Welcome Aboard Jim Hedger!

Since I started doing search engine optimization, (SEO), back in 1998 or so, I’ve constantly read articles about search, the search industry, and search trends. I live in a beautiful area of the world; Victoria B.C. It’s a small city which has only ~350,000 residents if you look at the greater Victoria region, and include all the hotel guests! Yet, there’s a lot of outstanding search marketers, and search engine optimization / marketing companies here. Like myself, many of us blog. Unlike my own, my colleagues’ blogs are even well and widely read. :-)

One thing that I like, and respect, is that many of us seem to not write about where we live, our families, or anything private. We keep that part of our lives separate; and everyone else respects the others privacy. So, being unsure who would want to be identified by location, I won’t single anyone else out by mentioning them.

It truly is amazing: we’re part of a small and close community, but most of us rarely even see each other locally! Yet, we run into each other many times a year at conferences around the world. It’s obvious: where we’re located is irrelevant to our businesses, because our clients are worldwide, and our businesses global. Per capita, there’s more top notch search marketing experts here in Victoria, than anywhere else in the world. Trust me on that. If you knew who all lived here, you’d be flabbergasted.

Among the many people who do live here, (and one who has disclosed it), is search marketing expert Jim Hedger. Most of you know Jim, or have read his writings. He’s a great guy, with tremendous insights into the Internet and search communities. Jim Hedger is one of the most prolific writers in the search sector with columns appearing in SiteProNews, SEO-News, ISEDB.com, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Guide, and republished on countless other search-marketing related websites.

Jim started his career in search marketing as an account manager at StepForth Search Engine Placement, eventually becoming StepForth’s Head SEO, before moving to News Editor and Sr. Researcher.

A few months ago, when Jim told me that he would be leaving Stepforth in the summer, I wondered what exactly he would be doing. He had told me that he was forming his own firm, Markland Media with Andy Carruthers, but that he wouldn’t be doing SEO directly. Extremely talented, I knew he would be swamped with offers. I didn’t feel comfortable approaching him with an offer as he left another firm. To ensure that he knew I would give him completely objective advice, I even went so far as to tell him so. It would not have been fair to Jim, nor to his old firm. I also thought that going out on his own would be wonderful for him. I did mention that I wished we could work together at some point in the future, on things like a local Pubcon, etc. Notwithstanding all that, with everything going on at work, splitting Metamend from Enquisite, patents, financings, hirings, etc., I realized that the timing wasn’t right. So, I wished him well, offered support, and asked him to keep me in the loop as any friend would.

As anyone in the industry would expect, he did get a ton of offers. Among the many he received, he’s accepted some, including taking on a post as a Sr. Editor with Jayde-Online news sources SiteProNews and SEO-News.com and publishing on the SiteProNews Blog. He also added a segment with WebmasterRadio, adding to his existing (extensive and exhaustive) responsibilites with Search Engine Journal, ISEDB, and other organizations.

So, when I heard he was going out on his own, I celebrated for him personally – that’s a courageous thing to do. I also wondered how it would affect him and his writing now that it was free of editorial oversight; now that he was a true free agent writer, writing without restrictions. We all know his articles, they’re well thought out, thorough, insightful, and highly relevant. He’s always quick on a story, and ensures he’s got his facts right. He also likes to write about non-search themes, such as his recent War Driving Muskoka article. Even when they’re not directly about the search industry, you can still see his passion for search in his writings.

Well, all this brings me to the point of my post. The world does work in funny ways. At SES in San Jose, Jim and I were chatting at length about writing, articles and blogs. A post here and there is nice; but I wished we at Metamend could be more active with our blog. I asked Jim how he does it so well; I wished we could emulate him in his writings.

At then end of that conversation, and a few more, Metamend had a wonderful, and unexpected opportunity on its hands. Metamend is always looking to add top notch people.

So today, much to my own surprise, I’m happy to announce that at this very moment, Jim Hedger sits in my office and has agreed to come on board as a regular contributor to this blog! When Jim asked about subject matter restrictions, topics, I said “anything about the Internet, search, or marketing” I would have been happy to see the War Driving article here. The world of search is so much bigger than the tiny piece of the Internet pie that forms the industry we’re all associated to. Search – the quest for knowledge – is probably the first activity humans engaged in – it’ll likely be our last too. It’s our unending search that drives us forward.

So, welcome aboard Jim! To anyone reading this blog; the quality and content just got a whole lot better and broader! If you learned to like it before, you’re going to love it now!