Understanding and managing trust is an essential skill in search engine business. In terms of sociology, trust is the willing acceptance of one's power to affect another - allowing actions that otherwise would not be possible. Trust is a mighty tool when it comes to signing up new clients, achieving credentials and referrers or building a (social) network...
Thanks to a small team and a lot of publicity, SEOmoz turns away a significant amount of work - sending folks to specific references or our recommended list or, occassionally, recommending they hire in-house SEO help. We're lucky in that we get to picky about the folks we choose to work with - some of the reasons for turning away busi...
This is going to be a tough and contentious issue and one that isn't easy for me to write about. Along with the obvious internal conflicts of interest in disclosing salary numbers, there's bound to be a lot of companies and individuals who will come away feeling that my numbers are wrong (or that their employers are cheating them). That said, it's a topic that needs to be addressed and if my ex...
I spent some time on the phone today with William Stinson from InfoSearch Media (link condom applied). They had cold called an old client (and friend) of mine who referred them to us. I spent a good 20 minutes chatting with William to attempt to understand their business model and their services. I took a few ...
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Via Slashdot, I came across this entertaining article at ZDNet called "Do Former Black Hats Make Good Hires?" It asks the brain-busting question of whether black hats should be hired for legit positions. The article approaches the question as if it has the same moral weight of "Shuld We Treet Coloreds...
Although I've had my Bachelor's degree for less than a year, I've already begun considering going back to school for a Master's degree. Working in the SEO industry has sparked an interest in getting an MBA (a Master's in Business Administration for you initialism-inept readers). My desire to get an MBA doesn't stem from the notion that more degrees = better pay (though it does); rather, in this in...
Via Threadwatch, I came across MarketingSherpa's report on the SEM industry's growth over the past two years. While it appears that SEM is on the up and up--staffing for top SEM firms has increased 75% from 2005, and "six firms [reported] more than $10 million in SEM revenue...
Every industry has its own jargon, and SEO is no exception. Since there are no interviews scheduled today and I actually have some down time (shhhh, don't tell Rand, or he'll make me scrub his Pumas again), I thought I'd share my picks for SEO terms that make you go "Huh?" These are terms that almost always require some sort of explanation, since the words associated with the ideas or ph...
Barely had time to read it, but I have to share - Top 10 Business Mistakes Search Marketing Firms Make. Which ones am I guilty of? #3 - Their Business Doesn’t Scale #7 - They Rely On One “Expert” to Provi...
For nearly 10 years, Danny Sullivan has been a leader in the field of search and search marketing. Today, he's departing from SearchEngineWatch & the Search Engine Strategies conference series: I love both the site and the conference series. I hate to say goodbye to them. Th...
In conversation today at the office, we found ourselves mulling over the disproportionate number of search marketing folks who hail from or live in Canada (aka hockey-land). In trying to ascertain what environmental or cultural factors might account for the propensity of the maple-minded to seek employment in the search field, we came across a few ideas: Canadians are disturb...
I'm stealing this idea straight from these four guys (1, 2, 3 - and 4 - thanks Emil) and adapting it to the world of SEO/M....
Tonight, I got to meet one of my all-time SEO heroes for the first time in person - Ammon Johns. Living up to his mystical reputation, he instantly gave me some advice for the SEOmoz website that I think will serve quite well for the future. He also regaled me with some hilarious stories, some deep insight into the SEO field...
I chatted with a friend in the industry this evening who signed up a consulting client several months ago. My friend has been in touch with the client several times about starting the work, but apart from a couple general questions, they've never used the consulting time they purchased. I was immensely curious about the details and luckily, my friend could share a few specifics. The con...