Event Date: 11/14/2007 01:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

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SEMpdx Members – Take an Additional 10% Off

Search Marketing Expo – SMX West comes to Santa Clara, CA, February 26-28, and once again SEMpdx members get a great discount. Take 10% off the prevailing registration rate (currently $995) when you use our special members discount code.

But be forewarned – the currently low “pre-agenda” price expires on November 9, so register now! (On November 10, the price jumps to $1195)

When you think about APP.com, what images come to mind?

Hot Steamy Nights Parking on the Jersey Shore?

Or, perhaps Hot Rock & Roll at the Stone Pony listening to Springsteen & Southside Johnny?

Are these pictures kindled in your head? Me neither.

When I think of App.com, I think of computer “apps”. I’m probably not alone in that thought. However, App.com is the website that hosts the local Asbury Park, New Jersey newspaper.

…or whatever the distance is between your eyes and your computer monitor.

Let me tell you about a name I bought this week…

We all know about the subprime mortgage market meltdown and the collateral damage in the real estate market. One major consequence that I’ve seen is that many condo developments / condo conversions are collapsing with only a fraction of the units sold and the rest either vacant or occupied by renters. The new “coined” term that I just heard for the first time is “fractured condominiums” and I immediately registered fracturedcondominiums.com. The better name fracturedcondos.com had already been grabbed by a real estate firm. A good $9 purchase.

The Google Toolbar PageRank update has officially taken place. The total time between full updates was a new record at 179 days, which is nearly 6 months. Can you believe it?

There is no debate as to whether or not it’s actually happened, and it’s been preceded over the past two weeks by a manual lowering of TBPR on many of the Web’s most popular websites. Most people (ok, everyone) believ it was done as as a slap on the wrist for selling links.

Another case where a domain holder attempts to overstep its rights and assert authority that it doesn’t possess.

Read More

No self-respecting Portlander would drink that mass-produced East Coast swill anyway with so many great Northwest Microbrews to choose from.

Boycott Sam Adams (the beer) !!!

So, every day I get emails from both SnapNames and Pool trying to get me interested in their auctions or their drops. I actually like the formatting and messaging of Pool’s email quite a bit more than the SnapNames one. However, I am definitely bothered by many of the names that Pool chooses to feature in its email to me.

Here’s a sample from the last two weeks:

edmontonoilerscountry.com
coccast.net
cartoonnetwokgames.com
disneychenal.com
nordictrac.com
guitarhero2.com
mictosoft.com
dineycannel.com
daysinns.us
googlefoto.com

I might be the only SEO to not have written on this topic, so in honor of our upcoming SEM Six Pack, I felt I should do a full post on this topic (as opposed to leaving my answers in the comments of the previous post). The rankings for #2 - #5 are almost arbitrary and if you asked me the question next week, I might rank them differently.

SEMpdx needs to put together a list of the “Top SEO factors” for our Hot Seat events. We’re going to present the list and a brief explanation of each item as part of the opening spiel for each Hot Seat event. While we COULD cover a lot - time constraints require that we keep this portion of the event to 5 or 10 minutes. So - I’m shooting for a list of the 5 most important things to know about with respect to SEO.

Chicago in December…gives you Mount Hood weather with absolutely none of the benefits of being there:.)

1) Chicago in December, wind chill factor, forget about it, that sounds like a great time!

2) One of my favorite speakers, Eric Ward, will be there and we’re doing a promotion for one of my clients and I’d love to be there for it

3) My brother Curtis lives there;)

4) I will share my education with my fellow SEMPDX members

December 3 - 7th in Chicago is the Search Engine Strategies conference, while December 4th through 7th in Las Vegas is Webmaster World Pubcon.

As a member of SEMpdx, you can get a discount to attend either one.  Please vote in our quick poll below, and if you can, take a minute to tell us why you made your choice the way you did.

The Hot Seat event held on Wednesday October 10th was quite informative for attendees, as the five panelists did give some pretty specific details about things that would help visibility and usability.

Even though I was one of the panelists, I don’t think I’m being biased when I say that this session was as good as many review sessions I’ve attended at large search marketing conferences.

Webmaster World has graciously offered a 10% discount for Pubcon attendance for Las Vegas 2007, but you must sign up by November 15th to get the discount.

For now, members planning on attending Pubcon Vegas 2007 should email me directly (scott (at) searchcommander.com) for the code, but ultimately, the code will be placed in the member login area of the SEMpdx website shortly.

…Email me and let me know why you should get it. All submissions will be posted to the SEMpdx blog, so feel free to let everyone know a bit about yourself and your business along with stating us why you are worthy.

Sometime towards the end of next week, the SEMpdx Board will review each entry and announce a winner. Good luck to all entrants.

How do I know this?

I took a “street level tour” of the Rose Garden and on the sign at the North End of the Rose Garden, an event on “the 23rd” is referred to. I then journeyed to the Aladdin Theater nearby and read the marquis…the first artist mentioned was “Jesse Winchester” who was playing “on the 23rd”. A little bit of research confirmed that Jesse played Portland on 8/23.

That is how I know.

Saw this question on LinkedIn this morning, and I thought I’d extend some good will and forward this one to our readers. So, if you know of anyone - there’s an opportunity here to participate.

Know anyone who works on Search Marketing / Google AdWords for a B2B company in the Valley?

“We are looking to put together an informal summit on Search Engine Marketing, to share ideas and experiences with other search marketing professionals from B2B or B2C high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.”

CCI Enterprises, in Milwaukie, is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), rehabilitation service organization, providing vocational training, job placement and employment services for people with mental, physical and emotional disabilities. CCI serves 150 people in the Portland metropolitan area. We offer a variety of vocational opportunities through rehabilitation services, community-based work site environments, individual job placements and on-site business operations. Our community and business partnerships enable our workers to contribute to society through meaningful employment, increased independence, self-confidence and dignity. Our Activities Toward Enrichment (ATE) facility, in Gladstone; is a personal development program geared to provide life choices and enrichment activities for persons with mental, emotional and physical disabilities.

SMX Social Media is in one week! Register today to reserve your spot. There are still tickets left for this Tuesday and Wednesday event, October 16-17, in New York City .

SEMpdx members get a special 10% discount off SMX Social Media - use the code SMX10offSM when registering.

SMX Social Media = tips, techniques and best practices shared by the pioneers of social media marketing. Get the know-how you need to leverage the traffic driving power of reader-engagement sites and tools like Del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Netscape and Wikipedia.

Web content syndication is the next big thing in SEO. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a format that allows you to syndicate your web content to other sites or have it read by individuals with a newsreader application- either on their desktop on online. RSS is fast becoming a mainstream application. Adoption is rocketing and sites using RSS report excellent results: an increase in search ranking, more qualified traffic on the site and even increased sales.