Internet Events, Facebook Advertising, Internet Marketing and SEO

(The below arrived in my e-mail yesterday and made me pull out the Kleenex. Thought I would share it.)

Hey DK

How are you? Hopefully all is well and you have rested up from all the ThinkTank fun. I have to admit it took me close to a week to re-group after the fantastic show that you and your team put on. It truly was a fantastic few days. I owe you and your staff a hundred sincere thank you’s that is for sure. Please be sure to pass them on for me.

Okay now away from the expected thank you’s and onto the more personal stuff I have to admit when you first approached me via email & IM I was a bit nervous as to what to expect. Although I knew a few of the faces going to ThinkTank, I also knew that for one of the first times in my professional career I was really going in blind. I had heard great things of course, but as a girl who prides herself in being prepared (perhaps too often at times ha) I was definitely a bit nervous when I was driving down to Del Mar. I was wondering what sort of events to expect, and if the conversation’s would be hard to join, and of course wondering how (if) I could handle three days with a group of men that seem to already know each other on such a personal & professional level. In short for one of the few times I was actually worried that signing on with so many unknowns was a bad idea.

I can honestly say that I have never been more pleasantly proven wrong in my life.

From the first hello at the tent I felt welcomed (your sincere hug was part of that as well). The people you have involved with this event are truly amazing people and I felt lucky to be sharing ideas and conversations with them. I met so many people that enabled ideas of mine to come out, and I felt good that I was able to offer them ideas regarding PPC, social media, and more. Even better, I was happy to shake hands and tap cocktails with the people I have (unfortunately) passed by at so many conferences. Your event is perhaps the first time in years I have felt truly engaged in the space I love so much. I can’t thank you enough for that.

Without getting even more mushy on you, I also want to thank you for the number of times you “checked in” on how my weekend was going. I could tell you were genuinely working toward making me feel comfortable & it worked. Thank you for that.

Okay okay that’s enough girliness for me. In all seriousness you put on an amazing event, and I only hope one day I can repay you for your generosity and kindness. I feel a renewed excitement for the projects on my plate and have already started talking with new friends from Thinktank on certain ideas we discussed. You have put together something very special here DK, and I am proud to have been a participant in it.

Please don’t hesitate in the future if I can ever help you with anything… anything at all.

Take care & see you at PubCon

Sincerely & many thanks,

Joanna aka “The Tiara Wearing ThinkTank Goer”

By the time breakfast was over, it was pretty clear the sun was not coming out just yet. Before the silliness of the opening ceremonies was to begin, we had our invention of speed dating.

You will see in this group everything from the top SEO’s in the world, to the webmaster of the Brazillian Jiu Jitsu world champion.

The picture below is classic. We have George Avery, founder of Getads, one of the largest affiliate companies in the world, sitting across from Jon Henshaw of Raven SEO tools.(H of John being held hostage)

I don’t know if they ever met before, but my guess is no. Why would this be a bid deal if they do meet? See Jon and his crew have been working non stop the past few years developing these in depth, killer SEO tools. George, his guys, and affiliates move a crud load of traffic around on the internet. Traditionally affiliate guys have not taken a second look at SEO tools. Now I have no idea what they were talking about in this pic, or if anything happened as a result, but beauty of this, is the diversity it throws together.

The juxtaposition of different groups of people, all tagged by “internet” and “business” and their mixing and interacting in this little thinktank, leads to all kinds of ideas, businesses, and money making, which probably never would have taken place without it.

Come over here to see more pics of everything getting warmed up at thinktank. Remember these pics when you see the next ones showing up.

Y

The Mirage hotel has graciously allowed our gang of misfits to decend upon their lovely hotel and casino on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2009 at 8:00 P.M.

The poker tournament has grown so large, and brings with it such a moving party, with last year literally hundreds of people who either showed up to play or just to play

If you want to rub elbows with the top SEO’s, internet marketers, website owners, and social media experts, this is the place. It is the relationships you develop here that will allow you to get the real internet marketing secrets in the future.

Keep checking this blog as Pubcon 2009 approaches, but it looks like we are going to be setting up our own poker room for the event, as we can not longer fit inside their regular poker room.

Before this can actually be a charity poker tournament, I need to get approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission. As I am sure you would guess, having a poker tournament with real money flying around legally, has an enormous amount of regulations attached to it.

After doing some research I found a charity that if they will give us permission, I would like to get behind this upcoming holiday season. They are called the Blind Center of Nevada. One of the super cool things they do is run an online electronics business, which takes old electronics, computers and monitors, cameras and the like, makes sure they are working, and then sells them on e-bay to support their center. To date they have made around a million bucks this way. This supports the center which trains these guys and gals in skills so they can be out in the regular work force.

Historically blind people for the most part have had assembly jobs, or other repetitive jobs that were less intellectually demanding. Through their program they allow blind people to new technology that allows them to do things online, that previously was impossible.

Anyone who knows me well, gets that I like to support those who are busting their buts to help themselves and others. This group takes that path by teaching visually impaired people job skills, and then in their own institution allowing those individuals to apply those skills to make money to run the institution.

If you give a few thousand dollars to feed people, that money will be spent in a day. A group like this, since it is already making some money themselves, can leverage a donation to help many, many, more people in many ways for years to come.

The poker tournament should be a great time. EVERYONE IS INVITED! I would love you to blog about it, and put up a poker poster on your site, and make sure EVERYONE  who is part of pubcon knows it will be the best of the pubcon parties!

We are now accepting sponsors for the event also. The money is going to a good cause, so open up those pockets!! Contat me at dk (=at=) purposeinc.com if you are interested.

Feel free to grab a poker poster that is the correct size for your blog and use it on your site.

For those of you who couldn’t make it I want to give you a feel. thinktank 2 started off mellow. Folks had flown in from all over the world and wandered into the park. It’s the kind of crowd where you don’t need crowd control. You look around and everyone knows if everyone else should be there or not. Even if you haven’t met many of the people, you probably know them as soon as you see them. One guy referred to it as a speakers conference, since so many of the attendees are the most sought after speakers in the internet world.

At this point, I was just stoked that we were done prepping, that we were fairly organized, like a bajillion times more organized than last year, and I was ready to just enjoy myself. Nico from Crepes and Corks came through as I knew he would, with world class crepes cooked up on the beach. Nico is actually Italian, but is a maker of crepes. He told me that lots of guys came by after thinktank and hit him up for more crepes at his shop. He makes killer food and I eat there whenever I am able to.

It was interesting this year. The mood appeared more upbeat and the people more lively right from the first moment than it did last year. There is this crew that is forming that is composed of some of the best and brightest in the internet business world. You will see a lot of these guys at thinktank, and at the elite retreat (Next week in New York!). You will also find them hanging as a pack at the poker tournament at Pubcon, and I have also seen them glomming together at Affiliate Summit, and heard they were together at SES. Expect big things from this group in the future. Not just the money they will make, but what this group will become. I have a lot of faith in our power and what we can do with it in the future when everyone has made enough money.

The first morning the grey sea fog had not burned off yet, and it felt like a surfers early morning. Warm greetings, and a little chit chat. The fun was about to begin. Check out the gallery for the first set of thinktank photos.

For years I have been reading Shoemoney’s blog, and had regularly noticed pictures of Bryn. Obviously suffering from a deficit of thintank.

Bryn Youngblut came to thinktank a hardened grizzled veteran of internet marketing. Massively successful, but still unaware of the youthful restorative powers of thinktank, able to take years off your face, and pounds off your waist!

This is what Bryn looked like before thinktank.

After careful application of thinktank, results began to show after just one day.

This is Bryn after just three small doses of thinktank, with results already showing.

If Bryn continues to apply thinktank the results are likely permanent.*

We have been doing some extensive testing for thinktank. Extensive!

Here is a pic from me last weekend trying out different gang signs for thinktank.

This one was far too dangerous so was being canceled. Wrist sprain was possible.

Gotta make sure the food is going to stand up under the grueling beach conditions, right?

Whiteshortz our safety officer supervised Chef Rhasta to make sure no injuries took place.

and I put myself into the line of fire, where I could have easily been burned by a stray ember, so I was there to supervise the whole thing.

All in all, a grueling experience last night, but for the thinktankers, I am willing to go through anything!

In case I forget to remind you, the evenings get down to a frosty 68 degrees now, so bring a light jacket or sweatshirt for the evening.

Also, no joke, if you have cowboy boots and/or hat, bring them. Also bring a Hawaiian shirt, or Mexican Serape if you own one! There is a surf shop right by the thinktank that usually has hawaiin shirts too!

Much Love,

Aloha!

dk and the purpose inc staff!

P.S. Thanks again so much to Azoogle for kicking in so big on this and allowing such dangerous testing to take place!

The internet is still the wild west. With gunslingers, sheriffs and whores. There are plenty of pioneers making their way over the prairies in rickety covered wagons, trying to find their patch of land, where they can set up and stake a claim.

The guy I want to ride with is not the new sheriff in town, but instead the half wild gun slinger whose seen it all, and done it all. See the new sheriff in town with his shiny badge, and chaps that are not quite broken in, is gonna miss the meaning when the smoke comes up on the horizon from the left, with a southerly breeze rising, just before the turn to autumn, the morning after the first frost.

On the other hand, the half wild gun slinger, whose been living out in these parts long before anyone else, knows the lay of the land. See he has seen it all, and he has done it all. He’s fought side by side with the Indians, killed a bear with his hands, and limped across the dessert for two weeks without a drop of water to drink, living off the juice he could squeeze out of a cactus. So maybe he shot a few people along the way to survive, maybe he still walks into a restaurant with his gun drawn, and maybe he’ll go a few weeks without shaving.

That’s the guy you want riding by your side. Now if you are relatively new on the trail you’re not going to know what a rattle snake looks like when it lays across the trail like a branch, and your not going to know which lizard you can eat in an emergency and which one will kill you. That’s what the hardened gun slinger is for.

So how do you be friends with Jeremy Schoemaker.

People love him.

People fear him.

In two minutes he can write a post that launches a career, or destroys one.

Whenever I go to conferences, even the elite ones like Azoogles Playboy Mansion party, many people come up to me and ask me about Shoemoney. It usually goes something like this, “The guy has been a total inspiration to me, but whenever I try to go up and talk to him, I don’t have the guts to speak, or I just blurt out something stupid.

Even a few of the people who went to thinktank last year, after spending three days with Jeremy literally 10 feet away from them, were disappointed that they never spoke to him.

I consider him a great friend, and I would like to help others be better friends with him too! My online career was literally created by Jeremy. I’d been doing great work, but until he pointed it out to others, I had never gotten the kind of respect I do now.

This is written not to be funny, but literally so you can be a better friend to Jeremy and help him, which will absolutely help you!

Here’s what I learned:

1. Don’t try to start the next war with him online to get traffic and look cool. At this point so many people have tried this role, that I predict he will ignore you, and other people will think what you are doing is dumb.

2. Don’t try to get the upper hand on him. I have heard enough stories now about people who tried to get an angle or an edge on him. He is powerful enough that this is not a good idea. Back to the gun slinger analogy, if there is another new gun slinger in town walking down the road toward him, don’t expect Jeremy to run into the saloon.

3. Listen to the guys stories. One day at the stratosphere, when we went to go meet with the Coutures the first time, I sat there for something like 4 hours in the coffee shop while Jeremy schooled me on the world of internet business. If I had gotten an MBA, and then worked in the internet world for another 20 years, I would not have learned as much as I did in that 4 hours. The secret, was that I paid attention to everything he said.

4. Help and protect the people around him. Tigh is Jeremy’s right hand on day to day business matters, Dave Dellanave is his main programmer, Jeremy with good reasons loves his wife and kids. If the possibility comes up where you can help any of them, this helps Jeremy and will give you credit in the Shoemoney book as someone who in the words of Shoe “contributes”.

5. Don’t expect help right when you want it. Shoemoney is working on huge things all of the time, and just becaue you want him to promote this thing or that thing right now, or you need help with something this week, it may not happen.

6. Forgive the guy for his failings. Yeh, I’ve noticed he is not perfect. Remember it was not too many years ago that he was over 300 pounds, living off of pizza, playing online games, not paying the bills, until his power got turned off. To have gone from where he was, to where he is now, in such a short time, is mind blowing. I know what that is like, as I have seen the bottom also, but that is a story for another blog.

Bottom line, when the dust on the horizon is heading down the trail toward town, the Sherrif has taken off on his horse high tailing it to the south, and the kids are under their beds trembling, Shoemoney is the guy you want standing in the middle of the road to town, a shotgun in each hand, piece of hay between his teeth, and grinning. But don’t be afraid of him, not unless you are the one kicking up the dust riding toward him.

After weeks of tough negotiations, I have secured world famous kickball coach Mallory for thinktank!

For those of you who have never played this game of kings here are the basics. By the time people play on the Saturday of thinktank, I don’t expect you be able to concentrate too much.

There will also be a little twist on the rules.

1. Team captains will be chosen. Then the team captains will choose their teams from those who want to play, leaving the last few people being chosen to feel unloved and rejected. I personally am still recovering when in 6th grade when teams were chosen for a school yard baseball game, a girl was chosen before me. Ever since I have had an unquashable thirst for success!

2. One team is outfield, and one is up. Just like baseball.

3. There is home plate, and first, second, and third bases.

4. Your own team pitches to you, to maximize the amount of massive slam you can get out of your kick. We will be experimenting with red rubber balls, and the super cheap but highly bouncy balls they sell at the grocery store. We will be kicking barefoot, you will see why in a second.

5. You yell to your pitcher what type of pitch you want. The permutations are as follows (clearly I think you guys are literate, otherwise I would not use words like permutation – “Mind flashes back to first comment on last blog, Where are the boobz);

Slow rollies – gives you plenty of time to aim and plan and time your kick.

Fast rollies – in the minds of many this gives you more potential power in your kick, Newtons second law of motion.

Slow bouncies – Never made sense to me, but the more random of kids thought this would give them the option of kicking it higher, but the timing is not for the meek or timid.

Fast bouncies – Now this one is just plain ridiculous and has no possible benefit. I think this was mostly used to show off your manliness and prowess to the other second graders.

(My mind now drifts to sitting in the outfield at Brett Hart Elementary school, back in the hood, on the mean streets of Burbank, when I sat their confused trying to reconcile what I had just been told getting to first base, second base, third base and a home run, and being utterly confused about why someone would want to get to third base? and getting kind of queezy just thinking about it!)

6. Once you kick the ball, provided it has landed within the angle formed by home and first, and home and second base, you then run like hell around the bases.

This is where we will switch it up a bit. The bases will all be in the sand, except for second base which will be in around 2 feet of water. In fact we will be recruiting someone from the thinktank, to BE second base. Perhaps this could be the last person picked for a team, thereby demoralizing them even further. I volunteer!

7. You are gotten “out”, if when you kick it the other team catches the ball before it hits the water, or the sand. On controversial, splashy, diving catches, coach Mallory will adjudicate if you were out, or still in the play!

8. Like baseball when a team is out three times, then places are switched. Play 3 innings then the game is over. Mallory will keep score, and remember you have been drinking, so when you argue about the score your opinion will not be taken very seriously.

9. This game is dangerous and will be played under international beach kickball rules. (considered by many to place you at risk of sand in your ears0 So please read your release form before participating!

As a final note, negotiations are currently under way to try to secure, Chris ” hedgehog “aka “follower whore” to play on one of the teams. Representatives from both sides have been up until the late hours of the night negotiating his appearance fee.

Coach Mallory has also agreed to stay around after the game for autographs and photos.