How Mozcon 2016 blew us away
James Richardson
Co-Founder & Partnerships
Posted: 25 Mar 2020
Once a year, we make the trek over the the USA to attend an industry conference. It’s a chance for us to stay up to date with the latest developments in the global SEO industry. We find the conferences run in the USA provide us with better value, and better access to a higher number of world class speakers.
This year, we decided to venture to a conference we had not been to before, but always heard amazing things about, MozCon in Seattle.
We have used the Moz suite of tools for years for our clients, and have always been envious of the lineup of speakers they are able to attract, so we bought our tickets and organised everything we need to.
First impressions of MozCon were, WOW. With around 1,500 people congregating at the Washington Convention Centre, the scale was impressive, and the time and effort put into the organisation of this event was like nothing we had ever seen before. It was like a rock concert with light shows, music, and world-class performers.
Add to that:
- Amazing food
- First class networking events
- Arcade and claw prize machines
- Great swag
Onto the speakers, they were all very impressive. MozCon prides itself on the speakers providing actionable information, and we were not disappointed.
Some of the highlights for the Optimising team were:
Content Chaos: Building Your Brand through Constant Experiments with Ross Simmonds
A look at how taking risks on content and making investments can work out in a big way for brands and marketers. Whether it’s Reddit, Slideshare, Quora or Instagram, Ross shares some of the lessons he's learned from a variety of different content experiments.
Local Projects to Boost Your Company and Career with Mike Ramsey
Mike will walk through the projects that his individual team members took on to improve how they handled local links, reviews, reports, and lots of areas in between.
Putting Trust into Domain Authority with Wil Reynolds
Domain Authority is a trust sentiment, not a pure numeric value. Wil will show real examples of sites that build authority and trust by understanding and then solving users' problems. He'll also give you practical ways to use Google SERPS to uncover the many ways to best solve these problem.
The Irresistible Power of Strategic Storytelling with Kindra Hall
Whoever tells the best story, wins. In marketing, in business, in life. Going beyond buzzwords, Kindra will reveal specific storytelling strategies to create great content to win customers without a fight.
Persuasion, Data, & Collaboration: Building Links in 2016 with Kirsty Hulse
Securing links can be tough, and it's not about how creative or productive or smart we are, but how persuasive we are. Kirsty will walk you through how to get clients and managers to say yes to your best ideas, how to get interesting, affordable data, how to get experts to collaborate with you, and how to create outreach emails that compel people to cover your campaign.
Link Building's Tipping Point with Rand FishkinLinks still move the needle—on rankings, traffic, reputation, and referrals. Yet, some SEOs have come to believe that if we "create great content," links will just appear (and rankings will follow). Rand will dispell this myth and focus on how to architect a link strategy, alongside some hot new tools and tactics for link acquisition in 2016.
Nathan, James, & Daniel meeting Larry Kim from Word Stream
In addition to the above presentations, there will be some video footage of the event out shortly, but until then there are also some great notes from the event that some very kind people have put together for our benefit:
Unbounce notes
These are the ultimate notes from every presentation including all the stuff you would only hear if you were there!
It's fair to say that our team at MozCon in 2016 were very inspired by everything we saw. We've been inspired to try new things, and keep pushing for new and better results. We have many actionable insights that we have already started implementing within our business, and we will no doubt be back in 2017.
Thanks Rand and the Moz team for putting together such an amazing event.
James Richardson
Co-Founder & Partnerships
Working in the SEO industry for many years alongside some of Australia’s biggest brands, James started his online career running online Sports Fan sites, as well as cutting his teeth on several successful eCommerce brands and content sites.
Previously holding various senior roles across the Sales and Marketing teams for ASX listed companies, he went on to found Optimising with Daniel and is proud he has helped mould it into one of Australia's leading SEO agencies.
When he’s not in the office he’s at home having pretend tea parties, or building a cubby house in the lounge room with his three young girls.
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