I’m excited about going to SMX at the end of this month. SMX West is in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center where SES San Jose use to be located.

This venue is fantastic. It has two hotels connected to the convention center, so the after-hours networking is fantastic. There has been a trend recently with conferences holding the event at a conference center, which means the attendees stay all over the town at various hotels and it cuts down on one of the best conference benefits – meeting new people.

The location has plenty of nice restaurants and other activities right around the venue if you want to slip away and have a quiet dinner, or hop over to Google’s campus for some meetings.

I’ll be speaking several times at SMX. Here’s my current agenda:

February 27th – SMX Workshop: I’ll be teaching AdWords for the entire day at the Advanced AdWords Training Workshop. If you want to learn more about AdWords, this is the place to be – see the full workshop agenda.

February 28th – Power Tools For The Paid Search Pro: This is going to be an interesting session. We’re not focusing on high priced tools. We’re examining a lot of low cost or free tools. I’ll be moderating and speaking, but don’t come to this session just to listen to me. The speaker lineup is fantastic:

• Chad Summerhill, the creator of gazel and Query Miner (one of my favorites)
• James Zolman who I recently had the pleasure of meeting at Pubcon will be there
• David Rodnitzky, CEO, PPC Associates, and someone I often converse with will be speaking as well

I really respect these speakers, use their tools, and value their opinion. I personally can’t wait to see what this session brings. And don’t worry, it won’t be a pitch-fest of our own tools – this is the stuff we use ourselves (which means some will be our tools or us showing the audience another speakers’s tool).

February 28th – Retargeting & Remarketing: The New Behavioral Ads: Remarketing is a hot topic, and with good reason – it works fantastically. I’m going to focus on segmenting AdWords remarketing by utilizing analytics, Google’s options, and your conversion flow to show how to use remarketing. I don’t yet know the other speakers topics, but it’s a pretty good speaker line-up:

• Eshwar Belani, vice president of products and business development, Rocket Fuel
• Darrin Clement, CEO, Maponics
• Luke Coltrin, Senior Manager, Online Marketing, Overstock.com

February 29th – One of the lunch table specialties: Did you notice it’s February 29th – leap year – this will be a special day. When SMX first launched, they flipped the search conference scene around by serving good food. The hot buffet lunch tables have replaced the terrible box lunches for most of the search marketing conferences. Thank you SMX! SMX has ‘theme tables’ during lunch hour. I haven’t confirmed which table I’ll be leading; but suffice it to say – it will say PPC, Conversion, or AdWords on it somewhere.

March 1st – PPC Tune-Up Clinic With The SMX Mechanics: Usually this is my favorite session of every conference (although with the Tools panel this year-  I’m reserving judgment). In fact, if I’m a a conference and can’t find something I want to see – I hang out in whatever room is doing a clinic.

Clinics are live Q&A with the audience. Bring up a site, an AdWords account, or whatever you want analyzed and chat live with the panelists and they dissect the data and present options for improvement. It’s always a fun time – and often not highly attended compared to some other sessions. It’s like getting $400/hour consulting from four people at once – what’s not to love?

• Matt Van Wagner is moderating. He did the technical editing for the 2nd edition of Advanced Google AdWords and while I trusted his opinion before that project, I really respect his knowledge after working with him for several months
• Rick Galan, Director of Paid Search Marketing, Mercent. Rick is a great guy. In fact, if there’s someone who needs help with feeds – he is your guy. I have no problem sending people his way. Of course, he knows a lot more than feeds and will share during this session.
• Kelly Gillease, VP Marketing, Viator. I don’t know if I’ve ever met Kelly before. Matt picked her to be on this panel, so she must be good – I’ll find out.
• Barb Young, President, PPC Strategies. Barb was on this panel a few months ago in NYC. Often we can get so detailed in what you could be doing that it can sound a touch mean (it’s not – we’re just tossing out ideas so quickly that some of the ‘positive spin’ filters get bypassed); but she makes sure we all place nice with others

I’ll be around the conference all week. Stop by and see me speak, sit down and have lunch, or just say ‘hi’. I hope to see you there.

It’s almost time for Pubcon Vegas – one of my favorite shows each year. I’ll be there all week long, so feel free to stop by and say, “Hi”.

If you’re trying to figure out where I’m going to be – I’ll make it easy and give you a quick list.

Tuesday, 11/18

1:30 Hardcore PPC Tactics: David Szetela, John Ellis, and myself will delve into the tactics that are not used by many. If you’re looking to spice up your PPC campaigns – this is the place to be.

2:55 The Best Tactics in Landing Page Optimization: Every year this is one of those session that Tim Ash, Joanna Lord, and myself do where the audience is flowing out the door trying to peak inside. This is the must see landing page session. If you want a seat – get there early.

4:15 Enterprise Level Bid Management: Wister Walcott (Marin), Dave Roth (Yahoo), and myself will discuss bid management at an enterprise level. Ok, with Wister and Dave there – I’m not going to talk bid management – I’m going to talk time management and tools for large to enterprise accounts (and I find these tools really good for mid sized accounts as well).

Tuesday is going to be a busy day…

Wednesday, 11/19

11:30: PPC & SEO Finally Walk Down the Aisle: This is going to be a spotlight session. Rob Snell (great ecommerce stuff) is going to go first for 30ish minutes. Then I’m going to get into how to marry PPC & SEO together so you can get the both of best worlds (and show you how 1+1=3).

1:45 Advanced Google AdWords Book Signing: I’ll be (I think) in the Expo hall signing books. If you have a copy, bring it by. If you don’t – then they should be selling them there. Now, if only Amazon can figure out how to sign kindle versions.

3:00 Pubcon Labs on AdWords: Pubcon is trying something new this year with Pubcon Labs. Spend a bit of one-on-one time with an expert. I’m totally booked up already, but you can always see if there’s someone else you always wanted to meet at Pubcon Labs.

The Rest of the Time

I’ll be around Pubcon most of the week. So, assuming it’s not super early – I should be somewhere around the conference.

If you see me, just stop by and say, “Hi”.

Hope to see you at Pubcon.

If you want to stay on top of all the internet marketing events going on (not just ours or ones we’re speaking at), you can see all the events on the Internet Marketing Events Calendar.

SES San Francisco is coming up next month, and as usual I’ll be around the conference for most of the week.

Where I’m Speaking

At lunch on Tuesday at 12. SES is having a ‘meet the authors’ lunch where you can sit with the author, chat, and be entered into a drawing to win a signed copy of their book. I’ll be hosting a table for Advanced Google AdWords.

Right after lunch, I’m doing a solo session on Introducing Paid Search on Tuesday from 1-2.

Then… I’m free for the rest of the event. That means I’ll actually be able to chat with people and attend some of the sessions.

I’ll also be around the expo hall handing out with the BoostCTR and Market Motive individuals since I work with both companies.

Sessions I’m Attending

On Tuesday, I’ll be attending Insider Tips to Ad Optimization at 2:15. It’s Bryan Eisenberg moderating, and David Greenbaum, Founder and CEO, BoostCTR (one of the best ad copy writing blogs out there).

On Wednesday morning, I’m still undecided. It’s between Killer Facebook tactics and PPC Competitive Analysis; followed by Advanced PPC Tactics.

Thursday, I’ll be at Avoiding PPC Campaign Stagnation – a session I think is new for this event with a few speakers I haven’t heard before – so hopefully, I’ll hear something new and exciting.

I’ll also be at a few advanced SEO & Social tracks. If you see one that looks really interesting, please let me know.

The Party Networking Scene

The only events I’m currently aware of are invite only. I’m sure SES and some sponsors will be sponsoring some tweetups, drinks, and other events; but the details for these events usually aren’t made public until closer to the actual event.

Hope to see you at SES.

December brings cold weather to the north, and the desire for people to escape to warmer weather for a week.

This year, we have the perfect destination for you – Miami.

Both the Miami AdWords Seminar for Success and Affcon will be in Miami the week of December 7th.

This is your last chance to attend a solid week of training this year; which will let you get a jumpstart on planning your growth for next year.

Affcon 2010

Affcon is one of the top affiliate conferences in the world. It is brought to us by the brains behind Webmaster Radio.

The best thing about Affcon is that it is free for for full time affiliates.

Affcon is a 2 day seminar with plenty of good speakers and sessions to help you grow your earning.

I will be speaking twice at Affcon. Once on an intro to AdWords, and the other as an intro to Google Analytics.

Learn more about Affcon.

AdWords Seminars for Success

If you want more advanced AdWords info; then the AdWords Seminar for success is for you.

The AdWords Seminar for Success Advanced series are two days of interactive education that will help you make the most of the time and money you invest in AdWords. Officially sponsored by Google, you can trust that you are receiving the most accurate and up-to-date information on the best practices for advertising with Google AdWords.

The AdWords seminar in Miami will take place Tuesday & Wednesday (the 7th & 8th of December).

Learn more about the AdWords Seminars.

Start your week with the AdWords seminar and end it at Affcon.

SES San Jose is one of my favorite shows of the year. The proximity to Google & Yahoo give it an air of authority with a large search engine presence. The proximity to Silicon Valley and it’s plethora of startups leads to creative atmosphere. When you add the two, mix in the worldwide attendees and speakers, you end up with a fantastic show.

This year, I’ll be speaking three different times at SES. Each is a bit different.

Day 1 (8/10) 10:30-11:30 – Intro to Search Engine Marketing

Just after the opening keynote, I’ll be speaking for an hour (I’m the only speaker) on the basics of SEM. This is perfect for two types of attendees:

1. Those who want to get started with SEM
2. Executives who want to understand the basics to communicate with their marketing department

I will cover information about how people search, the role of ads, the basics of account organization, and then walk through some possibilities open to you. This session should give you enough understanding of SEM so you can get more out of intermediate (and possibly advanced) PPC sessions throughout the week.

Day 3 (8/12) 11:30-12:30 – Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic

This is not an official session. I’ll be hanging out in the expo hall with a computer, large monitor, and your questions. This is a group Q&A where we will take live search queries (mostly ones suggested by you so you can see your ads) examine the ads and landing pages and make suggestions of possible enhancements. If you don’t want to put your website up on the monitor in front of everyone, you can learn a lot by just watching the the other ads and landing pages on the screen and listening to the discussion. This clinic is useful for any experience level. A free flow conversation that will take us anywhere we want, but should help your CTRs and conversion rates.

Day 3 (8/12) 2:15-3:30 – Advanced Keyword Research

This is a typical SES panel: 1 moderator & 5 moderators each take 10-15 minutes to stuff your brain with new ideas for keyword research. Along the way we will talk tools (both free & paid) to help you find new keywords, tips & tricks for those tools, and maybe even a presentation that talks about the types of words & queries to help you think more strategically about your keywords.

Hope to see you at SES

As usual, I’ll be at SES all week. I already have some meetings scheduled, but also have some free time. So either come see me speak, send me an email if you’d like to chat formally, or just say ‘Hi’ at one of the many social gatherings that take place during the week.

You can still save $200 if you register by tomorrow: Search Engine Strategies San Jose Info

Google AdWords has made many strides in improving the content network over the past few years. Some of the changes in ‘08 have created an environment where you can do some very granular targeting that can lead to providing highly targeted clicks and leads.

If you were creating a new product to help stock brokers in Los Angeles. However, you don’t have a huge budget and have decided that you want to reach them while they are reading their morning news on high quality sites. You could set up an ad that:

• Is only shown on the New York Times business section (bottom right placement)
• And only if the article is also about stock brokers
• And it’s between 6-8am
• And it’s a weekday
• And the user is in Los Angeles (or the article is about Los Angeles stock brokers)

Targeting someone by a section of a website, location, time of day, day of the week, and article content (that’s an important factor) is some of the most granular targeting you could buy on the web. If you were just trying to create awareness for the product, you could even decide to pay on a CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) basis. If you’re looking to ROI bid, then you could bid on an CPC basis instead.

If you are buying on a CPM basis, you should use rich media (video, interactive, image, or flash) ads.

There is much more to the content network, such as organizing with a content, placement, and search campaign. Blocking your ads from being shown on certain sites. And the list goes on.

If you’d like to learn more, we are presenting a two hour webinar on Thursday Feb 26 at 9am PST, 12pm EST.

The details and pricing can be found on Marketing Motive’s website.

While at Pubcon a couple weeks ago, I did an interview with Vanessa Zamora. We covered topics from my new startup, bg Theory, to search to landing pages to fun things at Pubcon.

You can find the entire article at Search Engine World.

Enjoy.

I’m going to be in Vegas all of next week for Pubcon.

I will be speaking on Landing Page Optimization on Tuesday.

I will be moderating two sessions which are usually fan favorites:

• PPC Engine Vendor Panel on Tuesday
• Learning to Love Your Quality Score on Thursday.

I’m staying in Vegas over the weekend, and then conducting an AdWords Seminar on Monday at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Vegas. For the last three sessions of the year, I’m tossing in a special added bonus: “Tips for the Holidays”.

My schedule is quickly filling up. If you’d like to catch up, chat, etc next week, please let me know.

Enjoy the show.

The holiday season is almost upon us. In December, the online shopping world changes.

Bids go up.
Conversion rates skyrocket.
Costs per conversion go down.

At least, that’s what the top retailers see in December.

Hopefully, you see similar trends.

As a special bonus for the last three seminars in 2008, I will be adding a limited time section to the presentation:

Tips and Tricks to Increase Your Holiday Success

Signup now to ensure you have a seat.

The last three AdWords of 2008 will be:

• Las Vegas – Monday, November 17th
• Washington DC area – Tuesday, December 2nd
• Houston – Thursday, December 4th

Hope to see you there.

The AdWords Seminar for Success series is coming to Denver, CO.

When: Monday, September 8th
Where:Doubletree Denver

3203 Quebec Street
Denver, CO 80207

Agenda Timeline:

• Registration: 8:30 am – 9:00 am
• Morning Session: 9am-12pm
• Lunch Break: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
• Afternoon Session: 1pm-5pm

Breakfast and refreshments will be served.

Agenda:

Other Upcoming Seminars:

Hope to see you there.

• Denver Registration Page
• Google Information Page
• More about the seminars