The 2nd Annual eBusiness Conference will be held Tuesday, 12 June, at BYU-Hawaii from 10AM-3:30 PM in the Aloha Center ballroom.
The conference, hosted by CITO, will feature Andy Beal as the keynote speaker and will focus on what is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—methods used to make a web page appear with top rankings for key word searches on search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Beal, founder of MarketingPilgrim.com, is acclaimed as the “SEO of SEOs”. Beal is considered one of the world’s most respected experts in search engine marketing, blogging and online reputation management.
Top companies he has worked with include: Motorola, Lowes, Quicken Loans, Alaska Airlines and NBC. Beal stays up-to-date with search engine news and online marketing developments, has appeared on CNBC and NPR (National Public Radio) and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Business Week and many other publications.
“If your company is not on the first page of an internet search it is as if you don’t even exist,” said Richie Norton, BYU-Hawaii alumnus and founder of Global Consulting Circle. “Search engine optimization is key to growing a successful business.” In addition, he said, “the SEO industry itself is a great employment opportunity for students all around the world—especially with BYU-Hawaii’s focus on international business, entrepreneurship, and increasing student skill-set to increase return-ability.”
According to Beal, the eBusiness Conference will approach Internet marketing from a unique, easy to understand perspective.
“Search engine optimization is one of the fastest growing online marketing channels in the world,” said Beal. “Hundreds of millions of searches are conducted each day and more than 85% of web users discover web sites via Google or some other search engine. Simply building a great web site is not enough to get on to the first page of results on Google.
Understanding how to achieve better positioning on the search engines will allow a business – of any size – to dramatically increase its exposure to new customers, all at the fraction of the cost of other marketing efforts. Anyone with even a basic understanding of SEO, will find themselves extremely valuable to their employer.”
Sponsors of this year’s eBusiness Conference include: the Polynesian Cultural Center, AlohaTopTen.com ,Turtle Bay, CITO, SIFE & SEOHonolulu.com.
“In today’s global economy, internet business know-how is essential to create a successful business and to add-value as an employee of a company,” said Christian Wilson, BYU-Hawaii alumnus and founder of SEOHonolulu.com.”
He said he is contributing to make this year’s eBusiness Conference a success, because
“understanding how Internet marketing works and how to utilize search engine optimization will help BYU-Hawaii students gain valuable skills that can propel them into leading job positions and opportunities for self-employment.”
Additional speakers include Tim Schmitt Marketing Director of GoldSim.com (via webinar) and Dave Zules owner of Hawaii-Online-Advertising.com.
For more information go to: http://cito.byuh.edu/seo/
Registration and Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
Center for Instructional Technology & Outreach
55-220 Kulanui Street
Laie, Hawaii 96762-1294
Phone: 808-293-3780
Toll-Free: 1-800-217-0656
