If you read this blog at all, you know I’m spending most my time working with Amazon these days.
Why?
Amazon.com was founded 20 years ago. It now has 209 million users, 89 warehouses, 1,000 warehouse robots, and spends $160 million on Google search ads. Amazon sold $89 billion in 2014 and they sold 426 items per second on Cyber Monday. There are 2 million marketplace sellers and only 7% of Amazon’s sales are come from selling books.
Want to learn how I am taking advantage of this opportunity and growth market?
I’m going to give a lecture and presentation on the topic on April 9, 2015. It will not be recorded. If you’d like to attend, you can sign up on the Charlotte SEO Meetup page. If it shows as full, be sure to join the waiting list. (People generally cancel at the last minute on this group. No biggie.)
BlendConf is a conference for those interested in user experience, interface design, and development. It promises to have 50 great speakers and 350 attendees. It is three days long and looks impressive.
What’s probably most interesting about BlendConf Charlotte is the unique (more…)
I recently asked my pal, Jason Keath if he could write out the history of Social Fresh. Here’s what he sent me. Enjoy! For those of us in Charlotte, you’ll remember much of what he speaks of…
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Written by Jason Keath – Owner of Social Fresh
In 2005 I decided I wanted to be a creative director for an ad agency.
This was pre-Mad Men mind you. But the fine arts major inside of me saw the creative world of agencies as a pinnacle of sorts.
Needless to say I got sidetracked.
Today, almost 8 years later, I am running a company called Social Fresh, a social media training company. Social Fresh started in 2009 as a social media conference in Charlotte, NC, where I was living and working at the time.
Social Fresh came about out of frustration. Working my way through three very different agencies, where I was lucky enough to be able to pitch social media strategies for clients and potential clients, I recognized that there was a big gap when it came to how people thought about social marketing.
I’m currently on the plane flying home from Social Fresh East held in Tampa on April 18, 19. This is my first conference since being hired on as the Director of Client Services at Ephricon. It’s my first conference I’ve attended as an “agency guy” instead of a “consultant” or “entrepreneur”.
Jason Keath always puts on an incredible conference. I’ve worked with him quite a bit the last few years and it always amazes me how skilled he is as a content curator. (more…)
For those of you that have attended my classes or attended my meetups, you know I’ve been a little “under the radar” lately. So here’s an update:
For the past two years, I’ve been working a lot with Social Fresh and for a few clients. I’ve also reopened the Hippo Internet Marketing classes on Search Engine Optimization, Google AdWords, Blogging, and other topics.
But last month I moved my office from Huntersville to Mooresville. It’s a closer location from home and a little cheaper. But more importantly, it’s setup to do video better. (more…)
Every now and then I get asked about the networking events that are available in Charlotte for business professionals and marketers. It’s been 3 years since my last list. So I jumped on Twitter today and pulled a list together in about an hour, thanks to many helpful and friendly Twitterers in Charlotte.
If you are in the greater Charlotte NC area and spend much time online, you probably at some point will hear about Social Media Charlotte. Known online by the hashtag #SMCLT, this is a group that was started many years ago by Jason Keath (Social Media Speaker and Consultant and business partner of mine). For several years now, they have moved from just one person organizing it to a group of board members.
This morning, the new board of directors held their first event of the year. The events are named Social Media Breakfasts and this year started with a discussion of the new networks, platforms, and strategies. The discussion focused mostly around Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+. I did not agree with everything that was said, but I did agree with most. But that’s not important.
Most of my students, clients, and colleagues already know the benefits of advertising on Google. There are some real industry standards that have been developed that work really well on Google AdWords.
But few do Facebook advertising. Why?
I think I know why you don’t do it. It’s probably why I do so little of it.
You know how many people are on Facebook, right? You know you only pay per click, right? You also probably know that most new opportunities are cheaper at first, right?
I may be killing it soon. Before I do, I’d like your thoughts.
First, here’s the history of the meetup…
The first one was the 2011 Internet Marketing Forecast with Brandon Uttley on January 20, 2011. Since then, we’ve had some really good ones, including the 2012 forecast, an interview with weatherman Brad Panovich, and most recently, a great report on Google Plus by Mark Traphagan. I even got the smartest black hat marketer I’ve ever heard of to come speak to us! (more…)
