Warmest Greetings,

:: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 ::

Guru Brett Tabke Meet Priestess Kim Krause

"Webmaster World has slowly built up a reputation as the most important discussion forum for SEO professionals. It is amazing to see how willing these people are to disclose their secrets and share their experience. It is also interesting to see how people hiding behind cryptic call names develop personal relationships on the Net, in spite of the fact that they may live on different sides of the globe and are in fact in many cases fierce competitors."

There's a nice article on Pandia about the 2002 London SEO Pub Conference, from which the quote above is taken. (The 2002 London Pub Conference) I agree that Webmaster World has a fine reputation, but don't agree that it's "the most important" for SEO professionals. I met my closest SEO friends, who are tops in the field, in smaller, more obsure forums where they were quietly working and volunteering free advice.

What IS true, unquestionably, is that many SEO professionals, regardless of being competitors, will partner on projects or band together in support of each other in public forums. We're unique in that we know no physical boundaries, and the cream of the crop doesn't sit and count their riches or lie on tropical islands maintaining sites from their laptops. Instead, true SEO professionals are out there studying, testing algorithms, sharing their findings with each other, and the general public.

My forum, Cre8asiteForums.com, was born with this spirit. The moderators are competitors and peers. The Forum isn't an exclusive club, but welcomes everybody and welcomes all opinions. We heard from the owner of Search King, and owners of websites in its Network, who thanked us for our objective approach to their situation. We heard from people unhappy with their experiences in other SEO forums because they didn't feel welcome there, and were thrilled to find a place where they could relax and enjoy the conversations.

The Pandia article refers to the Webmaster World forum owner as "Webmaster World spiritual leader and SEO guru Brett Tabke". Well, I'm here to inform Brett that he may the spiritual leader to some people, but I am the High Priestess of SEO and Usability. Without a usable website, all the SEO in the world isn't going to do squat for ROI. Of course I know Brett already knows this. He's a Guru. He and his forum are one of my long-time teachers. I was just smart enough to add usability to my Forum.

I'm very proud of the Cre8asite Forum, and the people who volunteered to help me run it every day. We're over there tracking PR and Google like some people track stocks. I don't know if Webmaster World knows Cre8asiteForums even exists. But they will, very soon. My hope is that our friends at Webmaster World (and they are friends) visit us once in awhile, as I, and other Cre8asite Moderators and members, visit them. In fact, several popular SEO people volunteer at several SEO Forums. I've never heard of an owner of an SEO forum being jealous or angry because their moderators help at other forums besides theirs. This ability to share resources, knowledge and talent is an awesome testimonial to the kind of people who do SEO/SEM work.

And someday, with any luck, I'll be able to attend the next SEO Pub conference and clank beer mugs with Brett, and all the other beautiful SEO people who strive to make what we do an honorable, worthwhile profession in which competition is healthy and even fun.

Kim

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 10/22/2002 09:40:57 AM

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