Comments on: My Plea to SE Conferences: Turn Calacanis Away http://www.ericlander.com/202.html Welcome to my cozy little piece of the Interwebz Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:06:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Eric http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9025 Eric Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:21:58 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9025 Jason, I wasn't in the room to hear what was said. You know that though by now. You're an incredibly talented marketer, as evidenced by your ability to generate attention for yourself (like, my blog post here and the discussion on Sphinn). I'm just tired of that pitch and would prefer to see it stopped. That's the basis for this post and it's entirely opinionated. I'm glad others enjoyed your full keynote, and I'm happy that they obtained some value from it. Jason, I wasn’t in the room to hear what was said. You know that though by now.

You’re an incredibly talented marketer, as evidenced by your ability to generate attention for yourself (like, my blog post here and the discussion on Sphinn).

I’m just tired of that pitch and would prefer to see it stopped. That’s the basis for this post and it’s entirely opinionated. I’m glad others enjoyed your full keynote, and I’m happy that they obtained some value from it.

]]> By: Todd Mintz http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9022 Todd Mintz Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:06:08 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9022 He's a name and he gets coverage which means you'll likely see him programmed again. He's counting on blog posts like this to further increase his mindshare. I don't necessarily disagree with your premise but Jason will only go away when people stop paying attention to everything he's saying and doing. He’s a name and he gets coverage which means you’ll likely see him programmed again. He’s counting on blog posts like this to further increase his mindshare. I don’t necessarily disagree with your premise but Jason will only go away when people stop paying attention to everything he’s saying and doing.

]]> By: Jason http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9021 Jason Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:51:39 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9021 We're you in the room for the talk? I got a ton of great feedback on the discussion/panel. Danny Sullivan was very happy with it as well. We had dinner after with like 40 people and everyone thought it was a positive discussion. At least 30 folks came up to me after to say they LOVED my thoughts on the industry. I think there is a very positive discussion going on at these events regarding the value of SEO vs. the value of building a great site. It's amazing to me how out of context folks take my talk... if you take one sentence you're not getting the whole picture. Anyway, if the SEO industry can't handle an outside voice that doesn't agree with it at their events it doesn't really matter to me. However, I would encourage you to be open minded to dissenting voices: they're not always right, but sometimes they are. rock on, j We’re you in the room for the talk? I got a ton of great feedback on the discussion/panel. Danny Sullivan was very happy with it as well. We had dinner after with like 40 people and everyone thought it was a positive discussion. At least 30 folks came up to me after to say they LOVED my thoughts on the industry.

I think there is a very positive discussion going on at these events regarding the value of SEO vs. the value of building a great site. It’s amazing to me how out of context folks take my talk… if you take one sentence you’re not getting the whole picture.

Anyway, if the SEO industry can’t handle an outside voice that doesn’t agree with it at their events it doesn’t really matter to me.

However, I would encourage you to be open minded to dissenting voices: they’re not always right, but sometimes they are.

rock on,

j

]]> By: David Mihm http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9020 David Mihm Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:56:53 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9020 Well-written, rational article, Eric. If he thinks big sites don't need SEO to rank, tell him he should change the title tags on his site back to "Jason Calacanis," switch his homepage links to AJAX & see what happens to his traffic. Let alone see what happens when other Web 2.0/3.0 speakers start to get more incoming links than he does. Well-written, rational article, Eric.

If he thinks big sites don’t need SEO to rank, tell him he should change the title tags on his site back to “Jason Calacanis,” switch his homepage links to AJAX & see what happens to his traffic. Let alone see what happens when other Web 2.0/3.0 speakers start to get more incoming links than he does.

]]> By: Mike1115 http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9019 Mike1115 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:48:28 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9019 He should definitely continue to keynote. His perspective is a wake up call to industry people who believe the little box they live in is the world. Also, he has explained many times now that the SEO is BS comment was targeted to the "used car salesmen" type SEO pitches he'd get. He's saying thin sites are losing and content rich sites really don't need SEO. The thin sites are chasing Google after every algorithm change rather than providing a high quality user experience. He says nothing against the content rich user value added sites, and that's the point. He should definitely continue to keynote. His perspective is a wake up call to industry people who believe the little box they live in is the world. Also, he has explained many times now that the SEO is BS comment was targeted to the “used car salesmen” type SEO pitches he’d get. He’s saying thin sites are losing and content rich sites really don’t need SEO. The thin sites are chasing Google after every algorithm change rather than providing a high quality user experience. He says nothing against the content rich user value added sites, and that’s the point.

]]> By: Macy http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9018 Macy Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:40:00 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9018 Absolutely right on. I must say I saw it coming. He's not so different from the industry he trashes. He is getting lots of popularity from this behavior, which must be his form of SEO. Absolutely right on. I must say I saw it coming. He’s not so different from the industry he trashes. He is getting lots of popularity from this behavior, which must be his form of SEO.

]]> By: Melanie http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9017 Melanie Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:24:09 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9017 Thank you Eric. You stated precisely what a lot of us are thinking. Why on earth do so many SEO folks follow him on twitter though? Not me. Never have. Never will. Thank you Eric. You stated precisely what a lot of us are thinking. Why on earth do so many SEO folks follow him on twitter though? Not me. Never have. Never will.

]]> By: Rhea Drysdale http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9016 Rhea Drysdale Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:00:46 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9016 No link love for Jason? ;) Couple of points: I agree, Jason needs to stop being invited as a keynote. However, this certainly does get SMX some nice backlinks from the SEO community. Call it speaker-bait if you will, but most people would rather watch a brawl than a boring trend keynote. Those aren't my personal feelings, but a simple observation that keynotes have devolved into verbal entertainment and juicy bait for bloggers and twitter users. As for Jason thinking SEO is a waste, that's a load of crap. He believes in it as much as anyone and puts a lot of effort into being search-friendly. He's just sparking discussion, yet again, and everyone is eating it up because it gives them something to talk about rather than pointing out the inherit flaws in Mahalo. No link love for Jason? ;)

Couple of points:
I agree, Jason needs to stop being invited as a keynote. However, this certainly does get SMX some nice backlinks from the SEO community. Call it speaker-bait if you will, but most people would rather watch a brawl than a boring trend keynote. Those aren’t my personal feelings, but a simple observation that keynotes have devolved into verbal entertainment and juicy bait for bloggers and twitter users.

As for Jason thinking SEO is a waste, that’s a load of crap. He believes in it as much as anyone and puts a lot of effort into being search-friendly. He’s just sparking discussion, yet again, and everyone is eating it up because it gives them something to talk about rather than pointing out the inherit flaws in Mahalo.

]]> By: Calamier http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9015 Calamier Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:57:23 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9015 Completely Agreed, great post! Completely Agreed, great post!

]]> By: pratt http://www.ericlander.com/202.html#comment-9014 pratt Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:54:36 +0000 http://www.ericlander.com/?p=202#comment-9014 Bravo, Eric. I couldn't agree more. It blows my mind that he is still invited to speak, and still talked about amongst our community. Maybe it's just linkbait from the search conferences b/c they know there is a good chance it will draw a lot of buzz and press. Bravo, Eric. I couldn’t agree more. It blows my mind that he is still invited to speak, and still talked about amongst our community. Maybe it’s just linkbait from the search conferences b/c they know there is a good chance it will draw a lot of buzz and press.

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