SEO Conferences - Which to start with!???
-
My SEO / Internet marketing business (I also have contractors that handle web design and development) is going well and growing and I am interested in attending one of the many conferences. (SEO is my passion but I am more of a marketing guy than super technical) I was hoping for a little bit of advice from somebody who has been to some of them where would be good to start.
Where should I start? I am in Wichita, KS. which is in the middle of the US (bring on the yellow brick road and Dorothy jokes) and don't plan to leave the country for one.
PUBCON, SES, SMX, SEARCHFEST, MOXCON, PUBCON......
Thank you very MUCH for any advice. Super appreciate it!
Matthew
-
So I'm completely bias as I'm a Mozzer and one of the Mozzers who runs MozCon.
With that said, MozCon is definitely my favorite conference. Last year was both the first year I helped run MozCon and the first year I attended it. I knew all the pieces, and I was blown away by the caliber of the content and the speakers. The topic runs a little intermediate advanced, especially if the topic is primarily SEO-focused, and the speakers themselves are incredibly smart and true experts in their topics. Most conferences to me are really hit or miss, but MozCon was one where I felt that I learned at every session. (I've been in the industry for 6 years.) The single session, one room format with keynote-style talks really suites my learning style and my need for community (live-tweeter right here). (And Seattle is awesome!!)
My second favorite one is SearchFest PDX. Their speaker quality is superb. Though you have to pick between sessions. I found the community pretty great here too. And the year I went, it was right by the food trucks which I can't stay away from in PDX. I felt the sessions were really tailored by topic so you could chose to go on the track you knew and learn something or skip around to learn something new.
If you want to talk to Matt Cutts or get all fannish around him, SMX is the conference to go to. As except for the "celebs" of search or a specific keynote, it's panels, speakers get less time to talk, which I go back and forth how much I like that. I find panels, due to the sheer numbers of speakers a conference organizer must find to talk on a similar topic, can sometimes be a large hit or miss between speakers. And they can also crash quickly if the moderators aren't on top of it.
SES has been a bit more a beginner's conference in my mind. I've found a lot more SMB and SEOs starting their careers going to these than other conferences. It's all panels with a few exceptions like SMX. Both SES and SMX accept pitches, and sometimes, you can get some rougher talks due to beginning speakers. (We ALL have to start somewhere!)
I haven't been to PubCon or any of Distilled's conferences (SearchLove, LinkLove), though I've heard PubCon to be more like an SMX and SearchLove to be closer to MozCon in styles.
Anyway, hope you found that useful. Feel free to ask about specifics you're considering, and really, I can answer about anything about MozCon.
-
Right... I carefully read the titles and descriptions of the talks that will be given. Lots of stuff does not apply to you, some you might already know, some might be over your head.
Look for a meeting that has lots of talks that make you salivate. That's the one to attend.
I often get more out of the exhibit hall than out of the talks. You can ask lots of questions there, leave, think about them and then go back.
-
When I asked this question a while ago the overall consensus was to go to Mozcon, I also hear good things about SES and SMX and was told to go to them as well, but highest priority was Mozcon. Hope that helps.
-
I would map them out, see what the itineraries are for each and go from there. I know SEOMOZ sells videos for download of their past sessions. perhaps reviewing one of those would give you a better idea! :>)
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
My site got hacked and now i have 1000s of 404 pages and backlinks. Should i transfer my site to a new domain name and start again?
My site was hacked and I had 1000s of pages that should not exist created and has had 1000s of backlinks put in. Now i have the same pages and backlinks redirecting to 404 pages. Is this why my site crashed out of google and my SEO fixes since have made no progress to my problem?
Industry News | | KeithWarbyUK0 -
SEO Strategy Report Structure
I am looking to get a structure for an SEO strategy document. While I understand that the specific tactics that you will used will vary significantly from project to project I would love to get my hands on a document that has heading that should be covered off in an SEO strategy report. Any help is very much appreciated. Thanks
Industry News | | cbarron0 -
Picking a degree that will benefit SEO/IM career
I really had no idea where to place this question as there seemed to be no 'suitable' place. I do though feel that it is a viable question and would appreciate any responses that I receive. Essentially, I'm currently working full time doing digital marketing covering most general aspects as it is in-house and primarily local venturing to maybe 50-70 miles in the region of the local area. I'm doing SEO, PPC, Social Media etc. I'm certified in networking (I studied in Australia) and have my UK GCSEs along with a variety of other general certifications e.g. business. The college in the area where I work is offering a NVQ in digital marketing and social media so although I'm self taught I'm currently doing this once a month purely for the paper to recognize that I know what I'm doing. Anyway, getting to the point. I have the opportunity to pursue a degree long term with my employer. I've always had an interest in actually learning to code in a web development language (I can cope at the moment with PHP and do what I need to do) and I've also had an interest in developing iPhone apps etc. What degree would you recommend in aiding a career in SEO and Digital/Internet marketing in general?. To me it seems to boil down to either a marketing degree or a web development degree. Thank you in advance, I would love to hear your own experience and what you have a degree in. Thanks, Luke Hutchinson.
Industry News | | LukeHutchinson0 -
Post your favorite SEOs for Mom and Pop Shops
I'm trying to compile a list of SEOs and/or Inbound Marketers that specialize in helping micro-businesses. For the purposes of this study 'micro' means any business with 5 or fewer employees. Names are great. Website URLs would be Fab. Twitter accounts would be super Fab. For instance: David Mihm http://www.davidmihm.com/ @davidmihm I'd be happy to share the final list with anyone who provides a name.
Industry News | | JesseCWalker0 -
Where do i find Local SEO Clients?
Hey, So i've been doing SEO for a while now and know a lot of tactics and a lot of ways to get my/others sites hire. I know good software (and have that software with full licenses and know the methods to use it in whitehat ways that will work well), internal content linking, title/description, webmaster tools (both google and bing), sitemaps etc... I have clients and my own sites that i have managed to get high in google, as well as my own local site that is number 1 in Google for my hometown + SEO, but that only gets about 80 searches a month and gets me very little if any phone calls a week. I've also just ordered 250 high quality business cards, that i spent ages designing to look awesome.. If these work well i'll print some more and stick all over the place... I currently have 2 local clients, 1 is a local web agency who every client they have they pay me a specific amount to boost that company in Google and the other is just a family friend who pays me a small amount a month to build links for him. I'd like to have 10-15+ clients all on my payroll with a nice amount of income that i can live off. I just finished full-time school and am just coming into the big wide world and have for paid for my new laptop, desktop, 2 monitors, SEO software licenses and SEOMoz account from niche blogs, software and SEO coaching and such.. I've built a brilliant online portfolio for people and have had a lot of great feedback from online clients. But i can only earn around $10-$110 per online client for SEO and around $8/hour for coaching... I'd like to be able to make that a LOT more. I do web/graphic design as well and have built a nice portfolio for that as well. So back to the main question, how did you and how do i get local clients? Thanks!
Industry News | | pompano210 -
SEO Conferences - Which One(s) do you Attend ?
I have been in SEO since over 10 years now. And have been attending Pubcon since 2004 in Las Vegas. I think I have only missed 1. This year, I have been thinking of which conferences to attend and here are the options. I am looking for 1st hand experiences from people who have attended multiple conferences to kinda do a comparison. Here are the upcoming conferences by date. I am only listing the US Conferences. SES New York March 19-23* BlueGlass Los Angeles April 23-24* SMX Advanced Seattle Jun. 5-6* MozCon July 25 - July 27* SES San Francisco August 13-17* SMX New York | Oct. 2-4, 2012* Pubcon Las Vegas October 16 - 19* SES Chicago November 12-16* SMX Social Media Marketing Las Vegas | Dec. 5-6 Please let me know what conferences you have attended in the past and which ones of these people here are planning to attend ?
Industry News | | NakulGoyal1 -
Starting an SEO Business - Stuff you need - HELP
When you started your SEO Business what software do you use to give information to your clients? How did you decide what to charge for your services? What services do you offer? Best tools to use? Any other information you think might be relevant? Thanks ahead
Industry News | | paulbaguley0 -
New business acquisition for digital agencies from SEO and CRO
I have a nice simple question to ask all you mozzers out there, specifically if you work for a web design/digital agency. Does your agency get any new business clients through your SEO and CRO efforts? I'm asking this to try and build up a qualitative data set. I am responsible for all SEO and CRO at our agency for all clients along with our own website. Having increased traffic by over 200% in the last 12 months, and obtaining page one of Google for all our targeted keywords, we are still without any new business or ROI. We are fortunate enough to get a lot of great clients via word of mouth, a great sales team and client retention, I'd really like to know what the bigger picture is here? If I get enough data back, I'll make it into my first Youmoz post and share all the data with everyone :¬) I've now added a survey so you answer anonymously: There are only 5 questions in all, your time is greatly appreciated. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/New_business_acquisitions_for_digital_agencies Any feedback gladly welcomed. Regards Sean
Industry News | | Yozzer0