High on Semcon 2007...

I’m still on a high from the two-day SEMCON 2007, which started last Tuesday and which colleague Nick and I attended. The learnings I got from the two days were a lot, and I couldn’t be more happier that I got to attend the conference. Before the conference, I didn’t have the faintest inkling of what SEO is and how broad it is. After the conference, I couldn’t be more excited about all the possibilities that SEO holds. There’s just really a lot.

Okay, my favorite topics were the following (in random order). For Day 1, SEO for Megasites by Benj Arriola; Effective Web Copywriting by Jayvee Fernandez; The Best of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) by Derek Callow; Pitfalls of Pay-Per-Click (PPC)by Hans Koch. For Day 2, I really enjoyed Mission Redesign: When, What and How? by Regnard Raquedan; Innovative Landing Page Optimization by Marc Macalua; The Perfect Checkout by Andrian Lee; Using Affiliates to Grow Your Online Business by Dustin Andaya, Tracking Buzz: How to Manage Your Online Reputation by Abe Olandres; and Utilizing User-Generated Data to Drive Conversions by Jose Carlo Medina.

The two main reasons why the above were my favorite are 1.) these were the topics that I could really relate to and, 2.) I thought either the presentation or the speaker were really good. This isn’t to say that the other speakers weren’t good. They knew their stuff but the ones I mentioned above are the ones I think are really relevant to my work. Uhm, there were also one or two topics which I was really looking forward to listen to, but…

I thought the “Super Site Clinic - Give Your Site an Instant Makeover” portion was also fantastic. During this session, participants could show their website to the panelists and the latter will comment on the site. The idea is somewhat patterned to American Idol or Queer Eye or Project Runway. I thought it was a really great idea.

Okay, in general, the people behind the conference are to be congratulated for the success of the two-day conference! The whole SEO concept is just a whole new world which I guess I want to discover, and who knows, maybe even be a part of it someday.