SEO in The Desert

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Got something to say? Guest blog at The Web Optimist.

Just so you know, The Web Optimist blog is open to guest blogger articles related to SEO, VOIP and search marketing. These guest posts are free, of course (take that, Google!) and posts must be a minimum of 250 words in length.

Guest blog post in the following categories for free – SEO, PPC, Social Media, News, Reviews. All are moderated and edited. Inappropriate posts will be deleted. Be civil, folks! A total of three links are allowed within the body text (two of which can point to your own sites). Obvious spam, inappropriate or off-topic content will not be considered. In other words, if I do not like it, I will not publish it!

Simply go to the Contact page to submit your article idea. I’ll set up frequent contributors with an author’s account.

Unlike a certain recent political candidate we’re all familiar with, I know when it’s time to concede. John Carcutt is the winner of the Search Engine Journal Blog Off. John’s finalist post Are S E O Forums Still Needed? beat out my own 25 Blog Optimization Tips Even Dear Old Dad Could Ace to take the top prize.

What can I say? John has this ability to come up with topics near and dear to an SEO’s heart, write great content about them and attract Sphinns like a magnet.

Great work, John!

I really don’t see coming in second for the competition as a loss, though. Far from it. I blog because I love to share what I know. That’s really what blogging is all about. Every time I get the opportunity to publish some of the things I have learned in a subject I am passionate about (in this case, SEO), I’m a winner. It’s such a feel-good thing for me. As far as I am concerned, sharing amounts to taking the prize!

That’s what my blog, The Web Optimist, is all about. I certainly don’t make money with it. It’s just a place for me to share the tips and tricks I pick up along the way as an in-house SEO. I also manage, optimize, edit and write most of the content for The Eye Zone, the eyewear blog of FramesDirect.com, my employer, so I do a LOT of writing every week for it. Squeezing time in to write for my own blog (or something for Search Engine Journal if I think I’ve got something good), can sometimes be difficult. But, when I can, I love doing it.

So, we’re all winners here. Lots of great content and tips came out of this competition. The folks over at Search Engine Journal are the best!

Now, I think I’ll retire to the chaise lounge by the pool and console myself with the bright California sunshine, clear blue skies, gorgeous Palm Springs mountain views and a glass of White Merlot (or two).

Loser? Naw…

OK, after several days of chaos with my blog, it appears it’s back up and running. I’m not sure what happened, but last Saturday night I was working on an article, saved it, went to bed, got up the next morning, fired up the WordPress admin and . . . nothing. Several sections of the blog admin, including Write, were just blank pages. I could see drafts, but I couldn’t edit or publish them. I was dead in the water. Pure Hell for a blogger!

No clear explanation ever emerged other than changes the hosting company was making at their end. The blog was up and visible to the world, but was stuck in time. The only option was to try to load a backup of the database. Unfortunately, the newest I had was a month old, so several recent posts are missing. I’ll attempt to reconstruct them.

In the meantime, the post I was working on when the sky fell in was guest posted over at Search Engine Journal as False Prophecy: Onsite S E O Will Be History. Give it a read, a Sphinn, a Digg, you know the drill.

Also, don’t forget my previous guest post at SEJ, 25 Blog Optimization Tips Even Dear Old Dad Could Ace (Plus 10 More Tips for Mom!). It could use some more Sphinns and votes, too.

Now, finding the time to reconstruct the missing content…