SEO-ing at Deepspace

space150 not only hosts quarterly large Deepspace events; they also have smaller monthly events on more niche topics. This past Tuesday, at Bev's Wine Bar, spacers Ben Krull and Craig Key lead discussion on the topic of SEO along with Ryan Lewandowski from Target and Nina Hale from Nina Hale Consulting. You can view some of the presentations here.
My favorite topics of the evening were using SEO beyond Google search, such as within Google Maps or within YouTube searches (fun fact: the second largest volume of searches are YouTube) as well as using social media and SEO.
While very interesting and informative, it was a lot to take in and think about. The key takeaway is to educate everyone involved in the process to use SEO. This even involves the guy who names the pictures. Titling a photo "swimsuit" instead of "swimwear" can make a lot of difference when it comes to SEO.
Keep an eye on the Deepspace site for future events and I hope to see you there!

2009 Trends Event a Success

Last Thursday, space150 hosted another DeepSpace event at the Fine Line in Minneapolis focusing on 2009 Trends. The event was a huge success with about 250 showing up to watch speakers Ted Souder from Google, Jim Cuene from General Mills, Paul Rombach from AT&T, Joe Zawadzki from MediaMath, Michael Kellar from DQ, Daniel Griffis from Chip Ganssi Racing, and Jeff Weiner and Christine Huang from PSFK.

While I enjoyed all the presentations (the technical difficulties didn't even phase Jim Cuene), my favorite was Michael Kellar. Michael Kellar was fun and engaging. It also shows that those of us so immersed in digital trends can forget that not everyone feels the same way. Kellar discusses the brands hesitation of diving headfirst into digital trends, when they may indeed be nothing more than just a fad (all signs point to the opposite being true, but you never know). This reminds me of NASCAR Blindness. After all, not everyone, myself included unfortunately, has an iPhone. Kellar also brings up the DQ "smile and a story theory." They may not be the fastest, most pervasive, or cheapest (having just come out with the Sweet Deals Value Menu), but they have an intangible quality that still makes them successful in the competitive QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) industry. My smile and a story? After every soccer game when I was younger, we went to DQ, bypassing almost every other QSR in the neighborhood.

Michael Kellar reminded me of something simple: 2009 trends to a company like DQ may have been 2000 Trends to me.

To see all the presentations you can go to the DEEPSPACE website, YouTube, or Drop.Io.

Be sure to check out the upcoming event at Bev's Wine Bar: Integrating SEO into your Agency, coming in February.

And if you were at this past event, please share your thoughts in the comments!

Yaybia Weekly Link Love: January 19-23, 2009

Welcome to our first of many weekly recaps, where we'll harness the rumblings of the interwebs into one post for your reading pleasure.

ON THE WEBS: In case you were under a rock and/or wasted all week (it's ok if you were!)

• We got a new President on Tuesday!  Google searches took a nosedive while we watched his speech, and a lot of us were watching online.  J9 talked about Facebook/CNN connect and how awesome it was.  To bring the federal government into 2009, the new administration overhauled whitehouse.gov at exactly 12:01pm--and it looks rll good.
  
  
• Another bad week for print as 3-year-old Wondertime magazine went under and Google nixed its newspaper ad network.  
  
  
• Google brought video to Gmail chat windows.  Anyone who knows what I mean when I say "AIM Aptus" is dying inside.
  
  
• Mashable posted awesome examples of how Twitter can help you IRL.

ON YAYBIA:

• Lam & Lib teamed up to give AgencySpy readers the lay of the land of 10,000 lakes
  
  
• The University of Minnesota embraces blogging and Twitter. Go Gophers!
  
  
• Click in the next 10 seconds and we'll DOUBLE YOUR ORDER!

LOVERS & FRIENDS: Shoutouts to our loyal readers and fellow bloggers

• Jacey and the crew at space150 hosted Deepspace 2009 Trends
  
  
• AS brings us more State of the State posts from Chicago and Denver.

LAWL: Links Lam and I sent each other in Gchat all week

• Be good, kids.  The President is watching...
  
  
• BOB! HELP! 
  
  
• We. Love. The. 90s. 
• 

DEEPSPACE 2009 Trends

This Thursday the 22, space150 will be hosting another DEEPSPACE event at the Fine Line in Minneapolis from 1-5pm. This event will feature a variety of speakers (Check out the agenda here) as well as a happy hour afterwards and Dilly Bars from DQ! There are a wide range of topics, but the theme centers around 2009 trends. It is free, but you must RSVP on the website: http://deepspace.space150.com. Even if you can't stay the whole time, or need to show up late, you should come by. It's going to be a great time!