Day 1 Itinerary for PubCon 2009 and Initial Thoughts

After arriving 2+ hours early for registration I have a few moments to look through Day 1 of PubCon’s itinerary to see what topics would interest me. The one thing I noticed is that registration for the days events starts at 7:30 am. Don’t they know I am night owl? The founders probably missed my memo.

This is what I have settled on for Day 1.

10:00a 11:15a – In-House SEO

If you have a do-it-yourself attitude, then you’re probably relying on your own skills for your site SEO. Our panelists are veteran in-house search engine optimizers, and will reveal the best tips, tools and techniques for doing SEO in house. Learn all about the challenges and complications that might arise and the best way to deal with them in order to meet your SEO goals.

Moderator: Melanie Mitchell
Speakers:
Ash Nallawalla, Traffic Manager, Yellow Pages, Sensis Pty Ltd
Chris Hooley, Owner, MCP Media
Alex Bennert, In-house SEO, Wall Street Journal
Jessica L Bowman, Founder & President, SEOinhouse.com

Initial Thoughts: Perfect for me. As a small business manager almost everything we do comes from in-house. I started learning SEO a few moons ago and this seems like a perfect way to brush up and hopefully learn some new skills.

11:30a 12:45p – Smart Organic Keyword Research and Selection

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Seven years ago, the topic was keywords. Two years ago, the topic was keywords. This year, well, you guessed it. Keywords remain an integral part of any SEO campaign. You can have the prettiest pages in the world, with wonderfully-written copy; but if you don’t have a grasp on what your core keywords should be, you are losing out. Better your rankings and increase your relevant click-throughs by thoroughly landing your keywords.

Moderator: Joe Laratro
Speakers:
Wil Reynolds, Founder, SEER Interactive
Craig Paddock, Managing Partner, Boost Search Marketing
Carolyn Shelby, Web Experience Manager, United Way of Metro Chicago
Mark Jackson, President / CEO, VIZION Interactive, Inc.

Initial Thoughts: Leads off perfectly from the in-house course and the DIY attitude I have. The complexity of the real estate market with long tail search and main keywords has been something I have been meaning to review in higher detail. Should have a great info on how I can expand my market reach and tighten up current strategies.

1:30p 2:45p – Top-Shelf SEO: Hot Topics and Trends

Some of the best SEOs in the game will be on this panel. This is an expert-level session. There will be brief coverage of on-page items such as titles, tags, text and URLs. But the focus will be on the real money of SEO: off-page criteria. Links, links, links.

Moderator: Carolyn Shelby
Speakers:
Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
Greg Boser, President, 3 Dog Media
Jill Sampey, Director of Search Marketing, Blast Radius
Jill Whalen, CEO, High Rankings

Initial thoughts: Links are the hardest thing to come by in off-site SEO, at least for me they are. Here is an opporunity to learn how to do it while avoiding link spam techniques.

2:55p 4:10p – How Do You Optimize For Universal and Personal Search?

We have had two years to adjust to the major search engine results page changes. It is clear those links that searchers first see aren’t at all what they used to be. The SERPs are more complex, and that means optimization is more complex, too. This session will examine search engine results pages with the images, videos, stock quotes, weather and other snippets included, and address the changes that marketers must make.

Moderator: Christine Churchill
Speakers:
Amanda Watlington, Ph.D., Searching for Profit
Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
Brian Combs, Principal, ionadas local
Greg Boser, President, 3 Dog Media

Initial Thoughts: My skills are somewhat limited when it comes integrating many on page techniques as I lean towards simplicity. But with search changing so rapidly it maybe good idea to look how items can be used while keeping landing pages non-busy and easy to use.

Now if I want to continue on with the day and my brain is not completely mush there is another group of courses that I choose from. I paid good money for this so I better stick it out and not be a wuss.

4:15p 5:30p – The Best Tactics in Landing Page Optimization

Writing a good advertisement is only half of the battle. Once someone is on your site the conversion process must begin immediately. This session will discuss the process of cleaning up your landing pages to make them produce as much as possible.

Moderator: Ken Jurina
Speakers:
Tim Ash, CEO, SiteTuners.com
Brad Geddes, Founder, bgTheory.com
Kate Morris, Founding Demon, Marketing Demons
Joanna Lord, CMO, YourJobStop.com

Initial Thoughts: If anyone has read my writing they will know it can always use improvement. Through college my professors would destroy my papers due to incomplete thoughts, poor grammar, and just plain old miss spellings. Though my writing has been better post college there is always room for improvement.

OK I will attend this one PK – gesh I can just hear it now. “You missed a course on writing an effective advertisement with your skills?” LOL or something like that; hopefully she won’t read this but I may share it with her to hear her response.

Well that is all for me until tomorrow and all the work begins. Now where the hell are my friends?