My hyperlink can beat your hyperlink…

Hey, this looks like some seriously good testing. And a lot of fun!

Sure beats the usual “who can rank at number one for the word neefoofwar and win an iPod” bollocks.

eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit.

Not long to go before I head to Washington DC for the must-attend eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit. The whole shebang gets off to a flying start October 14 and rocks through until October 17.

I’ll be chair/moderator of the search analytics track which runs over two days (October15/16). And there are some fantastic speakers and great topics. I’ll start the ball rolling on Monday morning (15th) and then we have author and analytics guru, Avinash Kaushik. We’re then joined by Manoj Jasra of Enquiro Search Solutions. My great pal Andrew Goodman joins the party and Chris Boggs pitches in too. And then we have Pat Stroh, Vice President Analysis Decision & Support at IMPAQT.

Plus there are four other tracks covering every aspect of online marketing over the entire four days. This really is a top class show and one that I always look forward to.

The venue is the Omni Shoreham Hotel. I’ll be geting in on the Sunday. So if anyone wants to join me for a splash of sherry in the evening, I’ll be in the Hotel’s Marquee bar from about 7.30. No doubt I’ll be dragging Goodman and Boggs along with me 🙂

If you’re a search marketer and live in the DC area, whether you’re coming to the conference or not, why not just pop in for a beer and say hi anyway.

Keyword research and tracking training…

Different for me, but I’m really looking forward to this training session!

The Algarve.

Well it’s the time of the year that I get to see one of my favourite views.

Tatiana and I had a little trip to the Algarve for the first time. Neither of us has been to Portugal before. I got a little tip from a friend about where to stay.

The Hotel Algarve Casino is perched atop the rocks from whence the resort gets its name, Praia Da Rocha (rocky beach). We booked a studio with a private sun deck and nice view over the beach.

And it has to be said…

No matter which way…

You look at…

The beach… It’s BIG!

The beach also has a nice long promenade with lots of small restaurants. Curiously, all of them are exactly the same shape buildings. But each one seems to manage to put their own stamp on it.

It’s a very nice resort. Pretty much like Spain, I guess. It has its fair share of cheesy Irish Bars and discos. But it also has a very classy hidden side in the Marina area.

One great spot we found was the private Nickei Beach club.

I picked up a nice bird while we were there 🙂

Of course, we had to visit the capital. So we spent a day in Lisbon. Our city visits usually involve a church. So, we had a quick peek in Jeronimos Monastery.

Torre de Belem, is a fortified tower located in the Belem district of Lisbon. It was built in the early 16th century to commemorate the expedition of Vasco de Gama. It has become one of the symbols of the city. And a major tourist attraction.

Lisbon has a bridge just like the Golden gate in San Francisco (and built by the same company too). It’s hard to see in this shot. But to the right of the bridge, as you enter the city there’s a huge statue of Christ The king, very much the same as the one in Brazil. Wonder which one came first?

We decided to head downtown for a bite to eat and crossed the main square in the city.

And into the main street which has lots of places to eat.

We found the perfect spot and enjoyed a wonderful lunch of fresh seafood cooked in a traditional Portuguese style.

And finished off with a drizzle of Madeira for T and a few splashes of cognac for me.

After which, T went to do a little shopping. And I decided to go back to the main square and have another look at the architecture. Well, T did laugh when she came to find me and saw just how closely I was inspecting the architecture!

There was one shot I had just to take at the resort and that was the one below. If you’re a fan of Little Britain, like me, you’d probably expect to see Matt Lucas and David Walliams walking out, declaring in very high pitched voices; “We’re ladies!”

It’s very rare that T ever considers going back to the same place twice. But she certainly enjoyed this so much she’s already decided on coming back next year. If you’re looking for something pretty laid back and quiet, just to chill and laze around the pool and the beach, this is certainly the place to do it. Cheers!

My long time friend and internet marketing legend, Ralph Wilson, spent a few minutes talking to me at SES, San Jose.

Goodbye Dasha…

We had a Dasha day on Sunday. This week it’s time for my little huggy-hunny to spread her wings and fly. Time to flip her snappy Geordie accent into a Mancunian drawl, as she heads to university in Manchester.

Your mother and I will be regular visitors to Manchester from now on, Dasha… It means I get to see you… And also sneak off for a pint with my mate and fellow Geordie, Jon Myers who lives in Manchester too 🙂

You’ll have a great time hun. Manchester is a great city… Full of boy students… What more could you ask for!

San Jose – the missing pics…

I knew there were some other pics from SES, San Jose and found them when I was looking for something else. Isn’t that always the case!

Mike: Steven, I give you one meeelion dollars to sleep with your woman.

Steven: She was actually only going to charge you 500 bucks, but a million’s cool, thank you.

My pal Steven Riley and his beautiful partner, Lorena. Yes, they’re having a little laugh at my joke… Not really, when Lorena sees it, she will fly from her home in Brazil all the way to Newcastle, swiftly kick me in the nuts, and then fly back again.

Only joking again. Really she’s my very huggy buddy.

And on the subject of buddies…

Mike congratulates Danny on his latest driving offence and they both tally up how many points they have on their respective driving licences 🙂

And here I am with my favourite companion… Yes, it’s shampoo! And with me… Jake Baillie, Jill Whalen, and yes, Steven and Lorena. I think Steven and I must have thrown at least 18 bottles of shampoo between us at the Marriott where we started and then later at the Fairmont. That’s what I like about Steven… Like me, he loves the odd glass of shampoo!

SES, London 2008
I’m totally knocked out about the huge number of speaker requests I’ve been getting for SES, London 2008. However, I can’t really respond to everyone with an answer unless there’s an official application.

Yes, yes, I know, some people have spoken at the event before. But we are changing the show for 2008 with a mixture of new and previously successful sessions.

Sorry about the red tape and official line. But honestly, the sooner you get on the official list, the better. And I’ll get back to you personally as soon as we’re ready to ramp up for the show.

If you want to speak at the London event (or any other SES show) please fill out the form here:

http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/forms/ses_speakers.php

I’ve also got a very neglected SES, London group on FaceBook, which I will most likely shift over to the search engine watch forum before the show, so we can get some live dialogue going.

I have to say, so much early feedback about the show is most welcome. So remember, even if you’re not pitching for a speaker gig but attending as a delegate, you can also suggest new topics and ideas for the show.

Cheers!

Nostrovia!

San Jose, Liverpool and the Lakes…

Well, I spent last week at the Marriott in San Jose, for SES. A couple of days I spent almost totally locked in my room suffering from… A kind of bug, or virus or… Something! Anyway, whatever it was it almost completely knocked me out of action.

My northern neighbour, Dave Naylor got in early for the show on the Saturday. As did Jen Slegg So, after a chance meeting in the bar (where else?) the three of us nipped around to a local restaurant where good food and bottles of Faustino were devoured. Then, it was back to the Marriott bar.

I decided on a late breakfast on Sunday morning. As did my dinner chums from the night before. So with the three of us scattered around the restaurant, we decided on breakfast together. And then on to Santana Row to do a little shopping – which turned, of course, into a little drinking. And what better way to start the day than with some flights of Champagne?

One of my favourite places on Santana Row is the Hotel Valencia. It’s such a beautiful place to stay.

Anyway, after a couple of rounds of shampoo, I split and went to meet Rebecca Lieb for lunch. And then I did a little shopping for a trinket or two for Tatiana. Back to the Marriott, a quick freshen up and then it was into a limo and back to Santana Row again. This time for dinner at The Left Bank. A very nice French restaurant. Much food and French booze was consumed. And then it was back to the Marriott bar.

By now, many of the regular faces were in the bar. As well as our very own blogger extraordinaire, Lisa Barone. Not many people know it, but Lisa is actually my long lost daughter who was kidnapped by people traffickers and… Yeah, that’s a special story between me and Lisa. And here she is with SEO Tiger, Simon Heseltine.

I took that picture with my BlackBerry camera which seems to work much better in daylight than it does at night. Anyway, I think I’m going to start an “I love Lisa” campaign in the industry. I was so blown away when she got a shout-out from the stage by Jim Lanzone at the first keynote at SES.

And lovely Lisa has a pic of her and long lost Dad (very boozy Dad, by now) over here 🙂

So, before the night ended, someone decided we should go to the Fairmont for something else to eat. Correct, after breakfast, lunch and dinner… It was time to eat again! At the Fairmont I got caught up with Danny Sullivan and a dozen others. And then, everything went black. And I woke up in my room.

I woke up fearing that I had been captured by aliens who had performed some indecent experiment on me in their spaceship. I was delighted when Daron and Brandy told me that they had helped me back to the hotel as my personal Tom Tom didn’t seem to be working and I was crawling around the floor. I was even more relieved when Brandy told me that it was her who took my pants off. Fine by me. And a little more relieved when Daron told me it was him who slapped the Vaseline on my ass for a little joke 🙂

Phew… That’s good. No aliens then.

Monday was a real treat. I was kidnapped and taken to the SES Women’s Luncheon. Correct – women’s luncheon. Here I didn’t even need to borrow skirt or anything. It was a splendid lunch. Li Evans asked me to pull out the winning raffle tickets. And I also get to meet the lovely Laura Lippay from Yahoo! for the first time.

After the conference finished, I went to the Fairmont with my great mate from Australia, Steve Riley. We sat around the pool, had lunch and then Steve did his SEO falling out of a tree impression.

Of course, the Webmaster FM bash was a must attend. So, I hooked up with Bruce (Bruce Clay, Inc is one of the party sponsors). We had a drink and admired the blood coming from our ears as the DJ cranked the sound up.

I made for the Bruce Clay VIP area and hooked up with Rebecca again. I love Rebecca very much for some sage advice she gave me that evening (well, I loved her before that also). And so it was, that the lovely Li Evans decided to capture a picture of us as we were just about to leave the bash. I can still hear Li shouting to us both over the top of the music now. “I said CHEESE godammit… say CHEESE!

Upon my return to the less than sunny shores of the UK I was reminded that it was a long weekend (public holiday). I was also reminded that I had promised to take my wife to the Mathew Street Music Festival in Liverpool. Hundreds of thousands of people hit the centre of Liverpool for this annual celebration of The Beatles. Mathew Street is where the original Cavern Club is. And that’s the epicentre of the party.

And Tatiana was able to fulfil a long held ambition. To stand in the doorway of the club where her favourite band ever, The Beatles, started their career.

I got to stand outside The Beatles official merchandise shop.

Look closely and you can see that, interestingly, they also sell, Mocha, Mochaccino, Paninis, er… sofas, light switches and chairs. Well, you never know when you’ll get the urge to install a Beatles light switch, do you?

Cavern Walks is where the city paid their main tribute to their favourite sons with bronze statues of each of The Beatles.

And of course, you couldn’t go to Liverpool without visiting Albert Docks and have a stroll down the River Mersey. “So ferry, cross the Mersey… de dah, do, do dah”

On Monday we jumped into the SEMmobile and headed north into some of the most beautiful countryside God created on earth. The Lake District has been the inspiration for beautiful poetry, music, art and even cartoon rabbits.

We visited a beautiful lakeside town called Keswick, which sits on Derwentwater.

Derwentwater is a much smaller lake then Winderemere. But still staggeringly gorgeous.

All in all, another lovely, relaxing weekend away with the missus.