I learned very early in my business that staying on top of the latest and greatest changes and advancements was critical in offering a superior service to my clients. In the early years, I would bounce around from one conference to the next, trying to find the best source of ongoing and up to date information. Many conferences end up just being a sales pitch disguised as a conference, but I learned nearly a decade ago that SMX Advanced is the best and brightest that search has to offer. It is worth the investment to fly out and stay in Seattle each June and has been an annual part of my business plan.
Learning The Answers to Search Questions
Typically, within the first session or two, I am texting my wife to tell her that it was already worth the cost. Some knowledge at SMX doesn’t come in to play for a year or sometimes longer, as the technology we learn about on the cutting edge here, maybe slowly trickles down to where it is affordable to include in a smaller business search budget. However, being in those rooms and learning what others have succeeded and failed with and where the search world is going, is extremely valuable. Often, it is just data confirming my hunches and thoughts that I have already developed, but in a world with so much unknown and Google not really telling you anything, you have to work together within the industry, and analyze what is happening and working together, to better serve your clients.
I have done everything from adding extra days of courses to hosting my own small business luncheon table at SMX, but the biggest value I find out there is sitting and listening and taking in information that will better serve my clients going forward. I’m not necessarily out there to show off what I can do, but learn what others have done. We learn more from sharing and overcoming obstacles than from spouting off about the things that worked.
With updated information on SEO factors, technical enhancements, pay per click strategies and tricks, as well as call tracking, analytics dashboards, and a myriad of other tools that can better serve or measure your services for clients, this is the best there is and I’m proud to be a part of it year after year after year.
Rest assured if you are a client of mine, I have a passion for staying on top of all of this stuff, and this the place to fill the well each year, along with some other smaller conferences like Local U Advanced. I highly recommend anyone in this industry attending and absorbing everything you can out in Seattle. The city is a pretty fun place to visit as well. If you want to make sure your SEO is handled by someone with a passion for the industry and up to date on all the latest changes and best tactics, please give us a call. I love this stuff.


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