Chris Sherman is interviewing Jim Lanzone from Ask in the first of two keynotes that are being conducted at this years Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. Interesting takeaways I got out of this conversation are to follow.
In just a few days, Irma and I will be heading to San Jose for this years Search Engine Strategies conference. It is the last conference that Danny Sullivan will be chairing. I am fortunate enough to be presenting for the first time in a session entitled ‘So You Want To be a Search Marketer?’
WebmasterWorld who produces the PubCon conferences and SEO Class, a newly formed organization providing intimate training experiences in search marketing, are partnering together to produce PubCon SEO Class, coined as a premium Internet marketing training program. These two-day programs will be limited to less than 50 participants and focus on midrange to advanced SEM/SEO curriculum.
Sad news out of Search Engine Watch – Elisabeth Osmeloski is leaving her position as Editor to start a new venture with Zonder.com, a vacation rentals company. Zonder is a venture capital funded start-up, based in Salt Lake City where Elisabeth calls home. She will become Director of Online Media for the company.
I can now say that we have been providing search marketing services for a decade. That’s right, April 18th is the day that we celebrate as our birthday. At least it is the date where we obtained our first trade name and opened a business checking account here in Arizona.
What started with a three hour flight delay and three gate changes at the airport turned out to be another great SES, this time in New York City. While Irma and I were supposed to arrive in New York from Phoenix at about 4:30 pm, we actually did not get to our hotel till a little after 8 pm.
This year’s Search Engine Strategies conference in Chicago was simply a blast. I attended last year but was only there for one day because a spot on a Site Clinic session opened up. I literally flew in Wednesday and left 24 hours later only leaving the hotel once to attend a party held at Buddy Guy’s Legends club. This time around, my wife and business partner, Irma joined me as we attended the entire week. We met tons of cool people and were able to experience some of the highlights of this fabulous city.
We all knew this was coming. With Danny’s recent departure from Search Engine Watch, the resource he founded which was acquired twice, first by Jupiter Media and then by Incisive, it was only a matter of time before it was expected that a new conference series would be announced. While Danny will continue to chair two more Search Engine Strategies conferences for Incisive – New York in April and San Jose in August, Danny’s new conference series will be called Search Marketing Expo, or SMX for short.
In an announcement last week during PubCon, Las Vegas, Danny Sullivan revealed his new home, Search Engine Land, where he will continue to do what he has been doing for the past ten years – covering the world of search. Along with that announcement came the news that Chris Sherman and Barry Schwartz would also be contributors as well. Danny will leave his current home, Search Engine Watch by the end of this month. Will Chris and Barry also be leaving? The answer is yes. Chris Sherman’s contract with Incisive, owner of Search Engine Watch, expires at the end of this year and Barry was never under any contract.
With the news of Danny Sullivan’s soon to be departure from Search Engine Watch, many of us in the industry are now beginning to ponder what the future may hold for the Search Engine Watch site as well as its conferences – Search Engine Strategies. Will it all continue to grow as it has for so many years now or will it die a slow death?
