China Search Marketing Tour Linked Up with Local Treasures

China is dense with one billion people, but the quantity doesn’t dilute the quality of the people and culture. Like in link building, its quality that matters and we were able to link up with some high-quality historical sites and well-educated, friendly Chinese locals.

March 19th, I returned from visiting three major cities—Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. There in part for business and in part for pleasure, I joined up with David Temple and Ian McCaneran and the China Search Marketing Tour (http://www.chinasearchmarketingtour.com/ ). In brief, the 12 hour flight was worth the journey. Right from the start I was immediately welcomed by a big sign and young, well-spoken local guide proudly lead me to his sparkling black Buick Continental with gold silk seat covers. “Well- made American car” he exclaimed. The rest of the trip proved to be well-orchestrated with a knowledgeable English-speaking guides at each point, four-star comfortable hotels, arranged transportation, good food, entertainment and great conversation.

In just 9 days we covered a lot of ground and used all our senses to soak in as much information as possible. We started in Beijing for 4 days, flew to Shanghai for 3 days then on to Nanjing for the Search Engine Strategies conference. In summary, our itinerary was filled with a variety of appealing points of interest.

We captured Beijing, the capital in our visit to Hutong (old Beijing city), a tea house, the expansive Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Silk Factory……an incredible labor of love by both Moths and Chinese manufacturers.

Day two included the Hong Qiao Market, lunch with traditional Beijing food, the infamous Yong Hong Pearl “Sharon’s Store” visited by Clinton and Bush, traditional Beijing smorgasbord of food, Bei Hai Park and Fun Ti restaurant and dinner show.

On day three we drove outside the city about one hour to the Great Wall, a photo-op with a camel, the Jade Factory, a visit to a park of traditional villages debuting the 55 minority ethnic groups, a dinner show and a private in-room massage.

Day four we flew by plane to Shanghai and went shopping down a mile long pedestrian walkway called Nanjing road. Don’t mind the motocycles and bikes criss-crossing between you. That night we saw some acrobatic performances and beautiful Vegas-style lights. To save energy, they all flickered out after 10pm.

Day four: Confucius Temple, Xiangyang Road Market and the Jin Mao Skyscraper tower (stretching 420.5 meters high; second tallest). Wish we could have stayed here longer to explore more of the night life, but we did see a circus event that was entertaining.

Onto a train to Nanjing we traveled to get to the Search Engine Strategies China 2006 conference. Our hotel resided across from a beautiful lake.

The tour ends with the Search Engine Strategies conference, two busy days of sessions, a Google dance. There we had some great conversation about search marketing and met up with several SEOs throughout Asia. More details posted on the conference soon.

A big thanks to David Temple and Ian McAnerin for putting on a fun-filled, educational tour. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to China and China Search Marketing. Hats off to you both.

Read more posts about the trip at:

Blog.isas.cn- The official SES China blog.

MikeGrehan.com- Mike is one of the founding fathers of search engine marketing. He's also a very charming fellow and entertaining speaker.

SEOMoz.org- Rand has some great posts and information here. Specifically see David's posts at Middle Leg China Search Marketing Tour and China Search Marketing Tour in Shanghai and Nanjing .

Ian McAnerin's Blog - Ian McAnerin loves an SEO challenge. He is a walking computer and has indexed and committed to memory almost as much information as Google has ; )

Chinawhite.net- Shak is always looking for the next big opportunity in China.

Ahnee.com- Ahnee is on top of the SEMPO scene and is a very sweet person. She discusses her experience and knowledge gained at the SES Nanjing conference.

ProfitPapers.com- Miles Evans was able to get video access into the SES China conference and has included some useful articles and links here.

Macalua.com- Marc is from the Philippines and he spoke about link-building at SES China. He loves to share information and work day and night.

Bauca.com- Joel also took some notes on SES China.