From the US to Australia to Singapore, The Netherlands, Great Britain and back again, we have made friends all over. At 10 Pound Gorilla, we take pride in being thought leaders, lifelong learners, and relationship builders.

This past month, 10 Pound Gorilla was proud to sponsor and play host for DNN (DotNetNuke) Summit 2018 in Denver, Colorado. For those who are unfamiliar with DNN summit, it’s a 3-day event with 200+ attendees from around the world. Day 1 focuses on training while days 2 & 3 focus on conference sessions meant to share knowledge amongst the community of entrepreneurs, developers, and marketers.

This year, the summit featured new DNN Corp. CEO, Andy Tryba, as a keynote speaker. Andy briefly touched on the transition for DNN Corp. and laid out his vision for the future: commit to the DNN community. It’s our responsibility to grow the community and with the help of a CEO willing to listen to feedback, create viable solutions, and implement said solutions, we look forward to the growth and betterment of the community and the clients we serve.

Andy set the tone for the summit, however, I thought it might be helpful to dig deeper into a couple of my favorite summit sessions and include some key takeaways from each.

The Dirty Secrets of Social Media – Jeff Hardy

1. Facebook: Think of Facebook as a reality TV show. Facebook posts are essentially product placement ads in somebody else’s reality show. Keep this in mind when creating content for yourself or a client.
2. Twitter: Think of twitter as a crowded restaurant. There’s a lot of noise, but the twitter feed is curated to your tastes and preferences. When creating content for Twitter, it’s always good to eavesdrop on the conversations others are having about your product or service.
3. Instagram and Pinterest: Think of Instagram and Pinterest as search engines. Both platforms are modern versions of the Sears catalog. When writing your descriptions, treat them as if you’re writing for Search Engine Optimization. This will allow you to reach the audience searching for your content.

Digital Marketing with the Google Pay-Per-Click Suite – Cassidi Peterson

1. Ad Rank on mobile is valuable. Over 70% of search begins on mobile. Because there are no ads on the side of your mobile screen when you search, unlike on desktop, your ad rank is vitally important.
   1. Pro tip: Use as many extensions as possible when setting up your ads.
2. Time Matters: Every second your site takes to load, 20% of visitors will leave.
   1. Pro tip: 3 seconds or less is ideal load speed. If your site takes 8+ seconds to load, most likely every visitor will leave.
3. Tightly theme your ad groups to your keywords. Example: You run ads for a law firm. Start one ad group with keywords themed around the word ‘Lawyer’. For your second ad group, theme keywords around a different, but relevant, term like ‘attorney’. Using different ad groups for keywords leads to optimal relevance when marketing.

Learning is great, but in the end networking is often where the meat can be found. The DNN summit made this possible with 3 days on the Colorado slopes post-conference. We enjoyed skiing and snowboarding with people from all over and we’re lucky enough to meet new developer friends from InfoFactor all the way from Columbia (pictured above).

The DNN summit is invaluable for the continued growth not only of 10 Pound Gorilla, but also the community as a whole. By learning from others, we’re able to gain valuable insights into new strategies and development techniques, some of which were mentioned above.10 Pound Gorilla has global fans and friends far and away. With our help, you can build your business both locally and globally.