SEOktoberfest
Yes it’s true we are going to Munich for SEOktoberfest! Now the way this came to be is really shocking. We were at the Fairmont at SESSJ and Marcus Tandler aka Mediadonis aka German SEO said to Greg “Dude, you and Barbara really have to come to SEOktoberfest!” to which Greg said “Cool!”.
Seriously though it is a big trip and a busy time for us, but the more we found out about who was going to be there and what an elite group of marketers were making their way to Munich, we couldn’t pass it up. After all it is Oktoberfest and Marcus is buying Greg and Dax Lederhosen. I’m not kidding. I suppose I’ll have to get a dirndl (traditional German dress) myself to not look out of place. Do you think I’ll stand out? How many Latin women do you think will be there wearing traditional German garb?
Confirmed attendees for SEOktoberfest are Brent Csutoras, Joost de Valk (Yoast), Bob Rains (Let’s Make It Awesome), and Brian Clark (Copyblogger). So we are super excited and really can’t wait to get there. SEOktoberfest will be held in one of the most popular tents and we have a private table that will be filled with some of the most knowledgeable internet marketers in the industry.
So stay tuned because there will be pictures and I was told we need to start practicing drinking beer. Lots and lots of beer. So good thing today is Friday. 
Top 10 Reasons Why You Must Tweet
As I stated in my SESSJ post Twitter was a hot topic at the conference. People were talking about it and people were using it. When Greg and I go to conferences we always turn on our mobile tweets so we can keep up with where everyone is and what everyone’s doing. God forbid we miss something good.
Between the two of us we have about 1700 followers (Greg has more damn it). Now I know a few hundred of those are bots, but the point is we’ve been on Twitter less than a year and that’s a lot of frickn people to be connected to throughout the day. In fact it was last year at Pubcon that Vanessa Fox forced talked us into signing up. We were very resistant to it. We thought it was totally lame and only for total nerds. Nine months later we are admittedly hooked on Twitter.
Twitter has so many benefits and the opportunities you can find on Twitter are endless. It isn’t going anywhere and with over one million users, everyday that passes before you join is a missed opportunity for you. Stop asking how and why. Stop saying you just don’t know what to do or what to say. Stop saying nobody cares what you would tweet about. It’s a simple question…What are you doing? Answer it a few times a day.
Still a hater? Let me give you some examples of some amazing, funny, interesting things that happen on Twitter.
Proposals
In March of 2008 the micro-blogging world was privy to its first virtual wedding proposal.
and she said
If you want to know more about this one you can check out the Wired post or follow them on Twitter.
Survival
In April of 08 James Karl Buck, a UC Berkeley graduate student, was in Egypt covering a protest when he and his translator were arrested. James reached for his cell phone and tweeted one word.
Now can you imagine the stress and anxiety you’d feel if you were across the world and got arrested and were unsure of what was going to happen to you. James was eventually released, but he had the comfort knowing that all of his followers knew what had happened. Not planning on traveling to foreign countries? Replace the word arrested with ‘accident’ or ‘robbed’ or ‘help’. It could come in handy.
Finding a Job
Look out Monster here comes Twitter.
Customer Service
Many companies are using Twitter to reach out to their customers and to keep an ear open for people talking about them.
Now I know from first hand experience that when you complain about @southwestair on Twitter, they respond. Just one more reason why I FLY SWA. A couple other companies tweeting are @starbucks and @jetblue.
Diggs
You might totally suck at getting stories to the Digg front page (not saying this guy does), but if you have enough people following you on Twitter, you may just get enough of a boost to get noticed on the Digg upcoming. Of course your story still has to be good.
Host a Party
So just like that, we’re having a party. Tony tweets it and all of his followers in LA get the message and we are getting together (the 6th is fine for me Tony, see you at the Bow).
Having a Baby
I found this one on BlogHer. Now granted she didn’t actually do it because well, she wasn’t in labor long enough :/. It’s only a matter of time though.
Expose Dumbness
Michael Gray is really good at this. In fact if there were a crown for the best Twitterer…he’d be wearing it.
In case you’re wondering what Michael is talking about here’s the link to the LA Times home page. I’d actually be interested in an explanation too.
Ask a Question
Chris wrote up a great presentation about Twitter using all of his responses from this question. Just brilliant!
Breaking News
This past week I have been marveling about how so many of my bloggy mom friends are at the DNC. My tweets from them have gone crazy and I almost feel like I was there. Getting all this breaking news every few seconds is better than watching it on TV.
I hope you’re more intrigued and give it a try. Just do it. Join Twitter today and of course follow @barbaraboser and @gregboser.
SES San Jose 2008
SES is still one of the bigger shows we attend and this year’s didn’t disappoint from the social aspect. Getting together with industry leaders at conferences is something I look forward to about every other month. Even though it’s the same people, same parties, there is always something new to talk about and learn. Connections made at conferences typically go a long way because meeting people in person that you may have been following virtually is extremely valuable.
Speaking of following people…This year the hot topic at the conference was Twitter. You’d have thought they sponsored each session, but nope. Each session I went to mentioned Twitter at least 3-4 times. The burning question was what is it and why use it? Waste of time or marketing nugget? My answer is simple. Tweet! If you haven’t joined the Twitterbrigade you are late to the party. Don’t wish a year from now that you shoulda coulda woulda. Just do it. How you use it is up to you, but seriously, just TWEET and be sure and follow @gregboser and @barbaraboser.
Once again the place where all the cool kids hung out was the Fairmont Bar. While the conference is at the Marriott, if you can stay at the Fairmont I highly recommend it. The rooms are nicer and the bar lounge is way better. You can usually find some of the top SEOs hanging around late in the evening there. Buy them a round of drinks and you never know what juicy tid bits they will give you. The Fairmont Bar has 523 martinis on the menu. Every year I say I want to try them all, but alas I always get the same one, but it’s damn good and easy for Greg to remember. We hit the Fairmont up the first might we arrived and enjoyed conversation with the crew from Shoemoney (Jeremy and Dave), Jeff Manson, Todd Friesen (unemployed Todd is much more fun than working Todd), Brent Csutorus, Chris Winfield, Neil Patel, Michael Gray , Marcus Tandler, David Klein and who else (whistles) oh yeah Cesar Serna (freelancer, creator of Tweetpro).
The week started out with the IMNY Charity party on Monday night. These parties are becoming a standard at each conference and for such a good cause, how could you not attend? The group at IMNY does so much work to put these together and the financial results are well worth it. This year they raised about 10k that will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Aurora, CO and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There are about 15 New Yorkers that make this happen and we really appreciate it and look forward to the gathering every time. This year’s biggest raffle prize was a night out with Neil Patel. Guess who the lucky winner was?
Don’t worry Neil, Marcus quickly sold his prize to a willing Australian. Anything for a good cause right Frank? I also won a prize this year! I was the lucky winner of an SEOMOZ premium package. Can’t wait to get in there and see what that’s all about. It’s not like I could ask the Mozzers cause none of them were at SES. Apparently, they had their own conference they were holding in Seattle with about 150 of their closest friends. Anyway, thanks Rand for the prize and special thanks to everyone that worked so hard to put the night together.
Tuesday I attended the Social Media session with Brent Csutorus making a powerful presentation and dominating the panel. Brent gave some tips and ideas about social media that got the audience listening and taking lots of notes. Inevitabley he had a crowd of about 15 people standing around him after the session and for about 30 minutes into lunch. Brent talked about the power of a good network, the importance of good content and the link building benefits of social media. He stated a couple examples that received about 8k inbound links as a result of a Digg front page. He reminded us that many of these links are coming from PR8 or PR9 sites, so the benefit from a successful social media campaign is well worth the effort that goes into launching one.
After attending the keynote (I really just wanted to see Danny Sullivan) I headed over to the BOTW booth. Now really this is the place to be. Hanging around the BOTW booth is awesome. You get awesome shwag, free beer (not so free to BOTW) and you get to hang out with people like this…
BOTW has recently launched a kick ass local directory with Adam Sussman at the helm of this massive project. If you haven’t already registered do it NOW! I also overheard Greg talking about a big buy out. The details could be juicy, but I’d probably screw them up in translation so you’ll have to check his blog for the scoop.
The Google party this year is said to be the last Google party of the SESSJ. We’ll have to wait and see if Google can spare any change to put this event together next year, but as of now…this was it. The last Google shirt, the last bus ride, the party is over. RIP Google Dance. The dance itself was the same as last year. There were video games, beach volleyball, animated avatar making and lots of neon. Infact, too much glowing if you ask me. Some people should not wear neon glowing sunglasses. Seriously, the rings were cool, but the sunglasses…not so much. Sorry, I should’ve taken pictures, but was too busy talking it up with Matt Cutts about somebody’s eyebrow interests and recent celebrity sightings. Matt next time remind me to finish the story of when Greg met Madonna. I did however get a picture of this which I found in the Google bathroom. Good to know Google girls have clean bottoms.
The sessions I attended on Wednesday were completely different. The first one was SEO Rehab=FAIL. Sorry guys, but seriously not a great idea. There was no focus, no direction, lots of tangents. Enough about that.
The Black Hat White Hat session was another story. The room was packed and the discussion was deep. What is black hat, white hat? Everyone had their own opinions, but really I’d hope if you are an SEO you know how to do both. Wether or not you use certain tactics is up to you, but really it’d be good for you to know what the competition is doing (back or white). Big take away for Greg…do not repeat into the microphone anything that Michael Gray shouts out to you.
The last party of the week was Search Bash. Daron and Brandy never disappoint and this year they ditched the sumo wrestling and went with a Circ de Soleil style performance over the dance floor. And yes, Brandi did get up there and swing through the air. I know it’s a sucky picture, but if you look past the fan, that’s Brandy swinging over the dance floor.
We stayed at Search Bash until the end, then headed over to the other Greg’s room with about 75 other BOTW fans. He seriously had the largest patio in that room I’ve ever seen.
What’s next for us? SEOktoberfest, then SMX East and finally Pubcon.