Huzzah, hooray! I've managed to get this article up before Rand and I have to leave for SES Chicago. Apparently Ammon and Co. in the UK have been waiting for me to put it up "with bated breath." So, for the sake of Ammon's lungs, I thought I'd stop messing around and get to business.
Anyway, as most of you probably know, I interned with Fresh Egg for two weeks. I've written an article about my experience as a Fresh Egg Intern, so check it out if you've got a spare moment. It's chock full of good stuff, like words and pictures!
Okay, I'm done. See you in Chicago!
By: Rebecca Kelley
My Experience as a Fresh Egg Intern
Events
The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
Great article, Rebecca. Good to know that you really did enjoy it all as much as you seemed to. Most interesting to me was seeing how much you'd retained and taken away with you.
The secret to effective training isn't what one says, or what one covers, but what the trainee successfully grasps, retains, and best of all, builds upon. Therefore I was looking for anything you'd interpreted differently to what I'd intended, so that I could work harder on making that clearer in future.
Only one area really stood out in that respect - the issue of our differing approaches to Title tags. It seems that you took away the idea that our approach was more aggressive, and less user-oriented, where actually it is the opposite. I've posted a more in-depth explaination on the Fresh Egg blog about why we fly in the face of putting branding first by starting all Titles with a company name.
When you've had as many years in the game as I have, and have to work with a client named something like: "Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe, Legal Advisors", you soon learn not to put those five words into every title, never mind putting them first. :-)
I don't think it's less user-oriented, but I do think it's more conscious of keywords than Rand's tactic. He seems to prefer that it reads naturally, without too much emphasis on including as many kws as possible.
I posted the following on your blog post, and I thought I'd re-post it here for all the SEOmoz readers:
Hope that clears things up a bit :)
Wow. Great writeup! I doubt there is anyone else that has experienced a steeper learning curve over the early stages of their SEO education than you have. You're so lucky to be among the company of SEOs that you are in!
When does SEOmoz' internship program begin? :P
Great article, Rebecca. But what's up with this:
Not all Texans are gun toting rednecks. Some of us don't even own a cowboy hat or boots!
Rebecca,
It was great to meet you for even just a little bit out here. And yes I was a little tired after my trip, I was really trying hard to not fall out of my chair during the podcast.
I have officially outlasted you now! hehe I have 12 days of "Ammonisms" under my belt. I also set up my own blog; tracking my SEO Internship with Fresh Egg:
https://www.seointern.com
As for now, things have been really good. I have learned a ton and it has been worth every penny that I paid to get here.
BJ Wright (SEO Intern #2)
How dare you outlast meeeeeeee?!
Your blog looks great--I'll definitely have to read it more in-depth when I'm not bogged down with Chicago craziness. Glad to hear you're getting your money's worth! We're all rooting for you here :)
Great post, Rebecca. It's more than I've read in one sitting in the last six months. Couple of great observations about the differences in Rand's and Ammon's philosophies, but I imagine that they agree on things far more often than not.
Glad you enjoyed yourself! It was great to meet you :)
Hope Rand isn't working you too hard. Take it easy
Aah, the pictures I've been waiting for (Though now I think I want to see a picture of Ammon's tattoo)! I think I've found my slideshow for the flight to Chicago.
I'm still reading but had to share this....When I got to the part about Xenu I performed a Google search on it. Interesting, interesting, interesting results.
The #1 and #2 results are for Xenu.net
Yet, at the bottom of the top 10 it says:
In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org.
So I look at the report and it is against, guess who?, Xenu.net.
Okay, back to Rebecca's article. Good read so far. I've even subscribed to the FE blog.
An hour later I'm finally done reading. Okay, so I visited a few links along the way and edited a title tag to test out something Ammon said Or purportedly said. For all I know you made this all up Rebecca, if that is your real name....my Firefox spell checker says Rebecca should be spelled Rebbecca. However, the pictures are pretty convincing. But then, maybe you are not an SEO at all but a Photoshop expert. Ah ha! I've got you figured out now.
By the way, you misspelled jewelry (not jewellery). Gosh Rebecca, where have you been? Great Britain? And here all this time I thought you were in England. I hope your were careful around those nasty Brits Rebecca. Did they try to brainwash you? I know what they are like. I read 1984 and I saw V for Vendetta. Shifty people Rebecca. Shifty people with bright beady eyes. They're mad I say. Mad mad mad!
I'm sure you're relieved to be home safe in dark gray cool (frickin' cold) wet Seattle.
Now where did I put my sanity hat?
Your sanity hat's probably next to your tinfoil "anti-brainwashing" hat :)
Wow, that's a great recap. Sounds like you learned a lot and had a good time in the process.
I'm glad you got to have Fish & Chips on the Pier! :-)
Brilliant recap! And welcome back.
While I've only spent a bit of time there, for whatever reason a part of me sees England as a second home (maybe I had a previous life there ;) but I still had a good laugh about the dual sink taps... funny the things you forget.
While it isn't even a reasonable possiblity personally, just wondering out of curiosity sake when or where the details of the intership or going to show up since I didn't see anything on the Fresh Egg site?
Certainly sounds like a great opportunity if one can afford it, and maybe seomoz should consider offering a cross-Atlantic alternative... unfortunately, without the fish-n-chips.
cheers
Details about the internship programs are here:
An exciting training opportunity
Wondeful to hear that you had a great time, Rebecca. Excellent writeup.
Wow Rebecca -- excellent writeup. Sounds like a truly worthwhile and exciting experience.
Killer article!
Great info, great writing.
Excellent post Rebecca. I've been waiting to hear about your experience at Fresh Egg and it was well worth the wait. I write more like the mortgage lender's and no one would have made it past the first paragraph.
Your SEOmoz - Fresh Egg comparison really drew me in and made me want to read the whole thing. Plus you write well which doesn't hurt;) Love the Ammonisms by the way, #14 is spot on. Sounds like you got a lot out of it and wish I could go myself. See you in Chicago.
Thanks, David. I actually rushed through writing this one because of the countdown to SES :)