The Marketing Technology Blog

Maybe it was the quad-shot non-fat mocha? The hot lights? The megascreen? The ‘reverse’ auditorium’? Maybe all of the above - but I was nervous when I quickly spread through my presentation today at BlogIN. In fact, my heart was pounding pretty good before I got up to speak. That’s unusual for me. As soon as I started sweating from the lights, though, I noticed my voice shaking. Ugh.

Weird - because it was a comparably small audience with many folks that have previously seen me speak. I definitely felt a great connection to the audience, but was still nervous. Perhaps I’ve had a such a great string of events that it was time that I got stirred up a little.

Correction to my presentation - I said 160 characters for micro-blogging, it’s 140. Doh! 160 is SMS.

Public speaking isn’t always easy but I really appreciate any opportunity to speak. Perhaps the key issue on this one was the venue. I don’t think I’ve actually done a presentation with such a huge screen and the audience ABOVE me rather than below. I’ve read a lot that a practice walk-through at your venue is always a good method of easing your nerves. I think that may have helped a lot today.

After we cut from the Auditorium and moved to the sessions in IUPUI’s classrooms (that were INCREDIBLY equipped!), all was good. I can’t explain what a feeling it is to see someone’s confused face and eventually turn that into a ‘Oh!’ and see the lights turn on. That’s what I LOVE about doing these events. This technology is NOT easy for most people - and I really appreciate every chance I get to help someone through it!

Redirect Advice for WordPress, converting to Permalinks

I may have given one piece of bum advice to Lorraine Ball. Ken Zweigal (who is a master with SEO) gave me an odd look and may have identified my mistake. Thankfully for me, he didn’t rip me.

Lorraine was converting her blog from normal querystring links to permalinks (where you see actual keywords and phrases in the URL for each post rather than a ?p=1234). Permalinks with Post Slugs can make quite a difference in the Search Engine ranking of your content.

I said that Lorraine HAD to put some redirects for each of her posts in her .htaccess file. It’s actually not a requirement to do that - Wordpress will still find and display the appropriate article. However, it is good to still use the redirect to notify the Search Engine that the link to the article is now the new permalink.

Maybe next time I’ll cut the caffeine before the event and get used to the heat of the lights.

Eventbrite was founded in early 2006 and monthly volumes of tickets distributed are already in the millions with tens of thousands of users. I saw my first Eventbrite invitation from an event promoted by Dr. Thomas Ho and I’ve utilized it for 3 events already.

Though clean, the interface is a little clunky. There are a TON of features packed into this application and that’s, no doubt, the challenge for locating the right menus in the right places. If all you wish to do is add a quick event and invite a few folks, there’s a nice plain 4-step wizard.

If you want to do more advanced options (surveys, auto-responders, discount codes), you have to search a little harder. I did find all the help I needed in their help files and, in addition, they have a TON of helpful Tutorials!

If you’re wondering why you wouldn’t do this yourself, there are a few reasons:

• IMO, the greatest advantage of Eventbrite is that you’re automatically publishing your event to Eventful’s evdb (Events and Venues Database). This promotes your event well beyond the boundaries of your own readers and makes it accessible to other sites, such as Yahoo’s Upcoming.
• Next is the robust payment and ticketing system, this is a headache that you simply don’t want to deal with on your own! Eventbrite even has a refund mechanism!

There are a ton of other cool features - published guest lists, RSS feeds to your events, Facebook integration, Paypal integration, Google Checkout integration, a robust API, a method of simply publishing your own event page, an affiliate program… you name it! And, you can keep tabs on their development through the Eventbrite blog.

Watch your back, Eventbrite!

Standby, though! I got to evaluate some Email Service Provider applications at one time and TicketMaster was in the mix. Though they aren’t the most well-loved business in the ticketing industry, TicketMaster is territorial and extremely aggressive.

I’m not sure how much longer TicketMaster, with its stranglehold on the industry and exorbitant fees, is going to stand by and let a great startup like Eventbrite continue to grow in success! They may not be able to catch up, though, if Eventbrite continues to innovate!

I spoke with my friends over at Bitwise Solutions today and they are offering a FREE seminar on Thursday to readers of this blog! (Registration for other folks is $20!).

Where: BitWise Solutions
11460 N. Meridian St., Suite 110 Carmel, Indiana 46032
When: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Time: 8:30 - 10:00 am
Reserve your Seat: Call Kim Smith at 317.805.4376 x200

What you’ll be learning

Finding keywords that drive conversions, one page optimization, integrating paid search, internal linking and link building will help you to achieve higher ranking results within the different search engines. Jim Brown President of EverEffect explains how you can achieve a higher ranking.

Who’s Teaching?

Good friend of mine, Jim Brown, will be leading the session. Jim is an expert in business development. Founder and President of the marketing firm Accent Creative Group; Jim developed and implemented marketing initiatives that enabled the firm to double its revenues during each of its first three years in business. Jim’s insightful and innovative approach to marketing led to his listing in The 2006 Who’s Who of Small Business Marketing.

Jim is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.