June 2008
1 post
Greetings from New Orleans!
The sexual health conference is going great and I will post a full summary when I get back to Washington Sunday night/Monday am. In the meantime, just a few thoughts in response to last week’s branding discussion.
To gain a competitive advantage and increase the real and perceived value of THCN, it’s time to make some definitive branding decisions.
First, for example, what is our brand...
April 2008
2 posts
Seven Key Takeaways from the SMX Social Media...
According to online marketer Brent Csutoras, Top 10 lists are an extremely effective means of generating linkbait, or content created for the purpose of attracting attention and links. While they are starting to become cliched and overused, Csutoras advises keeping this dying trend alive by mixing it up and creating negative lists or using a different number of items. It is in this spirit that I...
Sexual Healing, part 1
Sexual Healing San Diego, California: Kate’s first conference. I wake up excited to be here and start the day. I cruise through the hotel lobby to the registration table. One of the conference volunteers checks me in and hands me a plastic bag full of goodies. I thank her and step to the side, peering into the bag and inspecting its contents. Inside I find the usual conference agenda, packet of...
March 2008
19 posts
Mahalo: SEO Foe?
“I’m a hustler, in the Jay-Z sense of the word” -Jason Calcanis, CEO of Mahalo In today’s keynote, Jason Calcanis sort of walked into the lion’s den. Everyone at this conference makes a living off of search engine optimization. Mahalo threatens to upset that balance – instead of trying to please the mystical google algorithim, SEO pros would have to find a way to get their sites indexed on...
Link Building Basics: Get on the Juice!
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda3.html#link We’re pretty familiar with the basic concept: not all inbound links are created equal. Depending on four key factors, they can lend a lot of juice to your site, or they can be relatively worthless. What determines the juiciness of your inbound link? Link quantity - straight number of sites and individual links that point to...
Panel: Getting Vertical Search Right
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda.html#orion I’ve hated on vertical search for a while now, so I was hoping that this panel might help me see the vertical search light. It did not, but it was interesting nonetheless. To review, vertical search engines are search engines that only search specific categories of content. For example, iMedix is a vertical search engine for...
Web Analytics: Data into Action (March 17th)
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda.html#web How do you use the data that you find? How do you decide if the tactic you’re using is working? Panelists tackle this topic. A couple highlights that all of us can take away: Avinash Kaushik (blog = Occam’s Razo): -Bounce rate is an incredibly important metric to look at - % of users who hit a page and leave within the first five...
SES is rad
But my computer’s refusal to interact wirelessly is not. Lots of interesting numbers geeky stuff… I’ll type it all up when I get on the train. You can tune into the session I’m at online at webmaster.fm.
Seo humor
Lest there be any confusion as to how nerdy the SES conference is, there have already been at least 3 star trek jokes in the first session I’m attending. Dan
My Asthma Experience
Way off in the corner of the exhibit hall was a hot pink virtual reality machine called the Air Experience. From Genentech, it was a machine that simulated what breathing is like for asthmatics. The rep tightly strapped a vest on me (in the photo you can see how it cinches in my waist about 2 inches on each side. It felt as comfortable as I look in the pic). Then I put on paper 3D specs to watch...
DPI endotoxin what?
You’ve got to be careful at these doctor conferences. The sessions are really for them to gain continuing education credits. So the presenters speak in doc gobbledy-gook that is of little use to consumers. You have to be really good and really attentive to pick up the simple gems. Here’s a tip: go to panels or workshops led by RNs or nurse practitioners. They tend to speak plain...
Fingerpainting with my nose
The exhibitor hall looks like an amusement park in the front, where all the drug companies have their exhibits. The little guys and the non-profits have their booths all the way in the back against the wall. There are no copper cappucino machines (these docs LOVE coffee. All these drug companies have machines). At the Xyzal booth with the soaring yellow and purple banners, you can play with a...
"Milk in the eggs? I'll check the box."
Hi from Philadelphia and the AAAAI conference (these allergists should change their org’s name to something easier). Met with Sloane for breakfast. Noticed the eggs looked extra yellow and chunky. Sloane asked if there were milk in the eggs. The sweet-as-can-be chef said “I don’t know, let me check the box.” Box? Eww. I asked for an omelette to be made with real eggs. Another, not-so-sweet, cook...
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