I’ve been thinking about two popular discussions currently taking place in the search engine marketing industry about “Seo Rock Stars”. First was Lee Odden’s, The Fallacy of SEO Celebrity, which was followed up with Rand Fishkin’s take in The Desire for Fame in the SEO World. Both men flung the doors wide open.

I enjoy any discussion that offers up a chance to look at where we are as people, community or industry.

There are far less rock star personalities in the Human Factors and Usability/User Experience fields, but they do exist. In those industry circles, the so-called fame can be directly traced to their achievements, such as case studies, white papers, books, popular educational blogs, videos or podcasts or events such as hosting conferences. Only recently did My Catalyze quietly launch. It’s no Sphinn. The content at Catalyze tends to be more academic and not self-promotional.

Reading the comments in both Rand and Lee’s highly rated posts, I was reminded of my early days in the 1990’s, when I made the online acquaintance of Jill Whalen, Kalena Jordan, Ralph Tegtmeier (aka “Fantomaster”), and Ammon Johns (aka “Black Knight”). Danny Sullivan was the most authoritative guide for me, followed soon by Mike Grehan.

What struck me as the most positive role each of these people played back then was that they shared what they learned, while they were learning it. Brett Tabke did the same thing by launching Webmasterworld. In those first years, WMW was an online lab where Brett tested theories and practices and freely shared his findings. Members followed up with their testing and feedback. Eventually “best practices” could be flushed out from all this free flow. If you came into WMW believing you were a smarty pants with an attitude of being a guru, you didn’t survive long.

Flash forward to today. I founded Cre8asiteforums, Jill founded High Rankings Forums and many other forums came long before us, like Jim World and DigitalPoint. The one thing you can count on in forums is self promotion.

There are always exceptions. Some members of Cre8asiteforums contribute day in and day out, giving advice, helping figure out problem code, and offering moral support with no link drops or hints that they’re only being nice because they want your business. The moderating staff and I keep track of humble contributors. Some of them are eventually given opportunities to join the team or write in our blog. We look for self respect, hard workers, generosity, and expertise that have been proven.

Power plays are out. A constant presence that says “Look at me! Look at me! I’m over here!” doesn’t work either. I see this happening in Facebook. Everyone has a different use for it. I go there to have fun, but I’m a professional person, forums owner, business owner and tied to many companies who use my services. What I share in Facebook about my personal life is limited.

When people who have seen me online for years finally meet me at a conference, they meet the “real” Kim. I’m goofy. I’m terrible with names. I’m shy and uncomfortable in crowds until I get a sense of the place. I laugh. A lot. I swear after a few drinks if we’re on a hot topic and am more likely to say things that might surprise you. I rarely have the nerve to approach “SEO Rock Stars” I haven’t met yet or if I do, I’ve had to get the courage up for about 20 minutes first. I figure nobody knows me and will wonder who that strange woman is walking up to them.

I suppose being famous in an industry is a head trip at first. It doesn’t always last long in such a socially driven environment. I’ve seen some new people rise to the top by pushing uphill a boulder of content and involvement in all the “right” places, only to write something that’s in poor judgment online somewhere and they tumble back down the mountain. Some of them will align themselves with someone famous and toot that horn, in essence using the famous person to gain notice.

What’s kept Danny, Ralph, Aaron Wall, Jill, Christine Churchill, Mike Grehan and Ammon going strong over the past 12 years is their devotion to their craft, their interest in upholding the integrity and continued growth of the industry, their consistent ability to stay focused on their work and their personalities. Each of them is genuine. You know it the moment you meet them in person and when you see them anywhere online. They are interested in YOU and YOUR success.

True leaders gain loyalty because people can tell the difference between those who really want their peers to succeed and those who are in it for their own personal agenda.

There’s tremendous talent out there, with some exciting new voices and faces. There are also a lot of well known industry leaders, business owners and conference speakers. Eventually they’ll want to move on, retire, or try something else. The SEO/M industry would do well to nurture and guide the newcomers and support individuals who have impressed them.

It makes little sense to wave fingers at so called “rock stars” because time has a way of filtering out the frauds from the real deal.

Some time last year I realized my association with the search engine optimization and marketing industry might change because the atmosphere was getting partisan. Bad feelings between leaders were festering and it didn’t take much of a nudge to start a rumble.

The situation isn’t improving and I wonder why. Case in point is a recent bit of flap over an article that went out by someone well respected, which in hindsight was an error in judgment. Apologies have been made but it won’t end there because something has drastically shifted in the industry.

More and more people are unforgiving. There’s no room whatsoever for any slip ups.

I remember a friendlier time.

A few years back someone didn’t make it home from an SEO conference. A website called Threadwatch lit up with members putting out a global hunt for him and offering support for his family. He wasn’t even widely well known, but that made no difference. It ended well and showed that when one of their own is in trouble, the industry rallies.

However, if someone in the industry has an unpopular opinion, or defends something, or otherwise causes negative publicity to their company or self, they may as well be walking around with a scarlet letter branded to them for life.

Hypocrisy abounds. How is it that Rand Fishkin was slaughtered last year and taken to task for writings in his company blog and possible business practices, and yet the industry voted him the “Most Giving SEO”?

Today, I read a comment that he and his company are a “cult”.

Is it really possible to be the most generous person in an industry and be the most despised at the same time? What does this say about the people in the industry? What messages about the search engine marketing industry does this send to companies looking to hire SEO’s?

Marketers must market. This, too, I’ve come to see. You simply will not be noticed for your good deeds unless you talk about them, show them off and bombard everyone with your humble greatness because by tomorrow, no one will remember what you did.

Or is it that nobody really cares? I’ve been trying to figure that one out.

If you make personal sacrifices for the industry, or support it in ways that have nothing to do with promoting your business, this will not be recognized as a valuable contribution. If you provide a living example of ethical, smart problem solving in the face of a threat to your livelihood, this too isn’t acknowledged. Personally, when someone can show proof of their marketing skills in action, this speaks louder than how popular they are.

I can probably get away with writing and sharing my thoughts because I straddle two industries. I originate from the SEO industry however. It’s been far more friendlier and open than the usability industry. But as the months of getting unsolicited “advice” from people about who I should associate with or not went by, I began to suspect that true divisions exist and now recent events show that battle lines are drawn.

I don’t wish to take sides. There are those who leave comments in heated discussions who admit to loving the entertainment value. I don’t. I dislike the hostility. I’m having trouble understanding its purpose and value to the search engine marketing industry as a whole.

Is this where the future of search engine marketing is heading?

And if so, why is that?

A new kind of awards have been introduced into the search marketing industry. They’re called the SEMMYS. Rather than being about blogs or web sites, Matt McGee and friends, wanted to honor blog posts instead.

There are 15 categories of posts and articles, with nominees in each one. It’s hard to pick one from each batch because there’s so much great writing. After discovering myself as a nominee, it sure feels good to be recognized by my peers as a valued contributor.

I was nominated for:

Category: Social Media
For Where Do Forums Fit on a Social Network Driven Internet? As a result of my probing, the entire direction of Cre8asiteforums has been changed for 2008, based on the feedback.

Category: On-line Marketing General
For Web Site Usability Developers Have No Idea What They’re Doing. I had a blast just coming up with that title.

Category: Rants
For: Hey Blog Scrapers! Take This Post Too. The most fascinating part of that piece is that for about 3 days, I had an enormous drop in scraped trackbacks and Akismet spam.

Two of my biggest rants of the year that made the news didn’t make it. One was when I challenged Danny Sullivan’s Sphinn for not having a place for usability/user experience design and its relationship as a supporter for search engine marketing. (He added that category later and we’re friends.) My first big rant of 2007, I Don’t Digg Being Dugg was server-threatening huge as well. It came out before Sphinn appeared. (Would have been fun to see how it did there.)

This tells me that nominations aren’t based on traffic, hype over the piece or whether you’re a so-called “A-list” blogger (I’m not, btw.) Judges were looking for something else.

That a usability practitioner sneaks into search engine marketing awards at all is a fine thing and deeply appreciated by me. Thank you so much.

Here is more information about nominations and voting for the SEMMYS.

To help celebrate two years as the leading print publication for the search engine marketing industry, Search Marketing Standard is deeply discounting its subscription rate until December 10, 2007. Not only that, they’ll donate $1 to Toys for Tots, for every subscriber that uses the coupon code.

For a limited time only, new subscribers can get a 67% discount off the subscription price. This means a 1 year U.S. subscription would be $4.95 (International - $6.60). The magazine comes out 4 times a year and is loaded with articles covering search engine optimization, marketing, usability and related web design themes.

To get this rate before the special ends, Subscribe here and use this coupon code: HOLIDAY67

The Winter edition is out and once again its packed. There’s an interview with social media marketing expert, Chris Winfield, of 10e20. Kevin Gold writes about conversions in “Conversion Rates are Relative”, and Tom Dahm writes an interesting piece called “The Banner Ad Strikes Back”. The winner of Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship Contest, Jeff Horsager, gets to see his winning article in print. It’s called “Increase Conversion Rates with Google Website Optimizer”.

Social media fans may enjoy Joe Whyte’s “I’ve Stumbled, Dugg and Reddit and It is Del.icio.us - What Next?” Another interesting topic was covered by Milind Mody called “Outsourcing Search Marketing to Low-Cost Labor Destinations”. Two usability articles made this issue. I wrote “Website Feedback: Your Secret Online Marketing Tool” and Nick Osborne also tackled conversions with “Why Now? Using the Power of Urgency to Increase Online Conversion Rates”.

With 14 articles in this issue, there is something for everybody. If you’re new to SMS, now’s a great time to pick up a subscription, try it out and benefit a great cause.

The Search Engine College announces its latest project, Search Engine Wiki today. Founder and Director of Studies, Kalena Jordan, has been actively involved with the search engine optimization and marketing industry from its beginnings. She and husband, Jerry, founded the Search Engine College, providing online learning, self-study and certification courses at affordable fees.

Today’s announcement culminates 10 years of intimate involvement and tracking the industry. The new vertical wiki enables visitors to get the most accurate information and resources, as well as networking for employment opportunities.

Lists of international search engines categorized by country, type and industry
A glossary of definitions for common terms used in SEO, PPC and SEM
An extensive library of search engine marketing articles
Employment resources where you can find SEO, PPC and SEM jobs
A collection of popular search engine marketing blogs and newsfeeds
Frequently Asked Questions about search engines and SEM
A list of popular search engine marketing tools and time saving software
Links to upcoming search industry conferences and events
Introductions to well known search industry personalities

Plus a large variety of other resources relating to the exciting and fast-paced world of search engine marketing. We’ve been compiling these resources for over 10 years now and we’ve decided to share them all with the public in the form of a collaborative wiki. This means that YOU can become an editor and add your own favorite resources.

For fun, try Search Engine Marketing Personalities, Search Engine Marketing Frequently Asked Questions and the list of industry related blogs.