I have gotten to spend the last two days at a way fun conference in sunny, (or rainy at the moment), San Diego.

Aaron Kahlow threw the Online Marketing Summit this weekend.

At first I was a little unsure about this event. After all it takes place in San Diego, and other than hearing about it once, I had never heard my circle of internet friends mention it.

It is very different than Pubcon, SES, or the Elite Retreat. I have found myself really digging it.

It is a nice size, with maybe 300 or 400 people I am guessing.

The weird thing for me was showing up for the Keynote and really studying the crowd and finding exactly 0 people that I recognized. If it was a room at Pubcon or SES or Affiliate Summit I might know 5% of the room, or at at least a few people.

There have been fun touches like Jamba Juice on the breaks and bags of pretzels and what not.

The nicest touch was tonight when after dinner I went to meet Rand Fishkin, his wife Geraldine, Lauren Vaccarelloand Todd Malicoat on the top of the Ivy, behind the velvet ropes and all that. The bouncers were hesitating to let me in and Aaron left his party and came down personally to make sure I got in. Very cool, very personal, and won’t be forgotten.

It was really interesting for me too to look at Aarons facebook page.

He has over 1200 friends with only 9 in common with me. Take Shoe’s facebook page with his 1500 friends, I have about 10% in common. It is simply a really different crowd.

The highlight for me of the conference was dinner tonight with Rand Fishkin, Todd Malicoat, Geraldine Rand’s wife and Lauren a brilliant SEO and tough street fighter (She did the fight club at the Couture Gym in Vegas!) We had killer Thai Food to die for!

The other nice surprise was hearing Tim Ash speak. He graciously ripped one of my sites apart in front of 100 people to point out how to improve the landing page. As he spoke, he imediately impressed me with his knowledge of landing page optimization. In a perfect example of marketing that could not ever have been purchased, but happened because of hard work, the following happened.

Sitting behind me was a guy who I struck up a conversation with after the talk. We realized we both train occasionally at the Couture Gym in Vegas, and that he had just had a lesson from Joey Varner. If someone has the guts to train at the Couture gym, it tells me a lot. It is the kind of place where if you are a poser or of poor morals, you will never survive. 🙂 You don’t have to be a great fighter to train there, but you do have to be respectful and polite in the presence of the great fighters who are there. This told me a lot about my new friend.

This guy behind me in the talk was sharp and quick and when asked told me about the online marketing company he works in and I believe directs. He went on to tell me that Tim Ash had come into their company to train the online marketing guys. When he was done the oline marketing guys applied what they learned to the clients sites. I asked this guy behind me what happened, and he said the clients results all improved as a result. He then told me that what Tim taught them was basically contained in Tim’s book Landing Page Optimization. Luckily Tim gave me a copy that is sitting next to me now. I plan on studying it immediately.

This was a perfect example of excellent marketing on every level.

Great event, and a bargain. There is definitely something for the novice and expert.

Aaron thank you for a great time!