Austin SEM Meetup - Local Search
Oh, hello blog, where ya been?
First, you can follow me on Twitter (wait, what did I say?) and FriendFeed here:
http://www.twitter.com/lauraa
http://www.friendfeed.com/lauraa
About 4 months ago Adam and I decided to start a SEM meetup group in Austin. We couldn’t figure out why there wasn’t one already, so we decided to do it. We had our third monthly meeting last night and it keeps getting better. Great people, great discussions, and of course, we love the topic.
We have over 100 members now and get about 30 people at each meeting (max for the venue - we need a bigger one!).
Here are the slides from the presentation: Local SEO: How to Totally Own in Google.
I also put some notes and URLs on the Austin SEM meetup message board.
My fave local SEO sites/blogs:
http://blog.kelseygroup.com/
http://www.localseoguide.com/
http://www.localpoint.com/
http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/
http://blumenthals.com/blog
http://stephenespinosa.com/
http://gesterling.wordpress.com/
http://www.convertoffline.com/
Next month, Video SEO! Adam and I will be presenting again, but I have a few people who I will beg to share their expertise. This is a *Really* great group… Here is what some people have said about it:
This is an extremely valuable source of knowledge, and the collaboration of the group added richness of combined knowledge and experience which helped everyone learn more about the topic. I would Highly suggest if you own a small business, and have a website, you need to attend this meet up.
Another thorough and lively discussion organized by Laura & Adam. I’m sure everybody who attended learned something new that they can apply to their unique situation. Great stuff!
Laura and Adam have put together something great. I learn so much every time!
A great group of people. All professionals, but fun, and out there to give and receive useful information for SEO/ GREAT GROUP!
If you want to learn or get plugged in or even hire a good SEO firm then get plugged in to this group.
Cool, huh?
Edit: Some great write-ups about the event!
Our favorite blog coach - the Tracksuit CEO covers a bunch of points that I didn’t even mention. So glad you keep coming back, Daniel!
And another veteran of the group, Judd (who owns Austin interactive marketing company Trif3cta), made a great post covering even more stuff that I didn’t mention.
Go check out those posts - they are worth the trip! ![]()









Nice presentation! A great summary of managing a local campaign.
Mike
Mike Blumenthal
July 8th, 2008 at 8:51am
[…] Laura’s post on this has a huge list of resources and links for doing the 3 steps above. These things are all free and all relatively easy to do. I love how this sort of levels the playing field for local, small businesses. Most small businesses can’t afford the big Yellow Pages ads, but they can afford to do this. All it takes is some time and strategic know-how. […]
Locals Only: How to rank in Google’s Local Search
July 11th, 2008 at 4:49pm
Thanks for the mention, Laura!
Daniel Hope
July 14th, 2008 at 10:26am
Hey Laura,
Great presentation.
Did you do a mp3 recording of your presentation?
Would be cool to listen to it.
andrew wee
July 15th, 2008 at 6:00am
I appreciate the shout-out, hopefully we can get even more folks at the meetings (which are already at capacity).
I’ve bookmarked your recommended blogs, I look forward to checking them out a bit more.
FYI, I updated the presentation link to point here rather than SlideShare.
See you at the next meeting!
judd@trif3cta
July 21st, 2008 at 7:51pm
[…] You can check out Laura’s local search slide presentation and writeup. […]
Laura Alter on Local SEO Search | Andrew Wee | Blogging | Affiliate Marketing | Social Traffic Generation | Internet Marketing
July 24th, 2008 at 5:35am