The Search Marketing Expo started March 11, 2014 and I was there front and center, alongside SEJ’s John Rampton, to get the inside scoop on what’s happening in the search marketing world. Over the course of Day 1, John and I were able to interview a number of search industry leaders and find out what’s currently trending in the search marketing space and what we can expect to see in the years to come.
For the full #SMX West Day 1 recap, watch the video below:
These were the highlights from #SMX Day 1:
- During #SMX West Day 1, I interviewed Marcus Tober from Searchmetrics. During the interview Marcus made some interesting points about the areas marketers should be focusing on in 2014 in order to create a more well-rounded search marketing strategy. He explained that it’s important for marketers to focus on the “whole story” of what people are interested in and the things that they want, and to make those aspects the centerpiece of your content creation process. It’s no longer good enough to focus on just one data point or one channel when it comes to search marketing, rather, successful marketers will take the “big picture” into account and benefit from the ability to craft more targeted ads.
- When talking to John Rampton about #SMX and why it’s such a great conference, he explains that SMX is one of the only conferences where people are focusing on the future rather than the past or the here and now. Rather than making their marketing decisions based on current data or user behaviors, the attendees of SMX look to the future and make predictions of where the industry is headed and how they can stay ahead of the curve. This forward thinking attitude is what makes this conference worth attending every year, and certainly results in interesting conversations and interviews.
- Another important takeaway from the conference and the conversations of Day 1 was that good storytelling is more important than ever before. In 2014, marketers need to clearly understand what they’re trying to solve, how they’re trying to solve it, and be able to answer consumer questions about their products/services. Harking back to the idea that marketers must be well-rounded and have a comprehensive understanding of their customers, you can’t get away with being a one trick pony anymore. If you want to be successful, you not only have to create highly targeted ads, but you also need a general understanding of who your customers are and what they’re interested in.
- Guest blogging has changed significantly in the past six months. But despite that, it’s unfair to say that guest blogging is dead, as some people have suggested. Yes, guest blogging for link building purposes only is no longer an advisable practice. However, for bloggers who are simply looking to expand their audience and share their knowledge on a different platform, guest blogging is still a perfectly safe and encouraged practice. SEO is changing, evolving, and growing, and in order to stay on top, you have to stay in the know and make sure that you aren’t participating in practices that are unacceptable in Google’s eyes.
Please visit SEJ’s YouTube page for more video interviews.
Category
SEO
