Posted by rebeccaWant to know what a typical day at the SEOmoz office looks like? How's about I give you a sneak peek? Here's a day in the life of an SEOmozzer, from start to finish...7:15 am: Wake up7:45 am: Head to gym8:00-9:00 am: Work out9:00-10:00 am: Drive home, shower, get ready for work10:15 am: Get to office10:20 am: Have a bagel (Blueberry. That's a goodbagel.)10:30-12:30: Read/respond to emails, edit blog/YOUmoz12:30-1:30 pm: Take our newest hire, Sarah, out to lunch (ooh, sushi). Charge $90 (don't judge, we fed eight people) to company card (thanks, SEOmoz!)1:30 pm: Apologize to Rand for forgetting to invite him to lunch (Oops. Aw, he looks so sad.)1:31 pm: Decide to give Rand lunch receipt later.1:35-2:30 pm: Start to get back on track with tasks, until...2:30 pm: Dave Naylorpops his fookin' head in our officeHappy to see us, as always2:35-3:20 pm: Leave office to get coffee with Dave 3:25 pm: Head back to office3:35 pm: Leave office again to get coffee with Scott and a potential client4:15 pm: Head back to office4:20 pm: Come in and see that during the forty five minutes I was gone, a giant piece of furniture has been ripped out of the "pit" and is now sitting in our kitchenThe desk......is now in our kitchen4:30 pm: Notice on my way to the bathroom that we have received a ransom notefrom the folks at Pole Position Marketingthat threatens to release incriminating photos of Brock Sampsonif we fail to meet their demands. (For background information about Brock, please see this postand his corresponding resume.)4:35 pm: Wonder if Stoney deGeyter actually gets any work done, or if he just spends his days plotting ways to mess with SEOmoz4:36 pm: Realize that Ihaven't gotten any work done4:37 pm: Look over at Jane, who isactually working (on her presentation for SMX London. Look how happy she is! Being productive is good!)Jane being a diligent worker4:38 pm: Feel guilty4:40 pm: Look at my task list4:40 pm: Look at the clock4:40 pm: Think to myself, "Ah, the hell with it," snap some photos, and start putting together this blog postAnd that, my friends, is just another day at the office. ;)[Postscript: Of course this isn't how things are typically run around here, but today was just so damn odd that I had to share. I may put up an actual "typical day" post soon to prove to you naysayers out there that yes, I actually do earn my paycheck.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishIt's sad that we don't cover the paid side of search marketing here at SEOmoz with more frequency, but with a little luck and some elbow grease (or, at least, borrowed expertise), I'm trying to dip our toe a bit deeper. Thus, it's with great pleasure that I welcome Mona Elesseily from Page Zero. Mona's a paid search guru, a fellow Northwesterner (albeit a Canadian one) and one of my favorite people to spend time with. She's graciously agreed to an interview with SEOmoz about her background, her work and her new book, Mastering Panama(no, it's not about canals).Mona at the launch party for her book in San JoseFor those who may not be familiar with your background, could you give us a brief bio? What got you into search? How did you end up working with Andrew?I was in finance for 5 years before I started in search (in my past life I was a certified financial planner). Through this work, I recognized I loved marketing and saw a unique opportunity with the growth of the Internet. To round out my skills, I did post-grad in marketing (online specialization) at the University of British Columbia and landed a job at Radiant Communications (sold to Devlin eBusiness Architects in 2006). After my stint at Radiant, I contacted Andrew Goodman. There was an opportunity with Page Zero Media and I’ve been with the company for almost four years.Your new book - Mastering Panama - is all about strategies for Yahoo!'s new paid search management interface. What made you choose that subject for your book?As I was working on PPC accounts, I got to really understand the differences between the various platforms. They were confusing! With a book in mind, I started keeping notes on things I learned about Y!SM. My “notes” turned into a 40 page document and eventually my first 100 page book on Y!SM. When Y!SM upgraded to Panama, I wrote my second Y!SM book. The second book launched on August 7 2007 to fairly glowing reviews - even from Yahoo! :-)http://www.ysmblog.com/blog/2007/08/23/a-plan-a-primer-panamaWhat are some of the substantive differences between Panama and Yahoo!'s old interface? Is it a particularly complex product? Are there subtleties that require a lot of experience and expertise to master?That’s a great question. With the new system, there’s a learning curvebut once you get used to it, it’s pretty easy to work with. There are some significant differences especially if you’re used to using other engines. In the book, I include both “action items” and “helpful hints”. The “action items” are tips I suggest advertisers try in their accounts. The “helpful hints” are more advanced nuggets that can even trip up experienced advertisers. More advanced advertisers can also benefit from information on power features like the new ranking algorithm, geotargeting and campaign forecasting.In general, with Panama, there are advances in ad testing, forecasting, campaign organization, and many other mission-critical fronts that require you to work harder at first but can help advertisers achieve better long-term performance.Writing a book has loomed as a huge obstacle for me personally - what inspired you to get it done? How did you manage your time and energy to put it together? Is the workload as bad as everyone says?Yep, writing books is certainly hard work. To get my latest version done (written in 10 months), I set small writing goals and tried to achieve them consistently (for example daily). Much of the time, I felt like I was writing shorter pieces/articles instead of an entire book. Think shorter pieces Rand!Also, selecting a compelling topic is important. I was genuinely interested in Y!SM so my writing was interesting for me. While I was writing, industry folk (and marketers) were clamoring for new Y!SM platform information and that kept me motivated as well.Comparing Panama and AdWords - what do you think are the biggest pros and cons of each?One of the biggest advantages to using Y!SM is of course its broad reach – it’s behind Google, but it’s not like you can ignore #2. In certain areas, there are what appear to be some major advantages to Yahoo (but in reality these are differences you need to exploit, they’re not necessarily advantages or disadvantages for either platform). A simple example is there are extra characters in the Y!SM headline (15 of them actually!). This can provide an edge over an advertiser (like including additional product /service features or offers) who has simply cut and paste ad copy from another PPC campaign. There’s tremendous potential if advertisers take the time to understand Y!SM and tweak campaigns accordingly. There are obviously many more examples. Don’t even get me started on the different matching technologies! Understanding platform differences paired with the fact that many advertisers are making significant errors can help advertisers exploit the Y!SM system.Moving into more general arenas of paid search - what are some verticals or new advertising products that you predict will become popular from the major engines? Will Google's radio and print ads have a big impact? Is anyone going to get more behavioral and blend search history with display advertising? Online marketing is still in its infancy. As the Internet matures, I believe online marketing will become more integrated and perhaps nearly synonymous with what’s considered “traditional” or offline marketing. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seems to agree. Recently, he said: "Over time, all ad money will go through a digital ad platform... as all media goes digital; all advertising goes digital”. The fact that Google is offering radio, print and now TV ads also shows the online world is thinking more in integrated terms as well. With integration, the online world brings accountability and measurability to TV and other marketing mediums. Advertisers using television, radio, or other offline mediums can use the web (and associated traffic) to measure the effectiveness of offline advertising (in the past, traditional mediums like TV were not measurable).Do you have any unique, specific strategies that you've found particularly effective in Panama? Something juicy from the book that you can tease us with, maybe?Click arbitrage in Hungary. Kidding! (Actually, it works better in Belgium.)My focus tends to be on areas like going very deep into ad testing. Here’s a huge secret for you: campaigns succeed when you plan them, beginning with a frank assessment of product benefits, and a deep understanding of customers. I’m not saying you have to go full into personas and lengthy planning processes – at Page Zero we have an accelerated way of doing such research – but the foundations of market research that you bring to bear on the campaign tend to play out in terms of the kind of genuineness and targeting that connect with consumers.Sure, we can feed you tips on multivariate ad testing, which is great for high volume campaigns. What’s neat is that folks looking for the next little tip or trick only will fail unless they marry those tips and tricks with great strategy. In that respect it’s just like SEO.In terms of testing then, many advertisers have failed to explore the possibility of finding the nearly paradoxical situations where you can improve both CTR and ROI with ad copy and landing page work. Instead of being a pure tradeoff, sometimes it’s almost like parallel lines meet and you get a bump in conversion rates even while bringing in even more clicks on a keyword. It’s that kind of stuff we look for. I think anyone who reads my report will see how working in the system to implement your plans will help you beat those competitors who get daunted. And by “plans” I very much include in my definition the details of ad copy, display URL’s, distribution options, bidding, and so on.What's your next big project? Another book? Any hints on subject matter?There’s definitely related subject matter I could write on. I’m actually thinking of the world’s greatest book on Google AdWords. To date, I don’t think there’s been enough written on the topic (especially by Andrew Goodman). In the near term, I have a very important “big project” – a trip to India. There, I’ll be sure to “contemplate” my next writing adventure. I’ll certainly keep SEOmoz posted.Thanks a ton, Mona - we greatly appreciate your insight and contributions. For those wanting to learn more about Mona and Yahoo!'s Panama, check out the book hereand Mona's video with WebProNews.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by FluxxI'm pleased to announce that after many hours of work and testing by SEOmoz, our beta testers, and yourself truly, the SEOmoz SEO Services Marketplaceis officially launched!  You may access it via the banner above, or on every page via the "Marketplace" link in the main navigation at the top.The SEO Services Marketplace aims to be the go-to place for everyone in the search industry to find contacts, work, contractors, businesses to help with SEO, and potential employees.  As Rand mentions in the sidebar of the Marketplace homepage...At SEOmoz, we get more than a dozen requests for business every week, and constant emails asking if we know people who can fill a particular position. With the SEO Services Marketplace, we finally have a scalable solution that lets search marketers and web professionals of all stripes connect with businesses seeking services and candidates. It's a match made in search industry heaven.The Marketplace is free to browse by anyone and everyone, but only registered and logged in SEOmoz members are able to create their company profiles and resumes or post jobs.  The Marketplace has also usurped the old Recommended List, which now redirects to a list of SEOmoz Recommended Companies.  As with the recommended list, these are companies we've found to offer the highest level of effectiveness and customer service in their respective fields.How can I use the SEO Services Marketplace?The Marketplace essentially preforms 3 functions:Help individuals network & find search industry jobsHelp companies increase their online presenceHelp both find search-related jobs and contractsCompanies start out by creating their company profile.  They're able to craft a profile with their logo, description, phone, fax, and email, and list out any services they provide.  SEOmoz users can assign themselves to companies they work for, and will then appear as an employee on the company profile page.  Users of SEOmoz can also leave referrals for companies if they have experience with them.Individualsshould first work on and then activate their Marketplace resume, which will allow them to be listed in the resumes directory.  From there they'll be part of database of search professionals, an excellent resource for search companies looking to hire great talent.  Referrals may also be left for individuals, which help bolster your qualifications as a search professional.Finally, both companies and individuals may post  jobs + contracts.  Jobs are positions companies are looking to fill, while contracts are more meant to be search-related projects that companies/individuals are looking for an SEO expert to help with.What happens from here?Outside of SEOmoz & a select group of beta testers, nobody else has seen or used the Marketplace.  As such, this is still very much a public beta.  We've squashed all known bugs, but there may very well be bugs that you all run into.  So please, if you run into any issues, feel free to send me an email or write a note in the comments of this blog post.  Same goes for any feature ideas/requests that you think may be a good idea to implement.Thanks again to all the beta testers and everyone who has helped up to this point.  Happy Marketplacing!Note:I forgot to mention that while currently all external links in the Marketplace are nofollowed, users who have 100+ Moz Pointshave the nofollow removed. :)Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishThis week, one of the UK's most infamous & brilliant search marketersjoined us at the mozplex for what is surely one of the most valuable, insightful and lengthy Whiteboard Friday's we've had. In many ways, it's not too dissimilar from an SMX or Pubcon panel featuring the inimitable Mr. Naylor, and as usual, Dave parts with more information than you might expect.Part I (7:38):Dave & Rand discuss the Google PageRank update (see Mel's data here), Techmeme(sorry for dropping the f-bomb in there) and new features for Google's Webmaster Central.  Part II(6:17):We cover secondary signals that Google may or may not use in the rankings equation and Dave describes how his Zippy search engine's AdSense account was eventually banned. This is also the segment where Dave says "All you mozzers who want to be Black Hats, yeah..." I'll let the video speak for the rest.  Part III (8:17): Dave & Rand discuss Dave Dugdale's recent videos on Rentvine.com - Paid Links& Google Buys Zillow- and whether links to those videos should help his site's rankings. Dave also uses the whiteboard to show us the link graph for temporal analysis.  Aplogies for the lengthy videos, but I promise these are worth 20 minutes out of your Friday. Enjoy!p.s. Extra kudos to Scottfor his hard work on this. He's put in the equivalent of three days worth of efforts to make this happen, and it's greatly appreciated. If Scott leaves a post in the comments here, make sure to show your thumblove, as I've hijacked the authoring of the post :)p.p.s.Ack! I'd be remiss if I didn't also give a huge thank you to Jeff Pollardfor his work on the new SEO Services Marketplace. Jeff, you're a champ.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishOver the last few weeks, I've realized that I really need to optimize my processes for working. It's been a long, steady slog, but I've finally got at least one item nailed down, and since it was so popular last time, I figured I'd once again share my Firefox Sidebar. Of course, this means I'm also re-ranking the blogs that I read (old list here), trimming many off the list and adding a great number of new ones, too. I'll share my sidebar first, then get into the blog list more specifically.You can download an importable version of this list hereThat's pretty much what it looks like. I have a few other folders and links that I'm not showing off, but they're probably of less interest/value to people that aren't me :) Here's what you're seeing:Email - no surprise that it's up first, as this is usually 70% of my workday. I keep my tasklist in email (SEOmoz uses Google's hosted applicationsplatform for the nominal cost $50/user/year), star everything that needs attention, archive everything I've finished and try to literally answer every email I'm sent (although getting back to search community folks who email me for the first time can take almost a week nowadays). Conversion History- this shows a view of what happened on SEOmoz - how many users signed up, how many bought premium accounts, how many cancelled, new comments, new questions in Q+A, new YOUmoz posts, the works! SEOmoz Q+A- It's taking us between 48-72 hours to complete a response to a Q+A thread, and I'm hoping to drop that down to 24-36 in the near future. This link takes me directly to the unanswered questions and open threads, which I try to run through in reverse chronological order. SEOmoz Tracker- This is actually publicly available; it's the recent posts updater that shows all the threads that have new comments that your SEOmoz account hasn't yet read. It's good for responding to questions in comments and booting out any spam that finds its way in. IndexTools Analytics- It's true; I'm obsessed with our stats - daily visitors, visits, page views, and, of course, referring URLs. Social Buzz- These are aggregator-type sites that I use to make sure I'm aware of the latest in the world of search and the web. Even I'm shocked how soon after a story breaks the journalists and phone calls and emails pour in, and I think I've branded myself at this point as someone who pays attention, so I feel embarassed and probably look like an ass when I'm not on top of the news.TechmemeReddit SphinnYCombinator NewsDel.icio.us/PopularStumbleUpon BuzzDiggPopURLsBlogs- I'll cover these after the bookmarks. Basically, I'm one of those insane people who actually visits blogs rather than use a feedreader. I've tried 'em - I really have. I just need comments and the ability to comment right away, even though I probably only leave comments on other blogs 1-2X a day. Forums- Like many in the SEO space, I've drifted away from forums towards blogs. I still try to visit Cre8asite every day, but it often ends up being once every 2-3, and the other forums I'm lucky if I stop in once a month.Cre8asiteDigitalPointHighRankingsSEW ForumsSERoundtableSEORefugeeV7NSitepointWebProWorldNews- This is what I read while I'm at my desk eating lunch (probably 2-3 days each week). I hate being uninformed about current events and Reddit+Daily Show only takes you so far. I have to include the BBC as my top source because US News is so skewed/local it barely gives you a worldview at all.BBC NewsNYTimes TechnologySlate MagazineNewsVineNational Geographic NewsThe Stranger's SlogWired NewsBookmarklets- I trimmed these to only the ones I use. Basically, you click them while you're surfing a domain and get the Yahoo! & Google data. The SEOmoz dashboard is really amazing, too. If you're not using that now, I'd highly recommend it - saves me tons of time when I'm investigating a site. You can take any of these and drag them into your toolbar and they should work:SEOmoz DashboardYahoo! Site Explorer Links to DomainYahoo! Site Explorer Links to PageGoogle Blog Search Links to Domain  Site: Command at GoogleSEOmoz Page StrengthSEOmoz Rank CheckerReputation Management - This handy folder lets me track down mentions of our brand across most of the visible web. If you repurpose it for your own brand, personal name or clients, it's very useful - just make sure you're checking on a regular basis.SEOmoz - Google Blog Search(ordered by date) SEOmoz - Google Web Search(last 24 hours only) SEOmoz - Google News(ordered by date) SEOmoz - TechnoratiSeattle Info- Weather, maps, traffic, bus times (yes, I still don't own a car, but I walk to work most days so I only need this if I'm catching a bus to downtown to see Mystery Guest or it's pouring rain and I forgot a coat)Yahoo! Maps Starting at SEOmoz's OfficeMyBus for Roosevelt & 45thWSDOT Traffic MapSeattle Times WeatherI used to have a lot more in the sidebar, but I'm a minimalist in all things including my browser. Maybe that's why I can relate so well to Swedish design :)On to the blogs - the following is NOT a list of the most important blogs in the search space. It's NOT even a recommendation of what you should be reading. It's simply a list of blogs that I find valuable, ordered by how often I usually read them. Thus, the first 5-10 I visit almost every day, while the last 20 or so, I might only check once a week. And, yes, this can also be considered SEOmoz's blogroll:SearchEngineLand - Like the NYTimes in the offline world, it's all the search news that's fit to print SEO Book- Probably still the best strategist and deep thinker on search and online marketing topics SERoundtable- Coverage of relevant chatter in the search forums Matt Cutts- When he posts something useful, almost everyone in search covers it anyway, so I could probably move him further down at some point Gray Wolf- Michael's tough on Google, and really smart when it comes to revealing strategies or discussing the news Marketing Pilgrim- Between Andy & Jordan, the coverage here is terrific SE Journal- Loren Baker and his colmunists cover a lot of great technical material as well as TopRank - Consistently good material and lots of event coverage to boot.  Copyblogger- Brian Clark's impressive foray into the sphere has become one of the most popular blogs on the web. Now he's got several other contributors helping out. Stuntdubl- If only he'd blog more often; the material's extremely high quality. Cre8PC- Kim Krause's work covers usability, accessibility and a beautifully dichotomous outsider/insider perspective on search. Webmaster Central Blog- The Webmaster Trends Analysts do a good job clearly explaining their tools and some ways that Google crawls and interprets web pages. Google Blogoscoped- Philipp Lenssen says it's 80% Google; it's also about 80% must-read :) ProNet- The major writers here are some of SMM's best and brightest Lisa Barone- Great coverage and clever writing combine to make Lisa eminently readable SEO by the Sea- Bill Slawksi's in-depth patent analysis blog is a must read for engineers and optmizers alike Vanessa Fox- The creator of Google's Webmaster Central and current ad director for Zillow authors terrifically valuable posts. Shoemoney- Many of his posts are a fluff, but there's still lots of good material, too. Jon Mendez- A brilliant conversion specialist with an unrivaled depth of experience. Fantomaster- Ralph's black hat knowledge makes for consistently good material. Eric Enge- Eric & Stone Temple have been on a roll for the last 9 months, scoring great interviews and putting out impressively comprehensive posts. Sugarrae- The amount of enjoyment you get from Rae's blog is in direct relation to how much you enjoy snark with your learning. DaveN- Dave's gotten more serious about blogging lately, and his deep intelligence on search subjects Matt McGee- Matt's expertise with local search topics and his charismatic writing style makes for a terrific blog.Grokdotcom- The Eisenbergs' client list speaks for itself, and their blog on web marketing and conversions is one of the best.I won't cover the rest in detail, but they're all worthwhile reads. My best suggestion is to check them out and see which ones prove valuable to your business.DonnaSEO Black HatTraffickMindValley LabsScobleizerLive Search BlogTropical SEOGreg LindenJohn BattelleJohnonMuhammad Saleem10e20Greg BoserJim BoykinTamar WeinbergWebProBlogCartoon BarryeKstremeScoreboard MediaNeil PatelBill HartzerResourceShelfOut of My GordDennis MortensenIan LurieIR ThoughtsaimClearUltraGeekPerformancingSEOPediaDaggleHopefully, this list and the bookmarks are valuable to you. For those who want it, here's the bookmarks.html fileversion of the above. Please feel free to post links in the comments to your own favorite sources for any of the above that I might have glossed over.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by randfishAdmittedly, I'm a bit of a stats junkie. I can't get enough of those deliciously tasty tracking metrics to see how a site performs in the search engines, the blogosphere, the news, etc. If I could, I'd do like the NSA and record every conversation everywhere on the planet and audio scan for mentions of "SEOmoz" (update - the NSA has asked that I note that they do not record every conversation everywhere - apparently, Luxembourg is exempt ).However, this fine morning (2:30am Seattle time on Veteran's Day), I'm wondering whether the rest of the search marketing community is as obsessive as I am. Thus, a poll! Free Polls- Take Our Poll I figured it's only fair that since I mention these, I walk through how to track them and what they do._Inlink Data from Google's Webmaster Tools & Yahoo! Site ExplorerThe data above can be found by registering your site with Google's Webmaster Toolsand viewing the external links tab. Tracking it over time can be elating, depressing or confusing (just remember that sometimes, even Google has data glitches).I pull additional data from Yahoo! Site Exploreron both links to the domain as a whole and links to particularly critical pages._Search Rankings for Specific KeywordsRank checking is so 1999... I know, but I still do it sometimes, and since the SEOmoz Rank Checkerremembers your old data, it's cool to be able to chart progress on particularly important terms and pages._Brand/Domain Mentions in Search EnginesRetrieving brand mentions usually means running a search for your brand name at the engines and excluding your own site (or sites) to see how much web saturation you've got. For example, you can see in the above screen capture that SEOmoz has 1.2 million mentions in Yahoo!'s index, and this search - performancing -site:performancing.com- at Yahoo! shows about 1.73 million mentions. Note that I always like to go to the last page of results when checking results estimates numbers._Blog Links/MentionsWhile the Google link command isn't worth squat, the blogsearch link command works beautifully, and has great data and results. Tracking mentions over time is important, particularly for bloggers, because it can give you a sense of whether you're accelerating or slowing down your growth and reach._Website Inclusion DataA simple "site:domain.com" command works at all the engines except Ask.com (where you'll need to use "domain site:domain.com"). Again, I'll browse to the last page of results to get the most accurate data._PageRank from the Google ToolbarBefore the October PR update, we were a 7/10, after, we became 6/10 (no surprise since a few thousand sites that link to us lost a ton of PR due to selling links). Now, some datacenters are returning an 8/10 for our homepage - really? I don't buy it. So, yes, tracking PR might be pretty useless, but admit it - we all do it, and even though we say it's "worthless," we'll probably all keep doing it. For the tracking obsessed, even bad stats are better than no stats. _News MentionsWatching for your domain or brand name in news results can make for slim pickings unless you get mentioned often, but if you're a moderate-sized or big brand, it's good to have sense of not only how often, but how many positive v. negative news results you've got. Both Google & Yahoo! News are useful here, although Google tends to have a slightly larger index._Number of Visitor Referrals Sent via Search Engines_Hopefully, almost everyone is tracking at least this data through your website's analytics. It's valuable stuff and can help you identify swings and trends that can influence your SEO efforts sitewide.I'll be interested to see the final results and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments on the value of these metrics and whether there might be others you watch as well.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by identityAlong with all the hot "technical" topics this year, like Universal Search and blended search in general, algo changes, social media, local and mobile search, and, most recently, Google's big crack down on paid text links, it also seems to have been a big year for background discussions (with employment being high on the list of topics over the last 12 months or so). On one hand you have all the moveswithin the greater searchindustry, and on the other hand, the jobmarket(including SEOmoz's Marketplace), both in regard to the needs and the opportunities.As an industry, the last of these is both exciting and important. The positive status of the career market further demonstrates the legitimacy of the industry as well as the continual strengthening of the foundation of search marketing. There are roles in PPC and those in SEO, roles as independents, often doing A to Z, to in-house positions or specialty roles in agencies, working within a team.November marks 6 months since I joined Netconcepts, so it seemed like a rather appropriate time to share some thoughts on at least one aspect of the search marketing career market that might be extremely relevant to SEOmoz readers--the role change of solo SEO to agency SEO. This is, after all, an industry filled with more than its fair share of solo practitioners, many of which have entered into search marketing from completely unrelated areas. And this may be of interest to those doing in-house work, or who are still in an unrelated position but are itching to make the jump.With all this talk about the great opportunities and the need for good, smart people, what's stopping you? Fear, moving out of your comfort zone, not sure you have what it takes, or something else?Let's explore this opportunity, but not with the standard "Top 10 Reasons," but with a real live example. I started my own company, Identity Developments, back in 2003, initially as a web development firm--actually, starting the business aftergetting my first web design client. Maybe you started in the biz this way as well. Step back--before that, I was working in a completely unrelated area doing product management and new product development in, of all places, the office productsindustry [interjection from Rebecca:Wernham Hoggor Dunder Mifflin?]. I entered into the web world at zero and taught myself XHTML, CSS, and table-less design. Add this to a sales and marketing background and learning and adding SEO services to my portfolio was a logical step.6 months or so ago, there was an opportunity for me to join Netconcepts. What would this mean and why would I do it? More importantly, why would you?Broaden Your SkillsYour clients may be smaller players, or perhaps within one industry. Working in an agency will probably expose you to bigger names, bigger sites, more challenging experiences, diversity of industries, and even a greater variety of types of sites. Of course, if you are working in-house somewhere, the industry diversity will probably be a huge change. More than just your technical knowledge and skills, working within a team environment can expand and broaden your professional skills as well. FocusCertainly if you've been in the solo SEO role, you know how challenging it can be to attain that laser-like focus. For one, you may be wearing more hats than you can even count... consultant, analyst, link builder, copywriter, administrator, sales and business development--and if you are doing design and development, there are several more roles there, not to mention that you might also be head coffeemaker and lead-trash-taker-outer. These can all be great roles to play, but not being able to focus deeply on any one of them limits the level of complexity and difficulty you can take on or the level of mastery you can achieve.The good news though, is that if you are in this multi-role situation now, having this broad background or in-depth knowledge in any of these other areas will be an asset you can bring to the agency table. The challenge to SEO practitioners is to both master their craft and have a broad knowledge of everything else they come in contact with at the same time. Exponential KnowledgeWhile the previous points are important, if you're like me, it is this last point that may lead your list, and perhaps one of the biggest reasons you continue to return to SEOmoz. Not to sound too cliché, but there certainly is a synergy that comes with working with others on a team.Something that seems to run through many in the SEO community is the desire to share knowledge and to participate with others. This, perhaps more than anything, is what sets the SEOmoz community apart from every other SEO site. The added benefit of working in an agency environment over going it alone is the ability to bounce ideas off of your teammates.Of course, by working in-house, if you are lucky enough, you may benefit from the team environment there as well. What may be harder to find though is exposure to the level of expertise that working within an agency can provide. This was, for me, both the prompt for exploring as well as accepting the opportunity to join an agency. Specifically, for me it was the ability to work with Stephan Spencer, the founder of Netconcepts, and PJ Fusco. Sure, I would love to work with Rand, but moving from Madison to Seattle wasn't an option.In an industry still so new, so young, and so constantly changing, right now search marketing agencies may not only provide a great career opportunity, but access to and the ability to work with leading experts, unlike any other industry. It's hard to imagine a better time to work in search marketing, and perhaps, a more perfect time to consider an agency role, especially when most agencies are seeking new talent to bring onboard.Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by JaneCoplandOn Thursday and Friday of this week, Gillian and I will be attending SMX London - the SMX conference series' second European station. As opposed to the three conferences I've attended in the past (Pubcon 2006, SES New York 2007 and SMX Seattle this past June), I'm going to be taking part in a panel in London. I've mentioned this once before, but as I'm leaving tomorrow, thingsare about to get real.I'm not actually terribly nervous about speaking in front of an audience: the video camera for Whiteboard Friday troubles me much more. I like the idea of having a room full of people whom I can actually see. With a live audience, you can make eye-contact, scan the room, gage people's demeanor and their reaction to your presentation. You can make subtle changes to your presentation accordingly. The hot glare of the studio lights and the judgmental eye of the camera give you no idea of how many people you're "talking to" and give you even less idea of how they're reacting to your blathering.And it's not as though I have no experience performing in front of a crowd. However, the difference between athletics and public speaking is that, generally, athletes aren't required to face their spectators. At worst, there'll be part of the stadium facing you, but it is fifty meters away and you don't have to look anyone in the eye if you don't want to.As if you all couldn't guess, my panel at London is about linkbait. I'll be giving a brief introduction to linkbait, although I'm pretty certain that most people attending a linkbait session have at least an elementary grasp on the concept. Thus, most of my presentation will be concerning creating linkbait for the "real world", where clients aren't particularly keen on the The Next 9 Children's Characters That Should Come Out of the Closet, no matter how many diggs it would receive.This trip is also exciting to me for a couple of other reasons besides being my first speaking engagement.I haven't been out of North America since 2004. I haven't left the United States since 2005, when I spent three days in Vancouver, Canada. Which is... how to say this delicately... very similar to Seattle.I'm from New Zealand, which still suffers from being Britain Junior, as well as being Australia's Mini-Me. I've not been to either of those places since 2003. That's a long time spent driving on the right-hand side of the road and not being able to acquire good fish and chips.I wasn't allowedto leave the United States since my student visa ran out after I graduated from college. I received a work permit and then began the process of applying for residency, but if I'd left, I'd not have been able to return. Since my husband and my parents all live here, that would have been undesirable. Strangely, being allowed to live and work in the U.S. doesn't automatically allow you to re-enter after a trip away. That process requires more paperwork and more fees, so I just waited for the Green Card.I've been to England twice before, but went to Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester. Now I actually get to check London out, as well!I have a strange fascination with long aeroplane flights.Once I'm done with the conference, we'll upload the presentation to SEOmoz. If you're attending SMX London, I hope to see you in the audience! Please blog nicely about me - I'll try not to speak too quickly or with too much of a messed-up accent...Do you like this post? YesNo

  Posted by rebeccaRand regularly finds directories and shoots them my way so I can add them to our Premium Members' Link Directory. I don't know where or how Rand finds these gems, but I've added directories that focus on topics as diverse as corn, Nepal tourism, and taekwondo. I typically only add sites that offer direct links to their listings for maximum link building benefit; thus, redirects get skipped.Today I was adding some sites to the directory. I clicked on one, ScifiSource, "your source for science fiction on the web." The site is 90s-tastic, but whatever, a lot of sites still are nowadays. I clicked on "Featured Site" to get an idea of what kind of sites get added to the directory. The current featured site is "Carmen Argenziono Official Site," the "official site of Carmen Argenziono of Stargate SG-1." Okay, fine and dandy. I hover over the link to click on it ("Carmen Argenziono Official Site," right there in green), only to find that...it's not a link. Whuh?Where's the link, yo?After some poking around, I found it:Seriously?Every site in the ScifiSource's directory has a title and a nice little blurb about the site. However, the actual link to a site is nothing more than a sparkly rocket ship .gif. No alt tag. Just a little rocket ship. An image of a rocket ship.Clueless folks will just as soon as submit their site, see it displayed, and think, "All right, I'm building links to my site! Links are important!", not realizing that an image link with no alt tag is useless to search engines (not to mention confusing for users--I mean, who the hell would have known that the rocket ship is the thing you click on to get to the site?).  I suppose you could argue that the link is still good for traffic (if users actually find the damn thing), but for link building purposes (and for usability's sake), it's useless. A word of advice to any of you looking to build links via directory submission: make sure the link is actually valuable (text link or an image link with appropriate alt text, relevant anchor text, not redirected, not nofollowed, all that good stuff). Rocket links aren't valuable.*Postscript*:Rand does point out that search engines should be able to pull relevant text around the link and use that as the anchor text, thus redeeming value to the link, but I still think it's pretty bad form (and poor SEO) to have rocket links. Rocket links bad, I say! Bad!Do you like this post? YesNo