Blogs, blogs, blogs
"Blogs, blogs, blogs" - haha, no - not trying to keyword stuff. This is an aggregate post on blogs.
I've re-jigged my blogroll (and called it a blogroll for the first time too). I still read the blogs I've taken off but just thought they were either inappropriate for this blog's blogroll or unnecessary for the blogroll. I don't need to recommend Google's main blog to you, do I?
I've added Hoachi's excellent Googlified, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim (and credit to Jordan McCollum's contributions too) and I've added SEO by the SEA too. One of the early "wins" from this blog has been my discovery of SEO by the SEA.
I've also added a link to e-Consultancy too. I tried to slyly make that blogroll point directly at my new expert blogger status there but just couldn't do it! It seemed too much like a cheap trick. I'm really pleased to be blogging at e-consultancy. The additional blog gives me the chance to talk more about SEM to an audience interested in learning about SEM or hearing what professional SEMers from agencies have to say.
Here's a recommendation for you. Andy Beal's hit on another clever idea and is asking for suggestions of RSS feeds worth subscribing too. This isn't re-hashing the 'A-list' of blogs but Andy's attempt to unearth blogs worth reading that aren't counted among the 'A-list'. I'm using the post to talent scout too!
The 'A-list'. Meh. What a horrible phrase. I remember clearly that one of the reasons I started this blog was because of frustration at the unhelpful cliques on the forums. Are people beginning to get annoyed at the blogging cliques now too? Yes - based on the grapevine today. Much of this started when Michael Gray asked 'non A-list' to stop blogging. I think this was un-intentional linkbait though I'm sure he'd argue it was intentional now!
I'm not an A-list blogger. I only kick started this blog at the start of the year. I get more traffic to my Bom Chicka Wah Wah post than to my homepage at times. I don't really deserve to be an 'A-list' blogger either because I simply don't have the time to give to this blog. However I am aware of a real difference between 'A-list' bloggers and Search Marketing consultants with experience of, say, an annual $2,000,000 PPC campaign, or an SEO campaign across 20 countries, three creative agencies, four production teams, six project planners and co-ordination with a multi-million pound TV campaign.
I'm not saying that simply working at a large and successful Search agency makes you 'A-list' in anyway but there cannot be many marketing disciplines where the collective voice of so many SME's out weighs the reputation of the heavy-hitters.
In some ways this is a good thing. This innovation and transparency in the forefront. If Jo Blogger discovers a Google bug they'll blog about it and lap up the traffic. I won't do that. If I discover a Google bug then I'm emailing that off to contacts in Google. I reckon, since I started this blog, I've written two such emails that could have put this blog on the main news at Search Engine Land. I've been linked to by Techcrunch and ZDNet already this year. Rather than shouting; "Yay!" I winced and worried that I'd blogged too much detail!
I also sometimes wince at what is handed out as canon advice to people in search conferences. My Meta, meta, meta post at e-consultancy touches on that. I so often hear SME SEO dismiss the Robots meta tag. That's fair to a point but the larger the project then the more important future proofing becomes. This is sometimes an example of a so-called 'A-list' blogger not being able to translate their skills to an 'A-list' client roster.
Also on the negative side of having so many passionate, intelligent but relatively small consultancies and companies set the SEO agenda is that it keeps the industry feeling 'cottage' rather than looking like the multi-billion offering it is.
Lisa Barone, over at the Bruce Clay blog, is an example of someone who does really well at getting that mix right. She writes from one of the bigger SEO agencies, but writes in a style which captures the attention of the SEO blog community, she writes about issues appropriate to both a blog and a client-based readership and writes about them to an appropriate depth. The Bruce Clay blog does not feel cottage!
Do I have a conclusion? I do. I'm disagreeing with Gray. I don't want less famous search bloggers to stop writing. I want them to keep on writing. I also want to see more blog posts akin to what we get from The Lisa and Gord Hotchkiss. I want to see blog posts from bigger SEM agencies or full service agencies who try and offer SEO and PPC to their clients!
I've re-jigged my blogroll (and called it a blogroll for the first time too). I still read the blogs I've taken off but just thought they were either inappropriate for this blog's blogroll or unnecessary for the blogroll. I don't need to recommend Google's main blog to you, do I?
I've added Hoachi's excellent Googlified, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim (and credit to Jordan McCollum's contributions too) and I've added SEO by the SEA too. One of the early "wins" from this blog has been my discovery of SEO by the SEA.
I've also added a link to e-Consultancy too. I tried to slyly make that blogroll point directly at my new expert blogger status there but just couldn't do it! It seemed too much like a cheap trick. I'm really pleased to be blogging at e-consultancy. The additional blog gives me the chance to talk more about SEM to an audience interested in learning about SEM or hearing what professional SEMers from agencies have to say.
Here's a recommendation for you. Andy Beal's hit on another clever idea and is asking for suggestions of RSS feeds worth subscribing too. This isn't re-hashing the 'A-list' of blogs but Andy's attempt to unearth blogs worth reading that aren't counted among the 'A-list'. I'm using the post to talent scout too!
The 'A-list'. Meh. What a horrible phrase. I remember clearly that one of the reasons I started this blog was because of frustration at the unhelpful cliques on the forums. Are people beginning to get annoyed at the blogging cliques now too? Yes - based on the grapevine today. Much of this started when Michael Gray asked 'non A-list' to stop blogging. I think this was un-intentional linkbait though I'm sure he'd argue it was intentional now!
I'm not an A-list blogger. I only kick started this blog at the start of the year. I get more traffic to my Bom Chicka Wah Wah post than to my homepage at times. I don't really deserve to be an 'A-list' blogger either because I simply don't have the time to give to this blog. However I am aware of a real difference between 'A-list' bloggers and Search Marketing consultants with experience of, say, an annual $2,000,000 PPC campaign, or an SEO campaign across 20 countries, three creative agencies, four production teams, six project planners and co-ordination with a multi-million pound TV campaign.
I'm not saying that simply working at a large and successful Search agency makes you 'A-list' in anyway but there cannot be many marketing disciplines where the collective voice of so many SME's out weighs the reputation of the heavy-hitters.
In some ways this is a good thing. This innovation and transparency in the forefront. If Jo Blogger discovers a Google bug they'll blog about it and lap up the traffic. I won't do that. If I discover a Google bug then I'm emailing that off to contacts in Google. I reckon, since I started this blog, I've written two such emails that could have put this blog on the main news at Search Engine Land. I've been linked to by Techcrunch and ZDNet already this year. Rather than shouting; "Yay!" I winced and worried that I'd blogged too much detail!
I also sometimes wince at what is handed out as canon advice to people in search conferences. My Meta, meta, meta post at e-consultancy touches on that. I so often hear SME SEO dismiss the Robots meta tag. That's fair to a point but the larger the project then the more important future proofing becomes. This is sometimes an example of a so-called 'A-list' blogger not being able to translate their skills to an 'A-list' client roster.
Also on the negative side of having so many passionate, intelligent but relatively small consultancies and companies set the SEO agenda is that it keeps the industry feeling 'cottage' rather than looking like the multi-billion offering it is.
Lisa Barone, over at the Bruce Clay blog, is an example of someone who does really well at getting that mix right. She writes from one of the bigger SEO agencies, but writes in a style which captures the attention of the SEO blog community, she writes about issues appropriate to both a blog and a client-based readership and writes about them to an appropriate depth. The Bruce Clay blog does not feel cottage!
Do I have a conclusion? I do. I'm disagreeing with Gray. I don't want less famous search bloggers to stop writing. I want them to keep on writing. I also want to see more blog posts akin to what we get from The Lisa and Gord Hotchkiss. I want to see blog posts from bigger SEM agencies or full service agencies who try and offer SEO and PPC to their clients!
Comments
I've been enjoying reading your blog myself, through RSS. I visit and read it enough, I should probably add you to my blogroll, too.
Cheers.