They say you should face your greatest fears head on and public speaking has been one of mine since I was a kid. Being shy didn’t help during those school speech assignments one bit. Anyone with me on that one?

Having worked in the search marketing/web dev business since 1997, it was only 2 years ago or so that I began to speak at events about SEO, marketing with blogs and online public relations. I think there were 3 speaking events that first year. This year it looks like 16 and there are already 8 events booked for 2008. Things can change quickly in internet time.

I’m speaking tonight at a panel put on by Business Wire.  If you want to come, please do so, and be sure to say hello.  The topic is on social media generally, but more specifically looking at using social media for enhancing your news value. 

Millions of handsets rest in pockets and purses around the world, and they represent little foldable parts of a multi-billion dollar pie for the search engine market.

I’m hearing a ton of rumors of what’s coming to Mix07 next week in Las Vegas. I’ll be there Monday. Feel free to throw a piece of fruit as you head into the hall. I’ll be doing hallway cam out with Loren Heiny.

Anyway, here’s what we MIGHT see. How about you, what do you think Microsoft will show off?

When you write for your customers, you’d rather address them directly in your site copy, instead of speaking about the product, vague benefits or even your company.

The “Conversation with Eric Schmidt” was interesting for a couple of reasons yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit.

There are some great learning and professional development events taking place in Europe during the next few weeks that you might want to consider being part of.

W’s AOL search records, orangutan dating site, Firefox crop circles, and Microsoft on LSD. Chalk these incongruent pairings up for what makes this week in August 2006, the best online week ever.

We’re well into the summer now, halfway through the really quiet period when most of Europe goes on holiday. At least the weather’s fantastic, in all senses of that word.

Following up on my previous post, next Thursday, April 20th, will be our kick-off Third Thursday meetup, and I’m fired up to say our first guest speaker will be Michael Arrington.

Frank Gruber, the mind behind the Somewhat Frank blog, subjected nine web-based RSS feed readers to a comparison and blogged about the best on TechCrunch.

You might think that the trick to good speaking is speaking well. Being confident. Having interesting content. And all that.

It’s often a good idea to just click on things on a website as you might discover something new.

Matt Cutts announced last week that Google will take a closer look at web pages in languages besides English, and woe be unto those who run afoul of Google’s quality guidelines, available in several languages.

I will be speaking next month on the use of blogs in small business at Small Business Summit in New York City.

Yesterday I was doing an interview and was asked about the prospect of social software for government.

One of the more popular questions asked on SEO-related forums as do with the use of 301 redirects and duplicate content. When people pose questions about duplicate content because of domain naming reasons, one of the first things suggested is using a 301 redirect to avoid being penalized.

Many successful blog writers believe it’s necessary to maintain a true voice, where the real person behind the posting, shines through.

Here’s a plain-speaking description of a blog commenting policy that no one could possibly misunderstand …

I observed an almost surreal event when I was a business student.

The DRC (Disability Rights Commission) recently announced the results of their year-long investigation into the accessibility of 1000 UK websites. The report concluded that most websites are highly inaccessible, with over 81% not even meeting basic standards of accessibility.

Yahoo owned Overture Services, a provider of Internet marketing services, extended its search agreements with CNN.com and ESPN.com. In addition to extending its existing deals, Overture has also signed an ad distribution agreement with Wall Street Journal Online.