We at SEMpdx had the great fortune to host two industry luminaries at this past Hotseat event on Web Analytics. Eric T. Peterson of Web Analytics Demystified book and blog and Ian Lurie of Portent Interactive agency in Seattle and Conversation Marketing blog spoke at our monthly Hotseat group of 40 SEMpdx members and friends. For those of you not familiar with our monthly Hotseat events, we host an industry expert where they spend 30 minutes talking about a specific subject within SEM, web site optimization, social media, or web analytics and then they, along with a panel of 3 other industry specialists review 2-3 sites from the audience. Hotseats are a great way to learn about a topic in great detail, have your site reviewed by industry experts, or learn about what to do and not do on your own site. And of course, it’s a great way to network with SEM professionals in the greater Portland area.

It’s cold, dirty, smelly, and cramped under this bridge; and people are so rude.  Yesterday I was like “No, I won’t share my fire-grilled possum with you!  I caught it fair and square – so go get your own!”  It worked out alright though; my wife eventually did catch her own.

About a couple months ago, I read Peter Guralnick’s incredible 2 volume biography of Elvis Presley (Last Train To Memphis and Careless Love).   Comparing Guralnick’s work to Matt McGee’s “U2:  A Diary” (which I read this weekend) offers an interesting contrast in style and narrative.

Reading Guralnick’s prose feels like reading a good novel.  Furthermore, Peter is never shy about interjecting his opinion into the work (and he even inserts himself as a character in the book since he started covering Elvis as a journalist early in his career). 

It’s been a cold, but dry, weekend under the bridge.  We did some hunting for small rodents Friday night, and found quite a few.  My son liked them, but my daughter said they’re too crunchy.  We’ve kept the kids running on the people-wheel to power the laptop and a small radio we found.  They seem to enjoy their time on the wheel, but without showers the smell is beginning to offend our bridge-dwelling neighbors.  We’ll need to address cleanliness before we invite the in-laws over for dinner.       

It was a wet, windy day under the Hawthorne Bridge.  We tried to keep warm by the radiation of the laptop screen, but it just wasn’t enough and battery power was running low.  Then an idea struck.  Using many abandoned shopping carts for parts, I built a rather clunky mouse…er, people-wheel, just big enough for my wife and kids to run on – and to power the laptop.  Ahhhh, now we are all warm and I can keep looking for work…

Damn, it’s getting cold under here, but things are looking up.  I may move to a bridge with fewer leaks today, as the rain is affecting my ability to work…

I came home from PDX Mindshare last night in a bit of a quandary. 

In my Living under a bridge post, I mentioned that the great thing about Facebook was that your connections are more likely your real connections; people you know.  People you want to share your personal and professional life with.

Okay, not really – but it could happen.  Here we go - my very own social marketing test in action…

It’s strange to have been in search marketing and professional business consulting for 10 years, and currently work in a market (search) that is practically untouchable – yet be laid off.

Online Marketing Summit is one of the the premier events for online marketing professionals, delivering  more than 25 sessions and workshops presented by an esteemed roster of online  marketing authors and practitioners.

The 2009 event will include case studies from some of the world’s leading brands, with three NEW Tracks  - Foundational, Best Practice, and  Advanced Strategies. All marketing professionals will have a track to suit their individiual educational needs.

Jessica Bowman: Selling To The C Suite.

By keeping SEO top of mind for everyone in the company

Getting C-Suite buy-in is easy. Numbers, Demeanor. The numbers speak for themselves. C-Suite will love the ROI and buy-in.

The problem: Everyone under the C-Suite. Middle management complains and the complaints get escalated, people get agitated.

Your search requests add to project man hours, are inconsistent with other goals, go against existing programming standards, weren’t technically feasible, added to the project time line and cost—typical objections.

John Lessnau: Link Buying not Link Building

Why buy links? You get the anchor text you want; you get on the page you want; you get the location on the page you want; you get the links that help you rank better.

Why people don’t buy links: Fear of Google, Don’t Understand it; Upfront cost; Hoping for a wave of natural links miracle; Takes time, salesmanship and effort.