This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Will Scott is 49 years old, lives in New Orleans with his wife and business partner Angie and two kids Joseph, 15 and Caleb, 11. Will is the owner of an SEO agency named Search Influence and has been doing the SEO thing for over a dozen years.
He is always contributing his knowledge and tips in the form of contributed content on industry publications, sharing on social media and even speaking at events. He is a super nice and caring individual who has helped countless people in the space, even competitors, grow their agencies and improve their SEO offerings.
Will has been doing online marketing and related services since 1994, which is a very long time.
Mat Siltala nominated Will and wrote:
Will has always freely given me any advice I’ve ever asked for. He has been open in ways to help me grow my agency and do better. He is more than an industry peer. He’s turned into a friend and brother to me over the years.
Will Scott Bio: Will Scott runs New Orleans based Search Influence with his wife and Co-Founder Angie. Search Influence is a national, full-service Digital Marketing agency with a focus on locally focused businesses. Founded in 2006, Search Influence employs more than 50 full time and hundreds of freelancers and has 7 years on the Inc. 5000 list.
Will has been working on the web since 1994, grew up in New York City and spent time in the Marines which explains his belligerent driving style and frequent use of profanity.
Favorite thing about the SEO community? The best SEOs are both inquisitive and generous. I've had the great good fortune to spend time with folks who both teach and challenge me. Top of my list of challengers are Mat Siltala, David Mihm, Marty Weintraub and Mike Blumenthal.
Each has through their voracious acquisition of knowledge inspired me and in kindness have both enlightened and promoted me.
Those guys are tops, but I could go on for a really long time with people I admire for their knowledge, willingness to share and for their friendship and support.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Take it easy, baby. In our job listings at Search Influence we used to include the phrase "we take our work very seriously and ourselves markedly less so. I think the SEO community should be doing the same.
We worry, daily it seems, about the rise and fall of some tactic or technique and in many cases entire areas of specialty -- like SEO itself. The key for us is to remember, SEO was never *really* about the search engines. It's always been about optimizing the business.
So, as long as what we do for clients, whether paid, organic, even offline, and traditional media is in support of that client's most important business metrics then we're doing OK.
Favorite things in general? Color: Blue, then Orange, then Green.
Food: Anything from this crazy Israeli place in Paris named Miznon. The food is fantastic and the staff are nuts -- in a really good way. For instance, when calling an order for a patron name "Willy", the server did it to the tune of Lil' Wayne's "A Milli".
Thing to do: is spend time, actively, with my family. Our best times are when we're away at the beach, skiing or one time when we splurged and did an adventure tour. I recently convinced both my kids to take up my current sporting passion, triathlon. It's a great way to get my wife to be more OK with the time and expense -- and the bikes :)
What you want to be known for in the SEO space? I get a lot of recognition for Barnacle SEO, a concept I put forth at an SMX Local / Mobile in 2008. I'm kind of old-school :)
What I'm hoping to spend more time on is the idea of how a local business can look like a brand. As I alluded to above, I think the time is coming where we can't expect SEO to cure all ills. Way back when, a high organic ranking and then, maybe a map-pack were real game-changers for local businesses.
These days, though we know that it takes a lot more. Local businesses have to look like brands online and to a great extent that's happening outside of what traditionalists think of as SEO.
While we've tuned and refined this, my favorite presentation on the topic is one I gave at a BIA / Kelsey show in the track "SEO for SMBs". The sub-title was "Presence + Authority + Trust = Winning". Funny story, at this year's Pubcon, Alan Bleiweiss and I were on either side of the "most important factor" discussion. I said "authority", he said "trust".
And believe it or not, Barnacle SEO still plays a part.
To learn more about Will check out his company site, follow him on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
