[display-name-category]
[post_author]
Oftentimes conferences have sessions where experts can help you work out your specific website problems, and even if they don’t, there is never a shortage of experts there who have been in your shoes. The moral of the story is that it’s an excellent way to break out of your comfort zone and find the solutions to your problems in a way you might not have expected.
If you’re hoping to get everything done in 2014 or if you’re just a procrastinator who is only now realizing they want to attend an SEO/ marketing conference, don’t sweat it. There are still plenty left this year as 2014 comes to a close.
Top Online Marketing Conferences Still Available in 2014
Below lists some of the major conferences, or those that are typically help several times in several different locations throughout the year, along with some single conferences, or options that you can only attend once per year:
The Major Conferences
1. SMX. Sept 30 – Oct 2 in New York. November 19 – 20 in Las Vegas
This is the biggest online marketing conference available (rivaling with the second option on this list). Those in charge of Search Engine Land and Marketing Land run the conference, so you know they are pulling in the best speakers and the top minds in the industry.
Because the conference is so large there is usually a session about just about everything in online marketing from content management to analytics lessons. It is sponsored by big names like Moz and Google, so this is a place where you might actually be the first to hear of new Google features or changes. Head of Webspam at Google Matt Cutts makes frequent appearances and has been known to make a few major announcements at this conference.
2. ClickZ Live. Nov 3 – 6 in Chicago
My personal favorite event is the ClickZ live conference, formerly called the SES Conference & Expo. It’s organized by ClickZ and Search Engine Watch and is almost as big as SMX. The event focuses on social media, content, and SEO and is also sponsored by big names like Google, Microsoft and Twitter.
This is another place where you can see some of the top industry leaders while also having time to ask questions and get feedback for your own website at different sessions. In fact, I even got a photo with Matt Cutts here and got to be the first to hear about different improvements in Webmaster tools, which you can learn more about here.
3. Pubcon. October 6 – 9 in Las Vegas
This event puts a lot of focus on advanced online topics and even dives into web development and design. There are several different beakout sessions you can attend to get your site reviewed, and it typically offers training programs so you can really get deep into the issues of your website.
The owner of adogy.com frequents these events and was one of the first to show me real improvements made to such a new site thanks to the conference.
In 2014 this event was only help three times in America, unlike the last two conferences that branch out worldwide with ten events. This October is your last chance!
The Single Conferences
4. Content Marketing World. September 8 – 11 in Cleveland
As you might assume, this is all about content and how to improve your content and get results.
Many companies forget that content is more than just writing quality—you want to write about the right topics, in a way that will get people to engage, and you need to be able to promote that content.
5. Call to Action Conference. Sept 12 in Vancouver
This conference also focuses on conversion and how you can make sure people are coming to your site with the intention of buying (or whatever it is you want them to do!). Improving conversion rates is one of the hardest and most frustrating things for businesses to master, so it’s likely that by August this is your main focus.
It’s nice that this conference is only one day, which is different than most conferences you’ll find. This year they have a great line-up of speakers including professionals from Unbounce, WiderFunnel, and Copyhackers.
6. Inbound. Sept 15 – 18 in Boston
This event is held by one of my favorite online marketing websites and blog, HubSpot.
It helps it’s participants learn about some of the newest inbound marketing techniques and how to grow your business with them in mind. There are also breakout sessions at this event.
7. Digital Marketing Association Conference. Oct 25 – 30 in San Diego
This conference is 5 days long, so one of the longer conferences available, but it’s not necessary you attend each day. Take a look at the speakers and sessions happening and customize your package to cover only what you want to learn. They say that their mission is to “Advance and protect responsible data-driven marketing,” and they have 200 marketing leaders there at the conference to help them accomplish it.
Let Me Know If I’m Missing Anything!
As you can see, the above list focuses on conferences held in the U.S. and Canada; however there are still quite a few conferences available in other parts of the world. Visit the link to the conferences below to see what is available, or look in your local area to see what’s coming near you.
Of course, there are a lot of smaller conferences going on around the country these last few months that aren’t mentioned above. If you’ve attended a great conference in the past that you think needs some recognition, let us know in the comment section below.
