A question came to me whilst at SMX Advanced in Seattle, has the “personality culture” within the industry created a situation where the more well known personalities can now command the same sort of perks as a mainstream personality? Now I can’t see Matt Cutts demanding from Danny a rider of cocaine, hookers and Cristal (although maybe something to think about Matt to make the conferences a little bit more worthwhile?) but conference after conference you see people congregating around Matt as if Jimi Hendrix had arrived. I think Matt is an incredibly nice bloke always has the time of day for you and manages what is potentially an antagonistic relationship between SEOs and Google extremely well (that really wasn’t meant to sound as sycophantic as it did!).

The situation arose when I went to say hello to a well known SEO. He was stood next to an attractive blonde and as I approached him she started being somewhat obnoxious say “Hey this is xxxx xxxxx, you want to speak to xxxx xxxx” like I shouldn’t of been anywhere near him as a mere mortal. I have spent a fair bit of time with this SEO and to his credit he said “Oh this is Ekky, he’s one of my buddies” at which point she backed off. I know several other high profile SEO who have the situation where they go to a show and they get, to varying extents, mobbed and it would be understandable that they might feel their personal space is being invaded.

A good number of SEOs have a high profile but I would like to know what benefits and issues does this celebrity status produce? Is SEO now all about, b*tches, bling and avoiding the maddening crowds?

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Filed under: Just My Opinion by ekky 5 Comments »

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Filed under: Just My Opinion by evilgreenmonkey No Comments »

As I sit here and watch my 4 year old son run through the house screaming at his sister simultaneously spewing toys as if from some invisible orifice, I appreciate the torment that I put MY Dad through on a daily basis for 18 years. This not to say that my son is a bad kid, or that I was for that matter, but kids are well, kids. If you don’t have one, borrow one from one of your friends for a day (they will be happy to oblige, trust me). After the first couple of hours with a typical 3 year old, you’ll be scrawling out that thank you card to Mom and D ad.
It’s Fathers Day in many places and as the screaming in the background as I write this attests, is NOT a day off from our normal duties. Some of you are long veterans of Fatherhood with sons and daughters who have left the house for more independent ventures and you can sit back in the self satisfied glow of a job well done and watch the race/golf/football/tennis with a beer in your hand. Cheers, you deserve it. The rest of us will fight on, changing diapers and DVD’s and refereeing sibling fights until our nests become quiet too.
Thanks Dad for putting up with my crap for all of those years, I owe you more than I can ever pay back. If you are lucky enough to still have your Father around give him a call today, if you are even more fortunate and have the ability to go see your Dad, do it and give him a hug. You owe it to him.

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Filed under: Uncategorized by str0ud 1 Comment »

I’ve just got back from a business trip to India and have been catching up on my personal emails. One email was from a guy called Chris Walker, who I do not think I’ve spoken to before. He mentioned that he read my evilgreenmonkey blog and linked to an article (nofollow’d) that he found about SMX Advanced in Seattle. In case you don’t want to click through to the site (I don’t blame you), the article is basically about someone who supposedly had a “one night stand” at Danny’s recent conference. The author brags about how he slept with a woman who’s son was at the conference, in a very tasteless fashion (pathetic wanker comes to mind).

The article is hosted on the website of a small-time US based web design company called “Life Blue”, despite being the kind of content you’d cringe at seeing even on a personal blog. If a design company was willing to put this on their site, you’ve got to assume that they’re unprofessional and a someone to stay away from. This was an attempt at linkbait if ever I’ve seen one, and possibly the worse implementation I’ve had the misfortune of reading in a long time. Don’t send Rand this link as he’ll probably kill himself out of embarrassment on behalf of the culprit! I don’t have 100% proof that this Chris Walker guy was involved, although a Google search for [“chris walker” seo] brings up an article directory page full of crappy content on “How To Get Laid” as number one. Nice!

So Tips To Learn From This:

• Don’t do something that makes people want to kick the crap out of you, unless you’ve calculated the repercussions.
• Don’t write bullshit on a company website, people will think the company is bullshit.
• Don’t send an anonymous tip-off if your name is linked to the topic being baited.
• Don’t think that everyone else is a 40 year old virgin and has the same childish humour as you.
• Don’t waste the time of an ex-hacker with jet-lag, bad things sometimes happen.

Oh, and please make sure that you don’t send clean links through to the offending page if you blog about it - lets make sure these people don’t benefit in any way from the exposure.

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Filed under: Serious Search Stuff by evilgreenmonkey 7 Comments »

Ok, in the spirit of fair play (and because I seem to be a latent masochist) here is the footage of me participating in an impromptu dance-off, which took place at a friend’s recent wedding. The best man and groom decided to see which of the ushers had the best moves (the buggers!)

Amazingly, I was the joint winner. Less surprising is the fact that after this, I totally avoided all & any dancing at SMX!

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