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After
a busy opening day
devoted to domain names Tuesday, variety
was the order of the day Wednesday at the Webfest
Global conference in Santa
Monica, California. In keeping with the
show's expanded agenda, attendees heard talks
devoted to improving traffic to existing
websites and advice on starting a new online
business from keynoter Kim Kardashian who
has done that successfully with several
enterprises.
The
day two (Wednesday, Feb. 6) schedule at the Webfest
Global conference began with a 9:30am
session on SEO Keywords, Content and Links
that featured (L to R): moderator James
Keating (Oversee.net), search guru Danny
Sullivan (SearchEngineLand.com), Joanna
Lord (SEOMoz.org), Christian Neeser (MyLife.com)
and Aaron Shear (Boost Search Marketing).
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Kim
Kardashian
image from Bigstock |
At
11am, a fireside chat between Oversee.net
CEO Debra Domeyer and celebrity
entrepreneur and social media star Kim
Kardashian attracted a standing
room only crowd. Ms. Kardashian had
been a controversial choice to keynote,
with some questioning how an interview
with her related to domains, but many
domainers aspire to develop their own
online businesses, an area where she has
had multiple successes.
Still, prior
to the show, I wondered how well Kim
would be able to communicate useful advice
from her experience to such a tech
oriented audience. The confident and
well-spoken Kardashian proved more than
up to the task, sharing tips and
details on how she started building her
businesses and brand as a teenager
with an Ebay shoe shop. Ms. Domeyer
masterfully kept the interview on track
with business related questions that
elicited more insightful answers than many
expected from someone known more for her
celebrity status than the business acumen
that anyone who heard this talk now knows
she has. |
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I
will share specifics from what Ms.
Kardashian had to say in our upcoming
Cover Story review of Webfest Global. With
the show ongoing (and more sessions I have
to go cover), there isn't time for me to
go into it now - but suffice it to say
that I went into her session with an
open mind and came out impressed with
a talk that far exceeded my
expectations. |
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After
a lunch break the conference resumed with
a panel discussion of the pros and cons of
acquriing traffic from various channels
including PPC, Retargeting, Affiliate
and Social. |
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The
PPC, Retargeting, Affiliate and Social
panel at 2pm Wednesday featured (L to R)
moderator Raj Beri (Oversee.net),
Jay Weintraub (NextCustomer, Inc.),
Peter Hamilton (HasOffers.com),
Merry Morud (aimClear) and Adam
Epstein (adMarketplace).
The
Wednesday business day closed with the Moniker
Live Domain Auction conducted by
veteran auctioneer Wayne Wheat (at
the podium in the photo below). The
auction generated over $560,000 in
sales led by a pair of two-letter .coms -
JF.com at $250,000 and XU.com
at $210,000.
A
scene from Moniker's Live Domain
auction Wednesday (Feb. 6, 2013).
Rounding
out the top five auction sales were
IceHockey.com ($25,000), Free.me
($19,000) and BEZ.com ($17,650).
All told, 22 of the 61 domains offered
found buyers.
The
conference organizers, Oversee.net's DomainSponsor.com
unit, hit a home run with the
Wednesday evening social event, a trip to
the California Science Center in Los
Angeles for dinner under the Endeavour
space shuttle!
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Above:
The jaws of Webfest Global guests
dropped when they walked into
the terminal where the retired
Endeavour space shuttle is
housed.
At
left: Attendees could choose food
from thee different buffet stations
featuring American, Indian
and Mediterranean cuisines,
then settle in at a table directly
under the massive spacecraft.
Below:
Oversee even arranged to have
astronaut and veteran Endeavour
crew member Garrett Reisman
on hand to answer questions from
show attendees. Reisman
was |
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surrounded
with fascinated guests throughout
the night as he held court on what
it was like to spend months in
outer space aboard the historic
Endeavour. |
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Many
attendees, including me, thought
this was one of the most memorable
social events ever held at a
domain conference.
As
I write this, the final day of
business at Webfest Global is
underway with the traditional
outdoor luncheon in progress. Things
will conclude tonight with a trip to
Hollywood's famous Magic
Castle. I'll have the closing
days photos and highlights for you
in this space tomorrow. |
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