WhoLinksToMe with Irene McGee, MTV’s 7th Season, The Real World, photo at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas

WhoLinksToMe with Justin Kirk, Showtime’s popular Series, Weeds, photo at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas

www.flickr.com        WhoLinksToMe’s WhoLinksToMe PubCon & SXSW, 2009 photoset

If you were walking down West 6th Street in Austin on St. Patrick’s Day, you probably noticed the 20-foot WhoLinksToMe.com sign hanging from the rooftop railing of Union Park and heard the amazing music coming from the roof.

Inside the Party
Hundreds of people joined us at the launch party, and many more online thanks to RCS Austin who streamed live from the event.

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

The party got going quickly. Kicking it into high gear was music from Graham Wilkinson & The Underground Township, an amazing band based out of Austin, Texas.

Between the conferences and the bumping party, it was an exciting and promising launch! The place was packed all night and it was apparent everyone was enjoying themselves. It was an equally exciting time for Star Nine, parent company of WhoLinksToMe, who appreciated the chance to kick back with friends and all the people they met at the PubCon and SXSW conferences.

Special shout out to the great crew at Union Park and everyone who came out to make the event a success! If you attended, we’d love to hear from you and see your party photos!

Your Photos From the Party
View the photos from people who attended the launch party

See more pictures from @alexdesigns

Recap of SXSW Interactive
One word that sums up what made the SXSW experience valuable: people. In a short amount of time, we met an amazing amount of individuals from a variety of backgrounds. With the evolution of business online, there are a myriad of individuals in different pursuits with common needs. WhoLinksToMe is launching at a great time because people are realizing he power of links and the impact its having on their websites.

On one of my rounds in the exhibit hall, I was fortunate to catch the end of a performance by Jonathan Coulton. He had a great sound – recommend you check him out.

The exhibits ranged from ellaborately decorated Tiki hut to the standard. Check out this cool exhibit.

Got a quick pic of the nice guys from Nutshell Mail who were drinking our Link Juice beverage given out by in downtown Austin, Texas.

All in all, when it came time to break down our exhibit, everyone was smiling. It was worthwhile on many levels and we’re looking forward to reconnecting with the people we met during the conference and of course receiving feedback on everyone who is using WhoLinksToMe.com in its Beta.

We’re already getting tremendous interest and feedback on Wholinkstome.com.

Our neighbors at SXSW 2009 is GNO, a group working to bring business back to New Orleans. Great group of folks – little shout out!

In addition to exhibiting, we’ve taken a few moments to walk around and check out all of the great exhibits this year. Great stuff – including a cool product, “Surface” by Microsoft. Check it out.

WhoLinksToMe Shout Outs
New Orleans’ Y@t Pack – Enrique w/Nikko Films and Omega – Jure from Slovenia – Carlos & Joe w/ Real Geeks Ride – Luis & Robert with Server Beach – Jak Prints – and everyone who stopped by our exhibit.

Shout out to the guy at the door – told you we would!

Yesterday was our ‘behind the scenes’ day of SXSW – load-in!

After driving through an unusually busy day in downtown Austin, we arrived at the Convention Center with a Honda Element full of signs, gear and supplies. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a guy directing exhibitors on where to park. After verifying we have SXSW badges, he directed us to a great parking spot located right next to the entrance (sweet!).

We took the freight elevator up, arriving at a gigantic convention-style room full of exhibitors setting up their booths. From what we saw, it looks like there are a good number of exhibitors this year. The room was still moveable and didn’t feel overly crowded which was helpful for bringing supplies in.

We took a moment to walk around and meet some of the other exhibitors. We saw a lot of different groups, including Google (cool, well-lit sign) and Blellow (who mentioned they are doing a party with Mashable and were kind enough to give us some slices of pizza). We noticed there is a big “couch trend” this year.

All in all, the room was not overly crowded but clearly has a good number of exhibitors. The SXSW staff seemed well organized. To check out a cart, we had to leave collateral. Suffice to say, when our cart went missing, I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to retrieve my collateral (which, in my case, was my Lifetime Fitness membership card since that’s all we had on us)…but the staff was great about it and it actually turned out they had taken it back because they thought it was not being used (good thing because I was just thinking I needed to use that membership again when the conference is over). ;o)

SXSW is well attended by press so we spent the better half of the day back at the Star Nine office getting our press materials prepared which turned into a fun evening of stuffing folders and catching up.

All in all, we’re pumped about launching and exhibiting at SXSW 2009 and really looking forward to meeting everyone!

SXSW 2009 is starting! At this very moment, the Austin, Texas population is increasing in size as conference goers arrive and exhibitors gear up. SXSW attendees are asking how to get the full “Austin experience”, including best restaurants, bars and hang-outs. Star Nine, developer of WhoLinksToMe.com, is based in Austin, Texas so enjoy the insights from the crew’s tips on best places to go in Austin.

WhoLinksToMe.com is launching at SXSW Interactive so if you’re attending come by our exhibit to say hi, take a test drive and get some goodies. We’re also giving everyone an inside view from SXSW 2009 so stay tuned to this blog for photos, updates and videos.

For real time updates, follow us on Twitter: @wholinkstome

Media Contact: Ryan Russell, Founder & CEO, WhoLinksToMe.com
Star Nine Marketing: (office) 866.456.9000; (cell) 512-851-7054

WhoLinksToMe.com Launches

Reputation Management Reimagined

AUSTIN, Texas (Wed, March 11, 2009) – Today Star Nine Marketing launched WhoLinksToMe.com, an unparalleled web-based link analysis tool. Word of mouth has always been the strongest form of marketing and reputation creation, and links are the new voice of the people online. WhoLinksToMe.com provides individuals and organizations with the opportunity to get involved in conversations that impact their reputation and brand, identify new business opportunities, and improve their online marketing efforts.

Wholinkstome.com is unveiling its Beta version this week at PubCon Austin and SXSW Interactive. This first level launch provides free services to bloggers and businesses interested in learning about the strengths and weaknesses of their websites’ linking structure. Unlike current link analysis services, WhoLinksToMe.com reports cover a significantly broader online footprint in near real time, using technology far superior and more secure than previously offered. The services are web-based which removes the risks often associated with such an enormous continuous search, including banned IPs and immense lag time.

Links are a key player in the evolution of the internet’s influence over reputation and brand exposure. According to Marketing Sherpa’s 2009 Social Media and Marketing PR Benchmark Guide, 42% of small to medium sized marketing businesses and 32% of large businesses currently use inbound links as a metric to evaluate effectiveness of their efforts. As this trend continues, WhoLinksToMe.com will serve as an effective web-based tool that provides needed information and insight to intelligently gauge the impact of marketing efforts.

As social media expands, most businesses recognize the significant impact of online conversations about their brand. One of the key challenges continues to be finding an effective means to capture and understand the related data. WhoLinksToMe.com helps businesses meet those needs and will soon unveil additional corporate services, which are slated to include enhanced reports and in-depth information on competitors’ linking structures and strategies. WhoLinksToMe.com’s corporate services will function as a one-stop resource for companies interested in maximizing their web marketability, while providing a blueprint for results-driven strategies.

“We are at a crossroads of what an online campaign should encompass. SEO, social media, reputation management, server architecture and web design are all emerging marketplaces. These technologies are inter-dependent, yet are often at odds with each other,” says Ryan Russell, Founder and CEO of Star Nine Marketing, Inc. “When departmental walls are broken down and best practices are put into place, amazing wins in the marketplace occur.”

About Star Nine Marketing Based in Austin, Texas, the technology hub of the Lone Star State, Star Nine Inc. is a marketing-driven venture creation company. Our team has an extensive background in every facet of search marketing. This skill set, along with our company’s core values, forms the backbone of the projects we engage in and the partnerships we cultivate.

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