PubCon 2007
:How would you justify the expenses?
PubCon 2007
So anyone looking forward to go to the coming Search Conference – PubCon 2007? In case if you don’t know, PubCon is a Search Conference which is hosted by SearchEngineWorld & WebmasterWorld every year. It is for the SEOs and Internet marketing professionals to gather to share their best practices in the design, development, promotion and marketing of their businesses and brands.
Pubcon 2007 will be held on the coming Dec 4-7 2007, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada located at 3150 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA (map)
So if you are up for it, Register online right now to save money on the registration fees!
But, Wait! Have you thought of how are you going to justify all your expenses of going to this search conference or any other on this matter, that involves you traveling to a different city (probably) and staying there for 3-5 days? Will your boss/company be willing to sponsor your expenses? – Provided the fact that there is always a conference on, every 2-3 months? (Remember, SMX London..).
If you work for an agency or consultancy then you probably don’t have this problem. However, if you’re an in-house SEO you will need to sell the idea to your boss in order for him to give you a cheque and also have a ’smile’ on his face at the same time. So here are some of the basic tips that can probably help you on this regard:
1. Stay Ahead in the Market- You need to stay ahead in the Search Marketing game. A lot of issues that are discussed in the search conferences aren’t actually available online. And sometimes you will miss out a lot of discussions on questions that your company is looking answers for. So your chance to go and grill the speaker and ask questions after the presentation is invaluable. Research your competition online and show your boss how they are doing certain things that you may need to learn about, tell him that if you are going to compete and reap the rewards financially…you need to go to this conference.
2. Save Consultation Fees - Since you will be meeting a lot of industry experts, it would be a great chance for you to talk to them personally and also get some expert advice (for FREE!). But of course if you are impolite and ask ‘too-many’ questions, you are most likely to end up with their business card in your hand which indirectly means – “Pay Me and We will Talk”.
3. Share the Knowledge - If your boss wants to send the whole department to the Search Conference, its going to be very pricey. However, If your boss pays a few thousand for you to go, he may have concerns that you are going to be offered a job and may not come back. So instead tell your boss how you can become an asset for the company by getting yourself the knowledge that has been distributed. So Once you come back, you can easily conduct a ‘in-house’ seminar and educate the rest of your team.
4. Get your clients to Share your Expenses- If you work for a few clients or provide consultancy, why not speak to them and inform them about the conference. Pitch what you’ve learned and show them that they will be benefited if you’ll implement this on their website.
5. Choose the right conference - There are a lot of conferences, but choose wisely. Sometimes you may need to choose based on who is speaking or based on what content is being covered. Research the conference schedule, see who is talking and what they are speaking about. Make a list of things you really want to learn and make sure the conference has the relevant content. Ask questions at forums and blogs with industry experts and ask them for their view on a particular conference.
So Hopefully these basic tips will help you to sell the idea of going to the next search conference to your boss!
