Unofficial SEO Gatherings - Good or Bad for the Industry?

So I'm no longer invited? ;)

ThomasB

You will always be invited if I organise one, to watch you on stage and say to Mat Cutts that some people buy links, with a straight face, made me laugh lots:)

DougS

you never were invited, you just gatecrash a lot ;)~

I don't think the reason I get invited is down to any 'secrets' I might know.....more to do with fact that I get drunk far too easy, act like a twat and provide free entertainment for people!!

whats the most you have been invited ?

I don't know about everyone else but I too busy trying to figure out how I can make a quick buck from beta MSN

define most......if ThomasB is not invited then I go....but the little german always appears.

Love you ThomXXXXXX

DougS

If not I can probably give you one of mine ....

In fact that's an average night out my way

C'mon Gimpy, where's your comment, I know Doug normally forces you to make a comment in order to increase the popularity of his threads.....Oh sorry, forgot, you're the one doing the work!!!

Keir

I have never met Gimp, but I hear he got the name for the gear he wears.

Dougs
Ps. Can we get back to the thread.......

As it farly obvious already from this thread many people know each other very well.

So are these people "terrorists" or freedom fighters?

What is the future of the big forums?

DougS

..just about zilch, unless you want to know if the AdSense cheques have been posted.

....or if you want to moan about how Google and the rest of the world owes you a living....

ROTFLMFAO!

I tend to miss a few as i live in denmark but i have to say that i dont tend to learn anything particularly new at these things, just make better friends with people and make some new friends aswell - the good stuff comes in the shape of small private forums and IM for me these days..

I saw one guy earlier today promising to divulge any information on breaking sandbox to the seo community at large as soon as he found it - one wonders how many invites he gets? heh...

Board owners and Private Meets

I've heard tales that at some boards the owners get a bit miffed if you try to arrange meetings - or worse, want to hold small gatherings within the larger fold of a conference....

{I've heard tales that at some boards the owners get a bit miffed if you try to arrange meetings - or worse, want to hold small gatherings within the larger fold of a conference....}

This was always going to happen as these boards start having a percieved cash value.

Nick when will it happen here?:)

DougS

I've heard tales that at some boards the owners get a bit miffed if you try to arrange meetings.

SO WHAT!

Well, we're not in the conference biz though i do intend supporting the seoroadshow whether rc likes it or not :)

but also, this isnt a board - the nature of the beast is very different - i routinely cull threads that arent needed here for reasons of quality or topic, i *think* it plays a large part in why people appear to like TW

Hookup threads wouldnt really be in tune with what threadwatch does - though they could be talked about in a private members area i guess, i've never really given it much thought doug, just thoughts as i thunk 'em :-)

But if I had spent my time and effort building a community and then saw people using the info to "compete" against me I'd be miffed.

DougS

(That got pulled) asking if anyone organised small UK get-togethers when I couldn't make the london pubcon. I think it is important to have face to face gatherings in any industry where you work on your own for any significant amount of time. Right now I work in an office but the goal is to do SEM full time .. I would miss real human contact and wouldn't want to start trying to form friendships with misc delivery people, window cleaners and the like out of desperation ;O)

The forums are there for the new and intermediate people, so they will stay popular as new blood come online. Also, how do the inner circle discover new people if they only ever talk to each other?

Yes, there are private meetings and invite only clubs. Who cares? If you don't want to participate, fine, just don't whine. If you want to be invited don't draw attention to the private clubs and just work hard. When you start pulling big traffic and making nice money they will invite you. This is a business and not a popularity contest. We are here to make a living and to have a nice time while doing so. Just work hard and success will find you. I've got to get back to spamming and button pushing.

Ok, i've split off the last couple of posts to Setting up a UK SEO Meet

For those that want to talk about that, please do it there and let's keep this thread roughly on target for "are unnoficial seo meets good or bad for the industry"

and please see my comment in that thread, it's important :)

Thanks guys

goodroi

I belive you need to pay myself, bakedjake and mfishy for the use of that word:)

DougS

Good for the industry. I think when people meet they make a stronger community online and off. I think "only our money making meets" is a daft but very hard to police.

Good -
Small private groups or forums are crucial for the industry. These groups can help promote the talent needed to beat the agencies entering the market (brown trousers), they provide a valuable service to clients and they give the search enignes a kick in the nuts every so often.

Bad -
Unrestricted search engines will eventually be dominated by big business. Knowing how to game the system forces SE's to constantly change the algo. This causes SEMs to quickly change - something most large companies can't do quickly. In many cases, clever people can have techniques to themselves for a long time (make lots of money) before the masses discover them and the SE algos are changed.

Ugly -
The groupthink that starts when a forum or group insists they know what works and shouts down alternative ideas. Go to some of the well known forums and the mantra "content is king" is chanted over and over. It might as well be tattooed on their foreheads. Everyone is supposed to fall in line and not question authority. I think this is why you have all the "Adsense check" posts - most people don't know there is anything else to say.

Large gatherings, why bother - unless you want to try and pump SE reps or have a get together with a smaller group of people.

Speakers and presentations - unlikely to be presenting info that is anywhere near what you want - tourist and newbie traps.

DougS wrote: if I had spent my time and effort building a community and then saw people using the info to "compete" against me I'd be miffed.

If you build it only to serve yourself, it isn't really a community. Some folks have been learning that the hard way this past year. ;)

Just a shortage of invites for those not known. And known to bring more to the table than just questions. If you want a place where those who know don't say anything of real value, and those who don't know say tons of nothing of value, stick with the larger forums. Sadly, the only proven prevention for that is the invite-only gatherings and meets.

Any gathering is the sum of its parts. Show that you're a valuable part of any group and the invites will flow.

I've learned a lot of beginner and intermediate SEO over the years at the big forums from 01. But I haven't really learned much over the past year. However, I have met some good people over the past year and have learned more from keeping in touch with them. I think the sharing of observations and ideas of experienced ppl provides much greater value to that network and ensures the sucess of the successful. That said, if anyone is located in SoCal and wants to have a beer, the 1st one's on me.

I have to admit that my participation in forums over the past few years has been slim. When I do glance at them these days, I tend to see a lot less value than I used to. They are however a good place for beginners to ask general questions.

Oh and the UK peeps really should meet up more frequently. After all, compared to the US there aren't that many of us. :-)

http://www.threadwatch.org/node/1150

Although I've never attended to a physical "Unofficial SEO Gathering" including more than 2 people (acting in a laggard distant surroundings of the Middle East and plus lack of knowledge colleagues), IMHO the response for the above should be classified as "Good".

General big Forums might help the tolerant newbie, giving him a first push down the obstacle SEO/SEM road, moreover – they occasionally become support centers for the inexperienced webmaster, repeating the basic rules of thumb over and over again and constituting a podium for industry experts, SEO "authorities", forum operators and wannabes. Taking a one year perspective I can say that the # of reliable significant public posts is certainly going down and even "closed" member communities (e.g. SEW member area/forums) turned to be less attractant.

As industry evolves meteorically, the bits and bytes and ceaseless "secret-debate" shift to phone / IM / PM and generally speaking – switch into more private communities, better off the ones that could keep the "shortcuts" information for as long as possible.

Obviously secrets and corner cuts become less available in public forums, profoundly – for how long a bunch of hundreds or thousands of users can really Keep a Secret?

If you pay to get in, your an outsider.

If you get invited, you are INSIDE.

I'm still waiting for my invitation.

I was pretty jaded at the only meeting I went to (London PubCon). I went there hoping to learn some tricks and all I found was a bunch of clowns trying to sell me a website. I could see who the people in the know were, but they had already formed their "closed group" back at the hotel bar.

The only thing I learned at PubCon is that most people were in the same boat as me. Everyone I talked to kept their cards close to their chest.

Is there a big difference between an informal meet or forming a splinter group at a PubCon? In the end all the good info is traded behind closed doors anyhow.

Consider yourself invited Sly...

Im not sure there is a difference, but one of the things we hope to do at Stansted in May is form one big closed group - everyone :) You will still have to work out who you want to talk to but in an informal, free environment I would hope that the Stansted meet would sit somewhat apart from other such events.

We've never done very much the "traditional way" here and i shouldnt expect to see that attitude change at Stansted.

Its an open door,, and Nichk has the door, but I'll invite if you if that's what you want:)

See you there.

DougS

I feel better now. I signed up :)