Search Engine Enlightenment

Danny Sullivan Stays with Incisive, For Now

I could have sworn when I checked his blog last night, Danny was in Disneyland and that was about it. A few hours later he must have posted the update about his plans, summarized and commented on nicely by Searchviews.

In short, Danny is:

• Still chairing SES New York 2007
• Co-chairing SES San Jose 2007
• Not chairing but participating in SES Chicago 2007
• Stepping down from SearchEngineWatch.com and related publications (no change there)
• Will launch a new search blog / website
• Will host search marketing events (to be determined)

OK, so that tells us roughly where Danny is at. No doubt he won't have much trouble selling out the new conferences.

Hmm, now about all those folks including speakers, exhibitors, and attendees at SES shows over the years? It's anyone's guess. Like Danny, we'll be at Chicago this December doing our best to put on a good show, share info, and have a good time. Insofar as people like Danny and Chris Sherman will be integrally involved with SES through 2007, we will too. And even if Danny does organize future shows under a new banner, that makes you wonder if the SES's outside of the U.S. will continue to be just as vital as ever. You can't imagine that Danny plans to host dozens of shows. So we have to ponder the fate of Toronto, Milan, Shanghai, and of course Vancouver as far as search marketing tradeshows are concerned.

Beyond the next few months, in any case, the picture does get fuzzier and fuzzier because there are so many variables involved. All that's certain is that people in the industry want to know where all the other people are going to be, so they can show up, network, and learn. Maybe that's why so many people are coming to WebmasterWorld Pubcon in Las Vegas in November. (Danny is keynoting there, BTW). For search marketing vagabonds, it looks like Vegas in November is about as sure a bet as there is right now. Who would have figured?

Some additional prognostications for the 2007 search marketing season:

• Search will continue to matter a lot to people, and will continue to become more ingrained in the worldview of citizens and consumers
• The "longtail mentality" will be at least as important as the physical long tail itself
• Smart marketers will continue to kick the butts of dumb ones
  
• Networking and info sharing will continue to take on a variety of forms
• Some of us speakers and exhibitors will perhaps, more than ever, look at tradeshows as a form of lead generation as opposed to pure consensus-building, partygoing, or insider-chatter
  
• However, the long view of lead generation is that networking and referrals drive it, and you cannot network without seeing people, without making connections, and caring
  
• Conclusion: all the major tradeshows and unconference opportunities will continue to be valuable events from a lead generation perspective, but those who take the "short view" of lead generation and make their presentations too "salesy" will ultimately lose sales (and speaking opportunities).

I think I just said: content is king.

Posted by Andrew Goodman
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