as familiar with the topic at hand. I think it’s fair to say that SEMpdx audience members are a bit more in tune with the ideas of usability and SEO, than they are with PPC; and for that, I am thankful that SEMpdx put on a PPC specific event.
Hopefully, the audience members got as much out of the sessions as the businesses on display did. I know that after the session the businesses were quite appreciative of all the help from Mr. Tom Hale, Mr. Todd Mintz and Ms. Leisa Hall and myself. I just hope that those in the audience didn’t feel like all the information was going over their heads.
All in all, a fantastic time and a great idea. I really hope SEMpdx makes a PPC Hot Seat a part of the regular rotation. If not, put a PPC specialist on the panel once in awhile to add some diversity, it’s about time we knocked some of those SEO big whigs down a notch 
Oh, I almost forgot – I won a T-shirt!!! See what you can do if you set your mind to it?
Posted on: November 12, 2008 by Syzlak
Last night was all about Google Analytics. Which was well timed, as Google Analytics has started juicing and created a well rounded, robust, analytics package.
This SEMpdx Hot Seat’s (btw – did you guys realize that SEMpdx is really annoying to pluralize or add possessiveness to? SEMpdxes? SEMpdx’s? Just really annoying.) featured guests were Eric Peterson and Ian Lurie. Enough with this semi-formal writing…
6:10pm – Mirror Pond
Eric Peterson is giving a high level introduction to the wonders of GA 3.0. Highlights include:
- Custom Reporting
- Advanced Segmentation
- API Access (will allow integration of analytics into proprietary reporting and data collection ZOMG this is so awesome!!!! OMG OMG ESPN BBQ IMHO – this will cut down reporting time by … some large percentage!!!!)
Eric’s slick, but he didn’t speak long. I think he’s going to be more interesting when we get to the Hot Seat.
6:20pm – Same Mirror Pond
Lurie time. Ian’s got a presentation on segmentation. Ian does a great job of introducing the topic and showing a real world example. He used the latest fad of charging a fee on airline luggage. I’m going to use a different, more Web relevant example. Audience Segmentation is essentially treating visitors as tags. On a blog, or bookmarking site, we use tags to identify where a post, link, etc. belongs. We are able to divide and group at the same time. Take my delicious bookmarks. I have a bunch of music venues as I am a musician. So how do I organize them? For me, the most important facts about the sites were as follows:
- What is it? (A Venue)
- What type? (A Bar)
- Location? (Portland)
- Sounds they like? (Alternative)
- Have we played there before? (No
)
Now that I have assigned one site all of these attributes (and more), I can easily index them by just looking up the city, or the sound, etc. Plus, I can find a coffee house in Corvallis that likes acoustic songwriters very quickly. Well, audience segmentation does a similar thing. Simply setup your own parameters for your web analytics:
- Visitors
- From Google
- On the week of the 14th
- That viewed 4 pages
Bam.
Lurie made a good point about the value of segmentation too. Often times, people see PPC as an easy way to trim budgets. They also see that SEO is working well for them, and accounting for most of their sales. So, right off, they start calling for PPC’s head. This is not always the case (thank you), sometimes site trends will be tied to PPC whereas SEO acts in a different manner and vice versa. Sometimes, SEO traffic will be converting for your top 5 keywords at a rate that is astronomically better than PPC. However, PPC is converting for your bottom 550 keywords at astronomical rates. Unfortunately, too many people focus on the former rather than the latter.
6:30pm – time for the bathroom. At the door, I hear the all too familiar battle cry of the wounded alcoholic – “ack..hag…whack.” That man is puking. In the Hotel deLuxe lobby. On a Tuesday. At 6:31pm. I love this country.
6:34pm – Mirror Pond
When I returned, Eric Peterson had said one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard someone who is not me say about the state of the market and advertising at this moment.
Don’t turn off any marketing if you don’t know what it is
Lurie followed up by saying that it’s ok to run tests on things that you’re thinking about shutting down…but don’t shut it down.
Fun Facts:
- Unique Visitors are inconsistently inaccurate. Just use Visits.
- 7% of users delete cookies every day (really?)
- Bounce Rates, historically are the #visits to a single page/the #visits to said page
- With the new GA, you can define your own Bounce Rates
Then there were Hot Seats…they were good, and there was a lot of Analytics integration into the discussion, which was refreshing. I like when the Hot Seat is slightly different and not just 4 SEOs saying “uhhh…robots.txt…well, I guess John already covered that…oh! You should make a sitemap.xml file.” Last night was a good format, 2 SEOs, 2 Analytics. That being said, where was the PPC love?
Posted on: May 21, 2008 by Syzlak
The long anticipated Hot Seat with Matt McGee was held last night at Hotel deLuxe. Although SEOHack had asked me to live blog the event, I will stick to my tradition of tape-delayed live blogs:
5:50pm – We’re allowed into the banquet room. One of the nice things about SEMpdx Hot Seat events is that they’re catered. Which means that for $40 you get to learn some SEO tips, sometimes hear a speaker and get some catered food, a damn fine deal.
Tonight it meant fish…raw fish to be exact. Fish really are the bane of my existence. I find them to be quite despicable in odor and taste. In addition, I am a vegetarian and do not eat the meat of the sea. Those that know me will say that they have seen me eat the delectables of a pig or a chicken, to them I say “you certainly have, but just as there are ‘vegetarians’ that eat fish, I am a vegetarian that eats the meat of the land.” So, the night’s off to a great start, let’s see if we can improve this eve.
6:07pm – Ben of Amplify Interactive is hosting the evening and conducts a raffle…and one of Ben’s employees wins the SMX Advanced pass. I’m not going to pass judgment, I’m just saying is all.
6:09pm – M2 starts to speak. The most entertaining part of the first 10 minutes is watching the Hotel deLuxe employee running back and forth as M2 kept creating feedback.
6:15pm – Will the Bulls take Beasley or Rose with the first pick? Rose may be a “smarter” pick, but I’m leaning towards Beasley. They could trade Thomas (and maybe Gooden) for some more help and walk away a much better team. Rose would only replace Henrich, which isn’t as big of a weakness…Matt’s talking commitment, saying that the whole organization has to be committed to the SEO project. That’s a good point, and one that I don’t think a lot of big businesses or Agencies really comprehend. He also said something to the effect of Mom & Pop shops being committed to wood…pens
6:25 – M2’s recommending knowledge centers. Sphinn? Really? I’m not sure I’d recommend Sphinn to newbies…too much repetition and petty cliques for newbies to sort through. That, and I don’t think too many small businesses need to know THAT much about Twitter.
Patience! Yes Yes Yes! So far my favorite part of the (ahem) triangle. SEO (even PPC, SMO, …SEM) is always demanded from clients as a simple request. It’s not simple. It takes time. Time to plan, time to prep, time to implement and time to change.
Design and Usability. Shit, Matt’s on a roll here! Favorite quote of the night
It’s not your website it’s your customer’s website
Brilliant.
The “Y” looks odd on the Keyword Research slide.
6:40pm – Matt talks nuts.
6:50pm – Sobriety is odd. Especially since most events that I’m tied to involve drinking. I know that people have been thinking I’m joking when I say that I’m sober now, but I am…at least for the time being. I don’t know how long it will last, nor do I know why I did it. Life hasn’t been going down the shitter like it was in college when I had to quit drinking for awhile. I just woke up a few weeks ago and didn’t drink that day or the next. That being said, David Mihm’s beer looks really good right now.
Man, M2 already knows the type of car he’s going to buy next…I suppose I know the type of guitar I’ll buy next.
6:55pm – Mihm and I both scramble to write down placeblogger.com
7:10pm – Steve from the Internet Strategy something or other starts name dropping in order to build some buzz about some event I won’t be attending
Hot Seat time
The first site tonight is Clowns Unlimited (clownsunlimited.com).
Seriously. The rep is worried that (sigh) Clowns Unlimited has become…limited. The next 15 minutes of my life will be the “stuff you just can’t make up.” I’ll now abandon “writing” in favor of a list format
- Wants corporate leads
- They have fluctuating rental fees based on seasonality…makes sense
- The rep became militant when the panel tried to help him…this struck me as rather odd, I would not want these guys as my client. Then again, I’m scared shitless of two things in life: 1) eye drops B) clowns
- Apparently his poor blog posts are not his fault (it never is, is it?). He had an ESL Filipino write those (natch)
- There’s a different price scale for birthdays compared to corporate functions. This bothers me. Why stick one or the other with a higher price for the same rented Rocket Turbo Slide?
Useful Takeaways – Don’t try to sell in your blog, keep it clean and conversational. Work on having paths of action that would make sense to the user. Listen
Up next J&M Homes (jandmhomes.com)
- The loud man that talked through some of Matt’s presentation was apparently here for a site review…fantastic. Let’s just have a short intro and then let the panel review your site.
- Sprague’s an odd name. Especially when you consider that there’s a city in Washington and a High School in Salem that share said name.
- This guy’s dragging me down, every time the panel gets on a roll, he stops them with inane comments. We know you need help with your site, we know you’re redesigning it – let them talk. Lord, I’m starting to want a drink…
- Oh fantastic, now the clown guy is helping out. The Hot Seat is falling apart!!!
- Then again, maybe that’s what the Hot Seat should be once in awhile: a round table. Get 2 sites, 1 moderator/expert and let the audience lead the discussion.
Useful Takeaways – Optimize your home site for cities not states (ie Portland not Oregon) because people don’t just want to live somewhere in the state. Have pages for the homes you offer in each city.
Poster Garden (postergarden.com)
- These guys seem to have a game plan.
- They need a cleaner/simpler site. Like some of the panelists, I was very confused/disoriented by their site upon arrival. CD replication sites might be a good place for layout ideas for the future site, as they’re a similar user based experience. Some of my faves:
All in all, a fun and informative night.
Posted on: May 19, 2008 by Syzlak
Tomorrow, SEMpdx will host yet another installment of the outstanding SEM Hot Seat series. The evening should be rather informative as the organization has managed to score another big name personality in Matt McGee to sit on the panel. The Hot Seat is the best event SEMpdx offers and is a great experience for people who are new to SEO, as well as SEM veterans.
The evening is entitled: SEM Hot Seat + Matt McGee & The SEO Success Pyramid. I know it sounds kind of like the second (and worst) of the Indiana Jones trilogy, but rest assured there’s a lot of useful knowledge here. McGee is a consummate professional, and his SEO Success Pyramid has been widely heralded for it’s unique presentation of the SEO “gameplan.” Even though it’s more of a triangle than a pyramid, the knowledge within is beyond reproach. For more on Matt, check out David Mihm’s interview from earlier this month.
If you can’t make it tomorrow (which, is really hard to believe if you’re in the Portland area. It’s pretty easy to go, and rather affordable. I mean shit, the lessons learned are worth more than admission), expect a recap of the event from me later this week. However, if you’ve ever read one of my recaps, it might be advisable to go ahead and attend the event for yourself
Additionally, if you’re a Portland area business or SEM professional, why aren’t you a member of SEMpdx yet? The organization has regular meetings and events, and offers discounts to various SEM conferences. There’s nothing to lose (aside from the nominal fee to sign up…), so sign up today.
Posted on: January 8, 2008 by Syzlak
SEMpdx, the little organization that could, put together a wonderful event last night. Drawing in Vanessa Fox to be a guest speaker was a brilliant idea and helped give the organization more credibility and character. Here’s a run down of everything else that happened:
The first thing I realized when entering Hotel deLuxe was that I’d stupidly decided on attending a Hot Seat on the same night as the BCS National Championship game. The second thing I realized is that due to this, there would be no way in hell that Sean McMahon would be there.
6:15pm – LSU 3 OSU 10
After meeting with Kent Schnepp of EngineWorks and exchanging pleasantries with Ms. Fox, food had started being served. I don’t wait for food, I attack food. After polishing off the 5 tandoori chicken skewers and a couple of slices of turkey (oddest food offerings ever) I head to the bar for my free drink (3rd drink of the evening (2nd GnT) for those keeping score at home). 
When I returned to my table of 2 unassuming men in their mid 20s, we were greeted by the one person who forgot that 1988 actually did happen. Wearing a Mickey & Co. hockey sweater and sporting Tina Turner’s hair, she was a sight to be seen.
Vanessa gave a small presentation before the Hot Seat about social browsing. Personally, I’m getting tired of the whole “web 2.0, social marketing, blogocopia” scene.
[<sigh> I'm logging into Twitter to post that I'm writing this review </sigh>]
However, this presentation wasn’t like the ones we all saw last year from Rand Fishkin & Todd Malicoat. Those were great presentations and I learned a ton from them, but after we all went out and became a part of the community and started tweeting everything we did…what was left? Apparently social browsing, at least according to Vanessa. The focus on search, sharing, voyeurism, social shopping and community was slightly skewed from the aforementioned topics and was a logical next step.
So what did I take away from the presentation?
- Apparently Vanessa Fox has spent 10 years on message boards for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who knew?!?!
- really 10 years? It’s a fine show, but it’s no My 2 Dads!
- Most people do not vertically search. Many don’t even know to go to the image search when looking for pictures
- personally I have a hard time believing this one, but it would make more sense as to why Google, Ask & Yahoo are all including image teasers (see that MSN, you didn’t make the list…sad)
- When Vanessa Hudgens released her nudity to the web, guess who’s traffic skyrocketed? Foreshadowing to the gentleman whom later asked how important is the text within one’s URL: You should be listening now as we go over the fact that her URL has both Vanessa & nude…
- favorite part of this story, people would leave comments (remember, kids can’t read) on Ms. Fox’s site saying “I love you so much!!! Did you break up with Zack? lol zomg espn”
- yes I added the IM acronyms…but shit, kids can’t read
- One woman in the room understood the Wonder Twins reference. I wanted to run over and clank rings proclaiming “Form of any kind of functioning ice structure!” What type of animal would she have chosen?
- Vanessa eluded to Page Rank being a way for Google to prevent people from buying links from a website. She also said that the number on the page is unimportant and usually is a reflection of links rather than Page Rank.
Now it was Hot Seat time. I was going to need a beer, so I waited until the speech about organ donation started and grabbed a Black Butte Porter (side note: never drink at this hotel. BPP-$6, Makers, Bombay Sapphire-$8.50). Here’s the big takeaways from the first site
- META keywords are useful for something! It’s only Adsense, but that’s still something.
- Not as though I know anyone that does this but, when the analytics code is at the top of the page it slows down the load time as opposed to when it’s at the bottom.
- There was a suggestion for the Oregon Donor site to put content on YouTube. I guess that’s a good idea? Maybe I just can’t see it exactly.
7:00pm – LSU 24 OSU 10 (24 unanswered points, good lord.)
I might be drunk
- Everybody needs more badges. Schnepp suggested this for the Donor site, good call. The next site, the vineyard could benefit from a badge too.
Alright, that’s most of the highlights. If you were there, I hope y’all learned and had fun. If you weren’t there I hope that in reading this, you make it to the next one. They really are worth it.
