After a short break from maintaining this place (you can almost hear the echo…) I’m gonna try to get things rolling again. It will actually be interesting to see just how long Google takes to index this post after such a lull.

A Very Large Apology

First and foremost, I have to offer an apology to those Irish Blog Awards nominees who still have not received their promised SEO review. My schedule has be quite hectic over the last while, but I hope to have some free time over the coming weeks to complete the task as promised.

So far I’ve managed to post the following in response to my offer:

1. Getting you site out of supplemental index (Krishna De)
2. Page titles and SEO (First Partners)
3. SEO for Blogspot (Blogger) sites (multiple sites)
4. SEO for photoblogs (McAwilliams)
5. Corporate Blogging SEO (Bubble Brosthers)

Which leaves the following reviews to complete:

1. http://bifsniff.com/
2. http://www.argolon.com/
3. http://blog.roam4free.ie/
4. http://www.mneylon.com/blog
5. http://siopaeile.com/blog/
6. http://www.headrambles.com
7. http://www.mediangler.com

Those reviews are in the pipeline, the first of which I hope to roll out in the coming days.

So What Have I Been Up To?

The projects I’ve worked on recently have all been really interesting. I’ve had the opportunity to work with sites and clients who are both on-line leaders and global brands. I’ve also helped smaller indigenous firms with their on-line visibility, usability and overall strategic positioning.

Strategic Internet consulting is an area that is taking up an increasing amount of my time. I’ve been working with a number of companies providing guidance not just on SEO, but also on their overall on-line strategy. I’ve always believed that my skill-set goes beyond generating search traffic for my clients, and recent consulting experience has greatly reinforced this belief.

Irish Internet Association National Congress

Last Thursday I sat on a panel at the 2007 IIA National Congress. I was flattered that Fergal O’Byrne (CEO, IIA) asked me to sit in on the Making Money Out Of Blogs and Podcasts breakout session. Together with Michele Neylon (Blacknight), David Johnson (Google – don’t think they need the link :grin:) and Richard Delevan (Tribune) we discussed issues around blogging and podcasting and whether it is possible to make money from same.

There was some great audience interaction, and the most interesting theme for me personally was that many Irish media buyers cannot actually find a home for much of their on-line budget. So there you have it – Irish advertisers are crying out for decent on-line media to pay for carrying their advertising inventory.

The second of the three sessions didn’t go too well for me. I was carrying a nasty headache which didn’t help my concentration. But I think all-in-all I did a decent job during both the first and third session. One member of the audience actually emailed me mid-session asking for a copy of my ‘interesting presentation’. I responded saying that he must have me mixed up with someone else

A big thank you to Fergal, who I met on a panel for an Enterprise Ireland podcast some weeks ago, for asking me to take part.

A Second Apology

I really have to also apologise to anyone who enquired about my services over the past few weeks. It’s been virtually impossible for me to respond in a timely manner as I just haven’t had the resources required to assess the requirements of your sites. My sincere apologies to anyone who expected to receive a response and did not – it is not in my nature to let people down, and I will follow up personally with everyone who has contacted me recently to offer my apologies for not responding sooner.

Normal services will resume shortly