Local University – Our 4th Year Together

Mike Blumenthal

Local University  is growing up and we are starting our 4th year together. We have a new website,  a new name but we have the same great people and the same great job.

The job? Helping businesses small and large understand the opportunities for sustained and successful local marketing via the internet.

In late 2009, at a search marketing conference in NYC, David Mihm, Mary Bowling and I discussed the need to bring great content about local directly to the many businesses that needed it. Most would never make it to a conference in NYC to hear the advice that was being shared. So we wanted to put on a local marketing event in markets around the country at a price that small businesses could afford. And we wanted to engage the best people in the business.

The people? Our first event was held in Spokane in early 2010 and was organized by “The Ed” Reese. Dave, Mary, Ed and I were joined by Matt McGee and representatives from Google and Bing for that first event.  Aaron Weiche and Mike Ramsey who soon joined us on a regular basis, were in the peanut gallery at that first event.

Since then we have presented in nearly 20 cities and helped over 3000 businesses learn more about the possibilities of local internet marketing. Along the way we were joined by Will Scott, Greg Sterling, Darren Shaw, Matt Siltala, Matt Marko, Chris Silver Smith, Anita Campbell, John Carcutt, John Shehata and Joel Headley of Google. All folks that are among the most informed and most thoughtful in the local space.

With the help of Google, Bing and now Nokia we have a full slate of presentations for both beginners and professionals lined up for this spring and early summer. We will be visiting Austin, Corpus Christi, Baltimore and Seattle and with the help of local seos and Chamber of Commerces are planning additional events for a number of other locations.

We hope that you will join us at one of our seminars this year. We have made many wonderful friends in the many markets that we have visited and hopefully we will get to meet more of you. If you have any ideas, suggestions or thoughts on how else we might be able to help businesses understand local please let us know.