If you inherited SEOmoz, what would you do with it? Rand Fishkin is out of the picture (he left SEO to pursue his dream of becoming a master chef, he eloped with Mystery Guest, he got sued by Puma, whatever), leaving you to run SEOmoz and a team of five [I excluded Gillian because I wanted to make it more ragtag and entirely Fishkin-free]. What would you do with the site/company?The coolest SEOs (coolest because they actually participated) responded, and I thought I'd share their answers below. (Obviously, this is a meme-esque blog post, and many of the answers are silly, off-the-wall, or downright inappropriate [ahem, Chris Hooley], which is why I saved this gem for a Friday post.)
Some of the participants had somewhat lengthy answers, so I'm linking to their responses on separate pages (listed alphabetically by last name):
Thanks again to everyone for participating, and happy Friday to everyone! Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a margarita (mozzarita? Maybe we should serve them at SMX...) and a churro. :)
If and When Hooley takes over, somebody send me an application.
Seriously reconsider that mike because you have not thought about being fubed.
Ask hooley and Jon what that one is!
Somehow I fear that when that time comes, the application process will involve goats, virgins and ritual sacrifice.
Oh, come on Rebecca!!! Everybody wants to know what YOU would do if you inherited the MOZ!
We're waiting.....
I second that.
Come on Rebecca.
Haha, I'm not sure if I've got the cojones to run a company. As much as we give Rand a hard time at work, I'm happy I'm not in his shoes. :)
Ah, what a wussy response! I think you'd manage pretty well, although as chief of SEOmoz, you wouldn't be able to abscond to Paris while at high-profile SEO conferences!
Come on Rebecca, you've already started presenting at conference, next comes the yellow pumas, followed by the glue-on-beard... ;)
I see you found the photo of me changing into spiderman. Just seconds after that photo, I was in costume fighting the bad guys. ;-)
That is a great idea for a post. Nice one. And all I've done so far is read the comments - off to read the actual answers now...!
Exactly what I've been doing, kept me entertained for abit
Rebecca, you did wonderful stuff with this one, great idea
My comments are...
Lisa "Pantene Comercial" Barone:
Is her hair never NOT pretty and shiny and good? Mucho respect for the SEO contest that highlights and helps charities, I think she got one thing wrong: Janes new name should be... "she with hands big like mountains"
Andy Beal:
I just bought lendingtreeseo.com
Guillaume Bouchard:
Every Friday could feature a small video called "Tee Vite-bworde"
Matt Cutts:
You didn't see how the the winner of the "greatest living American" challenge got a free back rub in addition to to free seo advice already available on SEOmoz? The monk part can be incorporated later.
Michael "Spa baiter" Gray:
You can sweet talk the ladies pretty good. I , on the other hand, can only take notes.
Chris Hooley:
still a hoot even when your being [Edited]
Kim Krause Berg:
I have no idea about half the stuff you said as I am an "outsider", and not yet an "insider" (I am working on this) but i loved...
"10. Change the name from SEOmoz to SEOAUMoz, "A" for accessibility, "U" for usability, and bringing forth the "M" to honor SEO.moz members, who are a huge part of the enterprise. And because "aum" (aka "OM") symbolizes the things SEOmoz is famous for: "solemn affirmation and respectful assent, sometimes translated by "yes, verily, so be it", and as a particle of auspicious salutation, "hail!". "
Todd Mailicoat:
Luckily for us humble SEOmoz fans, both "saving the whales" and cranking out a sweet profit can be achieved at the very same time when you got that much talent on one staff.
Lee Odden:
Dodgeball?
Cameron Olthuis:
Google already tried the chicken suit thing with Adam and it wasn't successful.
Barry Schwartz:
Best answer by far.
Fan Girl:
I have beard, and while my shoes are not snazzy, I look good in calendars and one other thing, pretty... "How YOU doin?"
Aaron Wall:
I like Aaron Wall alot which makes me ask one question Rebbeca, Did he approve that photo???
Jane's gonna kill you, Pat.
hmmm, can I repost that as a guest account? we can call it it an experiment like you did with Bud on the underscore thing.
Yeah, with her giant hands :P
I'm so getting stabbed on Tuesday.
And you'll be so tired from the Vancouver Marathon that you won't even be able to run away.
"Fan Girl:
I have beard, and while my shoes are not snazzy, I look good in calendars and one other thing, pretty... "How YOU doin?" "
Flattery will get you everywhere. Flattery and a good beard :)
my beard is so much more than good, it is fabulous, my flattery even better Miss eyes that I like, and my email is in my profile :)
How nice it will be for you, upon meeting me, to have some "quality content" for your blog. :)
SEO Fangirl
I have some great shoes (box fresh, ice white trainers - I get them shipped in from the US - seriously) & I can grow a beard - no, really....
That sounds like insurrection talk to me. I'd be careful, Rebecca; if anything happens to Rand, my prediction is that Gillian will lay the smackdown on the rest of you ne'er-do-wells.
Well, that was certainly a wild ride.
Great idea, unique and entertaining, and few ideas there that might have some great merit.... and won't end up with anyone behind bars.
How about turning SEOmoz into a non-profit teaching institute for SEO that provides free SEO for non-profits as part of the training ground for students. Each participating non-profit would only have to secure a sponsor to cover the actual costs of the work, which would continue to cover SEOmoz costs and salaries.
The corporate sponsors look good because they get good PR (no, the other PR) helping non-profits and worthy causes, the non-profits of course really gain through great search marketing services that they couldn't afford and further their public reach online, and SEOmoz helps to show the rest of the world that SEO can do good.
Of course, perhaps the SEO students would tour the country as SEO monks... but the specifics can be worked out later.
Relocate: Move the team down under.
Rebrand: Change the name to SEOoz (duh)
Refocus: The team would spend their afternoons 'out on the patio', watching the canefields burn while knocking back a few cold ones
Remember: The favicon would change to a pair of yellow shoes in memory of its founder.
So, when is SEOmoz coming to Australia? :P
[Yeah, so I got bored at work with a branding exercise and decided writing about SEOmoz would be a little more fun.]
Guillaume Bouchard:
OMG! I kept yanking Eric's arm at SES NYC saying, "That guy over there looks just like Rand!"
Mike of the Wolf Clan:
Seriously, please consider this. Don't wait for Rand to mysteriously disappear.
Barry:
Holy insert censored words here! I would so pay for this. Don't tell Eric.
Aaron's picture:
Dude. So like you know Aaron's gonna pay you back big time for that, right?
Rebecca:
Great idea, and in keeping with the SEOMoz way of sharing with the class.
best blog post ever. I [ EDITED ] love it.
I'm surprised my no shirt rule didn't make it through editorial.
Andy Beal
"I'd look to capitalize on SEOmoz's next strongest asset, its community."
Me: Here's another vote for a seomoz.org community.
Mat Cutts
https://farm1.static.flickr.com/67/212943441_9584c3dadd.jpg
Me: Hard to comment... :)
Aaron Wall
"I am a fan of the infoproduct direction the site recently took. I would do a bit more of that."
Me: me, too... :)
Respiro
www.RespiroMedia.com
I like the idea of a chief mascot Cameron proposed--though sticking Rebecca with that title seems a bit harsh. Maybe it could be a rotating position, or one that you hired an intern for.
Set them up with a webcam so that everyone could look in on them as they performed their crazy mascot antics throughout the course of the day, exhorting the mozzers as the caffeine wore off late in the afternoon...
Wow -- thanks for posting that horrendous picture of me. We're so not friends anymore.
And you meant that participants were listed in order of extreme awesomeness, right?
Wow thanks for being the warm up band Lisa (ducks for cover)
Watch it! Just because you're semi in charge of me next week doesn't mean I can't hunt you down and have you "removed". I know people.
I think you look cute in that photo, Lisa.
For the record, Rand chose all of the photos and put them up, not me. Blame him for his choice of photographs.
I would never blame my Rand. We all know that you are the evil Mozzer.
I can only imagine what the explitive deleteds were from Chris. I got a good laugh out of his and others. Good idea Rebecca!
I would like to see Chris Hooley's Rand shrine.
What a diifrent idea and it really worth to read and analyze
LOL. Great post! This needs to be an annual thing. :)
I have a new Search Hero... his name is Chris!
That was a great read... thanks Rebecca :)
Nobody asked me...
Just interested Rebecca, but ehm, how did you guys pick the SEO's to interview? :P
I emailed a bunch of SEOs that I knew and asked them if they wanted to participate, then I used the responses of the ones who did. :)
Yes, I remember my grandfather used to ask that question all the time ;)
Nice, Rebecca.I actually love Wolf's idea, especially the one involved Matt Cutts *evil
>>>coolest because they actually participated
I admittedly totally forgot. I'm totally not cool for promising an answer to this and not delivering.
You were too busy ironing your kilt for your upcoming trip. :)