Is it the proactive person who profits little but aims to change the perception of the industry to the outside world? Or is it the entrepreneur who makes a success of their business venture and lays it solely at the feet of being good at doing SEO and making it work?

Both are champions in their own way of course but neither becomes a champion of the industry without one major factor. Peer Recognition.

The industry we work in is young, by any standards, and with that youth there is obviously an opportunity for people to step forward and fill the role we refer to as “champion”. The champion of the cause (in this case – SEO)  will be someone who represents all the aspects that our industry aims to achieve, adhere to and reflect in the purest form.

It is the face that the industry wishes to be associated with, the voice that speaks for the people who work within its parameters and the sentiment that, in the vast majority,  reflects a consensus among their peers of what we should be and what we strive for.

Does SEO have a champion? I believe it does, it has many, but there are also those that will claim that title with little or no real substance behind the claim and herein lies the danger. Without peer recognition you are never a champion.  Simply saying it does not make it so (no matter how loud you shout about it!)

I can claim to be a champion of SEO, the world, the universe, thought and time itself…. This self substantiated claim probably makes me look like a total idiot to my peers though, and everybody else.  I may as well to be a Champion of Bread Sticks. But some people out there read it once and believe it… wise up.

So please – if you meet someone and they have to tell you that they are the best, greatest, top dog or champion of any particular thing. Use your common sense. Ask around, do some Google searches. Research the claim a little.  You may find out very quickly that are they are is a champion… in their own dreams… and be especially wary if they give you a naff DVD with “Champion of SEO” on the cover.

Champion of any cause are the people who never mention it, because they don’t need to, but the rest of us know your names.

There, its out there. Pretty weird thing to say isnt it? On a site that offers the very same service!

So let me clarify.

I have been a bad SEO because I have been neglecting my own site for about a year now due to commitments to clients – where I have been working on their SEO, which has actually served to make me an even better SEO than I was just one year ago.

No excuse really.

I worked DAMN hard on this site, testing it, changing it and moving it forward for over 3 years before I became engrossed in the work on the Arctic Spas website that’s had me up to my eyeballs in hot tubs (never a bad thing :P) as we redeveloped the site, reorganized infrastructure and other systems, arranged training protocols, implemented new marketing campaigns (online and offline) and basically got on with moving the business and brand forward.

So its time I stopped being such a bad naughty SEO and got back to giving a bit of what I have learned to you guys, who I know have wondering why my site has been off the grid (I get enough of you asking me to get back to blogging).

Also, I seriously intend to give this site another fresh, HTML 5, CSS 3, responsive theme overhaul as well.

So here goes. I’m not gonna be silly and over commit to churning out content every day or even twice a week – but its time I got this baby rolling again – so to begin with, as I rediscover my rhythm, I will be back at it at least once per week from this point on with the usual range of observations, funny shit, rants, advice and whatever else I believe you may find useful or entertaining.

…maybe then I wont feel like I’m such a bad SEO!

He has a small chip on his shoulder, about some friends of his.

After all, he invented the “friends”. (love that line)

Mark gets to thinking about Facebook and whether Google Plus will do to him what he “did” to MySpace…

Genius.

I was messing with a new WordPress site today and found a link on the WordPress forums to this page about SOPA/PIPA and how it is being pushed through in the USA as a new form of legislation.

I have been watching and reading the news about this strange piece of legislation and was roughly aware of its content and the overall proposal, but until I read this page I haven´t had the inclination to actually pipe up and say anything about it as I honestly believed that such a ridiculous piece of crap would never see the light of day as real law.

But it’s still here and it’s still being considered, so, about time I said my piece.

Simply put, this piece of legislation is a complete load of shite.

Take a few minutes and watch this explanation of what this proposal means.  If it has the same effect on you as it did on me then I am hoping that you will step up and do what needs to be done to make it absolutely clear to your local politicians, business people, family and friends that you will not accept such lopsided ”fat cat” favoritism that this proposal entails.

Its detrimental to us all and will only serve a tiny minority of individuals who are adamant about maintaining the status quo, have no clue what the internet can offer them and who are to lazy to go and try or learn something new.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Straight of the wordpress page, heres how our American firends can make themselves heard:

We are not a small group. More than 60 million people use WordPress — it’s said to power about 15% of the web. We can make an impact, and you can be an agent of change. Go to Stop American Censorship for more information and a bunch of ways you can take action quickly, easily, and painlessly. The Senate votes in two weeks, and we need to help at least 41 more senators see reason before then. Please. Make your voice heard.

Lets ge with the program guys and girls. Go make it happen.

Follow these instructions.

Go to the Google Chrome Shortcut on your desktop or toolbar and right-click on it. Choose Properties. Look for the Target field.

Add this line:

- -pinned-tab-count=x

to the end of this string in Target. C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe so it looks exactly like this:

C:\Users\name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe – -pinned-tab-count=x

Now all you have to do is change the X to represent the number of tabs that you want to make permanent on the chrome browser and it will look like this every time you open your browser:

Simple as that!

Thanks to Addictive Tips for that info. Was exactly what I was looking for!

It is worth the watching as a basic refresher. It covers 5 things:

1. Words in page
2. Titles
3. Links
4. Words in links
5. Reputation

Numbers 1 through 4 are quite easy to understand and grasp, but number 5 is a little different. Why? Well, its not actually a technical aspect of SEO in that, you cant really code something or develop a solution that makes it “work”. Its the single factor that attempts to account for the human touch in SEO and it incorporates social media and your offline and online networks in order to create something valuable that it applies to the search algorithm.

I would go so far to say that if you worry about reputation more than the other 4 aspects, then they will be forced to fall into line and will work naturally for you regardless of site code and structure.

Believe it or not, that’s what I have experienced in the past. Havent you alwasy wondered how “that site” is at number one when its obviosuly coded to the same level of quality as the site at, say, number 6 on the search results page? That is because its affected by the things you cant see in code, and that’s the “reputation” that’s referred to in the video above. Lots of SEO geeks dont like this as it removes the power they believe they have in making web pages rank well but manipulating code. Go figure.

I’m not saying you should ignore the way your site is built and how it has been coded to meet search engine criteria, but I wouldn’t get hung up on it when it can be over shadowed by forces above and beyond its reach and outside factors pointing into your site. Focus on what’s important people!

What if you tried the same methods so many typically employ online to the real world? Would you do it?

I didn’t think so!

But this guy did and it’s a great example of how ridiculous it comes across to the unfortunate recipients.

Think about what you do online, don’t just follow the herd. Try and consider what you do from another’s perspective and how you would react if it was you.

Watch and enjoy!