Don't Miss the Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference

Unless you are selling the Collected Works of the Luddites, marketing has gone online baby!

"Yeah, that's great" you say, "but I'm a small business and I don't have the budget to hire an expert, or the knowledge to do it myself." Don't despair my friend, I have the perfect conference for you.

My friend Jennifer Laycock and Search Engine Guide along with Small Business Brief have teamed to create the Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference, in Houston, April 21 & 22. Aside from Jen, I worked with 3 of the other speaker's on the High Rankings Search Marketing Seminar.

Matt Bailey of Site Logic Marketing is a phenomenal speaker. He knows his material and is passionate about usability (making your site user-friendly) and conversion (insuring that visitors become buyers). He speaks in plain English with some humor thrown in for good measure.

Christine Churchill, of Key Relevance knows paid search inside out, backwards, forwards, on the diagonal, you name it, she knows it. She is fanatical about being up to date and thorough in her presentations. When I worked with her, that meant that she was tweaking her information literally until she walked up to the podium. Christine has been around the block a few times with paid search and she has the battle scars to prove it, but she wants you to learn from her mistakes.

Debra O'Neil Mastaler of Alliance Link is the Link Goddess. She lives, eats and breathes linking (washed down with a Diet Coke). Most people don't realize the importance of links to a website's rankings in the search engines. They also don't really know how to go about acquiring meaningful links (HINT: not all links are good links).

Jennifer Laycock is doing a session on Viral Marketing and she knows of what she speaks. She can speak from experience about the good (see this) and the not so good aspects of viral marketing. I bet she'll talk about how she used viral marketing to market this conference. You know like this.



I don't know the other speakers personally, but they are all well known names in the field of search marketing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah you say. The speakers are great, but I've been to conferences before and while I leave with ideas, when I get back to the office, I feel paralyzed about what to do next. Not this time. The total attendance is limited to 200 people, and the individual workshops are limited to 50 attendees. With these numbers you will truly get a chance to have your most burning questions answered (register early and sign up for one of the site clinics, you won't regret it). This time, you'll leave with a plan and the steps to complete it (including worksheets on a flash drive). As an event organizer, my biggest problem with the speakers listed above, was prying them away from conversations with attendees when it was time for them to present. They know what they are talking about and are passionate about sharing their knowledge.

The cost for 2 days is ridiculously reasonable at $950, but if you register before March 15th it is only $850. That's more than what it would cost get just one of these speaker's to consult with you for a day. Oh it is includes your meals too! This is where I shake my head in wonder because I know what it takes to put on one of these conferences and that's a great price.

I am not receiving anything for this post (Jen didn't even ask me to blog about it). I am being sincere when I say this will be an amazing event. If you are a small business and you need help with your marketing, you should not miss this event. What are you waiting for? Go to unleashedconference.com and register today!

The New England Women's Network

I love to meet people, but as previously noted, my family commitments don't always allow me time to attend as many networking events as I would like.
I'm excited about the prospect of the New England Women's Network a brand new networking group with the express mission of creating "a powerful, relationship-network that provides dynamic educational and inspiring events and workshops monthly throughout the year with the goals of increasing exposure, leads, and resources."

The New England Women's Business Network will hold their inaugural meeting Thursday December 6th from 11:30 to 2pm at Rivier College in Nashua.

The featured speakers are:
Betsy Meyers, Past Director of the Office of Women's Business Ownership in Washington, D.C. and National Chair of Women for Obama.

Pam Carriere-Oliwa, M.A., CEO of Success Management Center, Success Coach & Writer

Registration is just $25 before December 4th and $30 after the 4th or at the door.

I'm looking forward to attending. If you want to join me, please call Maria 432-0002 to register. Hope to see you there!

A Room Full of Independent Business Women

I’ve just walked in the door from the 5th Annual WomenBiz Celebration & Showcase Presented by The Women’s Business Center. This my third time attending the event and I always come away energized and inspired.

First and foremost props to those that made the event such a success. The WBC Board of directors and staff are a vibrant, caring group of women who are truly dedicated to the success of women business owners. Thanks to the event underwriter Citizen’s Bank Foundation and The New Hampshire Business Review for their continued support of women business owners.

The event featured an exhibit of 35 women owned businesses and there was a great variation of products and services. I collected a lot of literature and am looking forward to possibly profiling some of the women I met today.

There was also a delicious lunch and kudos to the C.R. Sparks staff for deftly handling my last minute accommodation for an alternate meal due to a food allergy.

The keynote speaker was Christine Ingemi, the creator of iHearSafe earbuds. iHearsafe earbuds are small in-ear earphones that are designed limit the volume of personal listening devices (i.e. iPods, Gameboys or CD Players) to prevent noise induced hearing loss.

Christine was very down to earth and full of encouragement for other women entrepreneurs. “It takes a village to run a business, don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

Ingemi says one of the greatest impacts of her success is her children’s inspiration. She has 4 kids and she told a story of her oldest daughter’s ambition to start a school newspaper. Instead of whining about the lack of a paper, instead her daughter came home saying ‘I want to do this, how do I do it?’. We should all be so lucky to be such role models to our kids.

The WBC is a must-know organization for any women even thinking of starting a business. They offer classes and resources for women entrepreneurs in all stages of the business development cycle, be sure to visit them at www.womenbiz.org.