filed under: Austin News & Notes, Search Engine Marketing,

SEM for SMB Conference Review

While most conferences cater to corporate companies with training money to burn, SEM for SMB (search engine marketing for small/medium sized businesses) was designed to be a more hands-on experience and tailored for the rest of us: scrappy upstarts who wear many hats.

The two-day event took place at the Downtown Hilton in sunny Austin, TX (which according to some is the most digital city in America. Chris Justice and the crew from Sparksite did a great job – the event was well organized and the food was great.

On day one I attended Developing Effective Online Advertising by Brian Rutledge from Get Page One. The presentation covered the fundamentals of SEO including some Internet marketing terminology, site structure tips, and general copywriting. A few things that he brought up that I appreciated were web standards and making sure to always have a call-to-action on each page (by the way, have you subscribed to this blog yet? You should!).

Next up was Mark Lassoff's session entitled Using Online Audio and Video to Increase Search Engine Traffic. Mark works with NLI Media Group as well as with the Internet Broadcasting Group, so he knows the lay-of-the-land when it comes to audio/video content on the web. His self-deprecating and wisecracking style make his presentations quite entertaining. One point he drove home was that with a branded online radio channel a company can be the sole advertiser, driving up not only the number of impressions but the likelihood that the company can be recalled.

After a great buffet-style Tex-Mex lunch I attended what turned out to be my favorite presentation of the conference (which ironically had nothing to do with SEO). Tina Schweiger, the Principal of Austin graphic design firm Spoonbend delivered a thoughtful and interesting presentation on Creating a Memorable Business Identity. One of the fine folks at Apogee Search (ahillman) wrote a nice recap, but the upshot was that if a company hopes to succeed in creating a brand that it can be proud of, it must come from within – and connect to – the culture of the company. She shared her holistic approach of drawing information out of clients, which I will definitely steal wholesale borrow aspects from.

The day wrapped with a panel of sponsors/who's who discussing a few search-related matters of the day. And of course, an open bar....

Regrettably, I could only poke my head in on day two due to some prior work responsibilities. I had my eye on the Link-Building Workshop held by Ben Finklea of Volacci, but couldn't make it. I did peek into Converting Searchers to Prospects and Customers for a bit but had to split at the break ("Conversion Scientist" Brian Massey dons a lab coat while presenting, which was amusing).

If I had to nitpick, I'd have only a couple areas that might be improved upon. The program didn't cross-reference the speakers with the session schedule (easy fix – no biggie). The other isn't actually a beef with the conference per se, more with the search industry at large. I get uncomfortable when folks pass off anecdotal data as "the way it is." If you can't cite credible material or at least tell us what type of client, in what industry, over what time period, than you shouldn't bring it up in public. At least that's my opinion, perhaps I'm naive.

All in all it was a very well-done conference, especially considering that this was the inaugural event. An event that goes smoothly is no accident,there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Thanks to Sparksight for throwing this shindig, I look forward to next year's event.

Related entries:

• Austin Internet Marketing Meetup Notes from 7/2/08
• Refresh Austin – July Meeting Recap