Only Even Prime…

I found some great posts and articles this week. I enjoy reading other SEO’s blogs and sites because I always find some nifty little bit of insight. Plus a lot of them are just flat out entertaining (one of the advantages of belonging to an industry full of writers!).

One of my favorites was Jill Whalen’s article in Search Engine Land entitled We Don’t Need SEO Standards!. I commented before that every good SEO has a niche- something he or she is good at. Mine is combining SEO with usability to make a web site appeal to users and spiders alike. I don’t think my approach is the end all to SEO, but I think it’s extremely important not only for traffic, but for building conversions. I believe usability is so important because great content and optimized meta tags are pointless if users can’t use your site.

I work for an SEO company called Fortune Interactive. Our CEO has an uncanny knack for successful link building campaigns, and one of our SEO’s optimizes very well with long-tail keyword research and placement. If anything, this alone is reason enough to avoid set standards. Three people with greatly different areas of expertise successfully work for the same company and each feels that their methods and techniques are the way to go. By working together rather than butting heads over who’s right, we are able to utilize our skills and methods in order to best serve our clients.

One of the most important things about my job is the necessity to find kick-ass places for lunch, which is how I was introduced to Lily’s Pizza in Raleigh’s Five Points. Lily’s oozes character. The decor is eclectically bohemian, which I always find charming (I firmly believe that pizza places should not make one feel that it is necessary to sit up straight, keep your elbows off the table, and chew slowly). The menu is fantastic. They use natural ingredients, the dishes are made by hand on site, and they try to support the local dairies, meat markets, and farmers as much as possible (which I’m always in favor of). As a result the freshness and hand-made goodness ties in to make one hell of a pizza!