Searchfest 2009 Keynote Interview: Danny Sullivan

Danny will be giving the keynote address at Searchfest 2009 which will be held March 10th in Portland, Oregon. Get your tickets now.

1) Recently, you’ve seemed to be more personal (https://daggle.com/081224-112016.html), political (https://daggle.com/081114-203010.html) & emotional (https://searchengineland.com/crappy-mp3-sites-comment-spamming-enough-already-15629) in your writing. Is there some philosophical underpinning behind your evolution as a journalist and as a blogger?

Daggle’s always been my personal blog, and it’s a place where I have tried to experiment with writing more about life rather than search. There’s no particular evolution. It’s just me perhaps making a bit more time to explore some of these other topics. I’m a writer, first and foremost, rather than a writer about search engines. So that’s just me trying other types of writing and especially working to make time for it.

In terms of the Search Engine Land post about having enough with comment spamming, I guess that’s not uncharacteristic in that I can get ranty at times. But there is an evolution there. Back in 2005, I had the same issues with junk content going out and trying to see if people could agree that this was a particular tactic no one should be doing. Now, I just have no tolerance for it. I know it won’t go away, but I can hope.

2) For a long time, SES and Pubcon dominated the SEO conference scene. Now, SMX plus a large number of smaller niche conferences (including Portland ’s Searchfest) are also competing for attendee and sponsor dollars. How does SMX distinguish itself in a much more crowed conference scene? How rosy do you see the future for smaller niche conferences like Searchfest? (note that I asked Kevin Ryan a similar question https://www.sempdx.org/events/3-questions-with-kevin-ryan/).

SES grew on the back of its strong programming, which I and Chris Sherman were largely involved with. So when people ask how SMX is different from SES, I always think that’s the wrong question. SMX is us continuing to do what we were successfully doing with SES. If you liked what that show had been providing, then you should be coming out to SMX. And, I’ve heard a number of people at our recent SMX West show tell me exactly that – that they’re seeking us out because of our content. We work extremely hard with speakers and coordinators to have sessions that we think help keep people informed and on the cutting edge. If our programming isn’t distinction enough, we also put much into the details. We serve real food, on plates, plus lots of snacks between sessions. That’s costly – people have no idea how much hotel and conference food costs, but we feel it’s better to make that expense to ensure a better conference experience overall. People like to eat. There are other touches, such as working to have a coordinated networking experience before the event through our online system and at the event through receptions and parties.

3) As social media evolves from Blogging to Facebook to Twitter, the barrier between a well-known industry personality such as yourself and your audience becomes narrower and narrower. How can you both maintain your personal space and simultaneously appear to “fully” participate in social media? (note that I asked Todd Malicoat the same question https://www.sempdx.org/business/a-six-pack-of-q-a-with-todd-malicoat/)

I suppose the personal space gets smaller. You can choose not to share anything personal, as some do. Others share everything! I try to be selective and share some personal things that I think might be of interest to a broader audience. But I don’t think you have to share personal stuff to be a participant in social media. The choice is really going to be up to each person.

4) How universally has SEO/SEM been accepted as a necessary and mandatory component of business marketing?

Let me redefine that as how has SEO and paid search been accepted, with SEM as the umbrella term that encompasses them both. I think paid search is broadly accepted. Just look at both presidential campaigns having spent huge sums on it. But then again, you can look at the SuperBowl ads that ran and see how paid search was sometimes neglected. It still has a long way to go to be fully integrated into marketing. As for SEO, it has even further to go. But as budgets tighten, I think more and more will look to ensure they’re doing better with SEO.

5) What makes a story worthy of SEL coverage?

There are a variety of things that make stories newsworthy to us. Anything fresh and broadly applicable is one – a new important tweak spotted to Google’s search results, for example. Or a great How-To piece that explores a topic no one has gotten to yet. Items of note are another – a business move that we think people should pay attention to, because we feel it will be part of a bigger picture down the road. Even an important rant on something someone feels is very wrong.

6) You’re one of the central figures in the search marketing community. Many people aspire to higher prominence in our little niche but only a select number do it successfully. How would you advise a lesser known search marketer to raise their profile?

I think any search marketer looking to gain a profile in the space should look to share knowledge. The more you can share and help other people, the more I think people will look to you for advice and thoughts. I think too many new search marketers decide to do a blog on search news, or do one where they add only a few comments about a particular news item. We need less of that and more originality. People finding unique features. People explaining some new tip.