Cameron Olthuis

Not much interesting going on today, perhaps everyone is hungover from all the April Fool’s sillyness.

CEO SEO - Rand Fishkin wrote a really good post about Internet CEOs that ignore SEO. While I didn’t go into nearly the detail that Rand did I also touched on this back in the summer with my SEO is for Idiots post. The basic point here is that you shouldn’t be the CEO of anything if you can’t recognize the value of a good rank. I realize most people who hire CEOs or fund new startups are looking for a certain pedigree, but common sense should probably be the first thing you look for, as in if you don’t have any you shouldn’t be running a company. Read Rand’s post though, it’s very good and goes into detail with some good examples.

Passion - A big part of my little startup is content. As I’ve been hiring contributors to write for me the first and most important quality I look for is passion. If you’re not passionate about what I’m asking you to write about then you have no chance of writing for me. I get all sorts of resumes from people with English degrees, etc, but they don’t have a strong interest in the subject I’m looking for. Immediately these people are disqualified. In my humble little opinion, the one thing you can’t teach someone is passion. On the other hand, I believe grammar/english skills can be taught (I need to be taught myself). I’ve actually hired a couple people that have serious grammar/english problems but they are some of the most passionate individuals I’ve ever met. Their passion comes through in their content and in-turn, that makes for really really good content that others love to read, exactly what I want. I don’t mind taking the extra time to edit and I actually enjoy teaching these individuals how to write good blog posts, etc. I like passion.

I really enjoy writing these posts. I took a break from blogging for awhile because it got to the point where I no longer enjoyed what I was writing about. Things were starting to feel forced and it burned me out. I no longer want to feel like I have to write about SEO or social media or any of that stuff. I just want to have fun and write what’s on my mind - whether that happens to be SEO stuff or just personal stuff. Hope you enjoy this new direction as much as I do.

Up to you to decided if I’m trying to fool you or not.

Submit Worthy - My homie Chris Winfield wrote a good post on Search Engine Land today about making your content submit worthy. Chris is a social media genius so when he says something just shut up and listen. The one-liner that stood out in his post was… “In order to be successful on social media news and bookmarking sites, you have to think like a typical power user”. This is so true and it’s so common sense it’s not even funny. It never ceases to amaze me the content people pass me for social media advice - the stuff that would never in a million years appeal to the 20 y/o geek who spends his lifeless life on Digg. Come on people, it’s not rocket science. If you want to be successful on social media sites you need to think like a 20 y/o nerd and what appeals to them.

SMX Social - I know I’ve already mentioned this but SMX Social is approaching quickly. You should come, it will be fun and you might even learn something too, and it will be fun. I can’t wait to show all my lush friends how we party SoCal style. Seriously guys, leave your panties at home cause we’re doing it proper. I’m especially calling you out party boy.

Hawaii - I’m going in a just a few short weeks. Can’t wait to surf, not that I don’t already do that everyday, but this is Hawaii, come on. I’m also going to the Kokua Festival… Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Mason Jennings…. wow, can’t wait. This also serves as my warning to Kala, watch out pretty boy, I’m coming for you.

I’m seriously turning off all news feeds right now. I’ve started to post like 5 different news stories here only to realize they’re all stupid April 1st jokes. I don’t want to be that idiot sucker who falls for them. PS, am I the only one who likes this song? No, that’s not a joke.

I wish I had a good joke for you or something but I don’t. But if I did, I’m sure it would make for some good linkbait and all 5 of my readers (4 of which are family) would link to it. I wrote about this strategy last year on the TLA blog and it works. Seriously though, even though most of these jokes are beyond lame and they’ve become increasingly easy to spot, people still eat it up and link to it like crazy. There is something about the April Fool’s Day joke that just gives the geek bloggers a chubby. Extra bonus if you sue or get sued.

Now excuse me while I start rolling these out for my clients