I’m just now getting back into the swing of things after a fantastic 3 days spent at Edinburgh SEO Class 2008 with Jim Boykin, Chuck and Matt from US internet marketing firm We Build Pages and some Internet Marketing Ninjas.
I thoroughly enjoyed the get-together, although truth being told I was terrified at the prospect of speaking in front of seo luminaries like Ammon Johns (Black Knight) search marketing expert (currently at Fresh Egg), Brian Turner (iBrian) Director of UK linkbuilding company Britecorp, Ltd., Lyndon Antcliff of Cornwall SEO and expert linkbait coach and QuadsZilla, of SEO Black Hat.. (I hope he’s keeping his blog clean and I am not linking to a bad neighbourhood :) )
I am pleased to say everybody at the class (not just the speakers) was on excellent form, friendly and forthcoming with advice and opinions – I loved it.
Everyone at the class were people I had respected from a distance, for some time. I ended up postponing my presentation right to the end so they had a chance to acclimatise to my Scottish accent (not helped by an acute attack of hay-fever).
I am not as experienced as the others when it comes to presenting, I’m bloody hopeless with Powerpoint presentations too and as I said it kinda terrified me – I didn’t want to make a hash of it! I am a seo who spends most of his time alone in front of the computer. I think Jim, Aamon, Lyndon and Brian noticed I was in danger of passing out with nerves so they gave me a bit of a hand during the show – I greatly appreciated this and nearly enjoyed myself :)
I wanted to get the point across i had been obsessing about internal linking structures and all the theories you’ll find on the net, and the results, while a comprehensive infrastructure is of paramount importance, age old advice about interlinking internal content is still sound, and screwing with complicated Siloing and Pr Sculpting offered only a minimal benefits (in some cases) – and of course, each site is different. I will be going into some of this in upcoming posts on the Hobo blog. It’s easier for me to write this stuff than to present it.
I’ll make sure and keep in contact with Jim and everyone – I hope if I get such an opportunity again I can give a more polished presentation next time around.
Although saying that, Jim didn’t do me any favours keeping me up all night talking about SEO and drinking beer. I can’t talk about all the secret sauce that was passed around, but suffice to say, i had a meeting of minds with Jim on a lot of matters ;)
PS – Brian has a neat roundup of the event at his internet business blog, and I’ve noticed Chris who attended the presentations, and whom I had dinner, with blog about it too.
Anyone who was there leave a note so I get your emails and of course if you want a second opinion on internal seo stuff, don’t hesitate to ask me if you think I can help you (there was definitely a few unfinished conversations I’d like to pick up) :)
Thanks again Jim!
Shaun, it was an honor to have you present there, you did great. I also highly enjoyed the “networking” each night. Hey, you forgot to mention that we got thrown out of 2 bars there as well…and something about inflatable sheep…? hehe Cheers! Jim
i Got some ideas..good luck
@ Jim i would like to go on record as saying I had very little to do with either ;)
Shaun. It was great meeting you and the rest of the team. I have been on a few SEO courses in my time, but never one so informative. Also enjoyed great comany and getting Pished!! Regards Graham
Hi Graham – glad you dropped by. drop me an email next week and we’ll arrange a wee telephone call to discuss your site issues you were having. :) Really nice to gave met you!
What I loved about it was all the blackhat tips we learned from Shaun ;) Shaun actually did a great presentation, it’s always a danger of becoming complacent about things like internal linking structure. I learned stuff and had a few thoughts of my own sparked. I have been on the road since SEO Class and so will post my own thoughts today.
Blackhat? Lyndon, You have a bloomin’ cheek! ha ha :)
PS – Enjoyed your presentation – any chance of sending me your powerpoint presentation? I never took many notes, was too busy worrying :)
No problemo, I think I will send it to all the SEO Class people and then offer it to my linkbait coaching people. I may even tweak the presentation and do a video cast. I think I can improve my presentation a lot as I tried to cram too much stuff in.
Super! I’ll chase you up if you forget as I just started a writer at the firm :)