Author Archives: Corey Northcutt

Paradise or Oblivion

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Some interesting futurist ideas about a totally new society that would embrace technology and automation at it’s core.  Some of The Venus Project‘s concepts seem far out there and sometimes reach beyond what I totally understand. Regardless, these ideas are definitely a refreshing alternative to letting Fox and NBC numb your brain.

Whether or not this could actually do away with greed’s barriers to human progress remains to be seen, but it’s a nice to see somebody offering such far-reaching solutions.

2012 is Here

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In keeping with the “I’ll write an update whenever I damn well feel like it” nature of this blog, it seemed to be about time to post an update.

Part of what’s been keeping me from writing blog posts here in recent months is the fact that I’ve started writing about SEO and content marketing once a week, over here.  I’ve enabled feedburner subscriptions so that you can keep up (*hint hint*).  I’ve also working on building up blogs a bit for Northcutt’s clients (and more case studies on those folks can be expected this year).

In the meantime, I’d like this blog to remain the place where my mind goes to write when it starts to wander (that means no more posts about SEO here).  I’ve added a links page and plan to continue blogging on more random topics that are of interest to me (and who knows, could be to you as well).

Cheers.

‘Northcutt’ Will Launch on July 27

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northcutt.com

I’ve mentioned my consulting work a few times now on this blog but so far, the details have been kept relatively quiet.  On July 27, I intend to change that.

A few months back, I acquired the domain northcutt.com, registered Northcutt Consulting Group, LLC, and began all of the basic organizing necessary in forming a fresh, well-functioning company.  It’s encouraging that even before launching a web site, this company is profitable and operating smoothly.  Finally putting a face on this project will mean the expansion from freelance consulting to consulting firm, expanding into a staffed operation that’s capable of scaling.

So, to anyone that knows anyone in need of some expert SEO/SEM consulting, be sure to get in touch, and ask me for a copy of our referral agreement.  We’ll be paying very nicely.

Get Off the Internet

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Really.  The world ends today.

But should it not, I’ll be back back in IL for a bit after a brief adventure up the East Coast.   My focus this month is on moving to Chicago proper, and continuing research/development to improve my SEO consulting process for my existing clients, as well as in preparation for the launch of Northcutt.com sometime in Q3.  Exciting times.

Evolution of the Google Algorithm

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The last two Google updates (especially Farmer/Panda) have pretty well shaken the whole web; and I can echo this with my own large-scale test sites.  I found this cool graphic over at SEOBook that gives a little history of past Google-dances.   I’d like to preface it with 3 points of my own minor critique:

  • rel=nofollow may not be treated exactly the same as dofollow, but it definitely passes value.  This can be tested simply and is echoed across the SEO world.
  • The concept of a link hurting a website is still one that I believe to be wildly misconstrued in SEO.  I’m as big an advocate as anyone of building high-value, relevant, white-hat links.  Not only do they show pretty obvious effects on the SERP’s, but these usually result in the most direct traffic as well (and isn’t traffic what we want at the end of the day?).  Various methods of bulk link building and affiliate links will become devalued (and THAT, will hurt, by association, but not directly), however.  This subtle but important approach is the only thing that keeps SEO’s from ejecting competitor sites from the rankings, and I have yet to see this ever done.  If it ever was possible for even a short time as this chart suggests, it is not possible anymore.
  • While even other Google-dances have made changes that aren’t in this chart, at the end of the day, nothing has completely revolutionized SEO.  As an SEO, it’s found to generally be easier to do something wrong and hit a penalty than it is to increase trust/relevance.  That said, SEO at it’s core, really has not changed much with Google, Yahoo!, or anybody.  The sky will not fall.  The concept at the end of the day is still this-  build a good site that gets good links.

Google's SEO Cat & Mouse.

Over the Harbor

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It’s a rainy morning at the Cabrits garrison in northern Dominica (which is where I’ve been living for the past few weeks).   Here’s what the office looks like today:

The misty storytale-quality of this photo is not an iphone effect, but rather the mountains here actually rest permanently inside of low-flying clouds.  And, it sounds like this.

Something New

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“Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Famous QuotesFor a long time now I’ve run stunt double websites to test different promotion tactics in the wild, rather than doing the experimenting on my corporate sites.  This quote site was one that I actually started having some fun with, and I’ve had a lot of time on my hands recently, so I decided to make this the first of a few fresh projects that are going in the incubator.

Why quotes?

Well, I’ve always wanted to inspire millions of people, and by my math, it’s actually possible this already has.   People love quotes; they’re a great way to make yourself sound smarter than you really are.   There’s also virtually no maintenance necessary on the site, and it’s designed to promote itself virally over time.  And, it’s been too long since I’ve seen fun charts like this one:

Comparing a variety of data that I took from DoubleClick, Compete, SEOMoz, and Alexa, this site is in the top 30 famous quote sites already (easy!).  The goal is the top 3 in 1 year at around 10 million pageviews/month, and to be #1 in 3 years, which would take around 50 million pageviews/month if all stays constant (hey, anything worth doing is worth doing well).  If you get down like this, here’s how you can get follow the quotes in your favorite social media:

FacebookFacebook

Twitter Twitter

Breaking the Silence

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Earlier this afternoon, I officially sold my stake in Nobis, letting go of my creation that’s more or less dominated my life for the past six years (and is why I’ve been missing in action for the past few months).  The reasons and events that led up to this are complex on a level that I don’t think that I want to put too much out here (for risk of being misinterpreted) but I will leave this with these final words.

I’m grateful for all of the passion of their own that our staff put into building this thing that started as nothing more than some scribbling on a notepad.  Ubiquity has grown to scales that I never would have been capable of achieving alone.   We were incredibly fortunate to have had those first handfuls of hosting customers that stayed fanatics about what we were doing, still now, with thousands of others also worth thanking.  In just a few years, these experiences have taught me an incredible amount about myself, choosing friends, and the different effects that money and power have on people.  It’s also shown me what we are capable of building if we’re constantly optimistic and doing.

Nothing in my life has been more difficult that the events of the past year and a half, but looking ahead, there’s no doubt that I’m personally in a better place today than I was yesterday, and given the right efforts, I’m confident the next day will be better still, and so on.  I never really expected to run Ubiquity forever, nor did I ever believe that this would be the greatest thing in my life that I create.  It won’t be.   But those ideas will be blog posts for another day.