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 just had a strange experience on the UK search marketing blog, Apple Pie & Custard (the Site Visibility corporate blog). I clicked on their article, The Top 10 Sphinn Avatars, and Why from Sphinn’s homepage hoping to see my rocking avatar. Alas, my face was not among the winners. In spite of this serious affront, I enjoyed the article and gave it a Sphinn. I even commented on Eloi’s confusion of the Bartimus avatar, which he incorrectly labeled, “either a sock puppet or a Labyrinth character.” Any self-respecting biology freak would have easily identified the avatar as an ostrich, though the compression made me think it could have also been an emu or rhea bird.

Three largest, flightless birds…

Bartimus’ avatar aka an Ostrich:

An Emu:

A Rhea bird:

So, after I commented, I went back to Sphinn to see if there were any other amusing and informative articles. Less than two minutes later, Trillian informs me that I have a new message in my Yahoo account:

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Title: Thanks for the comment on Apple Pie & Custard
From: Kelvin Newman

Hey

Thanks for stopping bye and commenting on our blog. In a shameless attempt to get you to sign up to our rss feed I thought I would send you a quick email with the url http://feeds.feedburner.com/ApplePieCustard

nudge nudge

Cheers in advance

Kelvin

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Now this might sound like shameless self-promotion to some of you, but as Stuntdubl recently informed me, that’s simply the nature of an SEO, especially a good one. Can I fault a marketer for being an opportunist? No, in fact, I applaud the Apple Pie & Custard team: Damon Lightley, Eloi Casali and Kelvin Newman. This is genius! Maybe it’s my southern background, but I love good manners.What makes this email so awesome? They’re being:

1. Polite - A rarity in the sea of anonymous and noisy blogging douche bags.
2. Timely - If you’re going to ask a visitor for a favor, hit them up immediately after they’ve been to your site! They’re much more willing to listen now (while you’re still on their mind) than tomorrow when they have a report due, twelve emails to answer and a meeting in five minutes.
3. Smart - Customer retention is a pain online. Face to face rejection is much more difficult, so any opportunity you have to personalize a visitor’s experience will increase your chance of them remaining a loyal reader or customer.

So, that’s why I hereby present to Apple Pie & Custard, the completely fake award: Miss Congeniality of Search Marketing Blogs!

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Note to Google: None of the links were paid for though I do take cash, checks and free stuff if those I link to are in a thankful mood.

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WARNING: The contents of this link may be hazardous to your health and could cause nausea, bloating, tiredness, erectile dysfunction, sterility, projectile vomiting and migraines. Do not click unless your doctor has prescribed the click for you.

What If SEOs Mated?

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SEO Dream Team - The SEO game for those in entrenched in the industry! Not to be confused with Search Engine Smackdown or this spam game with Matt Cutts as referee. To be honest, this isn’t much of a game at all, it’s one of those annoying blog tag posts, but it’s cooler than anything else you’ve done. Of course this one might hurt your brain, so I challenge you to take the time and respond with a well-considered post.

The Inspiration:

A few weeks ago I played a friendly, adult game of kickball. Yes, kickball! A co-worker asked me to join and being the mature grownup I am, I participated in a terrific hour long game. I was a bit nervous because I had terrifying flashbacks to the school yard days of fifth grade. Fortunately, I was a bit of tomboy, so I never had to worry about getting chosen last, still all adolescent flashbacks are frightening. And then my mind drifted to SEO (like it always does… I’m a blast at parties) and that led me to now.

The Rules:

1. No one talks about SEO Dream Team.

Just kidding. For real now…

1. You can choose up to seven team members, but are not required to have seven (are you ballsy enough to say you only need yourself?).
2. You can simply list member names or assign fictitious positions; the process is entirely up to you, so get creative!
3. After you’ve listed your team members, please tag three other SEOs.
4. You need to be tagged before you respond (unless you’re obnoxious).

And to get the ball rolling, here’s my SEO Dream Team:
Please note, I chose people based purely on my knowledge of their work, admiration for their thoughts and their overall presentation at conferences or on blogs and forums. I’ve never worked well with close friends, apparently I’m an aggressive worker and I do best in a professional environment of highly motivated, type A personalities. Not to say that my SEO friends wouldn’t fit this description, but I didn’t want to play a nice game, I wanted to brutally slaughter any and all competition. That’s just how I play, when you’re tagged you can play nice if you prefer!

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CEO, Danny Sullivan
I think Danny needs no explanation. However, he wasn’t on my original list because I was thinking more about the nitty gritty details. After a conversation with Brent Csutoras, I realized I needed a leader and there was no better man for the job. Danny has vision, grace, an amazing track record and a sense of humor. What more could ask for?

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Research and Development, Gord Hotchkiss
For some reason, Gord was the first person I wanted on my team. I’m a sucker for numbers and behavioral studies and those are never in short supply when Gord’s in the room. I’ve never had the courage to introduce myself, but I’m head over heels for his research methods and would be starstruck working with him.

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PR Puppet Master, Matt Cutts
Matt has only worked his PR and reputation management magic on Google, but I have a feeling he’d be a genius wherever life took him. I’d definitely want him on my team rather than a competitor’s.

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Social Media Wizard, Cameron Olthuis
I’ve admired Cameron’s work for a long time, but his recent presentation at SES San Jose really won me over. He’s young, but incredibly driven, grounded and intelligent. When it comes to social media he knows it inside and out and doesn’t feed you a line of bull because he genuinely lives for this stuff.

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Creative Director/Web Developer, Matt Inman
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that attended SES San Jose that I’m quite smitten with Matt, of course not nearly as much as Tamar. So, this is a personal choice because he wore a He-Man shirt and a professional one because I’m amazed by his abilities at the ripe old age of 24. He’s an incredible designer, developer, writer, marketer and business person. I’m scared to think of what he will accomplish by the time he’s thirty and in my fake little world he’s an excellent addition to my SEO Dream Team.

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Analytics and Reporting, Avinash Kaushik
What bothers me most about analytics? Making a decision based on inaccurate or poorly interpreted data. I’ve been reading Occam’s Razor for awhile now, but my brain only associates names with visuals, so I didn’t hold onto his name, until my copy of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day showed up. Now, I’m an annoying fan.

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I couldn’t decide on my last person, so it would either be: Stephan Spencer (a man after my own scientific heart), Michael Gray, Rae Hoffman or Greg Boser. I’m most familiar with Michael thanks to Facebook, but have always adored every presentation and post made by each of those individuals. All four seem highly intelligent and to the point, a must for any team to run efficiently!So, that’s my SEO Dream Team! What’s yours? I tag Brent, Simon and Carolyn.NOTE: Nobody tag Tamar (per her request).

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Quick plug for the SEO Chicks!

I met Lisa and Julie at SMX Advanced and thought they were awesome individuals, not to mention hot SEO Chicks. I can’t wait to get my hands on a t-shirt, but I doubt I’ll be as sexy as Rand Fishkin:

FYI - I might have posted this entirely because it goes well with the color scheme of my blog.

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