I am taking a two-week vacation starting next Friday. That is a good thing too because the past four days have almost turned me off this amazing industry. A break from the silliness of the search engines and the pettiness of practitioner politics will do me a world of good. I’m also sure that the absense of my frantic presence for few weeks will provide a much needed break for the rest of the StepForth crew as well. 😉
For me, a vacation means going away from my apartment in the tiny ocean side city of Victoria and flying (I hate flying) 3500km back to Toronto, the biggest city in the country (6th largest on the continent, 32nd largest the planet and second favourite in my heart) to finally be there without having to work. The last few times I visited TO I was involved with the Search Engine Strategies show and anyone who has attended an SES event knows how totally draining they can be both physically and mentally.
This time, I plan to spend a lot of time lounging in my parent’s backyard and visiting friends and extended family all over the massive city. A lifetime of things to do and catch up with and I only have ten days or so to spend there.
While I am there, I would be interested in meeting anyone who wants to talk SEO, SEM, search engines in general or online marketing. I am always looking for new ideas and fresh stories, and let’s face it, as much as I love my parents, we often don’t speak the same language.
I’ll still be writing the feature for our weekly newsletter while away but almost certainly won’t be writing more than that. Until then, I am building up a fine head of steam over the spam/ethics debate playing out across a number of search engine marketing forums. I expect I’ll type a two-thousand word opinion on that later today. Next week I hope to expand on usability and SEO by interviewing Kim Krause Berg, one of the USA’s top usability proponents. I also want to take another look at click-fraud in light of yet another click-fraud lawsuit that looks as if it will be going to court soon. Lastly, in my heart of hearts, I want to write an article on basic non-spammy SEO techniques that really do work wonders without the bother of trying to play tricks on the search engines.
I am leaving Victoria on the 26th and returning on the 6th but am already booked for the 2nd and 3rd for family stuff. Anyone interested in meeting up in Toronto can call myself or Bill Stroll at 1-877-385-5526.