Note: SEO and Tech Daily is still being redesigned and re-launched on or about January 30th. The comments and more will be back soon. This is an interim post by the (proud) founder / editor, Charlie Anzman.
I've always had a tradition on the Internet that usually kicks in around the holidays.
Back in 1995, when I put the second electronics export company on the Internet, and since then, I've always tried to recognize those that helped me, directly or indirectly, accomplish my immediate goals .... at least once a year.
About a year and a half ago, I launched SEO and Tech Daily with some very specific goals in mind. I had spent over 6 years in 'in-house' SEO and, in today's times, that basically meant I went off the radar.
This blog started as an experiment in a variety of ways:
To see if I could quickly 'reconnect' (with a minimum of travel).
To see how quickly I could brand the blog (and myself .... again ?!).
To see how the search engines picked up on it over time.
To see how many people would link here (without expectation)
.... and also, to bring my humble view of a variety of topics, mostly Tech and SEO related back to the Internet.
Any decent SEO is always experimenting. Not in a 'Black-Hat' fashion, but to see how search engines react as they continually re-write their algorithms for relevance.
The response was somewhat surprising and well, just great. I not only reconnected with many I hadn't spoken to in the SEO / SEM world, but with people that I used to correspond with back in the dial-up days?! Twitter, Friendfeed, and Facebook all played a significant role in that respect as well.
There were new people too. Some absolutely brilliant, some interesting, and some that just made me laugh.
So, here, it goes .... with a little disclaimer.
I'm not big on lists. Important people always get left out.
If I do, just find this piece on Friendfeed and let me know!
Not in any particular order ....
Guy Kawasaki and crew - Who added us (me) in 3 places on Alltop.
Robert Scoble - Who put this blog on a list of 'Blogs you should be reading'. (The list was then copied and linked to by more people than I could count :)
Louis Gray - Who discovered this blog early on, later interacted, and also had this blog on his first 'recommended reading' list.
Mike Fruchter - Without whose Likey's on Friendfeed ... a lot of people never would make it to visibilty there.
Tamar Weinberg - Who I missed by a minute at a trade show and am still regretting it. This young lady knows the landscape.
Sarah Perez - Who always keeps the door open and writes some great stuff.
Microsoft ?! - Their mention of this blog on the front page of the PDC 2008 website sent the stats into the stratosphere (and just made me feel pretty good for a few days :)
Mona Nomura - Whose outright insanity on Friendfeed kept me laughing.
Shey Smith - I'm not sure why, but he's here.
Matt Cutts (Google) - Who answered comments on his blog promptly, made a brief appearance here in the comments and immediately answered my e-mail .... when I wasn't sure if it was him or spam :)
Vanessa Fox (ex-Google) - Who engaged me in the comments on her old blog, while we were both trying to sell houses ... and probably helped the rank of the 'for sale' website .... that sold mine?! (Not to mention bringing A LOT of quality reading to Search Engine Land and her new venture Nine by Blue).
Mike 'Glemak' Dunn - Who invited me up to visit 'the tower' last year. A great (fascinating) conversation that made me look at things a little differently (and lent some more visibility with an awful picture of me on Flickr :).
Peter Troast - Who had the wisdom to let me do my thing without all kinds of reports, meetings and interruptions (and didn't regret it).
Bill Slawski - Just one of the nicest guys in SEO with an interesting blog (and who also linked very early on).
Duncan Riley - Who lent some important advice when I needed it ....
Cyndy Aleo-Carreira - Who let me invade a live podcast and didn't ask me to shut up.
Lee Odden - Who added this blog to 'The Big List' before there were a billion people on it ...
Jill Whalen - Who doesn't know it but was my original inspiration for switching gears to SEO, years ago.
Lisa Barone - Who's writing style I always enjoyed in her former, and current places on the web.
The founders of Friendfeed - Who made this year much more fun and interesting.
Gabe Rivera - I have NO IDEA how TechMeMe found us, but I collected at least 40 mentions last year, two headlines, (maybe more) and that was just cool.
Franklin Pettit - A fan and important critic.
Allen Stern - Whose videos made me crack up and who always responds ... and is just a nice guy.
My wife, daughter (and her fiance) ... without whom I wouldn't have half of the drive I do (and who somehow understood why I was doing this for free !?)
Great week all .. Back Soon
Charlie