(Note: A tip of the cap goes to Rebecca whose great roundups helped me sift through my feed reader on more than a few Saturday morning. Hopefully my breakdown of the last week in technology and online marketing provides a digestible and similarly entertaining accompaniment to a wonderful 4th of July weekend.)
1) Billy Mays & Product Demonstrability - Jeff Sexton at FutureNow wrote a very interesting article about Billy Mays. The gist of the article is that the late sales icon was more than just a pitchman. And he makes a compelling case. But there's an additional actionable takeaway to be had from Sexton's article: demonstrability. You probably don't sell OxiClean, and you probably don't have a bad infomercial (hopefully), but you could probably do a better job of demonstrating what your product does. So when you think of ways to improve your landing pages, ask yourself the same question Mays did before he agreed to pitch a product -- "How can I demonstrate this?"
2) YouTube Adds Off-site Links to Video Overlays - The video mogul now has "Call-To-Action Overlays" on videos. Publishers can now add direct links, rather than having to make viewers type URLs in manually, which has big impacts for politicians, marketers, and others with viral video campaigns. Currently YouTube's "Call-To-Action Overlays" are free, publishers just have to enter their videos into YouTube's CPC promoted videos program.
3) Mac Voice Over - The idea that a blind person could pick up an iPhone, browse the web, read an RSS feed, and send an e-mail is a fascinating one. With their 3GS release, Apple made their Voice Over technology standard on all iPhones. But as amazing as this touchscreen gesture technology is, Voice Over is far from the most brilliant technology of the last 100 years. That honor still belongs to the Snuggie.
4) The Future of Free - Feel free to delve deeper into the cat fight between Malcolm Gladwell & Chris Anderson that stemmed from Gladwell's unfavorable review of Anderson's new book -- "Free: The Future of a Radical Price." But I could care less about the baby mama drama. What I do find interesting is the topic Anderson addresses in his book: free pricing models. Consumers are accustomed to free, sure, but VCs are not. So amidst all the startups downsizing and going belly up, Anderson's book could provide an interesting perspective for startup entrepreneurs to consider as they create revenue models that go beyond free.
5) Startup Experience - Picked up by the Wall Street Journal, Rand's candid blog post outlines his personal experiences and the lessons he has learned as an entrepreneur. In the detailed post he talks about things he has done well, mistakes he has made, and guiding principles he has abided by. If you are a current or aspiring CEO, there's likely a lesson or two to take away from Rand's startup experiences.
6) Real Time Twitter Search - In an attempt to better integrate real time data into their SERPs Bing made an initial attempt at Twitter search. What they rolled out is an interesting idea, but the implementation needs work. The Twitter results are limited to high profile Twitterers and the results are poor for non-exact match queries. Similarly, Friend Feed also made efforts toward improving their real time search.
7) Palm Pre Reaches 150,000 Sold - In spite of the much publicized leak that revealed massive sales for Apples latest iPhone, Apple is not the only company with a popular touch screen phone and a growing app catalog. Palm Pre just reached the 1 million apps downloaded mark and smartphone users are as hungry as ever for apps. For this reason, it will be interesting to see the impact apps (for both the iPhone and the Pre) has on mobile web consumption. Plus, you have to get a chuckle out of Sprint's latest ad creative.
8) Public Status Updates - Facebook now has another Twitter inspired feature. They've rolled out the ability to make your status updates available to the world, including Google. The feature has currently been added for all users who had set their privacy settings to be visible to ‘Everyone,’ but it will soon be rolled out more broadly.
9) Gmail Drag and Drop Labels - Rather than quietly adding the new feature to Gmail labs, Gmail rolled out an exceptionally mediocre drag and drop functionility. Gmail users now have the ability to drag and drop labels. This small product changes got good coverage on TechCrunch and throughout the blogosphere, but it is far from revolutionary.
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10) Real Time Search - Highlighted on the front page of Techmeme, Danny's timeline of how the news of the King of Pop's death traveled across the the web is a thought provoking read that raises a number of questions about real-time search.
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In honor of the 4th of July, here are four great YOUmoz posts really worth reading. A special call out goes to Michael C, who wrote a particularly good (and technical) post on URL rerwrites.
1) How to write your own URL rewrites
2) Consolidation of subpages
3) How to beat Google and rank on viagra
4) Interesting indexing case study
Sam Niccolls
Traffic & Conversion Specialist, SEOmoz
Ok, I'll be the first to say it:
Welcome Sam! This is a great round-up. I like the extra time you put in to create the screenshots with captions. Thanks for directing me to the Billy Mays post. I hadn't seen it yet, and it has really got me thinking about how I can improve my landing pages.
Also, your previous post: "5 ways to improve your SEO landing pages" is absolutely killer. Anyone commenting on your writing skills should take a look at that.
Ignore the negative comments here. People fear change.
Looking forward to seeing more from you on the blog.
I wholeheartedly agree with Whitespark.
Welcome to the community Sam! One thing I've learned about SEOmoz is that Rand and Gillian hire only the best people. I've become friends with many Mozzer's, current and past, and know that they have a great team.
Here, Here! Welcome Sam.
I am glad that someone kept the roundups going and you even put your own stamp on them.
Just woke up after a lovely little afternoon nap following Federer's victory and thought I'd see what had been happening in the world of Moz. I think that the audience here could learn a few things from the crowd at Centre Court who managed to get behind both competitors whilst retaining a very civilised air throughout.
I'd be most grateful if all of those who gave Sam such a grilling could please immediately post some of the first work they ever did so that we can all point & laugh.
And Sean, no-one other than those who have actually worked at MozTowers has any real idea about what goes on there, or what has in the past. I'd suggest that we all keep our contributions here to things we have a clue about and leave them to get on with the rest.
Edited for grammar because I really have just woken up from a nap. One of the greatest things about getting older is being able to sleep during the day without having to apologise for the fact.
I like to call it the mozPlex because Google calls their offices the Googleplex and because ‘mT’ usually refers to mozTrust and could easily be confused with mozTower. Also, our offices are on the second floor of a three story building; so I wouldn’t exactly call it a tower. But that’s just my name for it.
As for how things work at the mozPlex, it’s all just Rand sitting behind a curtain pulling levers and laughing maniacally. That’s why he takes forever to reply to your email. And really, what did you expect from the man whose job title is “The Wizard of Moz”?
Slightly different roundup but I liked it.
If folks cant handle change, then Id suggest SEO isnt a great career choice :P
I hope none of the people making negative remarks about this post are the ones to ever again suggest that this industry is welcoming to newcomers.
Edited for massive mental issues after watching hours of Wimbledon.
Well I liked it, and I'm (as has been seen before) not the easiest person to please.
Keep it up.
I've seen the wrath of Peter before and it ain't pretty. Peter is a challenging person to please. If you have his thumbs up then what you're doing can't be all that bad!
Jeez.
First, I love and value both Rebecca and SEOmoz. I wish them both continued success. It's not marriage, it's business.
Regardless of what, where, how and why, I trust Rebecca counts her time at the Mozplex as extremely valuable. I look forward to watching what she does in the future because I know it will be great. I also know that whatever that future is, it does not even begin until she leaves. People come and go all the time. Maybe because I am always hiring college age people, I know when they start, they don't plan on making my place of business their life. I'm not adopting them!
As things always change, there is always a new guy. My memory may not be what it once was but I do remember being the new guy is pressure enough. (Sam, head up kid. It gets better)
Although I have never worked for Rand, I would in a heartbeat. Even if he was running around firing people just for farting to loud. (I don't know anything, I just made that up)
SeoMoz is and I hope will continue to be a great forum and place for sharing ideas about SEO and all things related. Although we come to know personalities and feel strongly about them, I'm all for letting them come and go. Change is good. It's okay, he didn't shoot her.
Oh Yes, nice Round up.
Sam, that (see tirade above) is what you get for referenceing "Full frontal Nude of Danny" in your post. No one wants to see that...
The backside however, is a completely different story.
Why did I click that? What good outcomes were there?
LOL!!! Oh no you did not! hahaha
LOL - that belongs on a shirt with three wolves!
Hmm. To click or not to click. But anyway. You all know I'm going to click it.
click it!
I did. Seen better. ;)
At least it was a conceptual Danny's backside and not the real thing. No offense to Mr. Dover.
Ahh this triggered a memory of one of my favorite conference photos ever
https://www.facebook.com/str0ud?v=photos&so=75#/photo.php?pid=33607631&op=6&o=global&view=global&subj=551026128&id=27207976
Hmm... kooky FB links. This one should do it
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=33607631&id=27207976
Ah ok. Thanks Jane. Shame. Comments really make the photo :)
https://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v203/15/72/27207976/n27207976_33607631_7047.jpg
Link to jpeg, otherwise it has a little fit sometimes, even if you're logged in :)
Edit: I so should have recognised my Facebook ID number in that URL ;)
This is the jpeg, for everyone who's interested...
Pffft. I liked it. Good work and thanks - this kind of round-up is actually really useful to me. I liked Rebecca's tone and style of round-up, but I liked this too. Looking forward to reading more of your stuff.
A bunch of the old-timers are popping out of the woodwork to comment positively, and I for one think that's a good sign.
Welcome aboard, Sam. Don't worry about us - we're a tough crowd sometimes, but our bark is worse than our bite. Most of us have the luxury of starting out on our own blogs, where no one reads what we write for the first year - you've been thrown into the deep end of the pool. I'm sure you'll catch on quick, though.
LOL - or in my case the first 5 years. But I prefer it that way. ;)
Hey Sam,
Welcome to moz and good post - starting a new role is tough enough, especially in an industry leader company like SEOmoz, with the filing of shoes, internal politics, new "way we do it here" mentality to learn without public criticism/praise, so keep up the good work!
Anyhow, its different, but i like it- the images mean i can get a quick gist of the subject without going and reading it - but the formatting might need some fine tuning, eg. A summary at the begining with anchor text might be useful, so i dont have to scroll thru it all. Also the YOUmoz posts at the end, stick the authors name in - as thats one of the reasons they write the posts, to be associated with them and SEOmoz!
anyhow good stuff and nice one for writing over the holiday (that we brits solidly ignore as we know you americans will want to come back to us one day... :P )
Props to Ciaran for this:
https://ciarannorris.co.uk/2009/07/08/its-not-big-its-not-clever/
which I think is very relevant to this post and comments.
eh? What is going on? I'm so late to this table, but still wanted to make a comment. As for what is being said above by Sean and others, seriously? As Ciaran's post says "it's not big, and it's not clever", I really don't see the achivement in making these rude and quite frankly mean comments. No need for some slagging match. There is no need for crisism like this. People change jobs all the time, SEOmoz is a business - not high school.
Sam: well done on your first post. I liked it! And don't be bullied into silence, don't let anyone define you, define yourself!
or like we would say in London "fe@k em"
I thought this round up was pretty much spot on.
The suggestion that this regular feature should have died when Rebecca left is ridiculous
Looking forward to more of your posts Sam.
Welcome Sam! And good luck not getting a complex. I thought your post was well done but a bit light on the resource side of things. I would suggest adding a few more links to the weeks best resources at the end of the post. Maybe a one line description with each link would be enough to give your readers some concept of the resource and limit the amount of time you have to spend writing about the ones that don't fall into your top ten.
Cheers!
I can't believe I read each of the comments till the very last one, quite interesting indeed. As someone else said before, these comments are good material for soap operas, specially on how it changed from criticizing Sam, then it went to Seomoz Employees Issues and after Whitespark comment all went back to what really matters, to the great post that Sam did.
Keep it up Sam.
Nice post - I like this format, providing a bit more information about each link as it makes for easy reading!
So just to clarify, when I left my original comment I'd not seen any of the clusterF***K of comments above. I don't see why people are hating on your or the post - I really enjoyed the post and enjoyed the new format. I'm not going to get involved in the above debate but suffice to say I thumbed up the post.
thumbed up for usage of clusterf**k without seeming excessive
Sam, you are doing a great job especially you sacrificed your holiday to write the post. Dont feel pity, because there are always different voices against a man.
Personally, I really liked your touch to the Roundup, Sam. The snippet formula and the new visuals make it very consumable and user-friendly. For the record, I also have always enjoyed Rebecca's version as well.
There's definitely a lot of feelings that run through SEOmoz from its staff and followers. It's a telltale sign of creating something very special when people care.
Is the robots.txt file an option for preventing PR flow by blocking individual URLs from being crawled?
ah great work on the new visual post, im avoiding any other comments outside that...
if you take the time to work on your holiday for the benefit of seomoz readers, thank you
Sean. Wow. Harsh.
Sam. You must have been nervous as hell composing these first couple of posts. I know I would be! It seems you're quickly learning your first lesson of what it's like to be in the spotlight, which is this: people suck sometimes. I guess growing a thick skin is all a part of it.
I look forward to more posts from you. You'll find your groove in no time. :)
SEOMoz Soap Opera! I love it!
Ha! I was just about to comment that reading this is better than watching an episode of Melrose Place. With less sex of course. But there was a nice butt shot from Danny. :)
As the comedian Katt Williams says "everyone has haters and that's what they do, their job, they hate! So let them do their job"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQRbDSwZIME
Everybody has to start somewhere. So I understand Sam and I think he is not so bad as other guys described.
But... Sam: criticism is always good to get better. if I were you I would applaud them for the first and second post suggestions.
I am sure soon you will integrate your original ideas with community needs.
Constructive criticism is always useful.
"It's different, I didn't like it" doesn't help anyone who has been out of kindergarten for more than 2 months.
I agree. I would like to see what he thinks. Sam has not replied to any of these comments. this is not a good sign of starting.
These criticisms, some of which have been excellent and some amazingly unconstructive, as well as the deliberate agenda-ridden diversions, began on a national holiday, went into a Sunday, and are now taking place during the early morning hours in Seattle. I doubt you have justified reason to berate Sam for not responding just yet.
Besides which, it has always astounded me how many commenters on this blog feel authors owe them undivided attention as soon as possible.
Liar. He clearly should respond to every single comment, the moment they're posted. Obviously...
I mean, how dare he have better things to do with his life? Reply to me! Validate meeeeee...
</sarc>
Reminds me of an incident, coincidentally exatly a year ago, during which I crashed my car. Badly. Enough, as it happens, that I was glad I'd crashed into a truck and not the lamppost at the bottom of the steep, slippery hill.
Anyway, my awesome driving skillz aside, I caught shit for not getting back to someone who was berating me about comments on SEOmoz. At that point, I took the battery out of the BlackBerry and shoved the laptop under the damn bed.
Sam doesn't have to respond at all. In fact, a response would just confirm that this whole rant is more than what it should be. And really the "attacks" aren't even about Sam, they're about how SEOmoz handles things and Rand has already responded.
Personally, I think the fact that Sam hasn't responded shows the sign of a true professional. I'm sure glad I work with such awesome people! :)
A similar round-up just doesn't do it for me. Not from Sam, not from Rebecca, not from SEOmoz. We are accustomed to a high level of posts on the main blog (for which I applaud SEOmoz), and this post just doesn't reach that level for me.
However, I think Sam will be a quick learner in the environment he's in, and will bring the round-ups up or beyond par soon enough.
This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.
Hazel Knight
See Sam. If Hazel of the Cabbage Soup Diet likes it, then you're made!
Personally I found the writing style a bit boring and not up to the level we are used to see here at SEOMoz. I can appreciate the fact that Sam is new, but then again, I would expect anyone allowed to write on the main blog to have exceptional writing skills.
With regards the departure of Rebecca and Jane, I wish them both the best of luck and agree with Sean that it would have been nice to see some kind of official post announcing their departure (and wishing them the best). Seeing how their contribution to SEOMoz were sizeable, their loss will undoubtedly affect the blog. This is one reason why its worth a mention. I think it adds to transparency to SEOMoz.
Finally, with regards to the round-up, I agree with Whitespark. It has now become somewhat of a site staple and losing it for the sake of originality doesn't make sense. I also see no problem with Sam continuing to do them. I'm sure his posts will improve in terms of style and I'm sure he has a lot of knowledge and experience that would benefit us loyal readers of this great site.
Not great, but keep up the good work.
This is about as lame as it gets. When an icon leaves, you don't give a hat tip and try to pick up on where they left off - you create something new.
As if it's not bad enough that Rebecca departed without so much as a public "thank you for everything"; for the amazing contributions that she made during her tenure. Now, to go ahead and try to fill shoes that you'll never be able to - well, it's pathetic.
No offense - I'm sure you're a good guy, but go get something original.
And to Rand - give your former employees their due kudos when they leave, despite how things may end.
While you were away from the blog trying to build a company, Jane and Rebecca were kicking ass filling in - not Gillian, not Scott - not anyone else. Give them their due for God's sake.
Your silence in the departure of your most valued employees - IS DEAFENING!!!
There is no doubt that Rebecca's shoes can never be filled, and that she deserves a public "thank you for everything", but I think it's a bit much to suggest that SeoMoz should get rid of the weekly round-up.
As sad as it is to see the weekly round-up without Rebecca's charm, wit, and snark, someone still has to do it. It has become an SeoMoz staple.
I'm not precisely sure what you might be hoping for in the way of messaging from me, but I've never seen or heard of a CEO doing specific blog posts around the departure of an employee. I've left a few comments, but perhaps you were seeking something more?
I wish nothing but the best for Rebecca & Jane both. I'll leave it to them to determine if I and SEOmoz served them well, but I think you'll hear very positive things if you ask.
As for Sam - he's new here, and I believe deserves a bit better reception than this, especially with the great work he's put in on the post (and on a holiday no less).
I've never seen or heard of a CEO doing deeply personal posts on his business website, but you've always marched to the beat of a different drum so I can see Sean's point with that regard. I think he was harsh on Sam though--I like that he's revamping the roundup and trying his own thing, and I'm sure he'll carve out a niche and contribute some nice stuff and let his voice and personality shine through.
I appreciate the kudos--it's very nice to know that I made such a big impact with the community during my tenure at SEOmoz--but I don't expect anyone to try and fill my shoes in the sense of "imitating" me or trying to be a Rebecca clone. I start my new job tomorrow and will bring my personality and skillset to my new employer and their blog, and I'm sure SEOmoz wants and expects their new hires to do the same. :)
Oh, don't worry... we DO imitate you :D just not on the blog. :)
Rebecca, good luck in your new venture and welcome back to the top of the User Rankings (above Sean :P) https://www.seomoz.org/users
Rand - I don't think you "owe" anyone a blog post of this nature as a CEO... but as the primary face and spokesperson behind SEOmoz I think it would be an advisable move - especially as Rebecca was seen by many as the next most recognizable face.
I personally don't care why she left or whatever - that's your deal and that's her deal. Either one of your or both of you made what you believed to be the right decision for your business and self. That's your business.
That said, many people in this community do spend way too much time online, and do treat blog comments, etc. as their social hour (you guys who are the first comment on every post - I'm referring to you). As such, the interest and curiosity is not surprising, and with that comes rumors, etc. I'd think it a good move to spend 30 minutes to present your side and stem such speculation. Again, I don't think you owe anyone this, though.
Whoa whoa whoa, Sean. Do not use my name and lie about what happened when I left to make a point. I don't recall there being any silence, and anything that was not said remained so because my reasons for leaving at the time I left had little to do with work and were frankly none of yours or anyone else's business. The support I received from Rand in January was exceptional and I will value it forever.
You'd be wise to keep my name out of this. My departure does not exist to advance yours or anyone else's agenda.
This is utter bullshit.
SEOmoz is not a TOP 40 popstar band for God's sake! They are a service provider in a (still) relatively small industry. There are no Yoko Ono's here.
They're still catering to the same audience. Sure, refresh the formula but don't give up your core! When you start building something great, you in fact DO need to pick up where people left off.
Something was started, in this case it was an enjoyed and expected weekly resource. I'm sure there are users who visit this site or open the RSS feed JUST for the weekly roundup. And as long as enough users are still reading and opening those posts, even if it's just to leave LAME trollish comments, then the resource should continue even if the reigns are passed on to another editor. The weekly roundup saved me time and helped me realize if there was anything I missed in our cottage industry that week. Sam's post this week was a great roundup, and I liked the fact that he's adding his own flavor by including additional imagery. The "hat tip" was a respectable gesture and, wrong or right, I interpret it as his realization of what a task he has at hand.
Also I wouldn't ever imply that Scott hasn't added value to the blog either. Have you ever tried editing a video by deadline? His contributions may be more behind the scenes, but they are definitely part of the overall composition.
Just like others before them (such as Matt and Kat), Rebecca and Jane were great contributors to the SEOmoz movement that Rand and Gillian started. All their voices will be missed here, but they have moved on to bigger and greater things in their personal lives. And the great thing about the Twinternet, they can still be heard from time to time. ;)
This rant would have been better in a personal email to Rand, rather than on the post of a new employee. Haven't you ever been the new guy?
Please remember that just because he's new doesn't mean he's inexperienced. There is work to be done, and someone has to do it.
Kudos to Sam for jumping into his new position full force!
Sean - I'm a little shocked you dropped this kind of comment. I have 'grown up' on SEOmoz with you being like a kindly uncle in the community, always willing to support and encourage others and slam negativity. I'm not sure what the background to this is from your end but my view is its not really any of anyone's business but those involved. Rebecca and Jane were amazing contributers to SEOmoz and I'm really sad to see them gone but movement is normal in this industry.
As for this post, I think Sam is in fact "creating something new" with this post, but I actually wish it was more like Rebecca's roundups! This seems like general webby stories including search - IMO it should be more SEO related. Rebecca's roundups looked at what the whole SEO communitiy and what they had been blogging / talking about, summarised it and rated it, which was invaluable for those of us without enough time to go through all our RSS feeds.
My advice to Sam - no need to reinvent the wheel mate, start from where Rebecca left off, it worked well, and focus more on SEO. Yes, it'll take you time to be as connected to the SEO community as Rebecca, but these roundups will be a fantastic way of getting there.
Maybe the reason why everyone disagrees with you on your rant is the same reason why you are the "First Post" on a July 4th blog entry.
Step away from the computer and take some time for yourself.
Sean, I'm usually pretty on-board with your comments - you don't tend to call "BS" unless the stink is for reals.
But this time I'm not sure what happened.
So they're continuing the round-up sans Rebecca - I might not have made the same call, but I certainly don't think it's "as lame as it gets."
And I don't think Sam, who is just stepping out and blogging for the first time for SEOmoz's ~45k subscribers (and even more readers overall) deserves that kind of treatment.
I appreciate you for "calling it like you see it," but in this case I think maybe you should have punched a pillow or something before you started dropping blog comments.
Poor style Sean. Let the new guy do his thing. No reason to jump on him b/c you aren't happy with a business decision made by Rand and/or Rebecca. That's their business.