I finally broke down and started a blog…
This is proof I’m either certifiably insane or my goals are slowly changing. I’ll opt for the latter while most of my closer acquaintances will undoubtedly opt for the former.
Having been working in SEO for about 5 years now I have resisted having my own blog related to the subject. Anyone who works in this field will tell you we spend a lot of hours writing, modifying code and in otherwise “glued to monitor” situations so why would we want to add to this by becoming a blogger?
I know, I know…I’ve heard all the arguments about how important blogs are to SEO yadda yadda yadda…sorry, I’m still not convinced. Blogs may be important too some sites but I haven’t needed them to promote any of my sites to date. I’ll be writing a lot more about linking, blogs, quality traffic and more as this blog matures over time. The only tidbit I can add right now would be: think of each link as an advertisement and you’re going in the right direction.
So why did I decide to start an SEO blog after all these years? I’m guessing insanity. But after some reasoning it may boil down to:
- I have been fortunate enough to have had good success in SEO and I wanted to share some of what I know with others
- I’ve spent almost 15 years in web design/development but I must admit I enjoy the challenge of pure organic SEO – wrestling with the big Search Engines (in a white hat sort of way)
- I enjoy writing about SEO and the subtle changes that can have a big impact on a web site’s ranking
It goes without saying web site promotion can encompass much more than simply organic search engine optimization. Tactics such as Pay Per Click Management (PPC), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Email Marketing, Reputation Management, Virtual Spokesperson, Press Release Distribution, Web Analytics, Social Media Optimization, Link Popularity Services, CSS Conversion and many other terms, buzzwords – whatever you wish to call them – will be thrown around, used, abused, misused and discussed by those within this industry. Remember: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As soon as a new idea comes along a load of amateurs and newbie sales people come along and slice-it, dice-it, repackage it and give it a load of fancy new names and sell it to you at a higher price.
IMHO the best traffic has always been free traffic sent to you by people who believe in your product (or in this case, web content). Sometimes you have to pay for traffic for a while to get things going. Nothing wrong with that under some circumstances where schedules demand it. Sometimes SEO is not the way to get traffic at all (an example would be a new home community where a web site might be used for 18 months then closed down – in such cases SEO is almost useless).
You can expect straight talk from me. I don’t pretend to know everything but I know more than most about web marketing and SEO. What I don’t know I can usually wheedle from friends and colleagues within the trade. I may have to trade them a root beer float or something even more expensive but such is life. I’m willing to live with such sacrifices. That’s just the kind of person I am.
Thanks for dropping by and reading my new blog. I look forward to learning a lot from you…and hopefully you’ll learn something from me too 
