Mat Siltla

I will be speaking on 3 panels at SMX West and am pretty excited about the panels.  They are some awesome subjects with some even cooler speakers!  Here is a run down of my speaking schedule:

Local & Mobile Search Track

Mobile Search Apps & Opportunities – Away from your computer, but need to search for something? There’s a smart phone app for that! More than 100,000 for the iPhone, 20,000 and growing for Google’s Android. This session looks at popular search apps on different devices, how they gather data and opportunities they offer to search marketers.

I found this newspaper clip from way back in the day when I used to be on the Radio (Kat Kountry, Safford Arizona) with Reed Richins.  Pretty funny, those were good times!!  Love Reed, and I loved being on the radio and working there.

Just wanted a quick post to let those that may not know already I will be speaking at SES Chicago 2009 on two panels - details here:

Hear Matt Siltala speak at SES Chicago 2009

First Session 10:30AM Monday Dec. 7

Mixed Media SERPs
Search result multiplicity is not a new phenomenon, but recent advancements guarantee that the world of search and marketing will be changing forever. How do the new “blended” search results pages affect your marketing strategy? Do these changes mean that the major search engines are eager to keep the “second click” on web properties owned by themselves? How popular are the new blended search results with users?

• Moderator:
  Andrew Goodman, SES Advisory Board & Principal, Page Zero Media
  
  Click to close

  Speaker Profile

Speakers:
Larry Cornett, VP, Consumer Products, Yahoo! Search
Mat Siltala, Founder, Dream Systems Media
David Naylor, SEO, Bronco
Mark Knowles, President & CEO, Pixelsilk, Inc.

Second Session 1:45 PM Monday Dec. 7

Images & Optimization
It’s been said that a picture can be worth a thousand clicks. If your website has a lot of product images or contains many images as part of the design, you can’t afford to miss this session. Join us as we explore enhanced image search along with image links, geo-tags, accessibility issues, alt attributes, surrounding text, filtering concerns, file sizes, image-specific search engines and a host of other important considerations for capturing targeted traffic.

• Moderator:
  Joshua Palau, VP, Search, Razorfish
  
  Click to close

  Speaker Profile

Speaker:
Liana Evans, Director of Social Media, Serengeti Communications
Grant Crowell, Senior Media Analyst, ReelSEO.com
Mat Siltala, Founder, Dream Systems Media

I just can’t get over how fun Pubcon 2009 was.  I enjoyed it so much, and even better I got to spend it with the Dream Systems Media crew (who I normally don’t get to spend time with because my two partners live in Utah) and I also got to spend the time there with my wife!  It was awesome.  I enjoyed speaking and getting to see old friends, meet new ones and connect with all my friends on Twitter and other networks.  I am going to let the pictures do the talking - Enjoy:

Here are some photos from my recent trip to NYC while speaking on a panel at SMX East.   IT was amazing, but even more amazing were the people that I got to meet and hang out with!

It was awesome getting to hang out with Debra

Here I am on top of 30 Rock With Chris Bennett

Vince Blackham and Myself on top of 30 rock

Awesome view of central park from top of 30 Rock

Matt Siltala and Tamar

Matt Siltala and Will Scott at SMX East NYC 2009

Matt Siltala dailyboothing it up with new friend Monica Wright

Dailyboothing it up with Lisa Barone

Rhea from Outspoken Media and Matt Siltala dailyboothing it up!

Matt Siltala and Michelle Robbins - the coolest person of all SMX (sorry peeps she was)

Awesome view of Empire State BLD. from 30 Rock

Central Park from up high!

Will Scott during one of his sessions!

As the healthcare debate continues to consume the national political scene, Phoenix Internet marketing company Vertical Measures is drafting a solution that both Republicans and Democrats can support.

This solution encompasses a contest offering $5,000 in free Internet marketing services to companies in the healthcare and wellness industries. If only the healthcare debate in Washington was this simple.

To enter this “Boost Your Juice” #2 contest all you need to do is submit an essay of up to 600 words with at least one photo (and up to five pictures) or a video of up to three minutes explaining why your healthcare or wellness business deserves free Internet marketing services.

It’s really that easy, and even if you don’t win you can still receive $1,000 in free services just for coming in second place, and you will get a free Vertical Measures T-shirt just for entering.

The contest opened on Oct. 5, and entries will continue to be accepted until Nov. 3, a day better known as Election Day.

From there, the Vertical Measures team will choose the top five entries by Nov. 9, and then visitors to the VM site will be able to vote for the winners, which will be announced on Nov. 13.

Examples of the types of Web sites that would qualify for this contest include those focused on “health insurance, weight loss, fitness, dental hygiene, smoking cessation, and medical supplies,” according to the contest homepage.

And before you enter, don’t forget to check out VM’s video introducing the contest in which President SEObama promises to buy his kids a puppy if there are 20 submissions!

Business owners, if you have a website let me give you this one piece of advice - don’t mess up your phone numbers!  It will make people so upset that they will not use you, even if you are the best.  Today my wife and I were looking for a structural engineer and we came across the following website:

website fail

Looks fine and dandy right?  Well the Toll Free number given right by the PHOENIX Arizona, IT CALLS NEW JERSEY - A Corporate office in New Jersey.  Come on people!!! Local Marketing Fail, and marketing fail in general.  Make sure your business numbers are correct and you are not sending people to the wrong places.  You will (and are) losing business because of these stupid, avoidable mistakes.

K, Thanks!

**** UPDATE - It gets even better, besides being idiots with a New Jersey corporate HQ phone number on their Arizona site, they call me back 2 days AFTER I ring them up originally to schedule something.  Hmmm, is there a reason they did not get my business?  Me thinks so!!

Not a good way to run a business or a website - if anyone from this company ends up reading this, pass along the word to do a better job.  Learn from your mistakes and grow!