This post was written by Feras Alhlou, SMX West presenter and workshop leader for “Using Google Analytics to Improve Your Online Marketing & Business.”

Not everything that can be counted counts, and, not everything that counts can be counted.
- Albert Einstein

Einstein’s observation wasn’t intended to describe internet marketing, but it certainly applies! Truth is, many of us are bombarded with numbers and reports but can’t seem to get the actionable insights we need.

That’s where SMX West comes in – running March 2-5 in Silicon Valley. Aspiring conversion specialists will leave the conference equipped with tips and techniques to measure the metrics that really count. If measurement, analytics and conversions are important to you (and they should be), take a few minutes and review this Analytics & Conversion Dream Agenda.

Monday, March 1 – Pre-conference Event

Warm up for SMX West by joining the Monday evening “Meet & Greet” reception. Turn off your iPhones, Blackberries and NexusOnes, and be ready for some good old-fashion in-person networking from 6pm to 7:30pm.

Tuesday-Wednesday, March 2 & 3

Generating traffic to your website is what Tuesday and Wednesday are all about. After all, you have to have *something* to count before counting it. There are over 30 sessions to choose from on Monday and Tuesday, so spend the first two days getting up to speed on all of the SEO, paid search advertising, real time search and social media marketing topics that interest you. I recommend you attend sessions that interest you and ask very specific questions on how to measure the effectiveness of these channels.

Thursday, March 4

We really get down to the business of counting with the “Analytics & Conversion” track on Thursday. Start off your morning with Landing Pages & Multivariate Testing to Increase Conversions. Landing pages are key to paid search — as well as many other channels. This session explores how testing alternative landing pages can provide you with downright amazing results. Why settle for a lower conversion rate when testing can get you improvements of 10%, 20%, 30% or even 100%+?!

Next, get ready to conquer the offline-online attribution puzzle! You spend time and energy on paid search advertising and optimization, but does that translate into offline sales? How do you explain that to the boss – and justify the need for more budget? Make sure to attend Measuring How Search Ads Drive Offline Conversions and learn how to approach measuring search marketing’s contribution to offline sales.

Want to continue the conversation over lunch? Be sure to sign up for one of the birds-of-a-feather topic tables – you’ll sit with other SMX participants interested in similar topics. I’ll be moderating the – you guessed it – Analytics table. You can sign up ahead of time via SMX Connect, the SMX West social networking site.

Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated? Right after lunch, it’s Analytics Action Plans for PPC & SEO. You’ll be introduced to a number of key search metrics and insights that will help you get much more bang for your search marketing buck. Best of all, this session provides case studies from real-life analytics-driven search marketing plans – so you know the focus is practical, not theoretical.

Wrap up the day with the Conversion Ninja Toolbox – A Review of Tools & Technologies session. I’ll be covering the many cool features of the Google Website Optimizer, and my fellow presenters will highlight their most valuable tools and technologies for measuring conversions. Not to be missed!

Friday, March 5 – Continuing Ed for Analytics!

Friday is Google Analytics day! I’ll be leading a 1-day workshop entitled “Using Google Analytics to Improve Your Online Marketing & Business!”

This workshop is for marketers and webmasters. It helps organizations and individuals use data to optimize current campaigns and plan for new ones.

To reach that stage, you need to plan your web analytics strategy, understand your reports and define what constitutes success for your business. This workshop will show you how – more details on the program here.

I look forward to seeing you all soon in Santa Clara! Not registered yet? Don’t miss out – register today!

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: SEM Industry: Conferences | SMX & SMN Alerts

About The Author: Feras Alhlou is the President of E-Nor, Inc. which he co-founded in 2003. Feras has an extensive background in the areas of online business consulting, interactive marketing, and web analytics. See more articles by Feras Alhlou

Connect with the author via: Email