Alex Melen

SmartSites Co-Founder · Documenting my journey; come along for the ride!

[Alex Melen @amelen]

This one is for everyone telling me AI will reach AGI this year 😅

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Without spending too long looking at this picture, pick which one costs $30,000 and which one costs $650,000 🤔

The lessons here are:

- Just because you hired experts in THEIR own field (Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson), that doesn't make them experts in YOUR field.

- Most brands already learned that timing isn't right to chase high-priced EVs. I'm not sure how Ferrari missed the memo on this? Porsche is restructuring their entire model line up now after making that mistake in during the last few years.

Of course Ferrari is still going to sell these - especially if they require folks to buy one just to get their better models (the common Ferrari business model). Their stock is only down 5% on the news (I thought it would drop more).

What do you guys think?

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Just wrapped up a great session at AutosBuzz 2026! 🚗

Had the pleasure of speaking on The Next Gear: Turning Next-Gen Ad Formats into Marketplace Advantage — breaking down how automotive marketplaces can stay ahead as AI reshapes search and consumer journeys shift into AI-powered results. From Google's Demand Gen + Product Feed integrations to VLA opportunities on Microsoft, to the first tests of ads inside AI-generated search, the conversation was packed.

Also had the chance to head up a roundtable on GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) in automotive — a topic that's clearly top of mind for a lot of people in the room.

Big thank you to Katja Riefler for putting together such a sharp agenda and for including me in it. The caliber of attendees and speakers was impressive — a lot of high-level decision makers having real conversations. Exactly the kind of event worth flying out for.

If you're in automotive and not thinking about how AI search is changing your paid strategy, now's the time. Happy to chat.

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Looks about right 🤔

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Sitges, Spain at sunrise 🌞

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Back at the airport. Heading to Barcelona for the biggest automotive conference in Europe. I'll be speaking about the future of Vehicle Listing Ads and GEO in automotive. See everyone there in a few hours!

[Alex Melen @amelen]

🤔

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Excited to be heading to Sitges, Spain next week for AutosBuzz 2026 — the world's only conference dedicated exclusively to automotive e-commerce and marketplaces.

I'll be speaking on Vehicle Listing Ads (VLAs) and what dealerships and automotive marketplaces need to be doing differently to maximize performance — and leading a roundtable on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and how AI-driven search is reshaping automotive discovery.

If you're in the automotive digital marketing space, this is the room to be in. Would love to connect with anyone else attending.

🗓 May 19–20 | Meliá Sitges, Barcelona

#AutosBuzz #AutomotiveMarketing #VLA #GEO #GenerativeEngineOptimization #DigitalMarketing #SmartSites

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Ugh. RIP Spirit.

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Spirit Airlines died tonight at the hands of the socialist crusader, Elizabeth Warren

She must be so proud to add another casket to her achievements.

Tonight at 3am, Spirit turns off the lights. 14,000 jobs gone. 30+ smaller airports lose service.

JetBlue offered $3.8 BILLION in cash to buy Spirit in 2022. Shareholders, flight attendants union, literally everyone voted yes.

The combined company would have held 9% of the US market against a Big 4 that already owned 80%.

For anyone who understands numbers: 9% isn’t a monopoly against 80%.

Warren said no.

She wrote letters. She pressured Buttigieg. Biden’s DOJ sued. A federal judge killed the deal in January 2024.

Her argument: the merger would cost consumers $1 billion a year.

Now look at her collateral damage she dusts under the rug.

510 pilots gone in the months after. 1,800 flight attendants furloughed in December.

14,000 jobs in 2023. 7,500 last week. Zero tonight.

And that’s just the people in Spirit uniforms.

Catering goes. Fuel guys go. Baggage crews, gate agents, airport coffee shops, hotels and rental cars in 70 cities Spirit flew to. Every airline job carries 3 more on its back.

40,000 people out of work because of one woman’s moronic crusade against the market.

And the math ain’t mathing.

Spirit abandoned 90 routes during the death spiral. Fares on those routes are up 14% on average. Oakland to Newark: $135 to $288. Fort Myers to San Juan: $92 to $219. Kansas City to Newark up 66%.

That’s reality. Not some BS number from a “study.”

So @SenWarren tell me how this saves the consumer money?

Cheap carriers in a market drop fares 21% across the board. Southwest did this in the 90s and saved Americans $68 BILLION over 20 years.

Warren killed it. That’s what moronic politicians led by socialism do.

Then with her own blind arrogance, she tweeted Spirit’s collapse is “a Biden win for flyers.”

A win.

14,000 people are reading termination letters tonight.

And she’s taking credit.

This is socialism in 2026.

A senator who’s never made payroll thinks she knows how to run a market better than the people who own and work in the company.

She saved you a billion on imaginary paper.

She cost you ten times that in real life.

She didn’t protect consumers from anything.

14,000+ will go from working to welfare.

She will make sure to blame billionaires, hardworking tax payers, AI, capitalism and whatever monster they will make up tomorrow hiding under your bed.

Higher taxes. Fewer jobs. More expensive everything.

She called it a win. I hope you enjoy winning.

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Allbirds just announced it's pivoting from sustainable sneakers to renting out AI compute hardware.

Yup, this isn't The Onion, real news. They are pivoting from making sneakers to renting out AI compute.

The stock was sitting around $3. It jumped nearly 600% in a single day.

The company — once Silicon Valley's favorite shoe — plans to acquire high-performance AI chips and lease them to customers who can't get capacity from the hyperscalers.

They're rebranding as "NewBirdAI." The sneaker assets? Already sold off to the people behind Ed Hardy for $39M.

The Allbirds story isn't really about Allbirds. It's a signal. When a shoe company can spike 600% just by saying the word "AI," you're deep into the hype phase of a cycle 🤔

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Had a blast speaking at the Digital Marketing Conference this morning. Thank you for everyone that came to my session and the 5* session rating :) One more session tomorrow!

[Alex Melen @amelen]

A little bit tired this morning but back at the airport after a short break in my conference speaking schedule.

This time, I'm taking a daytime flight to Europe (one of the best travel hacks btw). I'll be speaking at Digital Marketing Europe in Lisbon later in the week, but first a quick stop over in London 🎉

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Excited to share that I'll be heading to Lisbon next week for Digital Marketing Europe — always a great event to connect with marketers pushing the boundaries of what's possible in our industry.

And not long after, I'll be taking the stage at AutosBuzz in Spain — diving into how digital marketing is reshaping the automotive space.

Two great events, two incredible countries, a lot of conversations I'm looking forward to. If you're attending either, let's connect — drop a comment or send me a message.

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Two weeks from now, I’m doing something a little different — hopping on a plane to Lisbon to go off‑script and talk about how we’ve grown SmartSites over the last 15 years.

I usually speak about SEO, PPC, AI, and entrepreneurship… but I almost never talk about our story. This time I will.

I won’t spoil the presentation, but the real “secret” isn’t a tactic or a framework — it’s our people. Finding the right team, empowering them, motivating them, and creating an environment where they genuinely enjoy doing great work for our clients. That’s been the engine behind everything.

It’s how we’ve made the Inc. 5000 Fastest‑Growing Companies list for 9 consecutive years — and hopefully soon, 10. Since it’s a 3‑year growth measure, that means we’ve been on it every single year we’ve been eligible. Consistency matters.

If you’re not signed up for Digital Marketing Europe yet and want to attend, drop a comment or DM me — I’ll share a discount code. Only a few spots left.

See you in Lisbon in just two weeks.

[Alex Melen @amelen]

AI is eating up all the memory and GPU supply 😵

[Alex Melen @amelen]

This is the moment all the Windows 3.1 users have been preparing for over the last 2 decades with Minesweeper. I think it's time the US government goes looking for the Windows 3.1 power users to solve this mess.

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Humans are now building social networks for AI agents/bots to talk to each other, and valuations for these networks are off the charts (Meta just acquired one for example).

[Alex Melen @amelen]

triopoly

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Annddd one more conference announcement!

Excited to share that I’ll be speaking at AutosBuzz 2026 this May in Spain—one of the automotive industry’s most forward‑thinking conferences bringing together OEMs, marketplaces, agencies, and innovators shaping the future of digital retail.

I’ll be speaking about Vehicle Listing Ads and the massive opportunity they represent.

AutosBuzz always brings together the sharpest minds in automotive tech, and I’m honored to be part of this year’s lineup.

Thinking of attending? Use coupon code alex15 for 15% off!

[Alex Melen @amelen]

Excited to be heading to Digital Marketing Europe in Lisbon next month with a full slate of sessions and conversations.

April 15 10:30–11:15 — Speaking Session: Building an Agency: Lessons Learned
April 15 14:05–16:50 — Emceeing afternoon sessions
April 16 09:55–10:40 — Panel: Scaling Agencies: What Still Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next

If you’re planning to attend—or thinking about it—send me a message and I’ll share a discount code.