Why no love for Austin? (at SEMforSMB right now…)

Posted July 17th, 2008 at 1:49pm

I seriously wonder why there aren’t more search marketing conference in Austin, Texas. What gives? Anyone know?

SEMforSMB has proven there’s a local market here. Chris Justice and his team have proven that, even in the specific niche of marketing for SMBs, people are HUNGRY. I am sitting in the Leveraging Social Media panel and people are camping on the floor and lining the perimeter because there aren’t enough seats. There’s huge interest. Most people here are local, too.

And tonight, there’s the monthly Austin Social Media Club meeting. Adam and I are excited to finally get to go, but I have been following them for months and they are a great, consistent group.

Plus our Austin SEM/SEO Meetup is busting at the seams. Our next meetup on July 6th is on video SEO and video marketing and the response has been amazing. We just posted the meetup and already 26 spots are taken. And this is with really no promotion beyond people talking about it. (And what a great group of people!) I realize that this isn’t the same as filling a conference, but the point is that people want it and Austin rocks, so it’s a no-brainer.

So where are all the search/social media/search marketing/web biz dev conferences? (and NOT MLM crap)

And if you are screaming SXSWi!! at your screen, yes, I know, but that doesn’t count! That event has it’s own place in the history of the world. But what about SMX or SES?

There is no question that Austin is just oozing with web geeks who love events, and Austin has great venues, amazing food, and the nightlife isn’t bad either (so I’m told :p). So what else do we need?

LonghornKate and I need to start a grassroots group to petition to get search marketing conference organizers to come to Austin to see what we have to offer and how fantastic the people are here.

Who is with us?