I had no clue what to write about, so I turned to my husband, Brad, for inspiration. I grilled him on the fundamentals of SEO in hopes that my insight would have rubbed off on him proving that I’m an amazing teacher. Sadly, he barely passed, but it’s an amusing look at out how the outside world views SEO (if they know about it), websites and search engines.

Check it out here.

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I’m home sick today (again) and it’s really starting to tick me off. I know, I know… you don’t get better unless you rest, but I can’t seem to pull myself away from it [work]. I get bored and boredom drives me nuts. So, I’m going to write a quick blog post about recent Rhea news and then I’ll go back to the couch and watch Oprah. If only I’d stayed home yesterday, I could have seen Rand and Geraldine at Harpo.

For anyone that missed it, I finally gave Loren another blog post for Search Engine Journal, this time it was on the Death of SEO Transparency. It got some terrific feedback and more than 100 votes on the poll. Thank you to each of the SEOs that contributed to the article including: Andy Beal, Aaron Chronister, CK Chung, Liana Evans, Jonathan Hochman, Debra Mastaler, Jill Whalen and Chris Winfield. I always go through fits of anxiety when it comes to blogging because the last thing I want to do is contribute to the overabundance of noise. This means my posts are few and far between for personal projects, but I appreciate everyone’s support when I jump to it!

Amazingly, miracles do happen and I will be blogging twice (counting this post, three times) in one week! SEO consultant and business owner, Rae Hoffman is about to work on her tan in the Dominican Republic, which means it’s time for Guestwhore Week! Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m one of this years guestwhores and will be at the mercy of Graywolf, our babysitter, while Rae soaks up the sun… and some fruity beverages. Look for the post on February 21st!

In other news, I just received my copy of Jerri Ledford’s new book, the SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible. Along with several dozen search industry experts, Jerri interviewed me on the current state and future of SEO. I haven’t had an opportunity to really dive into it, but hope to have a full book review soon. Meanwhile, check it out for yourself.

Finally, one of my favorite Jacksonville geeps (geek peeps), Steven Bristol, and his co-founder, Allan Branch, just released a really cool site, Less Memories, and at my ridiculous recommendation turned that baby into a social network. The site is like one big library of sticky notes. You can use it to record, edit and search for your memories or connect with others… kind of like spying on your coworker’s desk.  Check it out and if you have any recommendations post ‘em here or on their Ruby on Rails blog at Less Everything.

Alrighty… back to feeling nauseous and reruns of MTV and VH1 reality shows.

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The recently engaged search engine marketer and blogger, Karl Ribas (also of Search Marketing Gurus fame), tagged me to share 4 Ways to Improve My Blog.

As I was busy getting married to Brad Cornelius, I had to put the topic on hold until today. So, I’ve changed the title a bit to reflect how I truly feel about my blog, “4 Ways Rhea’s Blog Could NOT Suck” rather than “4 Ways to Improve My Blog.” Yes, I think my blog sucks. No, I’m probably not going to take my own advice anytime soon. It’s difficult for me to justify optimizing my own blog. I feel like that’s time better spent working for my company, Modis Professional Staffing, chairing First Coast Surfrider, spending time with family and friends, or contributing to Search Engine Journal (something I haven’t done for months now!).

But, if I did take my own advice it would be…

1. STOP BEING HYPOCRITICAL!

I spend hours each day telling businesses what to avoid and embrace. Why is it so difficult to apply that knowledge to my own dinky little blog? Fix canonicalization issues, fix the broken template, put the blog in the root folder (again), optimize the old URLs and start shuffling some link juice, site map and cohesive folder structures (…um, hello?), optimized 404 page, actually do something constructive with the robots.txt… The list goes on and on. I’m sure you’ve also seen half a dozen other areas for “improvement” just in the first minute of visiting.

So, why don’t I get off my butt and just do it Nike style? Well, I’m busy and it’s easy to make this a non-priority. However, I think this is also an issue of self-doubt. I worry that I don’t have all of the answers, so it’s easier to have none and accept failure than get a 98% knowing I wasn’t perfect. I could go into detail about why I have that philosophy, but I’d rather refrain from a thorough psycho-analysis of Rhea just before the holiday. Fortunately, recognizing you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right?

2. HAVE A PLAN

Any journey is much simpler with a clear road map to follow. Ideally, I’d establish goals for myself, have a time line, a calendar for posts, etc. Beyond the simple stuff I’d manage bigger projects that would expand the site beyond just a blog and into profitable venture territory. Sadly, fear and uncertainty paralyze me. I do better in a semi-structured environment where I can act alone, but with some push from above setting deadlines and saying, “yeah, you’re not crazy, that could actually work!”

3. FOLLOW THROUGH

Why are most people successful? I’m sure there are a few that fall into it by chance, others through brilliance or talent and others through connections (some because of all three). However, I would wager that the vast majority of successful people are such because they seized opportunities. They might not be the best person for the job, but they were ready, willing and able to get the job done while the better man was patiently waiting his turn. What good is an idea that’s never shared? Or an invention that never makes it past the drawing board? My father once said ideas should have a shelf life. I agree wholeheartedly. So, I need to stop coming up with really cool ideas that never make it past rough drafts and post-it notes. Sit down, commit and follow through!

(Edit: I just Googled “Follow Through” to confirm its spelling and found this post on follow through from Seth Godin that discusses the concept as a slippery slope. Good read.)

4. FOLLOW-UP

Once I figure out how to stop being hypocritical, I establish a plan and I learn to follow through, the last step is to follow-up! How many missed opportunities have there been because I didn’t take the time to market an idea, respond to a comment, answer an email or post a response? Not to mention the more notable forms of SEO follow-up like establishing some solid tracking, press releases, interviews and backlink solicitation and optimization?

Now that I’m thoroughly depressed, thanks Karl, I want to hear from others. So, I tag Carolyn Shelby (sporting a new template!), The SEO Chicks, David Mihm (looks like your last post was my previous tag! I expect a response before 2009), Dazzlin Donna (would love to hear some expert thoughts) and Mark Laymon.

I apologize if you already responded to this, I’ve been out of the loop lately.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and see ya at Pubcon!

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