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: March 11, 2008 by Syzlak
After 3 grueling days of recording, I ease my way back into being a search professional by attending SearchFest at the Oregon Zoo.
Ok, so I’ve been gone for 4 days (only 3, but I’m lumping in this morning since I was hungover) and I’m a little behind at work; thus, we’re going to do the review a bit differently (as if I have a fucking standard for anything over here).
Highlights
March 9, 10:30pm – Sunday night (always the best night to hit the bars – very few Christians (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and very few hooches. Mostly old men that absolutely have to get their drink on) I finish doing most of the tracking on the new Donerail album. Upon returning home, my old co-worker calls me up for a drink as he’d just got into town (time change made him miss the flight). 20 minutes later I’m able to finally meet Stoney and Rebecca! This was a thrill for me because I was finally meeting personalities whose work and character I respect, but I only knew from the wide world of search & blogs. I always meet somebody, but usually I don’t care.
An hour later I’m drinking at Kelly’s Olympian downtown. It (like always) was great.
March 10, 9:30am – I think people ask me “where are you from?” more often than other people. Perhaps it’s because I have a subtle midwestern accent, maybe it’s because I’m an loud, arrogant, asshole in a city of gentle folk (for chrissake no one here uses their car horn! You paid for the horn to be in the damn car, it’s a form of communication since you honestly can’t be heard yelling at the car in front of you. So when someone cuts you off, use your words). Whatever the case, I usually answer this question “Iowa.” Enter the age old and ever continuing debate about the meaning of the question “where are you from?” There are generally 3 4 takes on what this could actually mean:
- Where do you live?
- Where were you born?
- Where have you lived most of your life?
- Where do you call “home?”
The last one is bullshit to me, because the other 3 answer it, but I added it anyway. So, I was born in Iowa, but I only lived there for around 2 years. We went there for vacation every summer (screw Disney, we got corn!!!) and most of my family was there. At the same time, I’ve lived in Portland/Oregon for most of my life. Therefore, some people force me to say that I’m from Portland or Oregon. I find this irritating whilst understanding their point; after all, I don’t really have any ties to Iowa anymore, nor did I grow up within the culture, etc.
Wherever, I’m supposedly “from,” the fact is that I’ve lived in Portland/Oregon for most of my life. This is important to note because for some reason I couldn’t find the Oregon Zoo.
I’ve been to the damn place probably 10 times in my life too, so it’s not like the area is foreign to me. After driving around, lost in the West Hills, I find the zoo and make it in time to have missed Rand’s keynote, which at the time I thought nothing of. Yeah, I like Rand, but I thought for sure I was going to hear some variation on the proposal/social media speech, which I’ve heard a few times.
It wasn’t
What it was, was apparently nothing short of spectacular – it even ragged on Bend, which makes anything spectacular.
10:00am – I’m late to the first session, and only hear half of Stoney’s speech on site architecture. Very well done, some of it old news, some new, some advanced, some basic pretty much the formula for speaking at an SEMpdx event. We’re not SMX or SES (my mind immediately jogs to a Simpson’s ref: It’s not your fault, you can’t control the birds. You will someday, but not now). My favorite piece of advice from Stoney was that not every page needs a META description. He said that some pages are better off when the search engines are left to “write” the description for you. I definitely think that’s true and adhere to that rule myself, but it’s nice to hear someone else say it.
During Aaron Kahlow’s speech about usability someone has thrown something at me, but will not own up to it…and honestly, aside from that and when he said “irregardless” (genius) I have no other highlights. Next however, was Ian Lurie. I liked this speech a lot. All about analytics, how to review, what to look for, etc. Awesome. I’ve never actually been in a session where someone was talking so directly about what I do and how I could do it better. My favorite takeaway was about how some sites, pages, etc. should be expected to have a higher bounce rate. Again it’s a common sense thing, but it’s not one I’d thought of yet.
I had to work the next 2 sessions, running around with a microphone and trying to keep doors quiet. I don’t remember being very interested in anything outside of Rebecca’s speech on link bait and Paul Colligan’s speech on…well, basically all things social (oh, and not letting the robots win).
2:00pm – Managing your online reputation with Marty of aimClear. This is gonna be good. If you’re a regular here, then you’re aware of my fundamental disagreement with how Marty presents himself online. Well, out of left field he fully admits that he handled his rep in the wrong way. Well shit, how am I supposed to grill him now? Throw in the fact that later he barely stepped on my toe and then apologized profusely for it, and now I’m starting to like the guy. That being said, the truth is that I don’t know him and if I did, I may like him, but I still don’t care for how he carries himself online. I wasn’t a big fan of the fact that after coming out of his SU experience he gives a speech about how to manage your rep online, owns up to some mistakes, but then calls social media “bully pulpit channels.” I also didn’t like that he still seems to think that he’s done nothing wrong in the situation. Had he taken the time to interview one of the Stumblers that “attacked” him, he would have learned why he was “attacked.” Instead he feels that he’s done no spamming, no self promotion, no mis-categorization, nothing that would irritate the community…while plugging his Sphinned articles 4 times. 
In the next speech I heard one of the most ironic utterances ever, when Lisa Williams talked about what to do when you’ve “gone off the reservation and said something stupid.” Really? Was that the example of something stupid to say?
3:15pm – Hot Seat with Rand, Stoney and Marty. Damn this was good. The SEMpdx Hot Seat is a remarkably simple and brilliant event, that should really be marketed more than it has been. Hot Seat’s are always fun, and usually seem to provide something for everybody. This Hot Seat was friggin’ epic. Personally, I loved the fact that the minute Rand stood up to speak, I leaned over to a friend and said that he was going to plug one of his tools…and then he did. Can’t blame him though, I’d have done the same. I left the Hot Seat early to expel urine and was pleased to see that the bar had been setup, and drinking had begun. This is why I always leave conferences a few minutes early. That way you can get to the bar before everyone else and have 1 or 2 drinks before the line is outrageously long.
Later – The memory fades very quickly nowadays. After about 3 drinks, I seriously can’t remember things clearly at all. I’ve lost days (mostly nights ) from having a few drinks. Beer’s more gentle than bourbon, but all in all the end result is always the same, so here’s what I can remember.
- I went to drink with EngineWorks in the Pearl, talked about figure skating and the Blazers.
- Was almost convinced once again to join SecondLife.
- Met with David from Business.com
Then I headed home form more drinking with an buddy from middle school.
He’s from here too.
Posted on: March 5, 2008 by Syzlak
Except for a few people from Ask, they aren’t working at all…
Lord, I’m busy. By the next time I post, I’ll have recorded the bulk of my band’s next album, gone to SearchFest ‘08 (tagline: Don’t Hesitate to be Great in 08!!) and worked like a dog in between.
So, shit, what’s been going on lately? Ask is dead? Again? That’s sad to me, I’ve always enjoyed the hope of competition in the search field, and I thought Ask was getting better. I think that it’s too hard today to battle the omnipresent Google. I mean Google is now a verb for fuck’s sake!!! How could Ask ever compete with that?
Other news… (yes, I’m doing a lame editorial recap of the last few weeks in order to make up for the fact that I didn’t do a like-like link post)
SMX West happened last week. Did you go? No? Neither did I. Do you remember how we were forced to hear about all the great parties, cool contacts and fantastic information that we were missing out on? Yeah, me too. It’s a great time to be alive. If you missed out on SMX West, check out this great piece by Streko, it more or less sums up the existence of those of us that have to stay behind in order to keep the company running.
Not at all search related, I’ve added one of my favorite sites to the blogroll, The Strategic Retreat. Good post on there today…
Ok…there’s a meeting happening in my office, so I’ve lost my train of thought. Anyway, if you’re going to be at SearchFest ‘08 come find me. I currently have a Yacht Rock-esque haircut, but I assure you I won’t be dressed the part. I’ll be running around and volunteering, whilst trying to update via Twitter and posting right here on SyzlakSEM. Sadly, I won’t be able to hang with the SEOHack as he’ll be at home, sulking, drunk and alone. That is, if you don’t count liquor and guns as friends.
All right, done rambling. See ya in a week or so!
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.
