Local University

[Marie Ysais]

Has anyone attended the Local U meetings? Local University - Search Marketing Seminars Created Specifically for Small Business Owners
and if so was it worth it for seo professional's or is it more geared towards the business owner?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I know quite a few of our members have attended, so am hopefully they'll weigh in.

But I assume they'll say it's worth it, if nothing else for networking and being able to ask Mike, Joel and others Qs face-to-face. And I bet the real magic happens after, if some folks go out for drinks. That's likely when you'll hear some insider tips or the real nitty gritty.

BUT that's all assumption on my part. I can't go to events because my boss is a slave driver and has me chained to my desk. But I bet some other pros will be by to share their opinions...

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Marie,

I went to Local U NYC. It was fantastic for all the reasons that Linda mentioned, plus we received a flash drive with all the presentations plus other great resources.

 

[Marie Ysais]

LOL!! Linda, your boss should be locked up! From the way the website is worded it makes me feel business owners would have the most benefit but I would love for others to weigh in. If its worth it I would love to attend.....but if I hear four hours of the basic stuff I already know I might become a little yawny......(yep, I just created that word!)

---------- Post Merged at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:28 PM ----------

Hi Colan,
So it was captivating even for someone in the business......? And last question....did you learn something you didn't already know ?

 

[mblumenthal]

From the way the website is worded it makes me feel business owners would have the most benefit

Marie

The regular LocalU session is targeted to small businesses and since we put on 12 to 14 of those a year, the site focuses more on that audience. The LocalU Advanced is focused primarily on practitioners and in house SEOs and the content is very advanced and is inappropriate for most SMBs.

Mike

 

[Marie Ysais]

Thanks, Mike. That is exactly what I needed to know. I signed up for the email updates so I will try and catch and advanced class as soon as it is convenient! I appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

I was going to put this in another thread, but since Local U is associated with David Mihm I'll add it here.

I tried going to his blog site to read through local ranking factors again and it seems his site has been red flagged to contain malware.

What is the current listing status for davidmihm.com?
Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer

Looks like it might be an issue of where the site is hosted from. Just thought I'd share that little bit of info in case others were planning on re-reading some content from him.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@ EsR

David's site is still affected, but he knows about it and is on it (I asked him a few minutes ago, and that's what he said).

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for the warning Eric!

Thanks Phil! When I read Eric's post was going to let David know. Good to hear you already did and he's on it.

Damn hackers!!!

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Thanks guys. Keep us posted on what's happening there. If anyone has a PDF of the local ranking factors can you PM me or email me? That's really all I was looking to use from the site yesterday.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Mike, any plans for a Local U in Toronto anytime soon?

 

[mblumenthal]

Mike, any plans for a Local U in Toronto anytime soon?

Hi Colan,

We are planning a Calgary event in June but don't have anything specific on the radar for Toronto.

But to paraphrase Palladin, "have speakers, will travel" - to wherever it makes sense to "spread the gospel" of local. We essentially go where we find lots of on the ground support in terms of local seos and local chambers that are willing to help with the marketing and nitty gritty details of putting on an event.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Mike,

Colan and I are more than willing to help out if you decide to have one in Toronto I know another well-known local SEO in Toronto is Matthew Hunt. I've never spoken to him but I read his blog

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

I attended a Local U event and it was good. It was nice to meet other people in the industry and to actually see and meet the people we read about and follow online. I would definitely recommend attending one.

Travis Van Slooten

 

[Chris Ratchford]

I attended the Local U Advanced workshop in NYC last fall- same as Colan and Joy.

I'm also going to the Local U Advanced in next weekend in Baltimore.

Since I'm usually knee deep in client projects, I sometimes have the blinders on and can't keep up with the current events in local.

I use these meeting to get me up to speed. It's also worth ever penny to be able to get together with other local pros and discuss our industry.

I wish they had more workshops- as this could be something I would attend every quarter.