If you asked me before whether I have any idea what SEO is about, I would answer you with a big NO.
I would probably even ask you if that is a new hip hangout at the Fort or if I was hungry, I would have asked you if that’s a restaurant. I was that ignorant of what SEO is (SEO people, please don’t kill me for my stupidity!). Sure I see the word SEO plastered in every job opportunities on JobStreet, but I did not really bother researching and knowing what it is. Pathetic, I know!
Wondering how I finally figured out what SEO is? Well, someone asked me to transcribe something related to SEO and the big AHA moment came! “Ohh, I can use for blogging, AWESOME!”, I thought. I kinda used it for some blogging rakets, but I have not dived deeper or learned more than that. I can imagine how people who are into SEO are now shaking their heads in dismay (haha).
Guess what?! (insert drum roll) Last weekend I attended the MORCON 2012 (aka Mastering Online Ranking Conference) organized by the SEO Organization Philippines! (squeal like a fan girl) At first I was really hesitant, I was doubting (myself) again, but since I like learning (but it’s not really that obvious), I said, “Lezz do this!”
I didn’t know what to expect, I had a lot of what ifs. Thankfully, one of my friends also attended the conference, but I was still scared (OA much!)… The conference was on a weekend and 152 km away from Manila. The meeting place was in Pasay, I went there sleepy and hungry.
When I got there, I have never felt so alone! Almost everyone was talking to one another and I was just there standing on the steps alone, I wanted to cry and just go home. But for the sake of learning, I did not go home. Hahaha I did not know what I was getting myself into, it was like diving from a cliff not knowing how deep the water below is.
So just like any bus ride, it was loooooong and tiring. I was just looking outside my window, dazing and praying to the weather gods to stop the rain.
We arrived at our destination Vista Venice Resort in Bataan, almost 2 hours delayed of our ETA and it was still raining. The walkway of the resort was obviously wet, slippery and smelled of chlorox!
After registration, I went to my room, which I shared with 4 (supposedly 5) other people. At that time, I didn’t really care anymore if I made friends or not, all I thought was, “Let’s do this. I will survive and learn new things.” But as it turns out, I have really awesome (and not to mention, fun) roommates!
I’m supposed to talk about the conference, but have you realized that I dedicated 8 paragraphs of randomness? And I don’t know if I can write about everything, but here are little snippets of what happened.
The conference started at around 1pm and for the first day, there were 8 speakers (I think) and on the second day, we had 5 (or 6, forgive me, I hate numbers!) speakers… INFORMATION OVERLOAD! I realized that I still have a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go before I fully understand SEO. I definitely learned a lot from the awesome speakers!
Some speakers kept their presentation short and sweet, while some was “packed” with information. Let me list the speakers whose presentation I really enjoyed, now showing my biases. haha
- Be a Web Bender Not a Spammer by Mark Acsay
- The 30-minute Guide to Guest Posting by Jayson Bagio
- Emotional Outreach: How to direct your Content Marketing to Effective Branding and SEO by Sean Patrick Si
- Enterprise Level Linkbuilding Strategies by Jason Acidre
- Web Analytics and Actionable Insights by Sheila dela Peña
- PPC Lead Generation Campaign for Affiliate Offers by Rex Leslie Malvas
That’s in no particular order ha. I just really enjoyed their presentation. Plus their presentations are really helpful in what I’m doing now, well Sir Rex’s presentation was money related, so I really listened to his presentation ($_$). 😀
I’ve downloaded some of their presentations and started reading it already. Will read all of them thoroughly this weekend. I’m really busy right now (napaka-anti-climactic!). But yeah, this weekend, I promise to read and research. I might even put it on my phone in order to read it while I’m in traffic. 😀
Aside from the usual talk, we also got a chance to (somehow) bond with the speakers. I guess alcohol makes everything better and loosens up everyone. They shared their secrets (to success) and just randomly talked about everything (basagan at its finest).
The conference was overflowing with food. I wonder how much weight people gained over the weekend? There was definitely carbs and protein overload. I think I lost weight instead because I had to walk and climb a hill just to be able to zipline…it was hella FUN!
Another thing we had to do was to introduce ourselves to everyone and it was kinda awkward. Imagine being surrounded by people from the SEO industry and me working in a totally different field. Hello black sheep!
Wow, for someone who is busy, I sure can still write! Hahaha This is too long already. MUST. STOP. WRITING!
You might be wondering, will I still want to join the conference next year? The answer is…(drum roll) Y-E-S! I learned a lot from the conference and I also met wonderful people. Aside from the test of trying to understand everything in front of you, it also became a test for my socializing skills. hahaha
I may not be fully into SEO now or I’m not using it for what I’m doing, but I’m pretty sure that the things I learned would be really handy in the future. It’s exciting to know how much you can do on the web, how much I haven’t discovered and how much I still have to learn! Aside from reading the presentations and notes I got from the conference, I should also start doing self-study…but for now, I still have to focus on work. 🙂
Life in a Trashy Soap Opera 