It’s that time of year again! The plethora of Top 5 lists, “how-to-save-money” tax time tips, and “must attend search marketing conferences” begin to fill our inboxes. There is one conference that is definitely worth attending and it’s Sydney’s Search Marketing Summit – formerly known as SMX Sydney.
As a regular attendee I can highly recommend it. Hearing keynote sessions from international speakers and having a Google representative discuss the future of search helps to make this one of Australia’s best search marketing conferences.
So how do I justify the cost of attending this conference? Think of it as an investment.
I’ve documented 5 ways to get rich by attending SMX Sydney 2016. In no particular order:
5 Ways SMX Sydney Can Make You Rich
1. PUBLISH A LIVE BLOG
Create a website then LIVE blog the Search Summit event. Follow the official #hashtag, bullet point the main takeaways for each session, post a presenter bio. Place advertising on your site and collect affiliate revenues or use AdSense ads. Remember – this is only a 4-day event so once the conference ends so does the audience.
2. FREELANCE YOUR SERVICES
Finding good SEO services and practical advice is hard. Some business owners attend Search Marketing Summit’s to self-engage with the industry. Many of them will nominate their own sites (or their competitors!) for the “Site Clinic” sessions. Having experts evaluate your website and scrutinize the source code and backlinks is more than worth the admission price. It makes sense to follow-up directly with these attendees after the session and offer them your consulting services. ProTip – you already have a list of things to fix from the site clinic! Just make sure you understand their specific business needs and goals to then prioritize the fixes for them.
3. GET JOB POACHED
Mingle with the international speakers. Exchange business cards. Discuss your digital marketing goals and passions. Have a solid story to tell or interesting question to ask each of them. If a particular company or location interests you then let them know. You’re now on their radar and if circumstances permit you may land an overseas gig with a salary to match. Don’t forget – Stay in touch with your newly found contacts long after the event to turn this into an effective strategy.
4. ENTER COMPETITIONS
Bring a stack of business cards and enter every available competition. Should you score a prize such as an iPad or Netbook it can be re-auctioned off at your place of work for a never ending collateral swap. (Think One Red Paper Clip guy).
5. GET PROMOTED
A lot of information is presented during the SMX sessions and if you can pick out the common trends and identify where the experts think Search Marketing is headed it will give you an advantage over other digital marketers. Create a practical bullet point list of the important areas and the changes you need to make in your individual business. Present this back to senior management in your company as a future digital road map thereby making their job easier, your business more successful and improving your promotability.
I hope you find these strategies useful and would love to hear your own crazy harebrained schemes to become rich from attending Sydney’s Search Marketing Summit. Leave a comment below and BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Author: brad forster