Have you ever had a moment of narcissism and Googled yourself? You might be surprised at what you’ll find. It’s amazing how fast your words can get picked up, twisted and turned around and BAM…you’ve got bad press, leaving you to sit there, saying, “wait, I had press?”

Because information is no longer sacred and because privacy seems to be a thing of the past, you and your good name may be a target for malicious burglary. That’s right, I said it, there are name burglars out there. And not only can they take YOUR name, but your company’s as well. Good news? There is a great solution to this criminal problem.
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Forums are these wonderful little creations that open up all sorts of topics to anyone with a question or just gathering information. They are usually niche-oriented because a forum that catered to all the questions anyone needed answered would be called the “Chaos forum.”

SEO is one of those industries that you can’t really learn everything about because it is constantly changing. I began my job a while ago and I still struggle to keep up with all the new lingo, tips and tactics that SEOers come up with daily. So, I go to a forum to check out latest news and happenings.

Do not be afraid of them! Forums are a way for everyone to advance their knowledge of a subject. If you ask a question and let current users know you are new, they will most always be kind to you and offer some REALLY great advice (just make sure your post is original. Sometimes they get a little miffed at repeated questions, which is understandable).

So without further ado, here are my top picks for SEO forums to get started in:

Guaranteed, any question you have has already been asked in one of these places, so do a little digging, read the posts and comments and you’ll probably come out of the forum way more educated than you were going in and good luck! more…

Most everyone has a blog, or two. There are about 75 million bloggers out there and the one thing we all have in common is the desire to gain readers. We write to inform or entertain and we want our words to be read by others.

But how can that be done you say? I have compiled a list of five ways that readers will turn into your trusty right hand (wo)man:
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A new Google Apps tool has been released that is designed for small- to medium-sized businesses, and now you can have a Google search box on your website that allows visitors to access search results from the website, or websites, that you choose. It is called Google Custom Search Business Edition, and it provides an alternative between the “already existing Custom Search Engine, a free, ad-supported service, and Google Appliance, a hardware device selling for prices starting around $2,000 which customers manages on themselves”. Since your website does NOT have to be running Google ads to use the Business Edition application, you have the ability to turn off the ads produced by the Custom Search Engine service, and you can also customize what your visitors are looking at, similar to Google Appliance.
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I was reading an article on Sphinn and thought it would be helpful to our readers. The article offers advice to any people or companies seeking to hire an SEO firm. The information contained is very valuable to anyone who’s not so familiar with internet marketing and it offers great advice for the selection process.

I thought number one was a particularly handy tip, as some SEO firms will try to lure clients with an un-guaranteeable guarantee. Beware of that!!

So if you have time and are searching for an SEO firm or just want to know things to ask for future reference, here is the article.

During my daily reading of Search Engine Land I was reading Google Free Fridays and Danny Sullivan mentioned his new product, Sphinn.

I took an initial look at Sphinn and all I have to say is wow, it’s great. Digg is for the techies, Reddit is for random weird stuff but Sphinn is a collection of articles from all over the place about SEO! What a great and NOVEL idea. So if you need an extra resource to get a glimpse of who’s who in SEO or just learn a little more information, this is a fantastic starting point. Kudos to you Danny and the rest of Search Engine Land. A product the web can be proud of!

Today I had a very yummy luncheon at the Four Seasons with a hospitality and tourism networking group here in Atlanta. I met some new people, stuffed my face with as much free salad and pasta as I could, then listened to a speaker from a Trade Show marketing company.

His topic? Simple, “The Basics of Successful Marketing.”

I think there are times when we try, not only in marketing but many industries, to dig almost too deep to be the best and the first. Sometimes we forget the basic ideals originally motivating us to pursue our current careers.

I love SEO because it’s such a dynamic industry, things are always changing and moving forward. But with that fast paced progress, I think it’s important to occasionally step away and go back to the basics.
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Our dependence on certain things we expect to remain static is a little scary. Just as we tend to rely on a cellphone to constantly connect us to friends, family and colleagues, we also expect the cellphone will work. And just as we create brilliant marketing campaigns to target Google traffic, Google may not always be around.
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