..because I wanted to get rid of the .info already. I mean, yeah, everyone knows that a .info domain is cheaper than a .com or a .net, but more than that, .info just doesn’t have as much viewer “recall”, IMO.

So I was thinking I’d 301 the whole site, as I don’t want to lose the priceless link network I’ve built up the whole year. Then again, I don’t know how. Stupid riiight? I mean, I call myself an SEO and I don’t know how to 301 a site. Haha, my boss better not find this one out. LOL. Don’t get me wrong, I do know about tweaking .htaccess files to perform 301-redirect — we’ve done this several times with our e-commerce sites. What I’m not sure of is how to 301 a wordpress blog.

This is not the first time that I considered 301-ing this site. Before, I was able to successfully 301 this blog from it’s original pinkseo.info/ituloy-ansulong URL, but I needed Benj’s help with that. Gah. I’m still too tamad to think about the pros and cons, and the work I have to put up with, so for now, I’ll probably just do a URL-redirect. Haha. Unless Benj comes to my rescue again or somethin’.

But yeah, I just had to say.. Pinkseo.net is officially mine. I wanted to buy the .com, but it’s already taken. Boo.

I was taking a break from freelance work (and taking a break from resting, if that’s even possible), and was reading my roommate’s Cosmo Magazine when this snippet about the Belle de Jour Power Planner caught my attention. I immediately Googled the thing, found myself in its official website, and within minutes, had myself signed up for a reservation.

I haven’t seen what the real thing looks like, but so far, the planner’s been highly recommended by friends. I’ve seen a couple of reviews also, which made me even more intrigued. Check it out for yourself.

Belle de Jour Power Planner 2008

I admit, their marketing strategy got me hooked. Good job, guys.

Belle de Jour is French fashion lingo that translates to “IT Girl”. Belle de Jour Power Planner is the ultimate planner for women who wants to lead the IT Girl lifestyle. Belle de Jour Power planner provides you with affirmations, relevant articles of fashion, beauty, time management, health, beauty, travel, career tips and more! Plus, time management-based tools, pages or lists to help you manage priorities, plan ahead and take control of your fast-paced life! Of course, for the inner shopaholic and fashionista in all of us, discount coupons from various lifestyle brands to allow you to live the Belle de Jour lifestyle.

The planner includes an Expenses Tracker (which I definitely need!!), Menstrual Period Tracker (uhm, do I really have to?), Goal Planning (check, check!), Travel Planner (oh wow, who knows 2008 means a lot of traveling for me!), as well as a Birthday List (I’m lousy at remembering birthdays).

But wait, there’s more! (Gah! I sound like homeshoppingnetwork. And Ely.) The planner promises fab coupons from the following posh boutiques. (I highlighted the ones I’d make good use of.)

All Flip Flops/Havaianas, Bayo, BYSI, Celine, Charles and Keith, Chocolate Clothing, Claw Daddy, CMG, Cocorama, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Crustasia, Culte Femme Rustans, Cupcakes by Sonja’s, Fiorgelato/Fiorcafe, FlyWear Eyewear, Freeway, Get Happy Accessories, Heaven ‘N Eggs, Karimadon, Kashieca, Laybare Waxing Salon, Levi’s Girls Store, Luna Rustans, Maybelline, Moschino Fragrances, New Orleans Restaurant, RedCrab Seafood Club, RedBox, Rred Rustans, So! Fab, The Ramp Crossings, Tomato, VNC, and Ace Water Spa.

If I get a confirmation in 2-3 days, I’m picking up my Belle de Jour Planner before November ends. No, I’m not doing marketing for them or anything, with this post and all.

Mostly, I’m convincing myself that I’m going to get my 548 pesos’ worth, and that there’s no more need to collect those ridiculously expensive Starbucks stickers just to get this year’s limited edition Starbucks journal. Yeah. There goes my first step at responsible financial management.

Hmm. Okay. Back to work now.

Update: Pictures uploaded HERE and THERE.

So there goes a first for me, and well.. what can I say? Who wouldn’t be honored to experience something like this for the first time (and in the first ever Search Engine Marketing Conference too), with some of the best Internet Marketers in and out of the country? There I was, youngest in the lot, looking like a teenager, and being one of the only three female speakers — starstruck as I see those people I just used to know and admire online in the crowd, wondering what in the world I’m doing in a place like that.

Geesh, I must be really blessed.

To have the opportunity to share what I know; To have a chat with The Aaron Wall and his wife, Gio; To sit next to the SEO World Champion Benj Arriola the whole day (Day 2) and get loads of pictures with him (which got corrupted, by the way haha); To spend time with some great guys from SEO Philippines; And to learn from top marketing professionals from various fields.

Yes, that’s how small I am compared to the gigantic event that SEMCON 2007 is.

Photos courtesy of Jen and Sharm.
Good job, Sharm, for capturing my powerpoint presentation too, haha.

I learned a lot — starting from when I stepped down from the stage after my talk, that is. It was quite hard focusing on the speakers BEFORE my talk (welcome to the real world, newbie). Good thing there were lots of great topics after mine, plus there’s a whole Day 2 for me to enjoy without thinking about link building anymore. Hehe.

I picked a lot of insights and was especially inspired by Marc’s talk on Landing Page Optimization; Hans Koch’s PayPerClick Strategies; Faith Ponte’s Email Campaigns; and Dustin Andaya’s Affiliate Marketing success. I would have mentioned Google’s Derek Callow too, but I’d be lying if I said his talk was insightful coz truth is, I was too focused on his face and his voice and his cute Australian accent (ugghh, I melt now, mate) to understand what he was talking about. I would have mentioned Yugatech too but, gah, I’d mention him just to get in his good side, you see, I don’t want to see my name in his tabloid. LOL. Peace, Abe, joke lang. :)

On the other hand, it’s rather sad to hear some people comment that they didn’t learn anything new from SEMCON. I’ve seen a lot of people express disappointments, disagreements, un-met expectations, and getting “just skin-deep SEO.” I guess it’s expected to get feedbacks like this, after all, everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion (maybe next time, they should be the ones teaching the rest of us hehe). I say, if you claim to not learn anything from SEMCON, then good for you. You probably know more than the rest of us! You’re an expert already! :)

Now if you’re an SEO Specialist or a webcopywriter, you’re probably using Wordtracker or KeywordDiscovery for hours every single day of the week to test and compare keywords. Perhaps you already know what KEI and long-tailed keywords are also. But isn’t it interesting to find out how Gio does it?

Or say, if you’re a copywriter and you have your own style of copywriting that already works for you, it doesn’t mean you have to do Jayvee’s style of copywriting. Jayvee, however, shares what he knows and what he has observed (mostly leaning towards his non-SEO background) since he’s got experience writing and handling writers himself.

Joni’s right when she said that being there affirmed what she already know, hence, she became more sure that she’s on the right track. We have to face it, a lot of us SEOs are experimenting with the techniques ourselves. The SEMCON speakers were there to present strategies that worked for them, NOT necessarily absolute truths of what to do or not. At the end of the day, it’s still up to you how to apply what you heard.

I could go on and on. But I’m gonna have to agree with Todd Malicoat when he said, “Hey, there is no secret in SEO.” You deal with the basics, learn from what worked for others and what didn’t, and you strategize from there. I guess that’s what SEMCON was all about.

So hey, SEMCON 2008? What ya say? :)