4/06/2007
Why I Blog - a "Tag" meme
So my good friend Barry Schwartz tagged me (http://www.cartoonbarry.com/2007/04/why_i_blog.html) and I now am part of the "Why I Blog" meme. This is very exciting for me, since 3 years ago I barely knew what a blog was and certainly never figured I'd use the word meme (hopefully properly). So he we go:
"Why I Blog"
1. I like to write, and blogging allows me to convey my feelings to a variety of people that may or may not find them interesting.
2. I blog for three different site: this one, Search Engine Roundtable, and Search Engine Watch. For each of the three I can have a slightly different attitude, which is nice. I really like the format at SER, because I can blog about what others are saying. I would almost call this the most "mindless" of my blogging duties, however I actually do spend a decent amount of time on the posts. Someday I will be like Barry the Jedi blogger and knock posts out at an inhuman rate.
3. I am in fact rather jealous of him and Danny Sullivan, both of whom seem to be able to put out so much valuable content in such short periods of time. Thus, I at least have a very basic reason to blog: that is to get better at blogging.
4. When I first started posting at Search Engine watch forums in 2004, I began to enjoy participating in virtual discussions. Although blogging often ends up being more of a one-way information flow, the idea of speaking my mind in a forum where literally anyone with Internet access can read it is still very compelling to me. To paraphrase a quote I recently heard but can't find the source of right now: "People enjoy interaction with other people, but the most joy that they get from it is in having someone listen to them."
5. I blog because I have a lot of friends and business associates that blog. I have so many friends and acquaintances, that I like to think that in some way my posts at the various blogs allow some of them to "keep in touch" until the next conference I see them at.
6. I blog because the word blog includes three letters from my last name, and it rhymes sort of.
OK so there we go, this is why I blog. Please feel free to pry more out of me in the comments section.
In turn, I now tag the following bloggers to let me know why they blog:
Arianna Huffington (http://www.huffintonpost.com/)
Loren Baker (http://www.searchenginejournal.com/)
Pete Prestipino (http://peteprestipino.info/blog/)
Frank Watson aka Aussiewebmaster (http://www.smart-keywords.com/blog.html)
"Why I Blog"
1. I like to write, and blogging allows me to convey my feelings to a variety of people that may or may not find them interesting.
2. I blog for three different site: this one, Search Engine Roundtable, and Search Engine Watch. For each of the three I can have a slightly different attitude, which is nice. I really like the format at SER, because I can blog about what others are saying. I would almost call this the most "mindless" of my blogging duties, however I actually do spend a decent amount of time on the posts. Someday I will be like Barry the Jedi blogger and knock posts out at an inhuman rate.
3. I am in fact rather jealous of him and Danny Sullivan, both of whom seem to be able to put out so much valuable content in such short periods of time. Thus, I at least have a very basic reason to blog: that is to get better at blogging.
4. When I first started posting at Search Engine watch forums in 2004, I began to enjoy participating in virtual discussions. Although blogging often ends up being more of a one-way information flow, the idea of speaking my mind in a forum where literally anyone with Internet access can read it is still very compelling to me. To paraphrase a quote I recently heard but can't find the source of right now: "People enjoy interaction with other people, but the most joy that they get from it is in having someone listen to them."
5. I blog because I have a lot of friends and business associates that blog. I have so many friends and acquaintances, that I like to think that in some way my posts at the various blogs allow some of them to "keep in touch" until the next conference I see them at.
6. I blog because the word blog includes three letters from my last name, and it rhymes sort of.
OK so there we go, this is why I blog. Please feel free to pry more out of me in the comments section.
In turn, I now tag the following bloggers to let me know why they blog:
Arianna Huffington (http://www.huffintonpost.com/)
Loren Baker (http://www.searchenginejournal.com/)
Pete Prestipino (http://peteprestipino.info/blog/)
Frank Watson aka Aussiewebmaster (http://www.smart-keywords.com/blog.html)
Avenue A | Razorfish Launches “Search Marketing Trends” Web Site
Kind of slightly old news (this site has been live for about 2 months now), but I wrote this a few weeks ago so here it is.
Since I joined AARF last year, one of my most rewarding tasks has been to edit a weekly newsletter which we started out of the Philadelphia office last summer: Search marketing Trends (SMTrends). For the first 30 issues, we kept the newsletter slightly hidden, since we planned on moving to a new domain with it. Naturally, with client and other PR work taking precedence, this took a while to accomplish. However, a few weeks ago, we finally did move to a new Web site: www.searchmarketingtrends.com.
SMTrends is a newsletter that features topics written by AARF search marketing and other related specialists across the globe. The company made some great acquisitions in 2006, in my opinion, and has kicked off 2007 with two more new international partnerships, in Japan with the formidable Dentsu, as well as just last week with the purchase of an outstanding French SEM firm, Duke Interactive. (Comme je parle en peu de Francais, j’espere de travailer avec notre nouveaux copains Francais bientot!)
We have already had some articles contributed by our UK office, DNA, and our German offices of Neue Digitale. Soon, we should have participation with our Australian company Amnesia, as well as our Honk Kong team at e-Crusade. I am sure we will get plenty of participation this year across the globe, which makes editing SMTrends even more exiting.
So I personally invite anyone that has not yet checked out SMTrends to do so, and please sign up for our newsletter so you will receive it weekly. We plan on instituting an RSS feed soon. I hope to see you there, and feel free to submit topic suggestions directly to me via the comments in this thread or via AARF.
Since I joined AARF last year, one of my most rewarding tasks has been to edit a weekly newsletter which we started out of the Philadelphia office last summer: Search marketing Trends (SMTrends). For the first 30 issues, we kept the newsletter slightly hidden, since we planned on moving to a new domain with it. Naturally, with client and other PR work taking precedence, this took a while to accomplish. However, a few weeks ago, we finally did move to a new Web site: www.searchmarketingtrends.com.
SMTrends is a newsletter that features topics written by AARF search marketing and other related specialists across the globe. The company made some great acquisitions in 2006, in my opinion, and has kicked off 2007 with two more new international partnerships, in Japan with the formidable Dentsu, as well as just last week with the purchase of an outstanding French SEM firm, Duke Interactive. (Comme je parle en peu de Francais, j’espere de travailer avec notre nouveaux copains Francais bientot!)
We have already had some articles contributed by our UK office, DNA, and our German offices of Neue Digitale. Soon, we should have participation with our Australian company Amnesia, as well as our Honk Kong team at e-Crusade. I am sure we will get plenty of participation this year across the globe, which makes editing SMTrends even more exiting.
So I personally invite anyone that has not yet checked out SMTrends to do so, and please sign up for our newsletter so you will receive it weekly. We plan on instituting an RSS feed soon. I hope to see you there, and feel free to submit topic suggestions directly to me via the comments in this thread or via AARF.
SEMPO Secretary – 2007
As many of the readers of this blog probably know, I was recently re-elected to serve a second term on the BOS of SEMPO - the Search Engine Marketing Professional’s Organization. I am thrilled to have been selected from a list of very qualified candidates that numbered 37 excellent choices. I hope that anyone out there that voted for me, or even those that didn’t, please comment to this post with your suggestions for SEMPO this year. I also want to thank everyone that did vote for me, and I promise to continue to work hard this year to promote search engine marketing as a whole.
SEMPO has now over 500 members, and the actual number of people involved within those memberships is probably close to 700 or 800. This is a guess, but I know personally of quite a few organizations that have multiple participants, including my employer, Circle-member Avenue A Razorfish.
I have also been named Secretary, per a BOD vote, and I look forward to another very productive year as a member of the board. I was very happy to learn that 7 other members from last year’s board are returning, and that I have already worked with two of the new members personally in a few initiatives: Massimo Burgio and Fionn Downhill. I am excited to meet and work with those board members that I do not yet know, and I am sure they will bring plenty of valuable experience to SEMPO’s leadership in 2007.
SEMPO has now over 500 members, and the actual number of people involved within those memberships is probably close to 700 or 800. This is a guess, but I know personally of quite a few organizations that have multiple participants, including my employer, Circle-member Avenue A Razorfish.
I have also been named Secretary, per a BOD vote, and I look forward to another very productive year as a member of the board. I was very happy to learn that 7 other members from last year’s board are returning, and that I have already worked with two of the new members personally in a few initiatives: Massimo Burgio and Fionn Downhill. I am excited to meet and work with those board members that I do not yet know, and I am sure they will bring plenty of valuable experience to SEMPO’s leadership in 2007.
Tobacco Quitting Update
Thanks to the many folks who linked to my SEM Tobacco quitting contest. It looks like so far it’s just me and Website Magazine’s Pete Prestepino, who happened to quit on the exact same day. I haven’t reached out to him yet, but I personally have been able to keep my end of the bargain – having quit now for (10+) weeks.
I had decided when not many people signed up by February first to make this an ongoing contest. So anyone in the industry that wants to quit and may like to have a little extra support from me and Pete are welcome to still join. The rules are the same: if you start smoking again you owe whoever remains in the contest a link to a page of their choice. The sooner you join the contest the more chances you have of getting links.
I haven’t reached out to any search engine reps about this, but would hope that they do not take any offense to the idea of using links as a reward for such a contest. Please feel free to join the movement by commenting here or within the original post, and I’ll be back in a month or so with another update. I am keeping my fingers crossed for SES NYC next week – since I am sure I may be tempted during the many after hours events.
I had decided when not many people signed up by February first to make this an ongoing contest. So anyone in the industry that wants to quit and may like to have a little extra support from me and Pete are welcome to still join. The rules are the same: if you start smoking again you owe whoever remains in the contest a link to a page of their choice. The sooner you join the contest the more chances you have of getting links.
I haven’t reached out to any search engine reps about this, but would hope that they do not take any offense to the idea of using links as a reward for such a contest. Please feel free to join the movement by commenting here or within the original post, and I’ll be back in a month or so with another update. I am keeping my fingers crossed for SES NYC next week – since I am sure I may be tempted during the many after hours events.
