SEO Break – Back in the Saddle Again
After an unexpected break from blogging I am back from a few months of silence.
Over the past few months I have been honing my development skills in addition to getting back in to politics. As I have indicated before… Once upon a time I worked in Politics. I have been both a volunteer, activist, and professional in politics for the last 8 years. Due to unforeseen circumstances related to the current state of the economy I decided it best to pursue using my degree and experience to join on the bandwagon.
I have taken a job on the ground in Oakland County, Michigan on the outskirts of Detroit working for a non-profit organization that shares similar values to me and most importantly the same goal. After the election is over, November 4th, I will be back in the market pursuing a job as a regular person. Aren’t we all just regular? No, or at least a few months ago I didn’t think so. I had convinced myself somehow that I was special. In that last few years I have worked hard and some how imagined myself to be someone I am not. In reality my illusion was allowing me to get away from what matters most. Happiness. After years of working for even higher profile figures than me gave me hopes and dreams to be them. After spending a summer with my parents taught me that it was all an illusion. After spending months drifting about my parents house I came to the realization, “I am regular!“ In fact I want to be regular.
As I came out of my daze I blew a couple interviews, unintentionally just did bad, and realized I love SEO and the challenge to the constantly changing SEO Universe. But my place in the SEO community is low on to totum poll. Sure I could rise to the top of the SEO community but that would bring very little to me. So after this election is complete I will be back in SEO only part-time. I am going to follow my instinct and go for a regular job with stability and most importantly with benefits. I will continue to blog for personal fun and work with clients on a part-time basis. Focusing on smaller numbers of clients will give me the ability to help create the perfect plan all the while not neglecting what is important to me. I have two personal choices ahead of me. 1. Return home and hope to get a good paying rewarding job (thinking something in construction or mill work). 2. Move back to DC and work my way up in government or the non-profit world.
The full-time life in SEO consulting is a bit to much stress in combination of high profile jobs is what drove me into the fog and ultimate burn out. I want a full time job that at the end of the day or week I can look at and be proud of. Weather that justification comes from hard work on an issue of championing a piece of legislation or helping family farmers navigate the rigors of Washington. Being able to take a pile of dirt and create something like build a new Eco friendly power plant or make steel pipe that is helping end the dependency on foreign oil. I want to be able to fulfill a quote may dad says very frequently “When they put me down in the ground. People will say there goes somebody that made a difference”.
How will SEO and your SEO business going to fit into that? The same way I originally intended for it to be. I am going to put it back in the hobby category and part-time employment. I am not ending SEO I am just not going to do as much as I was.
In my break I did lots of work on the growing area of Content Management systems and new technology using Adobe Flex. Those article are sure to come at some point. So stay tuned for updates. I am adding an e-mail subscription via feedburner so that it can be delivered to your e-mail. I have been writing on my personal blog lately about politics and other things. Just so much going on in the world that needs my attention!
In Michigan I am working with the Humane Society Legislative Fund. I am heading up their “boots on ground” campaign.
Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office.
In this case I am heading up their team in Michigan’s Congressional District 9. One of the most highly contested and closest races in the country. To be asked to spear head this operation is very much a privilege and an honor.
As you know from previous posts I am a big supporter of non-profits and charities. So instead of sharing a link for charity how about dropping them a donation. It helps secure more than just your pets and wildlife it protects human rights also. They are just as concerned with our well being as any other organization. They are currently in the fight for changing the current state of affairs. No other politically affiliated organization needs your help more. Please donate $10 or more. If you can’t give money try giving them a link and a spot in one of your post.
. 05 Oct 08 | Blogging, Business, Charity, Contractor, Employment, Freelance, Google, News, SEO, twitter | Read on | Comments (4)
Wal-Mart SEO & SEM
This Post is geared towards Fellow SEO’s
Back in December there was a lot of talk about Sam’s Club offering SEO and SEM services. I haven’t seen a follow up on the service and wonder how the service is working out. I have not seen or heard of a business actually using the service.
Over at Search Engine Journal they discuss “Sam’s Club Search Marketing: Good or Bad for the Industry?” I haven’t seen a follow up since the rumblings started. I would like to get a hold of a solid review of the service. Let me know if you can review it objectively and show proof of the service.
. 02 Jun 08 | Business, Marketing, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Advertising, Search Engine Optimization | Read on | Comments (0)
SEO isn’t Spam
Today “Google’s Spam Cop” Matt Cutts admitted that search engine optimization isn’t spam. Matt Had this to say:
I’ve always meant to do a post to say that search engine optimization (SEO) is not spam and that Google doesn’t hate SEO, but I never seem to get around to it. This presentation gave me a chance to slip those facts into the minds of several thousand tech-savvy folks.
This is first omission or at least direct omission I can remember from a Google Employee of the nature. Matt said this in a keynote presentation.
You can read Matt’s complete story on his blog along with seeing the video here.
SEO by Chris only practices White Hat SEO practices within the realm of standard Webmaster Guidelines.
New Design
I have decided that the blue and neon theme of before was enough. I have switched to another. I am not 1 hundred percent behind this one either. What do you think?
Give me some feedback. This came off the shelf template from a free service. I preserved all the links if you want to go hunting for them.
Tell me what you think.
SEO Meta Tags
Meta tags are frequently talked about. Why? Meta tags are arguably the most important factor in Search Engine Optimization. There seems to be a meta tag for everything. But what do they really all mean?
The three primary Meta Tags for SEO and the others have little or no bearing for search engines due to past abuse or overuse.
- Title – <title>The name of your page should go here</title>
- Description – <meta name=“description” content=“The description of the content should be contained withing these quotation marks” />
- Keywords (less relevant in recent but may or may not be read by search engines so should be used with less focus) – <meta name=“keyword” content=“keyword1, keyphrase2, keyword 3″ />
By putting these between the head tags in the html source code give significant help to Search Engines. Using these tags should describe the page. A page about cooking oil should look like these:
- <title>Cooking Oil proper disposal</title>
- <meta name=“description” content=“Cooking oil disposial done correctly is environmentally safe and has the least damage to our environment” />
- <meta name=“keyword” content=“vegetable oil corn oil olive oil disposal” />
In the past there has been debate about whether to use commas or not in the keyword meta tag since they aren’t really all that important don’t get caught up in the debate. Do what ever flows or isn’t included in the other tags. Spend more time SEO copywriting the page than on the Keyword Meta Tag.
Meta tags are not required for display in a browser. Meta tags are invisible to the eye or at least relatively. You can see meta tags by right clicking a page and viewing it’s source. They are typically near the top of the page. So what makes Meta Tags important to Search Engine Optimization? The content in meta tags are displayed in Search Engine Results.
Displays:
In the case when meta tags aren’t used, search engines typically generate the description used in search results from text on page. For the obvious reason pages that don’t have the description meta tags don’t typically perform well.
Using the meta tags properly will come in another post later that you will be able to find over at Birmingham SEO.
. 07 May 08 | Business, Fellow Blogger, Online Marketing, SEO, Search Engine Optimization | Read on | Comment (1)