This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Alan Bleiweiss, who has been in the internet marketing space since the mid-90s, is the next individual we would like to take the time to honor. Alan, at least to me, is an individual who stands out as someone who goes through the tiny details to make sure he uncovers every small potential problem with your site and how it may interact with Google. He has been doing what he calls "forensic site audits" since 2002 and is one of those people who do audits in great detail.
Even though he does audits all day/every day - he still makes the time to help others in the industry. He is very active on social media and the forums, trying to guide people to do better on the web. Giving advice on problematic areas of their web sites and/or call out an issue with someone's SEO article or advice. He is always brave enough to call someone's advice out as being wrong or hurtful, which makes the industry look for truth.
Alan was nominated by two people in the industry, the first was Susan Wenograd who wrote "Alan has been a tireless mentor and friend to me. He has helped me talk through dealing with stressful situations, and given me loads of encouragement and confidence to pitch, speak, and write as much as possible. All of his advice has been instrumental in my career."
The other person who nominated Alan was Kelsey Jones who wrote "Alan has always been friendly, insightful, positive, and helpful. I regularly look to him for his insight and I know he doesn't hesitate to help others in the industry. I know he cares a lot about this industry and does his best to promote and educate others. I know Alan is a true advocate for the industry and I'm lucky to know him!"
Alan Bleiweiss Bio: Alan Bleiweiss is an SEO consultant, specializing in forensic site audits since 2012. His overall experience with online marketing spans more than twenty-two years. Performing more than 60 audits a year for medium to enterprise scale sites around the world, just a few of Alan’s most notable clients include NBC Universal, Disney, Petco and the ACLU. Currently living at the beach in Southern California, he spends his semi-retired free time mentoring others, and otherwise finding ways to express his sarcasm among friends.
Favorite thing about the SEO community? The thing I appreciate most about the SEO community is how willing so many people are to be truly helpful without expectation of return. Of course, that’s a double edged sword though. Unfortunately too many "give back" bad or even dangerous information, and some do so with reckless abandon.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Do you want to be helpful to clients, employers, customers, team mates?
Being helpful, to me, needs to be truly helpful, and not bad advice purely driven by ego or other reasons. And intent alone, is not enough. Bad information given for good intent is still going to lead to problems. I’m not saying I expect anyone to be perfect. That’s an illusion. What I am talking about is striving to be better, do better.
To reach longevity of success in the industry, and for that to carry over into other areas of life, if you want to be helpful to those you serve, and the community, only give advice when you have enough direct experience to do so, and ONLY when you know the circumstance or situation you are advising on. Anything else, I implore SEOs to use words like “Your situation may be different”, “This only applies to these cases I’ve been through and may not work in your situation”, or “SEO is complex – what worked here may not work there, so we need to evaluate the potential risk, and consider doing tests”.
Understand that your very short answer is RARELY valid in SEO as a stand-alone answer. Understand that SEO IS complex, scale factors matter, multiple algorithms matter, individual niche markets and keyword topical hubs matter, and so much more. All of those can cause what you saw work for site A to not work at ALL for site B.
Favorite things in general? My favorite color is the color of the water looking out from Lanikai Beach in Oahu. Look it up. It’s breathtaking.
What you want to be known for in the SEO space? It is my sincerest hope that I be known for being “that guy”. I’ll leave it up to the world to determine what “that guy” represents.
You can learn more about Alan at his web site and on Twitter.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
