SEO in The Desert

By Richard V. Burckhardt

The Web Optimist will be attending the BlueGlass 2010 online marketing conference in Marina del Rey.

Yippee! I just confirmed that I will be attending the new BlueGlass LA 2010 online marketing conference in Marina del Rey next week (July 19 & 20). This is the first confab by the folks at the newly merged BlueGlass digital marketing agency that includes a ton of SEO luminaries, including Loren Baker, Chris Winfield, Dave Snyder, Brent Csutoras, Jordan Kasteler, Ann Smarty, Tony Wang and too many incredible online marketers and social media strategists to list here.

Whew. I’m in awe just thinking about this crew!

The conference will held at the cool, sunny Marina del Rey Marriott and, hey, it’s 114 in the desert as I write this, so YEAH!

It’s been a while since I have made an SEO conference, so I’m looking forward to reconnecting with some of my friends, meeting new ones and LEARNING a ton of stuff that I only find at these great events. The agenda looks awesome!

So, for those of you attending, see you there!

This article is an original post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Danny Sullivan giving his keynote address at SMX West 2008 in Santa Clara, CA. He discussed the evolution of search from strictly web page results to the current blended results that he refers to as Search 3.0 and the coming Search 4.o, personalized search.

He also gave his views on the current attempt by Microsoft to take over Yahoo (Danny really likes having three big players in search). He also touched on the idea of standards for the SEO industry and how it might be time to revisit the idea.

Sorry the photo is a bit blurry. That’s the best I could do with my iPhone in a dark room.

More sessions to come. I’ll try to post quickies like this as I can with more in depth articles to come after the conference.

Here are a few images I snagged with my iPhone at the SMX Bash which kicked off SMX West 2008 in Santa Clara. In attendance were a number of search celebrities, including Danny Sullivan (who I finally met in person), Bruce Clay, Detlev Johnson, Chris Sherman, Neil Patel and others.

First I got a shot of Danny and Bruce (sorry, I didn’t get the attractive young lady’s name).

Next, I just had to take a photo of the bag that Danny and company came up with for the conference. Rather than the typical tote type of bag that you get at most conferences (and that gets tossed in a closet and forgotten), the SMX West bag is a backpack full of pockets and totally cool! I heard Danny say on a recent episode of Daily Searchcast that a lot of thought and discussion went into the selection of this bag. It’s obvious the folks at SMX West wanted to provide something special and they did.
Thanks guys! I’ll be dragging this baby around for quite a while.

Last but not least is a shot of the SEO crowd enjoying the SMX Bash on Monday night.

The week promises to be terrific and more than enlightening!