Orange County Internet Marketing Advice by Darby Works, Inc.: SEOmoz.org Seattle SEO Conference Review

Seattle_seomoz_conference_2 A good time was had by all in Seattle at last week’s SEOmoz.org Premium SEO Training Seminar. I had never been to Seattle so I was really looking forward to the trip. I arrived Sunday night for the Monday conference, and stayed at a fantastic hotel called the Watertown – A Unique Urban Hotel. If you are ever need a place to stay, I recommend it highly.

The conference venue was on campus at the University of Washington inside Kane Hall. The fall colors were already on display, and a beautiful blanket of ivy was in its full glory up the entire side of one of the buildings.

The conference itself was a series of eight sessions that Rand Fishkin had developed. University_of_washington_2_2 Rather than bore you with every little detail, I’ll just recap and tell you briefly what I learned.

One of the coolest things I enjoyed was how Rand explained how a story goes viral and the “The Digg Effect.” Basically you write a really good article that is deemed worthy by fellow Diggers. It gets lots of votes, and from there the rest is history. It was great to hear it from the horse's mouth.

When 37 top SEO gurus were asked, “What factors matter most at Google to get your pages ranked well?", here is what they said:

#10 - Topical relationship of inbound linking page
#9 – Global link popularity of linking site
#8 – Keyword use in body text
#7 – Link popularity of site in topical community
#6 – Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site
#5 – Link popularity within the site’s internal link structure
#4 – Age of site
#3 – Global link popularity of site
#2 – Anchor text of inbound link
#1 – Keyword use in title tag

Top Social Media Marketing Sites

Write content for “influencers - the linkerati” in addition to your normal audience.

In order to reach the linkerati, you have to play in their space. If you want to get exposure on the social bookmarking sites, you need to be an active participant, contribute, and get known.

Get a blog NOW. Rand said he recommends getting a blog to 90% of his clients.

Be careful if you decide to try the paid blogger services like PayPerPost, ReviewMe, and SponsoredPosts. Many of the blogs there tend to be low quality and really won’t do you much good. Be sure to be very particular about who you select.

Search for good blogs at Google’s Blog Search Engine.

And last but not least, SEOmoz’s superfood to keep them ahead of the SEM curve - tasty Seattle donuts: Seattle_donuts

The after party at Gillian's bar was a blast, I stood on my feet for 3.5 hours and talked and talked and talked to some really amazing people who just love what they do. I left around 10:30pm and rushed over to the Seattle Space Needle for the last elevator up to the top, but alas, I just missed it.

Seattle_space_needle Here are some great people I met. (There were many more, but these are the only ones I remembered to get cards from.)

Scott Willoughby - campaign coordinator at SEOmoz.org

Garth House – an independent web development and marketing guy from Korea Town in Los Angeles.

Amanda & Anand from At Large, Inc. – a sharp, boutique interactive agency in Sarasota, Florida.

Miguel and Farukh from Solid Cactus, an amazingly fast growing e-commerce firm who has a strong alliance with Yahoo! Stores.

Jeremy Dearringer, partner from Slingshot SEO out of Zionsville, IN. Where the heck is that? Do they actually do SEO in Indiana!? LOL. Seriously, Jeremy is a brilliant guy and an expert at product channel distribution, SEO, and spotting new trends in the market.

Matthew Franklin, a passionate marketer and programming guru from Captures – online solutions for small and medium size businesses.

Carlos del Rio, founder and creative director of New Media Northwest, LLC – an expert and AB Testing and optimizing your website to sell more effectively.

All in all, I really enjoyed the conference, the Seattle area, and the new friends I made at the conference. I look forward to next year!