Todd will be attending SearchFest 2011, which will take place on February 23rd at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Tickets are available now. To purchase, please click the following link.
1) Please give us your background and tell us what you do for a living.
I own and operate an online development company called ZD Design Agency in Portland Oregon. We are a web development and search engine marketing agency. We create websites; provide SEO, SEM and SMM services to create online and print marketing plans for small and medium sized companies. We audit websites and social media accounts as well as user interface design. My background is in technology, advertising, publishing, marketing, design, art and music. Our web address is https://www.zddesignagency.com
2) Please talk about your prior SearchFest experiences and why you keep coming back.
I have been to the last two Searchfest events and they were great. Danny Sullivan speaking in PDX? Who in our line of work can pass up an opportunity to be there. You get one jam packed day to soak it all up and try to remember the bits and pieces that will give you the edge. In the past the overviews are very interesting and there is no chance to doze off. Plus if you live in Portland and work in Online Search, you have no excuse not to attend. The sessions are good and there are many of the experts on hand to talk to in person and have some additional conversations with. All the tracks from last two years when I have attended have helped us at ZD learn better ways for implementing marketing strategies and learning to decipher client needs and prioritize according to meeting expectations.
I think the Governor Hotel is always a nice venue and has some smaller rooms for the more intimate sessions. Food was good last year and should be fine this year and the event isn’t so big that the lines are unmanageable. Of course it will be great to see local regulars and specialists like Scott Hendison, Todd Mintz, David Mihm, Ian Lurie, Ben Lloyd and all SEM PDX peeps. Let’s not forget this year we will be rubbing shoulders with Rand Fishkin, Mart Weintraub, Adam Audette, Matt McGee and many other Search rock stars. Looking forward to a great day of learning everything I though I already knew.
3) Please look over the schedule (https://www.sempdx.org/searchfest/2011-agenda/) and give us your top 3 sessions you are looking most forward to seeing.
I was asked to pick 3 sessions I want to be at but as usual, I want more… I have listed 4, oh well, hopefully my post won’t get auto-shortened. Looking forward to “The opening keynote” with Chris Sherman, Executive Editor of Search Engine Land should be good. I always love to read anything by the contributors to Search Engine Land. All the tracks are of great use and will have experienced speakers but my interests this year are in
“Social Media Strategies”. Any new insights or recommended techniques that work are always of interest to me on the social media side. “Social Analytics” with Marty Weintraub from AimClear and Todd Mintz will be of interest this year due to the ever growing need to justify all the money clients spend on social media and having systems showing the ROI when possible. “Building Your Search Agency” will be on my list as well because we are always trying to gain good response from our clients as we deliver hard earned results. The climate is tough out there right now and gaining new business and streamlining the report methods are essential as there is only so much time in the day. Ian Lurie from Portent Interactive knows about these challenges and Jordan Kasteler from BlueGlass will have some great things to say I am sure.
“Universal Search Marketing Strategies and Tactics” should be great. Looking at the big picture of Search as well as local perspective; David Mihm and John Shehata have the experience to share their understanding and methodologies. So see ya there next month.
My email is todd@zddesignagency.com and my personal twitter account is @zddesign
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.