Becky Ryan a.k.a Webmoxy

This was a fantastic show and I have to say I was a little reliant on my dear friend Marie Howell (SEObiker) of Bruce Clay UK, for a few pictures as she can be just as bad as me taking a lot of pictures. However sadly after NYC/SES Marie and Rory lost their camera and Marie was very disappointed. She had a lot of speaker photos and personal sightseeing pictures she wanted to share.

Here are a few I did manage to snap at few after party moments.

One was when we went to an upscale nightclub called Hudson, highly recommended by Yatin. Marie, Rory, Mike Sack, Yatin and I met up Andrew Beckman’s group, Yahoo! and AOL representatives at this sheik club. Tim Mayer, Heather Meeker, Michael Pilla and many others, loved the privacy and the exclusiveness this club exuded. From the decor to the music it was a place to we could enjoy great conversation and the delightful banter.

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Most concerned topics discussed today were general Web Analytics & Measuring Success and Search Arbitrage Issues.

Since the last SES/NYC Search Arbitrage is now industry jargon and attendees understood that SEM is negligible if the ROI is poor. Abitrage is a very analytical process which encompasses more the just “monetize your site.” Search Arbitrage focuses on the long term investment of the website from depth of your site, selection of keywords, understanding you visitors, buyers, and comparing it to your competitors. 5 years ago we did not have the tools to easily do this at the level and speed we can today but still many rely on their intuition. This makes for a foolish combination. Granted many sites do well but are the effective as they could be and how long will it take their competitors to start using more effective analytics. To me arbitrage is price differential between SEO and SEM principles and balancing the two for the best financial gain. through SEO you lower your over all costs but can we all wait to rank well enough to see this benefit.

Some of the attendees still guess which keyword phrases actually to SEO for and use few variants of given SEM recommendations from Yahoo! or Google. When maybe starting out with a low budget and few tools it is alright but this is 2007. 80% of all online transactions begin with a keyword search. Sites need to be properly SEO’d, followed by effective SEM and a keen knowledge of potential visitors to your site. This leads us back to productive planning of your site with the goals and objectives clearly defined for long term results.

Recommend links on “Arbitrage”
Free - WebMasterRadio.FM
eBook -Seobook
Course - Elite Retreat
DIY and Experts - KeywordDiscovery and Competitive Intelligence

Okay today Larry (VP of Trellian) and I headed to the Search Engine Strategies floor early and it was huge! We were on the top third floor in the Expo Hall. We might notlike how high up we were but we had pretty good wireless for doing demos.

We were going to be announcing the new Domain Researching Tool within KeywordDiscovery and NYC is one of the top five more globally focused trade shows most interested in country specific searches and seasonal trends.

Easter/Passover was great and as soon as it was over my girls were on a flight to Atlanta and I was flying to NYC.

At Burbank, I ran into my friend and former colleague, Nick Guastella of Bruce Clay. We had a fantastic but late flight into NYC. As we landed the text messages kept rolling in. Though the messages we new to me. It was apparent the excitement was about the private Vintage Tub and Bath party.

I really wanted to quickly get there to see Marie Howell (SEOBiker) and Rory Deniro of Bruce Clay UK… and the hundreds of others happily taking in this networking event.

By the time Nick received our bags and made it to the hotel is was late, we were hungry and wanted to freshen up.
Once we check-in, I caught up with Jim Hedger and Jessica Bowman and a group of others.

We then head to the after party. It was at some penthouse club in lower Manhattan. This was a great place to relax and meet up with Yahoo Canada,Mona Elisalie, Mick Sack, and my buddy, Barbara Boser.

We left the party in a state of the art touring bus with everything from neon lights, music, a huge flat screen TV, drinks and more.

It was unbelievable and all thanks to Ken Jurina CEO of Epiar

The bus dropped some of us off at the hotel… call me a party pooper… I went to the hotel. The party bus continued to rock on and bring others to the next place.

I believe many went to catch up with others at a local favorite pub not far from the hotel as it stay open later then the Hilton New York and they seem to love hundreds serving the complacent Internet crowd I grew to love

As many of my fellow SES buddies carried on I was diligently checking emails, getting ready for the show and eating the rest of the mini fridge’s contents… Just kidding Larry and Dave! I had my gyro with extra dressing and hot sauce from the corner 24/7 concession stand… Yummy!

Search Engine Strategies Expo was over in the Docklands . We celebrated a fantastic Valentines Day/evening and then headed back to the Crowne Plaza.

Around 3 am Greg told me that they wanted to go to Paris.

We were all drinking and I just thought it was a fantastic idea. Somewhere around 3:30-4 am Greg announces that we should just stay up and head to the train station by 6 am. I don’t know how any of them were standing as they were up the whole night before. I was a wienie and ran to bed.

Sure enough within a couple hours they were pounding at my door. I have no clue the time but maybe 6-6:30. It was pitch black outside. They were already bright and cheery. They had cabbies and ate breakfast!

The train station. Barbara, Rebecca, Scott, Dax and Greg are in the middle.

As we departed most of us were asleep before the train even took off. Well with exceptions of when Scott was nudging me (private).

Notice that our group is the only ones asleep. I also lost my spot because I didn’t want to *wake anyone*, when came back from my breakfast!

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After another successful day of SES London. Li Evans planned a Valentines dinner for about 16 of us. It was at a local Chinese restaurant, “Super Star” ExCel.

Super Star Chinese restaurant is so unique. Upstairs offers live entertainment and downstairs has about a dozen or so private VIP rooms. These rooms were quiet large and all wired with an advance Karaoke systems. Our room had two flat screens display videos and the words. The first guy to test the sound system was Rob Kerry aka “Evil Green Monkey”. He was very good considering it was the Spice Girls’ Wannabe.”

Frank offering help… Also proud the groom Rand, Rebecca, Scott, and Ewan (it is Scottish ;))

Rory Deniro and Marie Howell of Bruce Clay UK

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Well there are a few photos I wanted to post but didn’t know where to place them
Elizabeth Osmeloski with her gorgeous bouquet!

Becky with Heather Llyod-Martin

Wonderfully witty - Calum Macleod

Lovely Jenny and dear hubby Jeff Rohr

Basically a wonderful assortment of some beautiful people whom you can run into at SES!

Chicago SES was cold but the expo hall and session were full. The sessions we fantastic and the SES Chicago 2006 was had the largest number of attendess I have ever seen. There was also new networking luncheons, lots of parties and a few private parties. It really was an excellent show for us.

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