So... we lost SEJournal's SEO blog contest, coming in 3rd to Matt Cutts and Aaron Wall.
Oh, well. Maybe next year we'll have better luck. And besides, now I've got something to shoot for in addition to the raging battle to rank ahead of Matt for SEO at Google (we're currently both on page 2, but he's 3 spots ahead). Speaking of which, how come the beginner's guide doesn't rank for SEO guide? I see other pages from this site listed on pages 2 and 3, but the guide itself is nowhere to be found.... very, very odd.
Back to the contest - I have to say that the voters must have been pretty tough. The 1-5 rating scale produced only two blogs that scored above 3, meaning the rest all fell into the "average" or "below average" quality area. Maybe more posts on pure SEO, instead of tangents into usability and marketing would have helped, but I'm not sure I'm willing to change the blog format for a contest. Actually, I'm sure I won't be.
We've built lots of loyal visitors here (currently between 450 and 650 daily uniques to the blog alone) and that's what counts - big end of year thanks to EGOL and 2K for their support and great contributions. I hope to add even more great people to the mix in 2006. As for tomorrow, I'll try to make a Christmas/Hanukkah SEO wrap-up post as I have time.
Congrats on making the top 3.
Personally I would rank Seomoz above Matt Cutts any day, so you came in second in my book as well.
The posts by EGOL and 2K are great, if you manage to get a few more of their kind on your blogging team then SEOMOZ would surely win the next contest.
It would be nice to have a seperate RSS feed for each author, it would make it less likely to miss out on a 2K post.
Congrats to all @ SeoMoz - we bloggers just bring in some of our toughts, but it is the comments that bring in the salt to flavouring...
I have to agree with EGOL. Top three is still great! Anyway, congratz and I honestly wish you beat them all next year! Cheers
Top three is still great Rand. There were some big dogs in the race.
IMO the survey instrument needs some important changes. First, how do you rate a blog that you don't read? That needs to be dealt with properly to be a good instrument. The survey would not allow blanks. Also, I bet some folks ranked backwards as #1 or #5 for top quality was not especially clear and opposite of what many would intuitively scored.
Seomoz is second then, they have include M.Cutts blog, but its really easy to be popular when you are Google engineer and you know a lot more then others.
Being the 3rd most popular SEO blog in the world is not "losing"...that's pretty damn good - and well deserved - Congrats on that!
Look out, cause next year I'm out for that #2 spot as well ;) (I figure Matt will win again).
I lost to you too, Rand.
But, then again, I nominated you. :)
Congratulations, and may your next year of blogging be both fun and inspired.