After reading the comment on the previous post, I went to Google and searched for “SEO poker tournament Pubcon” and there it was… Cool! I’m not sure how I missed this, and it’s even had several Sphinns.

I just want to let people know that SEMpdx Board Members Todd Mintz & Scott Hendison will be at the Webmaster World Conference (aka Pubcon) in Las Vegas that’s starting on 12/4. While I’ll be taking in the top sessions from the comfort of the audience, Scott will be doing a presentation on Webhosting & SEM which will certainly be the absolute highlight of the conference.

Do you even know what Google Notebook is? Even if you do know what it is, you probably aren’t using it very much, but you may want to start, because not only is it a handy tool, it might start to affect rankings.

According to this article by Bill Slawski, there may be a new Google ranking factor coming soon.  It’s probably already on your computer, and if you’re like me, you rarely find yourself using it, although I did play with it extensively for about two weeks over the summer,  while I was contemplating giving up Microsoft Office completely.

We never stop trying to add more value to our membership, so in addition to the monthly events (which have been getting better and better), we’ve been trying to obtain more member discounts.

The latest discount obtained comes from http://www.affiliatesummit.com/, whose biannual conferences are a marketer’s dream. If you’ve never been to an Affiliate Summit, you’re missing out, with the next one coming in February in Las Vegas. The discount is for 10% off, and will be added to our members password-protected area, from the SEMpdx.org site. If you need it sooner, just drop us an e-mail…
Thanks to Sean Collins from AS, and Paul Colligan, who helped connect us and make this happen…

I just set up a quick campaign on Google Ad Words for one of my new affiliate sites, and nowhere along the way was I offered the option of being in the content network, nor was I shown this usual checkbox that says I’m going to be included. Doesn’t that seem wrong?

If you are going to attend Webmaster World / Pubcon in Las Vegas, you likely have already bought your ticket. However one member e-mailed us to say that they just tried the discount code today, and it had expired, since it was only good through the 15th.

A quick e-mail to the Webmaster World office got them to extend the discount for three more days only, even though they told us it would expire.

Partnership will link Portland SEM professionals more closely to SEMPO classes and services

PORTLAND,Oregon, November 19, 2007 – SEMpdx, Portland’s professional search marketing network, www.sempdx.org., announced today it is partnering with the global Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), www.sempo.org, to bring SEMPO’s distance learning program and other services to the Portland, Bend and Salem markets.

Will people ever be able to put domains into a 529 College Plan?

Will governments ever try to tax domains based on their real or perceived “book” value?

Will governments ever use the power of “eminent domain” to take custody of a domain?

Will every bank trustee ever need to know domain optimization as part of their job description?

Would domains ever need to pass through probate?

Sean McMahon is the president of EngineWorks Inc., and here is his presentation.

“Enticing Content” published to major social networks, increasing quality website traffic, prominent positioning withing natural search engines. The more enticing the content, the more backlinks that are created.

Here are examples of how social media can spread…

http://www.shoewawa.com/2007/11/heelscom_a_new.html
http://www.shoeblog.com/blog/this-week-in-shoes-18/
http://www.sevenmile.com/2007-11/wheres-jessica-simpson-heelscom/
http://www.ucdailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/11041226.html
http://vipglamour.net/2007/11/05/celebrities-in-high-heels/

Stan is the president of Straight-On Internet Consulting, and here is his presentation.

SEO Game Plan - On Page Strategy (SEO Optimization), Off Page Strategy (Link Development / PPC). Solid Foundation - Right Keywords, content, web structure, page structure. Reasons people to visit, revisit site.

Right keywords–Appropriate, Popular, Relevant, Competitive & Targeted.

Linkbait - Authoritative Source of Information, Desirable Tool, Business Partners & Valuable Information.

Tom is the president of Thomas Creek Concepts, and here is his presentation.

AdWords Metrics Strategies. Metrics get little respect - clients don’t care, they just want to make money. Metrics matter. Google pushing for advertisers to use their tools. Use AdWords conversion tracking. Conversion: Something that can be measured as having happened–can be different things.

Choices:
Purchase/Sale
Lead
Signup
Views of a Key Page
Other

Think of non-obvious indicators of value to measure.

Scott is the president of Search Commander, and here is his presentation.

Search engines prefer blogs - structured for SEO perfection.

Feeds, sitemaps, pings, frequent content additions, social aspects provide better user experiences.

SEMpdx chooses Wordpress. RSS - Publisher controls what goes out over the feed. Builds Loyalty & Return visitors.

Every Wordpress Category has a feed. Ping friendly - ping when new content is added to site - done automatically in Wordpress.

Ben is the president of Amplify Interactive, and here is his presentation

Brainstorming content: What do you do? Why? How? Ask your customers. Ask sales: Pain Points.

What closes the deal? Site search: What do your visitors want? Learn from the big guys (Expedia, Amazon & Reviews).

Blogs share too many content virtues to list…must be compelling.

User generated content.

Kent Lewis is the president of Anvil Media, and here is his presentation.

News Room
SEO PR
Content Syndication
Online Reputation Management
Monitoring & Analysis

News Room: Press Release & News Coverage, Information Resource Site & Rss. Image Asset Gallery.

SEO PR - Direct Response Vehicle, Distribute via Wire Services & Purchase Keywords via PPC. Maintain News Value. 3 C’s of SEO…can maintain visibility over time.

See It Now!.

SEMpdx members get 10% off conference registration…please contact us for your discount code.

Going to SES Chicago for the first time?

Check out the SearchEngineWatch Blog and read tips for first-timers from an SES veteran:

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/071112-072600

We really had a great event last night. I’ll post recaps of each session shortly and explain the relevance of this post title shortly (because it actually ties into one of the speaker presentations).

The SEMpdx Board is pleased to announce that SEOmoz CEO Rand Fishkin will be the keynote speaker at Searchfest 2008.

I’m going to assume that for most blog readers, giving a mini-bio of Rand isn’t necessary… however, for those folks new to the search industry that don’t know who Rand Fishkin is (and they have to be VERY NEW not to know who Rand Fishkin is), they can read more about Rand’s background here.

I would like everyone to know that I, Todd Mintz, will be blogging the SEM Six Pack on November 13th. I know that Kent, Ben, Scott, Sean, Tom & Stan are really going to give up a lot of great information in their presentations and will gladly lend their expertise to any questions posed by the audience.

Click here to view.

Feel free to leave your greetings / warm wishes / graffiti / affiliate links etc. on the new SEMpdx Facebook page.