Search Engine Optimization Philippines

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I guess it’s about time for me to write my own account of the recent Search Engine Marketing Conference (SEMCon) 2007 held at Hotel Intercon here in Makati, Philippines. Before anything else, would like to thank Mr. Tracy Childers whom I also call Master Jedi for sponsoring me. Master Jedi, I owe you!

So what happened?

Well oh well, I came on time with Benj Arriola who is also one of the speakers (and his part was really great) though a lot more came way earlier. However, I was still able to hear Mr. Aaron Wall make his keynote speech only to be quite disappointed at how short and general his talk was. I was honestly expecting him to share some new knowledge on how to do things right when it comes to search engine marketing but all he basically did was tell us stuff that can already be read either in his book or on his blog. Anyway, life goes on…

On the other hand, I did learn quite a bit from a few of the many speakers namely:

• Benj Arriola - SEO for Megasites
• Jayvee Fernandez - Effective Web Copywriting
• Elymar Apao - Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques
• Rhiz Sanchez - Advanced Link Building Strategies
• Hans Koch - Pitfalls of Pay-per-Click
• Marc Macalua - Innovative Landing Page Optimization
• Abe Olandres - How to Manage your Online Reputation

The other speakers also did pretty well too.  The ones listed above are those with whom I really learned at least one thing that I didn’t know yet.   Too bad I wasn’t able to hear much on Michael Turner and Todd Malicoat’s topics as I was invited by Aileen Apolo to join a meeting (among others) with Derek Callow, Google’s Regional Marketing Director for South East Asia.  We discussed mainly how to push Google’s services in the country and all I can say is that it went great.  Perhaps, it would be safe to say that SEO and SEM will soon be a common service for local establishments to acquire.

What about the food?  It was great but even greater were the chit-chat I had with whoever’s on the table with me.

What did I learn?  A lot but here’s a tip for you guys.  The best lessons are taught not when the speakers speak on stage but when they speak to you personally.  In my case, I found possibly better ways to get backlinks from authority sites, get a position in digg, effective PPC and more.

Who did I meet?  Aside from the usual, I was able to meet gUrLaLiEn, fire_lady and pektho - people I know from the SEO Philippines Forum.

At the end of the conference, I went out to dinner with old friends Jason, Abel, Zaldy, and Jenny.  After dinner, Benj and Hans joined us over coffee and had a nice night discussing stuff like “how to get banned from adsense” and other hilarious experiences.  Geez, I thought I had the worst adsense experience until Hans gave his account of his own adsense tragedy.

All in all, I would say that the conference was worth the Php8,500 though I think it would be better if they made it cheaper.  Looking forward to a second conference soon - perhaps this time with Greg Boser.

Did I hear you say photos???  Well I didn’t take any but others did - namely Rhiz, Jenny, Benj and Jason so might as well check out their blogs.  Cheers!

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I won’t call myself an SEO expert nor would I accept to be labeled as a newbie so I guess calling me fairly knowledgeable SEO would be good enough.  Anyway, SEO Lab Unlimited is not a company but simply a blog in blogger that I started.

What’s in it for me?  Simple - it’s my Search Engine Optimization Lab where I can test my ideas and see if they work.  At least with that my precious sites won’t be penalized if I do something wrong - and perhaps do a little money along the way…

Check it out for yourself - SEO Lab Unlimited.

I said I won’t give him a link but the joy and laughter in me dictates to do otherwise.

Benj Arriola’s got the guts and the talent to shoot a video of himself singing his own composition - The SEO Song - while sitting on his SEO throne… Duh… I won’t say too much, just watch the video.

Nice one Benj!

It’s exciting and it’s definitely going to be fun. Add to that the fact that we’re going to learn from the best in the SEM industry this coming October 9-10, 2007’s SEMCON 2007. But what might happen? What will we hear? What will we see? And so I fell into a trance and saw a vision of the future… I saw Aaron Wall standing in front of many people boldly saying at the end of his fruitful session…

Aaron Wall: All of these and more can be found in SEOBOOK. You can get it at (link here)…

Then there was a sudden barrage of noise from all the other keynote speakers…

Benj Arriola: Yes, that’s right. SEOBOOK is a great ebook. I suggest that you get it at (Benj’s affiliate URL here)

Jonathan Casuncad: No, get it from my affiliate URL. It’s http://…

Marc Macalua: O c’mon guys. I think they should buy SEOBOOK from my affiliate URL.

Abe Olandres: I have to blog about this. But you know people, I blogged about SEOBOOK before. I won’t give you any affiliate URLs like what these guys are doing. Rather, I suggest that you go to my blog (mentions url here) and read what I think about SEOBOOK.

Mike Turner: Geez Abe! We all know that blog post is filled with affiliate URLs as well. Anyway people, after you read Abe’s post about SEOBOOK, you can also go and read my thoughts about it in my blog (also mentions his blog’s URL here)…

As Mike Turner was about to end his sentence, I heard a barrage of noise from all the other speakers and even from many of the attendees shouting

Buy it from here… Use my affiliate URL!

Then I heard a voice from above saying to me, “Now that you have seen all of these, I command you to write a randomizer script that will randomly choose an affiliate URL from any of these speakers…” but before the voice finished I heard another voice speaking. This second voice sounded like a Filipino and he shouted, “SEOBOOK for sale! Only 10 pesos per copy! Best buy best buy! Signed by Aaron Wall himself!!!”

And I woke up from my trance confused…

Nah, I guess I just have to go and attend SEMCON 2007 and see if my vision is correct. And unto you my dear reader I say, join me and attend SEMCON 2007 so you too may be enlightened. Click the banner below for more info (opens in another window)

Support SEMCON 2007! Register Now!

Support SEMCON 2007! Register Now!

See you there!

Am I being punished?  If so, for what?  I hope I’m not being punished by almighty G.  After all, I did nothing wrong.  I think it’s normal for PR to fluctuate (it happened before) during a quarterly PR update.  I hope my PR ends up higher or at least the same after this.

Cheers!

No offense to the guys at Google but I just feel like posting about this.  I searched for “google toolbar” in Google and I found this ad in Tagalog.

Take a look at the text in the ad.  It says, “Magpasadya ng pindutan sa browser, itigil mga pop-up atbp. - Libre”

If you know how to speak tagalog then you’re most probably laughing right now or at least lifted one eyebrow.  Either Google hired a bad translator OR is using a bad translation engine. Either way… I think they need to change the wordings.

Go google!

I admit, I just copied and pasted this…  Just wanted to help promote it.

SEO Philippines is proud to announce the launch of the most ambitious SEO contest ever: the P600,000 Bayanihan SEO Contest.

Bayanihan (pronounced buy-uh-nee-hun) is a Filipino tradition wherein neighbors would help a relocating family by gathering under their house, and carrying it to its new location. More generally, the word bayanihan has come to mean a communal spirit that makes seemingly impossible feats possible through the power of unity and cooperation.

SEO Philippines takes the bayanihan spirit to the SEO world with the first ever social SEO contest. After two highly successful keyword ranking contests (Isulong SEOPH and Ituloy AngSulong) that saw individual SEOs fight for the top spot in all three major search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN), we’re breaking new grounds by introducing a team-based point system that will revolutionize the way all future SEO contests are run.

Read more about this on Marc’s blog.

Will I join?  I guess it’s too late… the early birds are already blazing ahead.  Worst, I’ve got lots of things at hand.  While I do want to win a contest as prestigious as this, I simply can’t dedicate some time for it so instead of burning myself out, I guess the next better thing to do is to wish luck to all the contestants and be present on the awards night.

Good luck to all contestants!

It’s official and final.  24 hours ago, Benj’s friends and colleagues started congratulating him for sticking to the #1 position in the SEO World Championship’s “globalwarming awareness2007″ contest with his www.goglobalwarmingawareness2007.com entry but that wasn’t official just yet as the contest staff needs to evaluate the winning entries and check them for any violations.  Everybody waited until today when it was all announced.

And guess what… Benj Arriola held firmly to his position and was finally announced to be the winner of a Brand New Citroen C2 car while the 2nd and 3rd placers won a Carribean Cruise and a Sony Plasma TV respectively.  As always, I took a screenshot of the webpage announcing the winners to freeze this moment in time.

Click to Enlarge

Benj already gave thanks to all those who helped him by writing a blog post entitled “SEO World Championship is Over” which proves that such an endeavor as this cannot be accomplished alone.  While he did mention the typical tips to win such as “content is king” and that “design is important,” what took my attention most was when Benj said, “SEO is a pay-it-forward type of industry.  The more help you give out to other people, the more help you receive when you need it.”  This is indeed true and perhaps not only in the SEO world but in any other venture.

Well, that says it all.  Benj you’re great and you inspired many as seen here, here, and here.  Now, may I borrow that Citroen C2 and take it for a test drive?  Hehehe… Congratulations dude!

Find out how to get the highest search engine ranking for your website EVERY TIME.  Read Kamau Austin’s “Always on Top”

Will Benj Arriola get his Citroen C2 (first prize) in exchange for his SEO efforts?  Many Filipinos and non-Filipinos all over the world watched the clock tick waiting if Mr. Arriola’s globalwarming awareness2007 entry will keep his #1 spot on this year’s SEO World Championship.  The contest officially ended on May 1st 6pm EST (May 2nd 8pm in the Philippines) and Benj didn’t let go.  He went through it and stayed on top.

But wait…

While we already know that Benj stayed on top, there are still a few things to check and one important factor that is causing and will be causing tension for the next 24 hours is whether Benj Arriola followed the webmaster guidelines presented at here.  If he breaks any of the guidelines mentioned then he may just lose his trophy and end up with nothing.

“I do not see my entry breaking any guideline,” said Benj so we all look forward to a worldwide announcement.

Another troubling thing is the following statement posted on the contest’s official website

The Seo World Championship 2007 has just ended. The GetUpdated staff will present the winners within 24 hours. The rankings have been checked manually by 3 staff members to make sure that the score is calculated correctly. (The current scorecard might not reflect the actual winners) Thank you for participating!

Will Benj’s site remain on top after the manual calculations are made by the SEO World Championship 2007 staff?  We’ll find out tomorrow.  For now, let’s just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Find out how to get the highest search engine ranking for your website EVERY TIME.  Read Kamau Austin’s “Always on Top”

On the first of May 2007, we will find out if Mr. Benj Arriola will get the top prize for joining the SEO World Championship contest.  The rule is simple - beat your opponents by gaining the top cumulative rank in the three major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) for the keyphrase globalwarming awareness2007.

The first time Benj told me about this, I knew that it was going to be a tough job but apparently Mr. Arriola was able to hone his search engine optimization skills by joining other contests before.  Whatever technique he’s using - no one knows and I can’t tell either but one thing’s for sure - he knows what he needs to do and he does it well.

Screenshot of Benj’s Entry

Benj grabs #1 spot with his entry

Benj’s website entry for this contest can be found at www.goglobalwarmingawareness2007.com and a quick look at the top-right corner of the SEO contest’s official website reveals that he’s currently ranking number 1 based on contest mechanics.  Will he keep the spot until May 1?  No one can really tell - search engines are known for random fluctuations - but if all goes well, Benj might just grab the gold.

Kudos to you Benj!

Technorati Tags: globalwarming awareness2007, seoworld championship, benj arriola

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