"Unless you wrote the questions, it's not your problem in what you are asked about... "


Hamlet - did you help write the questions?  Was the interview scripted?

Not trying to be difficult here but it seems asking outright will put this all to rest one way or the other.

There are spam buttons and if they don't get used... it ain't SPAM IMO... tis the nature of a democratic media outlet. At least you were kind enough to go with the flame bait... weeee haaaa

Besides, ya know we love ya Hamlet, you could burp the alphabet on video and it would go hot (ha ha ha ha.... please don't... really...).

Mr. VandeMar,

I have been a frequent contributor at SEOmoz for some time now, as has been Hamlet. We are members and avid fans, of the SEOmoz community.

I prepared a great deal for this interview, thoroughly researching the current state of SEO automation, and came to the conclusion primarily based on a rash of blog posts and flood of comments (both positive and negative), that were published around the September 2007 timeframe, that SEO automation was somewhat of a heated topic for a variety of reasons.

This included posts by Loren Baker @ Search Engine Journal, Lisa Barone @ Bruce Clay, Inc., Gabriel Goldenberg @ SEOROI and others. The Lisa Barone article in particular was quite colorful in opposition. A good read. I have 32 reference articles and papers in total. That is where I came to the conclusion that this was a bit of a heated topic.

Although I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable SEO, admittedly, relative to folks like yourself, Hamlet and other industry veterans, I do not possess the depth of understanding of the intricacies of the SEO process. What I do know however, from both practicing SEO and reading voraciously on the topic, is that this is a very nascent and fragmented industry, where individual practitioners abound. This type of environment, from my perspective, makes it ripe for various degrees of automation. To me, that created a natural slant for the interview. Coupled with the fact that RankSense was going to be announced at SMXWest, I also thought it was timely. More than anything, I thought it would make for a good quality Youmoz post.

SEOmoz has a category topic SEO Tools, under which I published this article. Although for me the article was really more about letting the SEOmoz community get to better know this man and his success story, I felt that because of where the conversation went specifically to the topic of SEO automation and ultimately to RankSense, it would be best to post under that category.

I have always been fascinated with the application of technology in the efforts to streamline processes and methodologies of product and service delivery. Prior to starting my practice, I ran the global sales and marketing for a $2 billion contract manufacturer. Supply chain automation was my specialty.

Candidly, I felt it was more an article for the SEOmoz community as opposed to the SEO community at large. However, one of the SEOmoz members, Calamier, took the action of posting it to Sphinn. I think it was his first Sphinn. Somewhat to my surprise, it went hot. I suspect that is mostly because of the respect Hamlet has earned in the SEO community.

To your questions about payment and marketing campaign - first, I can state categorically and without fear of contradiction that I was not paid for writing the article. I have a thriving business practice that is difficult to keep up with. I suspect that writing articles for money does not pay that well. They take so damn long to write (for me anyway). I do not even blog yet, other than my modest entries at SEOmoz (Youmoz). I do it for fun. Even in the case of consulting with NEMedia, working with this type of business was a bit of a departure from my typical customer; however I was really interested in the idea Hamlet had, so I jumped at the opportunity.

As to marketing campaign, I absolutely am biased toward Hamlet and I certainly would like nothing more than to see him continue his path to success. However, I did not expect that a post on Youmoz would go much further than the community, which is not the primary target for  RankSense anyway.  This is about building a $50Million business over four or five years, not selling a handful of licenses to the individual SEO that hangs out at SEOmoz.

Probably more information than you wanted, but I do hope it effectively answers your concerns. Hamlet would be the last person in the world to brag on himself, but I was more than happy to highlight his successes. In closing, I hope that despite your consternation about the content, you enjoyed reading the article. I worked hard on it.

On a final note, if you ever get a personal invitation from Hamlet to stay at his golf villa in Casa de Campo, I highly suggest jumping at it!

Kindest Regards,

Sean

Common sense? You see, in California, we have something called the Basic Speed Law. It says that you can never drive faster than it is safe, regardless of the posted speed limit. On a freeway where the speed limit is 60, but it's raining and poor visibility? You're supposed to use common sense and slow down to a safe speed.

I like that approach. Rather than craft a billion rules on exactly how many things you can submit and so on, just use common sense. Should you submit 10 items in a row from your web site that simply cross-link to someone else's site? Common sense should tell you no. You're not adding value to the community that way. You're putting self-interest way ahead of the community interest. And when you violate the Basic Common Sense Law here, we'll do things like suspend your account and/or kill your submissions.

In contrast, submit a gem or two or three from your own site, stuff that's really good? Go for it. Common sense should tell you that delivering up your best, even if there's an element of self-interest, will still help the greater good.
-Danny Sullivan

After seeing MV's blog entry and reading the interview....It does seem like an ad to me....

I can see why Debra was motivated to ask the questions she asked.

If it smells like an ad...then I can see why Mike questioned its presence in sphinn subject to something that was deemed an ad being taken down.

I suppose its all in the eyes of the beholder.