This is THE week to hear from bloggers at Broadcasting Brain! Catch the brainwaves is our ongoing Q & A series with bloggers here, there and everywhere. I ask them ten questions, they respond. The results are always worth reading!

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Today I’m featuring Ann Smarty (aka SEOSmarty), a bonafide Social Media Ninja and SEO entrepreneur.

Are you ready? Then catch her brainwaves!

1. You have a very business oriented, targeted blog. Do you feel that any of your personality or personal qualities are evident within your blog and would that be a conscious or unconscious decision on your part?

I actually hope that part of my personality is revealed within one blog. I don’t want it to be just a “corporate” blog; in fact I posted an article on the reasons why I am blogging here. So I guess both my blogging and social marketing activity are quite personal.

2. Is SEO mature enough as an industry or business area to have experts?

Well, yes, I guess, at least I do know people whose point of view I personally respect and wouldn’t argue…

3. Do you do use a laptop or a desktop most of the time? Do you have a preference?

I mostly work at my office, so I guess that’s desktop (I use laptop at home). My preferences depend on my mood. At work I am more concentrated and thus productive, while at home with my laptop (and preferably in bed) I am more creative and feel like writing.

4. In a related vein, where is your preferred place of work: an office or a room with a comfortable chair/sofa?

Like I said both places are OK with me - I can’t compare :)

5. Do you have to change tactics frequently in the SEO business? I’ve heard a reference to an annual year end change/rebalancing that Google, um, shares with the Web. Do things change more frequently than that, forcing you to change the tactics that you and/or your clients must use?

Yes, definitely, and most often these changes have nothing to do with Google changes, I guess. Every project (and every niche) is unique. SEO is not about applying same tactics to each website you work on, it’s a process of constant creative thinking and experimenting. Though major strategies remain the same: that will always be keyword research, on-site optimization and link building.

What about something completely new? Well, now SEOs should definitely know a thing or two about SMM and its influence on rankings. I’ve been recently also exploring the influence of internal Google analytics data (like Bounce rate, feed subscriptions, etc) on Google rankings but so far could not find any “direct” impact.

6. Will the SEO industry/discipline still be around in five years?

Definitely yes, though it will evolve (together with Internet and search engines) of course. In this respect I particularly like Jeff’s post and the discussion in the comments.

7. Does most of your business come through your blog or through other channels?

Not from the blog (and that was not my aim as I have stated above). My business mainly relies on my old customers - just a few projects I’ve been running for more than two years now. I don’t know yet if I want to expand my business.

8. Mac or PC?

PC (at the beginning of my SEO activity I lived in Ukraine and we have no Mac there at all, so call it an old habit? :)   )

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

Awful! I shudder at this thought :) I guess in this case, I’ll travel home (that is so far away now and I cannot afford the time to go there often).

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

My favorite advice to give is: learn to read between the lines. Today the flow of information is immense. Same news, tips and tactics are repeated from blog to blog; information is spreading very fast. The art of finding really valuable information is to guess what the blogger really meant to say, to see his hints. No blogger is eager to share his secret knowledge, but few can really keep from mentioning it throughout his blog. So if you are able to see it and (which is more important) to benefit from it, you are most likely to succeed.

Many thanks to Ann for sharing her brainwaves!


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Table of contents for Catch The Brainwaves

  1. Catch the brainwaves of Tamar Weinberg
  2. Catch the brainwaves of Mathew Ingram
  3. Catch the brainwaves of Patricia Mayo
  4. Catch the brainwaves of the Incredible Help
  5. Catch the brainwaves of Melanie Nathan
  6. Catch the brainwaves of David Cohn (aka DigiDave)
  7. Catch the brainwaves with Mr. BabyMan!
  8. Catch the brainwaves of SexySEO
  9. Catch the brainwaves with Monika Mundell
  10. Catch the brainwaves of Jon Dyer
  11. Catch the brainwaves of Nowsourcing aka Brian Wallace
  12. Catch the brainwaves with Muhammad Saleem
  13. Catch the brainwaves with SEO Smarty
  14. Catch the brainwaves with Lisa Rousseau
  15. Catch the brainwaves with Mimzie!
  16. Catch the brainwaves with George Mantey
  17. Catch the brainwaves with Chris Brogan
  18. Catch the brainwaves with Patrick Bisaillon
  19. Catch the brainwaves… How To Split An Atom
  20. Catch The Brainwaves With TheNanny612

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