OK, so we are going to have a little contest here. You can win a $50 gift card for Valentine’s Day by telling me who your favorite SEO, Social Media or Internet Marketing expert is and why!
Creativity counts! You have three options:
- You can write at most a 3 paragraph comment below
- You can leave a link to a YouTube video in a comment below
- You can leave a link to an article/post about your favorite SEO, Social Media or Internet Marketing expert. (You must link to this contest page saying “SEO Aware Contest” any way you please because we will be linking to you in two different posts).
You Can Enter More Than Once
If you have more than 1 person you want to vote for you can discuss enter up to 3 times. These must be separate entires, 1 for each person – comments, videos or posts/articles.
The Winner
A winner will be chosen on February 4th. I will announce it and need an email from the winner to get an address to mail the gift card to by Feb, 14, 2011!
The winner will have his or her choice of a $50 gift card:
- Applebees
- Chilis
- Outback
- Or just plain Visa gift card
If we feel a comment, video or article is insulting in anyway or is spam we reserve the right to remove the entry from comments and not include links in this contest.
We will be posting links to all articles and videos in an upcoming blog post.
Hooray!!! A legitmate excuse to be a bit gushy, mushy about some incredible people and get away with it because it’s Valentine’s Day.
Michelle Stinson Ross
I’m not going to enter. because I’m not in a relationship. So I don’t need a $50 gift card to remind me I’m a loser.
Alan Bleiweiss
ALAN! That is not true and you know it! Take yourself out to dinner or use the Visa card towards a massage…You will find the right person at some point. She is just a link away. 🙂
I don’t want the $50. I can buy me some green bills with tons of local currency myself, and shipping stuff over oceans comes with way too much hassles. So I feel safe to recommend myself. Just that I’m not a smartass SEO, and especially not a social media abuser (there’s an app for both). So that doesn’t work in the lines of your contest. Hmmm. That leaves me to no alternatives, except suggesting the wonderful concept of zilch, aka @nil or /dev/null. That’s it: I officially nominate Alan.
PS: Sorry Alan, you can’t beat Melissa’s bribe.
Sebastian
LOL Sebastian! That is funny! I never said you couldn’t nominate yourself!
You are a genius of course…we all know it! Someone should be commenting on you soon!
Thanks for considering me a genius. Of course you say that because you’ve read one or more of my pamphlets claiming exactly that, without any viable proof, using rhetoric that plainly doesn’t allow opposition or else. Actually, I –like Alan– live in /dev/null and therefore all my output is just an illusion that can’t exist because nothing ever leaves a black hole like @nil. So, as long as you can’t prove that I exist IRL or that anything I ever said doesn’t lacks substance, I can’t nominate myself –nor Alan–, nor anybody else. By the way, your three paragraphs rule doesn’t state that I can’t write an infinite paragraph. So I’m going to elaborate my theory on contests that … [edited by admin for the sake of your sanity].
Sebastian
LOL, I was worried about the length thing…perhaps I should have said, “3 small paragraphs”!
I’d have to say my favorite Internet marketer is Hugo Guzman (@hugoguzman). I worked with Hugo at my last agency for over two years the stuff I learned from that guy really shaped my understanding of SEO.
More than anything I think I just respect his ability to break out from the sea of SEO’s into a legitimate industry expert. He’s giving out some great info over at his blog (hugoguzman.com) which focuses mainly on enterprise SEO. We don’t always agree, but some great conversations have come from that too.
Sorry if this feels like a LinkedIn recommendation. lol. I just wanted to throw some props Hugo’s way for helping me early on in my career.
Dan Cristo
I don’t know much about SEO, but I have used a few companies claiming to be the best SEO company in the “world”, guaranteeing you top 3 in less than a month, you’ve all seen the gimmicks. Right off the bat I would have to nominate the author of this blog, Melissa Fach. From the first conversation we had, she knew what she was talking about. There was no top spot in google by tomorrow conversations with her. She said it like it is. I follow her on twitter and on facebook, and as far as social networking goes, shes one of the best. Always on twitter tweeting about things to help your site out. Re-tweeting the best articles she can find. Letting you in on all the new and greatest star wars stuff… Okay maybe the last one has nothing to do with SEO but it keeps me entertained. She doesn’t have to post any of those “trade secrets”, she can keep them all to herself, but she doesn’t. She shares them all because she’s good at what she does, and just because you read an article on SEO doesn’t make you an SEO expert. I am looking forward to keep using her services in the future.
Javier
Dan, I was hoping someone would mention Hugo! he is obviously a very smart man and one we should all watch!
Javier, thank you very much. I appreciate your comments very much. I never considered anyone would put me on here so I might need to recruit and extra judge 🙂
i gotta say Rand Fishkin is my favorite SEO expert out there. He’s taken SEOmoz from a beginner’s SEO blog to one of the top resources for SEO knowledge on the web. The research, experiments, and case studies that he and his team provide are invaluable. Not to mention, he gives a good majority of this information away to the community for free. Rand has certainly made a huge impact on the SEO industry as a whole, and I don’t see that stopping for many years to come.
I’m going to enter by writing about someone who isn’t entering because he doesn’t have a date. :-p
Alan Bleweiss is one of the most thought provoking SEOs out there who isn’t afraid of the truth or who it might tick off. And everyone should read his Black Magic SEO article from earlier today — http://searchmarketingwisdom.com/2011/01/black-magic-seo/
Jami Broom
Here is my entry 🙂 Since Lisa Barone tweeted it this morning and I clicked over from the link, she gets my vote! While I shouldn’t have said the FIRST reason why I think Lisa Barone kicks ass is her love of chocolate, it’s definitely high up on my list. 🙂 Plus, I had brownies in my pantry and it was SUCH a great reason to eat some… Maybe I should do a few more takes of the video?
But seriously, I look forward to her blog posts all the time. I think the insights into the industry are key and she shares some amazing information that benefits everyone.
Crappy video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJhjCx4PNc
🙂
Kristi
Alan, I won’t object if you want to take me out to dinner. Just don’t expect anything more…..
Thanks for the tip of the hat, Dan. It’s much appreciated.
And though it might seem like a simple reciprocation, I will nominate you.
You’re not that well-known in SEO circles yet (but you likely will be in due time) but you put some great content together (like http://www.seocampfire.com) and you are one of the most lucid enterprise-level SEO practitioners I have ever come across (and I’ve worked with a lot of SEOs directly).
Keep up the good work, bud!
Hugo Guzman
I’ve worked with Ben Taylor (@btaylorSEO) for about 7 years. He has always been diligent and successful when working on my projects. I run a private political PR firm based in The District of Columbia where the projects can be difficult; mainly due to the sensitive nature of my clients. This is where Ben has always flourished for me. He is a straight shooter, and a talented marketer. I would recommend him to anyone whether it’s search marketing, social media, or really…anything digital. He’s top notch!
This is a tough one! I’ve been fortunate to get to know quite a few SEO/SEM pros that I hold in high esteem, so it’s a little difficult to select just one. If someone hadn’t beaten me to it, I probably would have nominated Alan Bleiweiss. But now that he’s been named several times, he’ll no doubt become insufferable, so forget I even mentioned him. Please! Besides, I’d have only nominated him out of pity, since he can’t even score a date for the ball. Poor schmuck! Maybe the winner can give HIM the Visa card, and he can buy an inflatable date.
That said, I guess I only have two paragraphs left, Melissa, so I’d better get on with it. You’d definitely be one of those I think quite highly of, and if this were posted elsewhere, I might well have nominated you. But to do so here would make it seem like I was just currying favor, and I know you’d never allow yourself to be selected anyway, so it would be a shame to waste my vote, AND seem like a suck-up.
CRAP! Now I’ve only got one paragraph left, and I’m no closer to picking a candidate. Maybe I should just put all their names in my hat and draw one. Gotta do it quick though, or my head’ll get cold. Okay, there’s seven names in there. (Wow, it’s cold out here!) There, got one! Envelope, please. And the nominee for my favorite SEO, Social Media or Internet Marketing expert is … …Gabriella Sannino, of SEO Copy fame! A very giving person, that cheerfully shares both her time and her knowledge with others.
BAHAHHAHAHAAAAA @ Alan!
Christa Watson
My favorite SEO to learn from has to be Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds). His videos were the first thing I was told to watch when I started, by my boss who is another kick-ass SEO who has taught me alot.
His youtube channel is youtube.com/wilreynolds – check it out if you haven’t already.
tomharari
Matt Cutts. Period.
The Dude
Well, failing Alan, i would vote @portentint because Ian is really an amazing marketer and it’s really fun to read him!
@Alan: DUDE ! You have a blog full of girls! Not even George Clooney can come closer to you!
Gareth Jax
@hugoguzman
Thanks for the nomination, mon ami. Means a lot.
If either of us win the $50 gift card we should grab some fancy lunch next time we’re in each others neighborhoods.
Note to Melissa. I just noticed something very curious about the site. Everyone has a link next to their avatar with their name as the anchor text. However the link appears to be in white font against a white background. I think I know what’s happening here. We’re all getting PUNK’D!
LOL poor, pitiful Alan.
The reality is that I don’t have a relationship because I already spend 90% of my social life with a variety of female friends and that’s just too fun to want to end. Jealousy is such an ugly notion, that its best to just avoid having someone fall into it in the first place.
Ryan, thanks for the invite – I’ll only accept if you bring along some female friends. Most guys are okay and all that, but conversations only become truly high quality when there’s a sharp witted woman present.
oh wow. I see one of my ex fiance’s, the delectable Christa Watson, who also happens to have an amazing deck of cards, is here voting for me! That has got to count for something right? Shows I don’t break their hearts when I move on!
And do I have to disclose the fact that I’m currently involved with @Joannabutler? But that since she’s in the UK and not moving here any time soon, I’m thus still available?
I would have to vote for Scott Cowley from SEO.com.
Although Scott has only been doing SEO for a few years now (is it 4 already?), he’s definitely picked up on the nuances of SEO plus Social Media. Besides that, he always wins contests so I’m hoping if I vote for him, I’ll win this contest! 🙂
Scott really has done his homework on SEO though, he’s studied the best work of the best SEOs and has learned how to put it in practice for his customers. He works hard but makes it look easy.