This past Monday I spoke at the ACCM 2008 show at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, FL. It was my first national speaking gig and I’d like to say for the record that, no I did not throw up from nerves like I thought I would.

The session was “Secrets for Getting More & Better Links for Higher Search Rankings,” catchy huh? It was actually a really fun topic and I need to thank one of my SEO idols, Stephan Spencer, for the opportunity. He moderated the session and gave everyone a brain overload with the introduction. That set the bar really low for me, because everyone was drooling from too much mental stimulation. Other panelists were social media expert, Neil Patel, and Seth Besmertnik, CEO of LinkExperts. Seth wins for best presentation since my computer-challenged husband exclaimed, “I learned some things!”

The session was covered by WebProNews.

I only got to attend one other session, but it was Online Reputation Management for Direct Marketers featuring Lee Odden and Rob Key. They did a phenomenal job and interestingly covered a lot of the companies I featured in my Less Everything blog post on “The 5 Most Hated Companies Online.” I’ve been on the fixing and causing ends of reputation management issues, either way it’s frustrating. Lee and Rob did a great job with the subject as two of the industry’s leading experts.

So, what’s next for Rhea?

This weekend is Brad’s family reunion in Panama City Beach. It’s the usual… food, beach, family, food and more food!

The week after next I head to Seattle for the now SOLD OUT SMX Advanced where I’ll be covering sessions again and interviewing experts for Search Engine Journal with the amazing Eric Lander. I can’t wait to spend time with some of my favorite SEO buddies (you know who you are and that statement leaves things open so I don’t offend anyone like Matt who I can’t really stand).

After SMX Advanced I’m heading to Glacier National Park for a week and a half to spend time with my mom and step dad who are working at the park over summer. Brad flies out to join us for the last half. Should be amazing and I’m trying to convince some SEO friends to join for the first part… interested? The campground has free WiFi!

If our paths are going to cross, hit me up rhea [at] lesseverything.com.

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Not less money, but the company. After a short stay with the MPS Group, I’m moving onto Less Everything, an incredible design and ruby on rails development company.

Why? Didn’t I just get a new job?

It isn’t news that I got married in November and my husband, Brad, has been working full-time with the local school system. He loves teaching, but with his background in TV production his dream job is researching and writing for documentaries. Since my career was more lucrative it made sense for us to follow that path, but after several heart-to-hearts it became obvious that he needed more. And, I need him to be happy and my equal if I want our marriage to be a priority. So, I’ve metaphorically picked up the Jacksonville anchor and if the right wind comes we’ll be able to follow.

continue reading "Rhea is Working for Less"

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The moon taunted me for forty minutes this evening! From the time I got into my car and drove out of the parking garage, all I saw was the biggest, most beautiful moon of my life. Unfortunately, I was camera-less, which put me into a grumpy mood. As my husband has pointed out, “you don’t enjoy places. You take photos of them and then enjoy the pictures.” How sad is that? Fortunately, I’m not alone! This seems to be a common complaint for all photographers.

Anyways, here’s the moon from our porch (it looks like a sunrise!):

It’s still early, so I don’t have the eclipse shots, yet, but will hopefully snap them before I get heavily absorbed in my Guestwhore post for Sugarrae.

Edit: snapped some of the lunar eclipse and it was awesome. Also, just finished the guest post, so check it out tomorrow.

Good night!

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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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There is so much going on right now I needed a Friday recap (for this week only) as I have no lofty goals of ripping off The Lisa’s massive and beautifully (often sarcastically) written recaps for Bruce Clay.

Without further ado here are some cool finds:

The Happy Webbies store is finally open for business! The store currently has four shirts (and several buttons) with major web development and standards guru faces and sayings on them. For example, Jeffrey Zeldman’s bold yellow shirt says, <you>dumbass</you>. It doesn’t get better than that and I can’t give enough props to the boys at nGenWorks. They continue to be one of the most innovative and talented web design and development companies in Jacksonville… arguably the entire East Coast!

Michael Gray is laying down the law, yet again, this time to Download Squad’s Christina Warren who took a nasty jab at the entire SEO community in her article on Google removing thousands of malware sites. I wholeheartedly agree with everything Michael had to say and continue to be floored by the negative responses of educated Internet marketers, developers and reporters who still consider all SEO’s to be one step below lawyers.

Get your very own TPS Report from Initech! That’s right, now you can spread holiday cheer to your coworkers by printing and filling out your own TPS Reports from Office Space. Thanks JohnOrg for a terrific stumble that’s reduced this week’s productivity by 7 minutes and 52 seconds.

Can they build it? Yes they can (and did)! After some discourse on Twitter with Tamar, she dug up the following oldie, but goodie from Gina Trapani at Lifehacker on how to create and manage multiple Firefox profiles. Why would anyone want to do this? Because all of those extensions add up! And, if you live with a less tech-savvy user they might be a little intimidated by those customizations, so besides having a sparse browser that you can check, help your spouse or roommate out as well and go mutli-profile.

Go Global with Google! RedFly Marketing, Ireland’s top search engine marketing firm has released the second version of their Firefox extension, Google Global, which allows you to see both organic and paid search results as they appear in virtually every location on Earth. This is a terrific extension for search marketers and anyone running a global ad campaign online.

Webmaster World’s Pubcon 2007 Search Marketing Conference in Las Vegas!!! That’s right, it’s almost here. I leave Monday afternoon and return Saturday. This will be my first Pubcon and I’m beyond excited. The keynote speaker lineup alone is a force to be reckoned with and it’ll be refreshing to see sessions that break the Search Engine Strategies mold. I’ll be covering several sessions for Loren Baker’s Search Engine Journal. The posts will be less live blogging and more analytic. If we haven’t met, yet, I’m the redhead up front with a computer that’s probably dying a slow battery-deprived life.

Besides this being my first Pubcon, it will also be my first conference as a married woman. In honor of that event, Brad Cornelius, my husband will be flying out on Wednesday to meet my home-away-from-home. While I’m there two other MPS Group employees will also be there for a pharmaceutical conference, so we should be one happy Jacksonvillian family!

When I’m not busy blogging and jotting down notes from the 8am until 6pm or later conference sessions, I’ll be having fun in Vegas baby. Currently on the books: Tuesday night I’m going to see Blue Man Group, Wednesday night is the SEOmoz Werewolf Game and Thursday night is the SEO Charity Poker Tournament.

My husband has entered the tournament as a paying player and I’m hoping to win one of Pat Sexton’s (of SEOish and FeedTheBot fame) generously donated three free seats. If I win, I will be sporting Bond Girl, Xenia Onatopp attire and preparing to kick some serious SEO rockstar a$$. Other notable SEO’s at the table include Dave Davis, Neil Patel, Carolyn Shelby, Brent Csutoras, TheMadHat (aka Aaron Chronister), Aussie Webmaster (aka Frank Watson) and the James Bond to my Bond Girl, David Mihm.

On a completely non-SEO note and in addition to the Pubcon fun, First Coast Surfrider has also been ramping up. We have two major issues that we’re preparing a formal response to:

1. Beach Erosion in Ponte Vedra Beach
2. Huguenot Park access issues that stem from the new management plan

I won’t speak to our reaction just yet, but stay tuned.

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I had to put my professional life on hold for a few weeks and it won’t be 100% again until the New Year. A long time ago I realized I can only juggle one or two great projects at a time. So, for the past several weeks I’ve been solely dedicated to pulling off one of my proudest projects - my wedding.

I’m sure this doesn’t sound like a huge feat to many of you or you don’t understand why it’s so stressful… you’re probably a man. All I can say is both of my parents have been married three times each. This had an enormous impact on my views of marriage and I had to do things my way because I only intend on having one partner for the rest of my life. As an environmental activist it was also important that I make the event as low-impact as possible while not terrifying the attendees. Trying to plan a green wedding in Jacksonville, FL was like trying to put a round peg in a square hole… it ain’t going to fit no matter how hard you try. In the end, I had to compromise and for anyone that knows me, I’m as stubborn as they come, so this caused a bit of stress.

Fortunately, we had an absolutely amazing weekend from which I’m still riding high. We laughed, cried, danced and enjoyed every moment with our incredible families and friends. It was personal, warm, cider-filled, delicious, fun and unforgettable. Thank you to everyone that attended and everyone else that sent their congratulations and warm wishes!

The wedding stats:

• 1 and a half years of preparation
• 104 guests
• $13,000+ cost
• $200 veil covered in Swarovski crystals
• 6 Xanax taken
• 84 Xanax left
• 7 cups of tea
• Dozens of terrific friends and family
• 1 lifelong commitment

Upon return to the real world:

• 147 comments in moderation
• 5 approved comments
• 31 stumble requests
• Countless Digg shouts
• 1 busted blog
• 1 upcoming SEO conference
• 1 upcoming honeymoon

Some of the photos (check the rest out on Facebook and I’ill post a link to Flickr soon):

By the way, if anyone was motivated by Graywolf’s post about StumbleUpon kicking Google, Yahoo and MSN’s bums in Social Search, now is the perfect time to buy me a copy of “Planet Earth” on DVD.

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I was tagged by Carolyn Shelby to write 8 Random Things About Me from Paul Ruppert’s original meme.

So, here are 8 randomly awesome things about Rhea that should fill the void while I take care of personal stuff and refrain from serious blogging.*

1. I’m filled with irrational fears. Things that terrify me include, but are by no means limited to:

• Ceiling fans
• Clowns - “Killer Clowns from Outer Space” and “It” scarred me
• Apple corers
• Ice skating
• Surfboard fins -I’m okay with sharks, it’s the board fins that bother me.
• Snakes - Small ones like garter snakes, not big ones like anacondas and rattlesnakes, for some reason I’m cool with those. I’ve actually gone rattlesnake hunting, below is a western diamondback (or mojave) we caught (legally) in Arizona:

2. I love cheese. I’m slowly turning into a foodie and have an unhealthy obsession with cheese, especially gourmet varieties. Every time I go to the store I come home with a new, expensive type of cheese!

3. I used to think I had telepathic and telekinetic powers. When I was around 9-years-old my friends and I discovered X-Men. While they enjoyed the TV show, I discovered the comics and quickly amassed hundreds. During those years, whenever I got a sinus headache, I refused to take medicine because I swore my mutant abilities were developing and I had to fight through the pain. Being an intellectual redhead with a soft spot for bad guys, I was obviously partial to Jean Grey:

4. I’m NOT a morning person. This definitely runs in the Drysdale blood. My grandmother wouldn’t talk to anyone in the mornings until she’d read the paper, had her coffee and eaten her cereal. No exceptions. I’m not that bad, but I have been known to say some terrible things to anyone that dares wake me.

5. I like to climb things… without safety devices. While I’m terrified of surfing, I love free climbing the sides of cliffs and have been doing it since I was a kid. If I see a wall, a rocky ledge or a sheer cliff, I need to climb it. Fortunately or unfortunately, I live in Florida, so I don’t get to entertain that side of myself very often. Here’s a picture I took on my trip to the UK with my then boyfriend (now fiance; Brad proposed literally five minutes after this picture was taken and was less than happy with me dangling over the edge):

6. I curse like a sailor in traffic. My excuse: my mother’s from Chicago and I’m an Irish/Scottish redhead. Genetically speaking, I was designed to be feisty.

7. I studied primates for years and everyone called me Monkey Girl. This shouldn’t be news to many of you after Li Evan’s interview. During that time of my life I visited every zoo on the eastern seaboard, the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Duke Lemur Center and a number of other facilities. I also received a scholarship to attend the Third International Conference on Environmental Enrichment, an Earthwatch scholarship to study whiptail lizards in Arizona and I participated in the Busch Gardens zookeeper resident camp. In other words, I was a royal dork, but my only passion was primate behavioral research and being a normal kid didn’t matter to me. I burnt out really quickly and chose to major in Advertising and here I am today… a primatologist turned SEO chic:

8. My drink of choice is cider, preferably Magners or Bulmers with ice.

And, that’s it! Obviously it’s late and I should go to bed, but I was excited to see my first Digg homepage submission.

*For those I haven’t already vented to, that personal stuff includes a new job, election to chair(wo)man of First Coast Surfrider and my wedding in November!

People tagged… Patrick and David Mihm. Sorry, I’m only tagging two people because I don’t want to piss off too many people with tagging games. =)

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In case you were wondering about the monkey…

I studied primate behavior for years and eventually burnt out. The plan was to be the next Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey, instead I went into advertising. That may sound like a major shift, but both cover behavior and I enjoy SEO because it allows me to do both behavioral research and testing. The only difference is instead of environmental enrichment devices (EEDs), I get to play with expensive ad campaigns and click-through rate (CTR).

For more on my primate background, check out my interview with Search Marketing Gurus.

By the way, I just found the site, Monkey Girl Graphics, which also uses the barrel full of monkeys figure and favicon. I made my site before I stumbled upon hers, so creative monkeys do strike twice! In a world of 6 billion home sapiens, apparently I have a marketing monkey soulmate.

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When I heard that the President was aware of the “blogishphere” and used “the Internets” the shame of not maintaining my own public blog was too much to bear. So, here I am, up late avoiding a sick fiance and more work than I know what to do with, publishing my first blog on rheadrysdale.com. I’ll keep this short and sweet, I just didn’t want to leave the standard Wordpress message up for the one or two people a month that Google my name.

What does the future hold?

Search engine and general online marketing discussions, heated debates on the silver surfer, green wedding advice… you name it!

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