AdWords Performance Forum 2013 Pictures & Recap

What a busy and exciting two weeks! After speaking at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit at Amelia Island, FL last week, I attended the Google AdWords Performance Forum in San Francisco this week. The world of digital marketing is truly 24/7. These have been two weeks of balancing a full workload with the extra responsibility and fun times of great events! Today, I wanted to share some exciting photos from the APF 2013, and my fun experience.

Steve Kroll (Rocket Clicks), Tom Wolf (Rocket Clicks), Ian Lopuch (Me)

It all started on Monday at the W Hotel San Francisco. As soon as I arrived, Googlers greeted me in the lobby and directed me to the third floor. On the third floor, Google had a special VIP check-in area, complete with Google Micro Kitchen. Google thought of every possible detail, they made all of their guests feel like royalty.

After checking in, I went up to my room and was truly impressed. The rooms were outstanding, I could not be happier with the experience. The workstation, view, and overall feel of the room made me feel right at home. This was perfect since I had to get a full week’s worth of work done while attending the conference. The workstation and pleasant experience made that super easy.

Monday night, Google had an amazing kick off party. They had delicious food, amazing displays (see the Jelly Fish and Google Earth pictures below), and awesome company. My words cannot fully do the event justice, you must see the pictures below. I bumped into several Googlers I know and a variety of friends from the industry. I was especially happy to bump into my friends Steve Kroll and Tom Wolf from Rocket Clicks, PPC, SEO, and UX agency. After the Google party, Steve and Tom were kind enough to treat me to a fantastic dinner at Ame Restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel. We chatted about online marketing, business, and life. If you are looking for an agency, I highly recommend checking out Rocket Clicks. They are truly amazing. They are not only one of the best when it comes to knowledge and results, but are truly honest, great people. It is my honor to call Steve, Tom, and Rocket Clicks my friends.

After dinner, I headed back to my room to catch some sleep. Day two (Tuesday) was awesome. It was a day full of learning. I especially enjoyed the session about Enhanced Campaigns. I’m truly pumped up about Enhanced Campaigns and learned a lot of great ideas, directly from other leading advertisers and Googlers. After this conference, I feel incredibly prepared to take full advantage of the new Enhanced Campaign paradigm. Another highlight of day two: The opportunity to have lunch with Google product managers, providing feedback about the platform. I’m always thrilled to share ideas/feedback with Google and truly enjoyed the collaborative working session lunch. After a long day of sessions, day two ended with yet another party. It is very clear that Google invested a ton of time and money in preparing this conference. It showed through in every single detail. I had a lot of fun on day two, and bumped into my friend Sean Marshall from PPC Associates. Sean is an amazing guy and works at an amazing company, we had a ton of fun catching up.

Day three (Wednesday) was a half day of more great sessions. Google packed in so much valuable content, networking, fine dining, and partying. They truly care about their advertisers and are vested in their success. Thank you, Google, for an amazing AdWords Performance Forum. It was my honor to attend!

Pictures From The AdWords Performance Forum

AdWords Performance Forum Party Google Jelly Fish

AdWords Performance Forum Party Google Earth

AdWords Performance Forum Google Micro Kitchen

W Hotel San Francisco Room, Great Workstation

View From My Room, W Hotel San Francisco

I Spoke At MediaPost Search Insider Summit

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment May 5 0

Last week, I had the honor of attending and speaking at MediaPost Search Insider Summit. What is Search Insider Summit? It’s a special digital marketing conference for top tier executives in our space. It’s typically an invite-only conference, and I was lucky and fortunate enough to be invited to attend and speak at this amazing conference on Amelia Island, Florida. I wanted to start off this post by sincerely thanking Rob McEvily, Junmian Sun, Jon Whitfield, and the entire MediaPost team. You guys put on the best digital marketing event ever.

Have you heard of ion interactive? These guys build the best and most impressive post-click marketing platform in the world. ion makes it easy for digital marketing professionals to test big ideas via landing page experiences, increasing their conversion rate. They not only offer an amazing platform, but they also offer amazing agency design services as well. As an ion power user of several years (I highly recommend checking them out), I was lucky enough to be invited to Search Insider Summit as ion interactive’s VIP guest. ion was gracious to sponsor me and pay for everything! And, they connected me with one of my most exciting public speaking opportunities ever (more on this later).

Ian Lopuch and David Rodnitzky (PPC Associates)

It all started last Sunday. I took an early 6:00am flight from here (San Francisco) to Houston, Texas. Then, I took another flight from Houston to Jacksonville, FL. Just 45 minutes away from Jacksonville is the beautiful oasis called Amelia Island. The day of travel was super long, but incredibly worth it! We stayed at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort. This place was absolutely beautiful and spectacular (check out photos below and throughout this post). My room directly overlooked the pool and amazing Atlantic Ocean. I arrived late in the day so I decided to grab a burger and catch some sleep. While the day was crazy with travel, I felt some true hospitality from everyone around. Those living in Jacksonville and surrounding areas are a great group, truly kind people.

The next Morning (Monday), the conference started! Monday was a really super day. I got to sit back and listen to some truly inspiring keynotes, presentations, and panels. We’re talking about the best and brightest in our industry. I took diligent notes on ideas I want to test first hand. I had lunch with Scott Brinker, Co-Founder at CTO at ion interactive. What an awesome lunch!

Later that day, I had the pleasure of partaking in a Segway tour of the island. We covered some great mileage (the place is huge) and networked as a team. It’s during the Segway tour I met Prashant Puri (CEO & Co-Founder) and Johnny Shami (Head of Business Development) from AdLift, the Bay Area’s SEO Agency. I was really impressed with AdLift, and it’s especially funny that I traveled across the country to meet two amazing marketers who live right here next to me! Speaking of Bay Area / Silicon Valley agencies, I got to spend some great time at the conference with my good friend David Rodnitzky, CEO of PPC Associates. David is such a great guy and guru within our space, I had a blast connecting with him several times throughout the conference. What a great opportunity to spend time with friends, both new and old.

Avish Dahiya (Baby Cache), Johnny Shami (AdLift), and Ian Lopuch

After the Segway tour, I enjoyed the cocktail hour and then the Yahoo! dinner. Dinner was a true blast. I got to sit with Leo Polanowski, VP of North America Account Management at Yahoo! Leo is my personal friend and a true leader in our industry. He has built one of the best account management organization around (special shout out to Justin Hill, the man). I enjoyed sitting at Leo’s table and chatting with my friend David Rodnitzky. I also enjoyed meeting George Michie, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at RKG. Earlier in the day, George was on the Segway tour with me. Fun times, thanks Leo and Yahoo! for the amazing dinner! The best part of the dinner: Leo introduced Yahoo! Stream Ads. I’m a huge fan of Yahoo!’s new ad formats. There’s huge upside here, talk to your account management team today.

After a huge and eventful day one, I was so amazingly pumped up. I got back to my room to find some amazing gift bags from Google and also adMarketplace. Search Insider Summit sponsors sure know how to make the digital marketer feel at home! I caught some sleep and then day two went very much like day one. However, instead of the Segway tour, I opted for spa services. What a great way to relax. Day two’s cocktail and dinner was sponsored by yieldbot. I got to catch up with my good friend David Rodnitzky (PPC Associates), the folks from adMarketplace, Dave Zinman (CEO at Infolinks), Laura Fell (Caterpillar), and others. Day two I went to bed a bit early because day three was my big day.

The next morning (Wednesday), I woke up super early to practice my presentation. A bit later that morning I had the privilege of presenting at Search Insider Summit on the topic of Big Testing and Better User Experiences Through Post-Click Marketing. I specifically focused on my partnership with ion interactive. The half hour presentation went fast and was densely packed with enthusiasm and tips. I heard from several folks in the audience that they enjoyed it quite a bit! Thank you to all who provided the positive feedback, it truly means a lot. My presentation marked good times and a true opportunity from a career and public speaking standpoint. Below, I have a bunch of photos from the conference with the first one from my presentation on day three (thanks David Rodnitzkey for taking the photo). Thanks, ion and MediaPost for the opportunity to present, it was an honor and I can’t wait for next time!

After my big presentation, I enjoyed some more great presentations and panels (diligently taking notes). Then, I’m sad to say, the three days of fun and excitement were over. Those thee days at Search Insider Summit went by way too fast. I learned so much, networked like never before, and had a super great time. On the way out, I shared the shuttle to the airport with my friends Bill (Scottrade) and Avish Dahiya, CTO at Baby Cache. Avish and my planes left around the same time, and Avish was kind enough to treat me to lunch at the airport. I was truly impressed with Avish’s role, Baby Cache, and their impressive business model. There is no conference I have ever attended in our industry that has this level of executive talent. What a wonderful experience. Thank you ion interactive (especially Scott Brinker, Jessica Collier, Mary D’Alatri-Ward, Stephanie Tunis) and MediaPost (especially Rob McEvily, Junmian Sun, and Jon Whitfield) for the best week ever! More pictures from the conference below…

Cool Pictures From Search Insider Summit

Presenting At MediaPost Search Insider Summit

Ian Lopuch (Me) Speaking At MediaPost Search Insider Summit

Fun Times On Amelia Island Segway Tour

View From Hotel Room Omni Amelia Island

View of Ocean Omni Amelia Island

View of Trees and Landscape Omni Amelia Island

Turtle (Tortoise) Amelia Island

Image of ion platform © ion interactive
All other images in this post © PPCIan.com

Business Travel Tips For Busy Professionals

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 28 0

Whether you’re an online marketing professional, or any other business professional for that matter, it’s likely you will need to travel for your career. You may need to travel to meet with clients. You may travel to attend conferences. You may travel to local offices around the world, if you work at a larger company. There are many different use cases when it comes to business travel and today I wanted to share a quick list of tips I have learned first hand.

Make sure to get plenty of rest. As digital marketing professionals, we tend to work long hours and get little sleep. This can work when you’re working from your home base, but is not going to cut it when travel enters the picture. Get too little sleep and you may feel extra bad during your flights and meetings. You will not be on your “A” game without proper rest.
Make sure to eat healthy and hydrate. This ties into the last tip. If you eat fast food at airports, you will not perform at your best. Combine bad food and lack of hydration with flying, and you may feel ill.
Try to avoid small planes if you get motion sickness. When booking flights, you can see the plane’s layout. Make sure to pick planes that are larger. I recently took a United flight that was really small, two seats on one side and one on the other. If small planes are not your cup of tea, make sure to plan ahead.
Try to accumulate points. Find the airlines you like the most, enroll in their frequent flyer programs. If you enroll in the United credit card, as one example, you always get to board in “group 2”. This is especially helpful if you are trying to avoid checking bags (next tip). Airlines want to reward you – make sure to take advantage of the rewards programs.
Carry all of your luggage on the plane. Checking bags can be quit slow. If you are trying to make connections and are busy with business meetings, it’s essential to optimize your time. Make sure to avoid checking luggage and pack smart!
Go all out on your home court. If there are events/meetings in your local area, take advantage of those opportunities.
Keep careful track of all your receipts. There are so many miscellaneous expenses when you’re traveling. With good records, you will be able to file accurate expense reports after your trip.
Divide and conquer! Digital marketing and business in general is a team sport. One person can’t do all the traveling. Divide and conquer by sharing the travel/conferences with your colleagues.
Set an out of office assistant in Outlook, if you will not be responding to emails. Point people to someone on your team (or a colleague) who can cover for you. While you are traveling, business needs to continue as normal.
Have fun and try to speak at events. Travel and conferences provide a great way to practice your speaking skills. Moreover, they offer an amazing networking opportunity.

Do you like business travel? What travel tips do you utilize? (Related post: You may want to check out my post from a few years ago about how PPC Jobs Are Great For Travel.)

Fun Times at ad:tech San Francisco 2013

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 10 2

I’m a huge fan of SEM conferences, especially ad:tech. I attended ad:tech San Francisco 2013 earlier this week, on Tuesday, and wanted to share some thoughts and fun pictures from the event. After reading today’s post, you may also want to check out my recap of ad:tech 2012. To everyone I connected with at ad:tech, it was really great seeing you!

ad:tech Was Super Busy

PPC Ian with Maria and Rylan From Acquisio

I really enjoy a busy conference. The energy is contagious and truly makes you feel part of something big. That’s exactly the feeling I got at ad:tech. Because ad:tech spans not only SEM but really anything related to digital marketing, the conference has a very large audience. This was incredibly apparent with the convention center, expo floor, and sessions being packed. Some of the sessions got so busy that they had to close the doors and enforce a cutoff. The lesson: If there’s a session/panel you must attend, get there early (or else you may be out of luck, even after paying for your all access pass).

I Had A Blast Networking

Ryan Bukevicz (President of Bevo Media) and PPC Ian

The main reason I attend conferences is the networking. In business and life, it’s not only about what you know but also who you know! ad:tech totally delivered on networking, and I especially enjoyed catching up with my good friends from Acquisio, performance media platform. Check out the picture above of yours truly with my friends Maria and Rylan from Acquisio.

I enjoyed chatting with them in addition to Robert Schneider, Managing Director of Western and Central Region. I was totally thrilled to learn about Acquisio’s new enhancements around bidding (they now update bids every 30 minutes). I’ve said it time and time again: Online advertising is just like Wall Street, except business is open 24/7/365. In such an environment, near real time bid updates are mandatory. Acquisio is leading our industry forward with the highest frequency bid management platform around, way to go Acquisio!

I also thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with Ryan Bukevicz (see picture above), President and Founder of The Bevo Media Exchange. The world of online marketing is truly exciting because it offers amazing opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs. Ryan is just that. He’s an expert affiliate marketer turned startup founder. His Bevo Media Exchange is quite impressive, allowing affiliates to manage and optimize their entire world in one central dashboard. I enjoyed learning about Bevo Media and highly recommend checking it out if you are an affiliate marketer or affiliate network.

It Was A Short Conference For Me

These days, I’m juggling a ton of priorities. As such, I was only at ad:tech for half a day. I’m truly thankful for the time I spent there and the amount of great interaction I packed into my half day. We’re in the middle of conference season for digital marketers and I look forward to covering more great online marketing conferences in the near future, stay tuned!

More Pictures From ad:tech San Francisco

ad:tech San Francisco 2013 Expo Floor

ad:tech 2013 Google Engage 2

ad:tech 2013 Google Engage

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

Fun Times At SMX West San Jose 2013

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 11 3

If you’re in the online marketing industry, you should definitely attend SMX. Today, I attended SMX West San Jose 2013. I’m thrilled to recap my fun times at the event and share some pictures of PPC Ian with friends from the online marketing industry. (After reading today’s post, you may also wish to check out my 2012 and 2011 recaps.) There are two more days left in SMX West 2013 so you should definitely try to make it if you are in the SF Bay Area!

It’s All About The People

PPC Ian and Hillary Read From PPC Associates

SMX is all about the people. I primarily attend these conferences for networking and today’s conference totally delivered. In fact, as soon as I stepped out of my car in the convention center parking lot, I ran into my friend Snejana Norris. We used to work together at QuinStreet, and now Snejana is Senior Manager, Marketing at LendingTree. What a funny coincidence that we both arrived to SMX West at the same time!

Upon first arriving, the conference seemed a little quiet. There were not a ton of attendees. This surprised me since online advertising is a huge industry and we’re in the online marketing capital of the world, the SF Bay Area! However, I also know just how busy I am right now – so much that I could only spend a partial day at SMX West this year. Perhaps other online marketing professionals are hard at work, too busy to pause for the conference. Despite the quiet feel, the conference was amazing. Those who did attend, speak, and support the conference are top quality online marketers.

SMX West Delivered Great Insights

PPC Ian and Neil Lunagaria From Marin Software

As soon as I arrived at the conference, I went to the paid search track. I was totally impressed. This year, SMX West over-delivered on content. In fact, the paid search track felt almost like SMX Advanced. The quality of the presentations, the insightful tips, and the level of engagement as very exciting. I have been in this industry since 2004 and I still learned a few new insights from the presentations. Nice work, panelists! My favorite session? The remarketing one for sure.

After the first session, I went to grab some refreshments and ran into my friend Eli Schwartz. We used to work together at QuinStreet and now Eli is Online Marketing Manager at SurveyMonkey. What a small world!

After refreshments, I went back to the paid search track. I sat down on the aisle, noticing that someone’s stuff was already on the seat next to me. After a few minutes, none other than Hillary Read sat down next to me. What an awesome coincidence! Hillary is Marketing Manager at PPC Associates SEM Agency. If you have been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that PPC Associates is a true friend of my blog. In fact, I have a guest post that will be going live on the PPC Associates blog soon (I’ll let you know when it’s live so you can check it out).

Upon completion of a solid morning of networking and absorbing online marketing knowledge, it was time for lunch. Mike (from my team) and I went to Arcadia Restaurant. Arcadia is on the ground floor of the Marriott hotel and is awesome. Arcadia is a tradition for Mike and I, and this was our third year enjoying the burgers there. I highly recommend it – the food is delicious, especially the angus burger.

Google DoubleClick Search Booth – A Conference Highlight

After lunch, I went to the expo hall. I especially enjoyed connecting with my good friends from Marin Software. Their booth was front and center. I enjoyed learning more about Marin’s social platform from Neil Lunagaria, Director of Social Platform. I also thoroughly enjoyed the DoubleClick Search booth (check out the picture below). Google went big this year demoing their new DoubleClick Search platform and I must say I’m impressed. My favorite feature: DoubleClick Search offers intra-day bidding, updating bids 4x per day on both Google AdWords and Bing Ads. Nice work!

It’s at this time that I decided to head back to the office to get some work done. While I only got to spend a partial day at SMX West, I truly enjoyed my time. Also, I am thrilled to know my team will be attending the rest of the week and reporting back on their discoveries. I hope to see you at a future SMX conference!

Images from SMX West 2013 © PPCIan.com

Marin Masters San Francisco Rocked

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 27 1

Today, I attended Marin Masters San Francisco 2012 conference, hosted by SEM platform Marin Software. The conference was amazing, the can’t miss San Francisco SEM event of 2012. Today, I’m thrilled to share my recap of Marin Masters.

PPC Ian and Peter From Marin Software

Some quick background… I attended Marin Masters two years ago. I had an outstanding time, but last year I unfortunately missed the conference (I had a big presentation/event at work that day). I was really sorry that I missed it so this time I was sure to save the date months in advance. I am sure happy I was able to attend this year! It was an action-packed conference, one of the best ever.

Hosted at the W Hotel in San Francisco, the venue was amazing. Marin went all out. They reserved a huge room and the attendance was really impressive (it was packed). It makes perfect sense: San Francisco is the online marketing capital of the world and $4 billion worth of online marketing spend is managed via Marin. Marin has a huge family and a world of supporters, power users, and enthusiasts (including me)! This was the place to be. They had free drinks there and truly did an outstanding job from all aspects. They even raffled off a free Xbox Kinect.

After arriving, I networked with the other attendees and friends from Marin Software. It’s such a small world, I ran into so many good friends. What a great industry! After networking a bit, the conference started. Both Marin Software employees and clients spoke. My friend Matt Lawson, VP of Marketing at Marin, introduced the event. He even gave a shout out to me, PPC Ian, and people started cheering. What an honor and fun experience! (Check it out, I’m On The Marin Homepage.)

During the presentations, I listened very closely. I was especially impressed by the Experian presentation. Experian’s head of online marketing spoke all about mobile marketing and had some true insights about campaign structure, landing pages, and going after new opportunities. Yahoo! sponsored the event and also had an amazing speaker. Marin’s head of product management spoke all about the latest and greatest features, focusing on ways to save time each and every day. All of the speakers were truly great, they really went all out. In just three hours, I learned invaluable paid search tips/insights and also strategies for leveraging Marin to the next level.

After the conference, I enjoyed several hours of cocktails and appetizers. The drinks and food were amazing. The company was even better. I had so much fun chatting with friends, both new and old. If you’re running big online marketing campaigns, I highly recommend auditioning Marin. They are truly amazing. Thanks Marin for the great Marin Masters conference, I can’t wait until the next one!

Image of Ian and Peter © PPCIan.com

SMX Advanced 2012 Pictures and Recap

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jun 8 5

Today, I’m excited to share a ton of pictures from SMX Advanced 2012. This great conference, hosted in Seattle, covers all sorts of advanced PPC and SEO topics. 2012 marks my third year at this search marketing conference, you can read my 2011 recap here and my 2010 recap here. Each year, I try to take more pictures and I think I accomplished just that with 14 in this year’s post! I hope you enjoy the recap and pictures…

Day 0: The Day Before The Conference

Ian, Nicole, and Andrew at Six Seven Restaurant

This year was the best yet because I attended the conference with my amazing wife, Nicole, and my teammate, Andrew. All three of us flew from San Francisco to Seattle mid-day on Monday. We took Virgin airlines, and it was quite a pleasant flight. I had never flown Virgin America before, and am really happy with the experience, I definitely plan on flying Virgin again.

Once we arrived in Seattle, we took a taxi over to our hotel, The Edgewater. The Edgewater is a really great hotel, and it’s the third year in a row I stayed there. Each time it’s so much fun, I really love this place! I especially enjoyed this year because Nicole and I had a room on the water side of the hotel (as opposed to the city view side) with a really cool balcony and nice water view. All the way at the end of this post, you can see a view of a sailboat going by from our balcony. After checking in, the three of us were so hungry so we headed over to restaurant Six Seven at the Edgewater. The food there is great and the atmosphere too. Each year, I always have to eat at Six Seven at least once. You can see a picture of Nicole, Andrew and I enjoying lunch to the right.

PPC Ian, Andrew, and Kenshoo - Geoff, Chad, and Claudia

By the time we had enjoyed a late lunch, it was time to head on over to the SMX Meet and Greet. It was totally packed there. Check out the picture all the way towards the end of this post (the first under the “More Pictures” section). As soon as I got into the Meet and Greet, I ran into the Kenshoo leadership crew – Geoff, Chad, and Claudia. I got a great picture with them to the right. It’s really funny because I got a similar picture way back in my 2010 SMX Advanced Post. I think we all aged quite well over the last two years, we all look the same!

PPC Ian and March Poirier from Acquisio

After chatting with Kenshoo and complementing Geoff on his amazing social media skills (make sure to follow @geoffshenk on Twitter), I bumped into my good friend Marc Poirier from Acquisio. (Later in the conference, I heard Marc speak about Retargeting, one of my favorite sessions in the entire conference.) After about an hour of networking, we were getting hungry again and decided to leave the Meet and Greet and find some dinner.

After searching restaurants not too far from the conference, we decided to go to Serious Pie. This place was amazing. There’s a reason it has four stars and 1,200+ reviews on Yelp – the food is so good (and not too expensive either). (There’s a picture of Serious Pie in the “More Pictures” section at the end of this post.) After Serious Pie, it was time to head back to The Edgewater, catch up on work, and then finally get some sleep! Search conferences are so much fun, but can be very tiring too. My advice: Make sure to pace yourself and get as much sleep as possible.

Day 1: An Action-Packed Day of SMX Advanced

PPC Ian and My Marin Software Friends

Before the Meet and Greet, I had picked up my SMX badge so the next morning I was able to get there right around 8:30, walk in and grab some breakfast, and then head into the SMX Advanced sessions. Day 1 was an awesome day – the sessions were great, the lunch was really good (SMX Advanced has much better food than other search marketing conferences), and I got to network like crazy at the expo hall. In terms of sessions, here are the ones I attended on the first day:

The Periodic Table of SEO – 2012 Edition
Perfecting Your PPC Landing Pages
Getting The Most Out of Retargeting From The Pros
Breaking The Speed Limit: Fast Sites Win!
You&A With Matt Cutts

How do [you] Kenshoo? PPC Ian and Chris Cohen

All of the sessions were good. I especially enjoyed the retargeting one because I got to hear my good friend Marc Poirier speak. He brought in great data from his own Acquisio retargeting experiments. Want to learn ore about retargeting? I highly recommend checking out Acquisio’s Retargeting eBook. I also enjoyed exposing myself to SEO sessions. While I’m PPC (pay per click) Ian, I also thoroughly enjoy the SEO discipline too. SEO is so engineering-focused, and I’m a Stanford CS graduate, so this stuff is right up my alley.

During day 1, I also spent a lot of time networking in the expo hall. I’m a huge fan of networking and really enjoy people, especially the amazing people in our industry. You’ll see a lot of pictures throughout this post from the expo hall. It’s become PPC Ian tradition to grab pictures with all of my friends, new and old, with the signature “thumbs up”.

PPC Ian and Adobe Digital Marketing, Ian and Julia

One of the first booths I stopped at was Marin Software. Marin Software is an amazing SEM platform. I’m friends with a ton of employees there and really enjoyed catching up with my good friends Samantha Lee (in the picture above) and also Matt Lawson, Marin’s VP of Marketing. Marin always has an impressive and crowded booth.

After spending some time with Marin, I headed over to the Kenshoo booth. The night before, I had spent some quality time with Geoff, Chad, and Claudia. On day 1, I ran into one of my other Kenshoo friend, Chris Cohen. you can see a picture of Chris and I above. I had a ton of fun with this picture because it was part of Kenshoo’s “How do [you] Kenshoo” campaign. That’s some really solid marketing, and I’m a huge fan of this amazing SEM software platform.

PPC Ian with The BrightEdge Marketing Team

Next, I found the Adobe booth. Adobe offers an amazing suite of online marketing platforms such as Efficient Frontier and Omniture. Adobe has been on a real great trajectory and has developed one of the leading offerings in our industry. At the Adobe booth, I got to meet Julia Soffa (check out the picture above). (Side note: I’m a huge fan of Adobe’s New Whitepaper.)

I’m so excited and proud: Nicole is now Product Marketing Manager at BrightEdge. This is a really exciting role. You may recall, I blogged about BrightEdge back in my SMX West 2012 Post. What is BrightEdge? It’s the leading platform for enterprise SEO. If you are responsible for managing SEO at a company, BrightEdge is the must-have platform. They are going places and growing at warp speed. Above, you can see a picture of me and the BrightEdge marketing team. To the right is a picture of my amazing wife, Nicole, at the BrightEdge booth. BrightEdge was a Gold Sponsor of the conference.

My Wife, Nicole, Product Marketing Manager at BrightEdge

After having a great time at the BrightEdge booth, it was time to hang out at the SEO Moz booth. I just had to grab a photo with the SEO Moz Bot. Later, I attended You&A With Matt Cutts, one of the highlights of the day! After an exciting day of sessions and networking, I enjoyed the Expo Hall Reception for a bit and then went back to my hotel room to rest for about 1/2 hour.

Then, it was time to head on over to The Purple Cafe for the Marin Software dinner. Marin Software really went all out on this dinner. They invited a lot of clients, both old and new, and treated us all to one of the best meals I have had in my life. The food was so amazing. The company was amazing too. Thank you so much, Marin, for treating us to this dinner, you rule! By the time dinner was over, we were close to 12:00 am. I went back to my hotel room. Nicole was still out at the BrightEdge dinner. I heard amazing things about their dinner too and know that BrightEdge employees and clients had an amazing time. Overall, day 1 of SMX Advanced Seattle 2012 was one of the best conference experiences ever!

Day Two: The Last Day of SMX Advanced 2012

PPC Ian and SEO Moz Bot

I had so much fun on day 1, that I felt a bit tired on day 2. As such, day 2 was a little slower paced but still super fun. It all started out with sessions. On day 2, I attended these ones:

Keynote with Bing’s Derrick Connell
Schema & Authorship: 1 Year Later
Pagination & Canonicalization For The Pros
Landing Pages & Conversion In A Smartphone & Tablet World

I really enjoyed all of the sessions, especially the SEO one on Schema & Authorship. The speakers in this sessions were really knowledgeable and provided a wealth of information and tools to help any SEO enterprise take their business to the next level. I really enjoyed the mobile landing page sessions too. The future is mobile and landing page strategy is especially important to mobile. Carlos del Rio from Unbounce did a great job presenting and I’m glad I got to meet him in-person at the Marin Software booth the day before. (Also, I enjoyed the landing page session from day 1. At that session, Carlos also spoke, in addition to Scott Brinker from ION Interactive.)

Marin Software Dinner The Purple Cafe

Of course, I also spent some great time networking on day 2 as well. I especially enjoyed running into my pal David Rodnitzky from PPC Associates. David is a leader in our industry and runs Silicon Valley’s SEM Agency. It’s always fun running into David.

At the end of day 2, Nicole, Andrew, and I took a towncar back to the airport. If you stay at The Edgewater, they can book you a towncar the night before for only $45, a real deal (considering a taxi would have cost a similar price). This is a super tip if you attend the conference in future years.

PPC Ian and David Rodnitzky

We rushed to the airport for nothing since our flight was delayed (airspace was restricted in San Francisco due to President Obama visiting), but we enjoyed all that the SeaTac airport has to offer. The flight back was full of SMX Advanced folks since San Francisco is such a hub for online marketing. I got back totally exhausted, but super happy that the conference was such a success.

I’m looking forward to future SMX Conferences and thank Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan, and SMX for putting on such an amazing conference. Until next time, SMX friends!

More Pictures From SMX Advanced Seattle 2012

SMX Advanced Seattle 2012 Opening Ceremony

Serious Pie Seattle

SMX Seattle The Edgewater Hotel

ad:tech San Francisco 2012 Recap

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 8 2

Online marketing conferences are the best! Just a month ago, I thoroughly enjoyed SMX West. Last week, I attended ad:tech San Francisco 2012. ad:tech is a great conference. While I was only there for half of the first day (I couldn’t stay too long due to a huge amount of work last week), I totally enjoyed the experience and wanted to share a few thoughts about the conference.

First and foremost, I would like to highlight ad:tech as a really special conference. While I really enjoy the other online marketing conferences such as (SMX West, SMX Advanced, and SES), ad:tech is in a league of its own. It’s a more holistic online marketing conference covering all online marketing channels, whereas the other conferences are more focused on PPC and SEO. As a focused PPC and SEO professional, I really enjoyed attending the ad:tech sessions and hearing about all different types of online marketing strategies. If you’re interested in expanding your strategic focus and online marketing scope, ad:tech is the conference for you.

Second, ad:tech is a really popular conference. It was packed with tons of attendees, clearly demonstrating the strength of the online marketing industry. I felt like the sessions were much more packed than some of the other conferences I have attended recently. Also, the expo hall spanned two levels. It was huge! It’s really the attendees that build energy at any conference and it’s always more fun attending a packed conference like ad:tech.

Third, ad:tech is the place to network and meet up with friends, both old and new. I exchanged a ton of business cards and built some great new connections. Also, I ran into more old friends than at any other conference. I especially enjoyed meeting up with my former manager and good friend, from Nextag.

So, there you have it, quick recap this time since I didn’t spend a ton of time at the conference. However, the time I did spend there was really high leverage. I totally recommend this conference, especially if you’re looking for a broader, more strategic perspective about online marketing.

My SMX West San Jose 2012 Pictures & Recap

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 29 14

Some of my absolute favorite posts here on PPC Ian are the ones about search engine marketing conferences. Yesterday, I attended SMX West San Jose 2012 and the conference absolutely rocked! As always, my favorite part about the entire conference was the networking and fun times with friends, both new and old. Today, I’m thrilled to share tons of pictures and a recap of SMX (Search Marketing Expo) West 2012.

It All Started Off With Great Sessions & Great Lunch

Lunch With Rocket Clicks SEM Agency

I arrived at the conference early yesterday. Since my team shared our all access pass, I attended sessions the morning of day 1. I picked two really great ones. It all started off with Hardcore Local SEO Tactics and then I headed over to Best Practices With adCenter For Bing.

Both sessions were great, but the first one, the local SEO tactics, really opened my eyes. I’m an enterprise level advertiser for large online brands. Sure I leverage geo-specific strategies to the max, but I’ve never promoted physical local storefronts before via SEO. The level of insight from the local marketers was really helpful and totally made my day.

PPC Ian, Jeff Ferguson, and Marin Software

Also, I enjoyed the adCenter session too but I’m already an expert with the adCenter Desktop Tool so it was more of a review for me. As far as sessions go, my teammate Mike went to the Power Tools For The Paid Search Pros later in the day and said it was really great. My good friend David Rodnitzky, CEO of PPC Associates spoke at that one!

After these great sessions, I was ready for a great lunch… Back at SMX Advanced Seattle 2011, I met Steve Kroll, Director of Operations at Rocket Clicks SEM Agency. Steve is a true leader in our industry and has become a great friend. I got a text message from Steve right before SMX West saying he wouldn’t be there but two of his colleagues would.

I really enjoyed meeting Nicole Mennicke, Director of PPC, and Liz Lord, Senior Paid Search Analyst, from Rocket Clicks. Nicole and Liz kindly treated myself and my teammate Mike to lunch at Arcadia Steak House. (It’s funny, Mike and I had lunch last year at that same place. It’s really great food.) We had an amazing lunch, chatted and PPC strategies, and I’m totally impressed with Rocket Clicks. If you’re looking for an SEM agency, you definitely want to reach out to my friends at Rocket Clicks.

Let The Expo Hall Networking Begin

PPC Ian and My Friends At Acquisio

After lunch, I was fired up and ready to network. So, I headed over to the expo hall at SMX West. Surprisingly, it was a lot smaller than previous years. There were some truly great exhibits there, but it just felt small.

As soon as I walked in, I ran into my good friends from Marin Software. There booth was front and center, right near the entrance. I always enjoy meeting up with Marin because they are so impressive. I have a ton of friends there, absolutely love their SEM Platform (it’s amazing), and enjoy hearing about their rapid growth. While speaking with Matt Lawson and his team, I also met Jeff Ferguson, CEO and founder of Fang Digital. Jeff is one of the most seasoned online marketers around, he’s been doing this stuff since the mid 90s.

After spending time with my friends at the Marin booth, I headed over to Acquisio. I was totally blown away! Acquisio has a brand new booth that is out of this world. Each year, the booths keep getting more and more impressive. Acquisio’s booth was one of the best I have seen. Recently, Acquisio Acquired ClickEquations and they are on a roll!

PPC Ian With BrightEdge

Next, I started walking around the expo hall and found a company called BrightEdge. I really enjoyed chatting with Brad Mattick, VP of Marketing, and Mark Melnyk, Talent Acquisition at BrightEdge. BrightEdge is a rapidly growing SEO platform for enterprise advertisers. I’m totally going to check it out and am quite intrigued by the platform. After all, I’m the greatest proponent of SEM automation platforms around (such as Kenshoo). I can’t get enough of these cool technologies!

Next on the expo floor was BoostCTR. As the name implies, this service/platform helps you boost the CTR (click through rate) and also conversion rate of your PPC campaigns. It was really great to learn that BoostCTR has offices right near mine in San Francisco and I’ll be reaching out to schedule a lunch and demo shortly.

While the expo hall floor was a bit small, I was impressed with the quality of companies there. I’m thrilled I learned of two new companies (BrightEdge and BoostCTR) that will help me directly improve my online marketing programs.

Time To Rest & Then Go To The Sharks Game

PPC Ian and BoostCTR

After the amazing times at the SMX West expo floor, I headed over to the coffee shop at the Marriott. I enjoyed spending some time there relaxing and getting some work done. It’s there that I actually published my blog post about 5 Tips For SEM Conferences. I love working at coffee shops and I’m always inspired in that type of environment. I need to remind myself to work at Starbucks and over coffee shops more frequently, it’s all about being productive in an environment you like.

After relaxing and working for a bit, I joined my friends from Marin Software for the San Jose Sharks game. Marin, I can’t thank you guys enough for treating me to the amazing game! We had such great seats at the Sharks game (check out the picture below). It was actually my first San Jose Sharks game, and I definitely want to go again. It was a real blast. The food at the HP Pavilion was really good too. So, there you have it! My SMX West 2012. I did not attend days 2 and 3. After taking in so much on day 1, my team went to the conference on days 2 and 3. We always take diligent notes and share our findings after the conference so I can’t wait to hear what my team learned. I can’t wait until my next SEM conference!

More Pictures From SMX West 2012

SMX West San Jose Sharks Game

SMX West Expo Hall

5 Tips For Search Marketing Conferences

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 28 3

I’m at SMX West San Jose today so it’s the perfect time to share a few tips for getting the most out of search marketing conferences. This is going to be a quick post since I’m on my iPad during a break, but I truly feel these are some impactful tips. Also, stay tuned! I have tons of great photos from the conference coming up in my SMX West 2012 recap (to be posted in the next few days).

Tip 1: Take notes during the sessions and present your findings to your team when you return. It’s all about active listening. The closer and more actively you listen, the more tips and SEM strategies you will take home. The end goal: Grow your business!
Tip 2: Don’t get discouraged by a less helpful session. We’re all at different levels. A session that may be helpful for one person may be less helpful for another. To get a lot out of an SEM conference, you only need a few good sessions. You only need a few golden nuggets of info. It’s ok to attend a few sessions that aren’t as helpful.
Tip 3: It’s all about Twitter. Stay active on Twitter to communicate, network, and participate. The more actively you participate, the more enjoyment and value you will obtain. Also, this is a great way to market and promote yourself as an SEM professional.
Tip 4: Network with other online marketers. Schedule lunches, enjoy coffee meetings, and definitely forge relationships in the expo hall. Your network is everything in the SEM industry, invest in yours. Challenge yourself to forge relationships with at least 5-10 new online marketers you did not previously know.
Tip 5: Stay all day and night. You never know what will happen or who you will meet. Stay involved. Get there on time and participate in the events at night. I’m a big fan of sleep and this is a difficult one for me, but I know I can always sleep later!

Hope this helps and have fun at SMX West 2012 and other search engine marketing conferences this year!