Give us a brief resume of your life in SEO – including any dramatic highlights!

I started at Base One in May 2007 and have had been lucky to see the company double in size in the last 2 years. The search team originally consisted of two people, one of which was me and now we have a team of 5 specialising in a range of search marketing skills. Having basic knowledge of the internet and how it worked I had to learn quickly in order to prove myself.

Having Lisa D Myers, as a tutor, was a highlight in itself as she pushed for me to pick up SEO skills quickly with the aim of taking on my own campaigns and clients. I read everything from beginners’ guides to blogs to articles as well as attending conferences to hear others theories and practices.

At my first conference I met people who inspired me to learn more, telling me some of the cool stuff that they had done for clients, yes I was taking notes on my napkin but who wouldn’t with this priceless and free information…..right?

One of the highlights was having my first blog post posted on SEOchicks which went hot on sphinn. The response I received gave me so much confidence and spurred me on to develop my knowledge further. Although maybe it was this picture that helped?

(That's what I look like under the clothes - SPT)

2 years on and I am now managing a team at Base One and continue to learn daily with the evolving world of search marketing.

Given that you studied English, do you have an unfinished novel lying around somewhere?

Funny you should say that I actually did write a novel, well it was more like a script for a film, but it was starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks as a man obsessed with his hairdresser…… could happen!! I have also just written a short story/blog post about blackberrys. It will be published soon I promise so watch this space.

What made you want to join the mad cap world of search?

Honestly……..? I didn’t. But now I am here I want to stay. It is a mad cap world and the people that are in it are equally as mental. But that is exactly what makes it so fun and appealing. London SEO events are a prime example where lunacy and intellect comes together.

If you could control Matt Cutts for a day, what would you make him do?

Allow me a secret back door to get round ‘no follow’……..

How did you come to work for Base One?

Oh now this is a good story. I was doing a number of temping jobs after University trying to find my way into editing for film or TV which was proving to be difficult. Just met a guy and was invited as his +1 to his best friend’s wedding. When I was there I met a girl who straight away made me feel like one of the gang and we had a laugh all night…… The week when I was temping for a hideous debt collection agency I bumped into the girl on my lunch break and she said that she was looking for a junior SEO. I had no idea what she just said but it had to be better than what I was doing. Little did I know that Lisa D Myers (then Lisa Ditlefsen) was such a figure in this industry and that she would teach me so much…. the rest is history.

Coffee or Tea?

Both…… coffee at work which I am normally in desperate need of around 09:01am, and Tea in the evenings and on Sunday mornings with an old film, dunking chocolate hobnobs.

What is your favourite thing about your job?

Love testing and challenging theories. That when I explain what I do everyone says it sounds so cool. I love my team….. They are all really different and from crazy backgrounds, but that makes conversations interesting. I also love love love my job when you have taken a site with little or no search visibility and managed to create an online presence, with a lot of hard work of course. It is so rewarding.

We share a love of people tripping up – what’s the funniest trip you’ve ever seen? (don’t worry, Jesus doesn’t read this blog)

It is a toss up of two, so I will tell you both….. when I was doing work experience and I was in Swindon (not my home town before any of you start, I live at least 20 mins from there) I was on a lunch break and saw a slightly larger lady, on crutches with arms full of bags literally do the splits and was stuck…… I had to help but I was crying my physical eyes out with laughter. God I am going to hell aren’t I….

2nd best ever trip was in the cinema when a woman tripped up the stairs sending popcorn flying, I could not control my outburst of hysterical laughter with a pointing finger too. There is just something so funny about people tripping up – as long as there is no pain of course

Do you still feel a twinge of guilt about crushing those kid’s dreams?

Have you been talking to Lisa? I thought it was initiative…. for those of you who don’t know the story, when I was younger I was in a talent competition for young musicians. Not being able to play an instrument at the time, I thought I would enter with my Yamaha keyboard. Needless to say I won. Later at a parent/teacher interview my mum was bombarded with praise about my excellence in music, of which she was confused as I had never even had one single lesson.

Ah the absolute geniusness of playing along to the pre installed demo tunes!! *bows and walks off stage right with trophy held high*

Are you a Mac or a PC?
PC enough said…

What’s your favourite social media network?

For my personal stuff I prefer facebook, for client work my favourite is Twitter. Facebook still does what it set out to do, to connect people with friends. Twitter is a great way of reaching mass audiences and to monitor the noise (or lack of) surrounding a brand or product.

And finally, if you weren’t an SEO, what would you be doing right now?

Who knows with keyboard skills like mine I could have been a musician in a band J ….. I have always wanted to do editing for film………But if I really had to choose right now I would be making jewellery on a beach in Bali.

If you want to find out what Beccy is doing right now you can follow her on Twitter.

So without further ado:

Give us a brief history of you life in SEO/the UK.

In summer 2008 I stepped off the plane in London hoping to land a work visa at Base One Group, a company I was familiar with because I had seen the Head of Search, Lisa Ditlefsen (our charming first SEO.BIO victim), deliver an inspiring talk at SMX London.  I know this sounds crazy – but I’d even told my friends in New York that I was going to be working at Base One when in fact I hadn’t even had a job offer! It was just this gut feeling and I was confident that it would work out for me.  As expected, everything has fallen into place.

I now spend my days working on social media campaigns, monitoring and advising clients on how to improve their online reputations, performing technical SEO evaluations, blogging, managing PPC accounts, the whole sha-bang!  While I love the challenge of pushing a new client with little or no online SM presence, I find the best cases are those clients who have a negative online reputation, and working with them to turn that around so users are praising them from the hills.

I was first hired as Avi Wilensky’s assistant at his boutique SEO firm Promediacorp in NYC; apparently I was hired because 1) I was a girl and 2) I had a blog.  He taught me about PPC and made sure I became well versed in SEO, especially doing site evaluations & coming up with creative link building techniques.  I am forever grateful I landed that job with him.

Before moving to London, I did a brief stint as a PPC manager at an affiliate marketing company in midtown during the first half of 2008.  PPC management is brutally boring when done full time, our office with no windows, and we were forced to dress in “office casual” (that means dry cleaning bills).  The department folded in January 2009, I’ve heard people cheered when they heard it was going down and they’d all loose their jobs.

What would you say is your greatest personal victory in working life so far?

Just one!?!  I have three stand out moments in my career so far:

1. I was recently asked to guest post on Search Engine Journal, which I’ve always regarded at one of my top 5 SEO blogs, it’s truly an honour.
2. When working as a PPC manager I snagged the biggest account in my team of five for a prestigious client spending over $30,000/month; I was new to the company and the youngest member of the department, I was quite chuffed with myself.
3. Cease and Desist Letter. I wrote a great blog post exposing a rip off online marketing company that I went “under cover” to investigate (they current rank #2 for the term “Affordable Website design” oh, the irony!). They wrote me a very silly letter full of legal jargon. My boss at the time made me delete the post, maybe I should republish it on my own site…

What’s the latest random subject you’ve learned about?

I LOVE random subjects!  I went to the library last weekend and ended up learning about the history of whaling in Japan.  Today, my neighbor was teaching me about the dangers the community laundry pole poses to his 5 year old, which apparently almost “fell” on the son so he took it down without consulting anyone.  Quite frankly, I think my neighbor should be more worried about his son running into inanimate objects.

You made a classic list of ‘You know you work in search when…‘ facts – have you managed to add any more to the list?

I’ve got tons more, be sure to stay tuned for additions!  The list is currently part of a scholarship competition I expect to win, so if you like the list (or just like me?) you’re free to pass it on to all your friends (with different IP addresses seeing as it’s measured on unique visitors)!

When I wrote the post, I figured that all of the other entrees would be “How To …” or “Top Ten Tips…” so I decided to do something a little more entertaining that actually had a chance at going viral.  Plus, with a list like this readers can get involved by adding their own funny ideas (I’ve had some great tweets, emails, & comments); and those conversations with people interacting – to me that’s the highlight of being a marketer.

What was it about studying history that made you want to join the new media revolution?

As a student of history, I’ve always loved researching, looking at events through a variety of lenses, and sucking resources dry on a subject matter. The beauty of search is that as long as engines are changing algorithms there will be more for us marketers to research, look at through different perspectives, and experiment on.

You currently work at Base One – what is the third thing you do when you arrive at work?

Say hi to Tony, our security guard. We usually asses my hair and outfit together in the mirror while I wait for the elevator.

If you could be anything other than a search consultant, what would you be (you still have to be a human though)?

Cowgirl. I would love to run a ranch in Wyoming and go horseback riding, kayaking, and hiking all summer, then have the Rockies to ski in during the winter.

What the hell inspired this avatar:?

LOL!  Stuart, no need to be shy.  If you like it that much I can make a few calls to get you one too!

You worked on the Howard Stern show (awesome!) – surely you have an anecdote you would love to share with us

You mean one that isn’t rated XXX?  Ok, how about this:

We had a competition to pick the most desperate virgin out there, and I think the winning contestant was actually submitted by his mom.  Anyways, the prize was a strip tease and hand job from a porn star.  Guess who got to hold the boom mic over the hotel bed as it happened, so it could be heard live on air?

Who do you prefer, Bill Murray or Dan Ackroyd?

I’m a big Wes Anderson fan, so we’ll have to go with Bill Murray.

And finally, what’s the most inspiring, insightful fact you can give to the lovely Leeds SEO readership?

Isn’t this the part where I talk about the future of search?  How we’re moving to a mobile search so get ready for a gigantic shift. And how our greatest opportunities to succeed as marketers is in listening to all the users at the bottom of the pyramid and building up client brands based on that insight?

Ok, 1 fact: Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

-Fin-

Thanks for taking the time out to talk to me Chelsea, if you would like to follow the adventures of Miss Blacker check her out on Twitter or at her very own blog.

So, who would you like to see interviewed next on these hallowed pages?

We’re willing to go after literally anyone – no rock shall be left unturned to provide you with some juicy gossip from the SEO figure of your choice!

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"This is me summed up quite well in photograph format" - JC

LeedsSEO stalked her up to talk Moz, swimming and what SEO is really all about.

Give us your SEO life in a nutshell.

I began working in SEO in 2006, although I’d worked on a couple of websites since 2003 and was fairly proficient at “the Internet” already. When I first started working at SEOmoz, we were just a small consultancy with a relatively well-read blog. It was an amazing place to be, as SEOmoz went from what it was to what it is now. I don’t even think I’ve been in SEO long enough now to look back on what I did (and what we all did) during those two and a half years at SEOmoz to really have a good perspective on it! It was certainly a wonderful first job: I’d never even worked in a supermarket or coffee shop before.

I left SEOmoz and moved to Ayima in London in January 2009. I loved working there, but it was the right time to move, and the right place to move to. I now feel like I’ve been at Ayima and in England for a lot longer than three months.

You have worked for the legendary (in SEO terms) SEOmoz – what made you click that link and apply for the job?

I was browsing Craigslist, which is incredily popular for job postings in the States, at about midnight one evening. It was a few months after I graduated from university. I’d been applying for some rubbish jobs–the junior assistant editor of terrible free newspapers, etc.

I saw an ad titled ‘Do you use your powers for good or for awesome?’ It was a ‘well what the hell’ moment that made me click through. I read the description, figured I could probably manage ‘this SEO stuff” and applied. A few weeks later, and after two interviews and one public blogging contest (which I rigged, and subsequently won, thus proving myself a good social media marketer), I had the job.

Tell us one thing we would never guess happens in the SEOmoz office.

Well, one of my favourite ‘you wouldn’t think so’ stories involved Rand and his new scooter. It was the first day he’d ridden it to work and he was wearing a motorcycle helmet… which he couldn’t remove upon arrival in the office. We’d recently hired a new designer–Matt Heilman–who rides a real motorcycle. Thus, one of the new hire’s first tasks was to remove his boss’s helmet while Rand muttered, confused, ‘I just can’t work out how to do it.’ Good thing Matt was there, as Rand may have spent quite a portion of the day wearing his oversized helmet otherwise.

I know you didn’t ask about Ayima, but it may NOT come as a surprise to know that we have a table tennis and pool table. We also have a leaderboard and office rules for each game. I am rubbish at table tennis, but not too bad at pool.

How many countries has SEO taken you to? And which has been the best?

I’ve travelled to the UK (obviously), the US (equally obviously), the Netherlands and Australia with SEO: I’d been to those countries before for swimming, but of course conference travelling is very different. The two Australia trips (SMX Sydney in 2008 and again in 2009) were excellent, although I’ve also been lucky enough to travel around the United States for SEO as well. You really can’t beat Vegas. Or Amsterdam

How have you found living in London?

It’s the best city in the world

Have you learned to use a Mac (I noticed the picture on your blog)?

I have! And an iPhone.

And dare I ask, but, which is better – Mac or PC?

I will never, ever, buy a PC ever again. That answer the question?

Twitter – great communication tool or mindless egotism?

It depends on the tweeter

Coffee or Tea?

Coffee and lots of it, please.

If you could be anything other than a killer SEO, what would you be?

I’d have liked to have gone a bit further with swimming than I did: my ultimate goal was to swim in the Olympics for New Zealand, which never happend. I did represent my country though, so I really shouldn’t complain… and you certainly can’t be an athlete forever!

With that not really a practical option, I’d be at the other end of the spectrum: I honestly wouldn’t mind learning a lot more web development. The technical side of SEO, and beyond into dev stuff, interests me a lot more than the marketing side, and I’m better at it as well.

What’s the one piece of advice you would like to give the MASSIVE LeedsSEO readership?

It really is all about links.

Rishi is a top guy who you’ll definitely meet if you get down to a LondonSEO meet-up. He knows a lot about SEO for small businesses and loves his Jack Daniels.

Give us a brief history of your life in SEO.

I used to work as an offline exec for a Private Hospital Group in London. Mostly working on their events and PR side of things. It was an intermediate position for me because I didn’t really know what to do in the long term. I kind of got stuck in a rut and ended up being there for 4 years, when they started working on their website, and asked me to take over.

One thing led to another and I started reading up on SEO and trying stuff out. I went off and bought a range of domains to try and play with and kept experimenting. In the meanwhile I stumbled across a range of online communities and blogs that helped me learn more – SEOmoz, WolfHowl, Open Source Designs etc etc.

The rest as they say, was history…

What areas of SEO do you find yourself getting most involved in (e.g. link building, on-site optimisation, social media, etc)?

Personally I HATE link building with a vengeance. I am really bad at it to be honest – I know the theories, I know the ideas, but I really just don’t like doing it. Which is why I got myself more into the strategy end of the business. I make sense of what the business needs to achieve versus what’s possible from a search engine point of view, with the given budgets.

I advise many small businesses on what they can do themselves, and where they need help. Often the bog wins for small businesses is onsite SEO, Local SEO and capturing the RIGHT niche in Social Media. So that keeps me away from link building.

On the other hand I do work with a couple of large UK travel brands – there my work is mostly and purely strategy, both for SEO and PPC – making sure that sites are targeting the right keyword sets, and managing the relationship with the agencies. Very often businesses need to have an in-between person to decode the SEO recommendations from an agency, while at the same time act as a conduit to communicate the brand proposition to the agency. I am that person

The great thing about being there is that you can easily highlight your achievements:

You have contributed loads on SEOmoz (with some great articles on SEO for small businesses). How has SEOmoz helped you?

SEOmoz is where I learnt about the thought processes behind search. I fashioned a range of relationships on there – infact I can safely say most of my UK SEO contacts and relationships came from SEOmoz as a starting point. I am a great believer in relationships – and I think these help me succeed. So I value moz for providing that forum which I didn’t find elsewhere.

My articles and contributions were just an act of giving back to that community. Its unfortunate that I don’t spend as much time on there as before, but twitter has given me a platform to expand that relationship to other individuals. We all know that there are people who don’t like what moz does – but these guys have opinions and skills and thoughts that differ greatly – and in order to learn SEO, you have to absorb all sides of the equation. To be honest, I get tired of some of the politics that go on in the industry, and there are very rare occasions I take sides.

Your avatar has a tendency to confuse people over your gender. Can you share any amusing stories/messages you have received as a result?

Well apart from the post that Mystery_guest (Rand’s other half) did, I do often get the blow scenarios in my moz mailbox (and more often on twitter):

You have set up an affiliate site for designer watches. How is it working out for you and what have you learnt from it?

Designer Watches for me was an interesting area. Couple of years back my two watches got stolen from home, a Rado and a Gucci I loved. Last year I got the insurance money back – and had been on a quest to buy some watches. Part of my research led me to start thinking about gaps in the market – while at the same time I was ready to venture in to affiliate marketing, so how better to combine the two?

I am using the site to run a series of experiments, and while its still early days, couple of things really do stand out. The chart below shows clicks vs earnings:

Now interestingly, clicks are an incorrect measure because of the software I am using to autopost – every post is considered a click by ebays analytics. But notice how every blue spike is followed by a yellow spike?

This is QDF in play. Every time I shoot out a series of posts (which are just essentially product listings) the Google index temporarily gives them an artificial rankings boost for long tails. Now this is perfect, because my site doesn’t have a great hierarchy nor is it easy to find what you want – I am banking purely on targeted long tail, which is usually closer to the buying cycle hence converts much better. For a while I ranked pretty high for “Rolex Brochure 2009” and as a result sold about 10 off them off eBay. Funny thing though, you can get them free from their stores…

If you were on Heroes, what would your special power be?

To be honest, Peter’s power of absorbing other people’s power (BEFORE he lost the ability to hold on to only one) would be my ideal scenario…

What is the number one tip you would give to someone learning about SEO?

Read, read, read and then experiment. There are no two ways about it. What works for my site may not always work for you. Form your own opinions based on solid experience.

Do you think you love Brent Payne just a little too much (I’m referring to the whole #missingSEO incident)?

Lol. That was a very funny situation to be honest. Like I mentioned earlier, I value relationships, and Brent is someone I met and befriended via SEOmoz. However he was down in London for the first time, his iPhone bricked, and he was on his own. I had arranged to meet him, but somehow he didn’t get my message and buggered off.

So I turn up as his hotel, he is nowhere to be found, leave him my iPhone at the reception and go home. In the morning I call the hotel and they say he hasn’t returned all night, and hasn’t been to his room, nor has he picked up the phone. And he was due to present in an hour…so of course I got worried. And I would do the same for any of you who I have a relationship with ?.

Funny how it turns out that Brent and I have had parallel lives, and we are more alike than we thought, although he can’t handle his drink…

Coffee or tea? (There are no other drinks)

Coffee! I get through about 10 cups a day…

If you could do anything other than SEO as a career, what would it be?

I have actually had many, many different jobs – I have been a DJ for years, been on student radio, run a bowling alley, a restaurant, done PR, marketing, and actually am an Economist by training. But what I would really love to do is what Arthur C. Clarke did – move to a beautiful country and write science fiction. I may do one day…

Like many SEOs you are on Twitter. Has it changed the way you interact with the SEO community?

Absolutely! As I alluded before, twitter has moved my conversations from many forums and blogs. Its an almost instant gratification – real time, with the option of delaying responses – so I would say it has greatly enhanced my relationships with other SEOs. Plus unlike forums and blogs, it’s a free for all, so people can join in the conversations, which really enriches any discussion you are having.

Thanks Rishi for a great insight into the world of the JD-licking girl man. If you aren’t already, you can follow rishil on Twitter.

SEO.BIO will be a beautiful blend of SEO and Biography from figures Stephen and I know, like or merely pick at random from Twitter.

To kick off this killer feature  I tracked down and harassed the lovely Lisa Ditlefsen.

Despite not knowing me from any other internet stalker she kindly agreed to be the subject of scrutiny for the SEO.BIO #1.

So, without further ado….

I am going to take a wild completely uninformed guess that you are originally from Trondheim, Norway. What drew you to the UK?

Actually I’m originally from Bronnoysund in Northern Norway (spt – damn, so close) but moved to Trondheim when I was 9. In fact the place I grew up was in the middle of nowhere and just at the bottom of this mountain called Torghatten (The Trolls Hat).

In Norway, like in the UK there is a big difference between people in north and people in the south. I guess I’m the Norwegian equivalent of a Geordie, which means no one takes me seriously when I speak Norwegian, it just sound funny. Anyway, dear god do I ramble on, how did I end up in the UK?

I was studying at University in Trondheim when I had the idea of going away for a gap year as I was really tired of studying. I got a job in London as an Au Pair (I know cliché eh?), packed my bags and before I knew it I was standing in the middle of London with three suitcases thinking “oh bugger what now”. After a few weeks it was clear this was where I was meant to be, I just loved it. 10 years later and my mum is still expecting me home from my “gap year”.

For the uninitiated – give us a resume in brief your life in SEO.

I haven’t been in SEO that long, well I suppose in “SEO” it’s reasonably long, 4 years last month. It was all by chance really, I was working for Base One as a Project Manager when I fell pregnant, coming back from maternity they couldn’t offer me the same job back but since I was coming back part time to begin with they offered me a position doing this new “thing” called “search engine marketing”.

I was hooked, read everything I could; blogs, forums, articles and so on. I have always been quite technical minded and felt I really “got it” early on, I went to my first conference at SES 2007 met loads of like minded people which spurred me on even more.

In June 2007 I founded SEO-Chicks with Julie and Anita and launched at the first ever SMX Advanced in Seattle. We got some lime green t-shirts with SEO Chick on them, that was our launch plan lol, and it worked.

SEO-Chicks went down a treat, it also helped me grow confident of my knowledge. All the chicks are really good friends, in fact Julie Joyce is going to be my bridesmaid this summer (not wearing an SEO chick tshirt).

Within a year and a half of starting off I had grown the search department to a potentially big future part of the agency I worked for (Base One). At the end of the second year I had 2 employees and growing fast. At the end of 2007 my agency entered me into the B2B Marketing Awards in the Newcomer of the Year category and I won! I wasn’t really sure how as I didn’t think I had done much at all except from being very excited and passionate about my job.

The same month as I won the award I was a speaker for the first time at a Search Conference (SMX), only 9 months after I attended my first conference. Which was awesome, especially as I had been told it was unlikely I would get the chance to speak for years yet from some stuck up SEO I met at a networking event.

I continued working at Base One, now as Head of Search for another 2 years (until February this year), won another award (Blackberry Woman & Technology award), spoke at more industry events (SMX and SES) until eventually it was time to move on.

I started my own company, Verve Search, a Search Consultancy this year (literally just 2 months ago) and it has been very well received. In fact I have not done any new business whatsoever yet and I have just signed up my 4^th client this week. It’s just been fantastic, I have had so much support from my network, in terms of leads, links, you name it. And I have got a great mix of clients and sectors as well, really excited about the work ahead. Bring it on!

Was there was one defining moment when you decided ‘I want to be an SEO’?

As mentioned in essay style above, lol, it wasn’t really a decision as such I pretty much just landed in SEO by chance, faith, serendipity, whichever you like to call it. But there was a moments when I realised I was and still am a SEO geek:

• When I told my first SEO joke and realised no one was laughing but me.
• When I got so excited about moving up the SERPs, it literally made my day!
• When I started high-fiving my team for getting a link from a university.
• When I received a Wi-Fi detecting T-shirt as a birthday present from my team and was genuinely excited
• When I decided it would be really funny to make a movie called SEO Wars
• When I get really pissed off when someone is rude about Obi One Kenobi
• And lastly that I am actually considering naming the tables at my wedding after search engines (obviously the bride and groom will be on the Google table). Ha!

What is the one item every SEO needs?

Item? A computer I would say is essential

What are the three best things about having your own agency?

Jeese, I really struggled answering this one actually:

• I am my own boss. I don’t need to report to anyone and I can be me (agh sounds like a Frank Sinatra song lol)
• I can come and go as I like
• I can say no (if I don’t want to take on a job I don’t have to.)
• I can do it my way…ha ha couldn’t help that one.

If you were a Ghostbuster, which one would you be?

Ghostbusters? Heck I was born in the 70s (shhh) I was never in to Ghostbusters. But I used to love Big Trouble in Little China, where I would obviously be “Gracie Law”. I was (and still am) a big Star Wars fan (spt – the original trilogy I hope…), where I would be Princess Leah, of course, although slightly fatter and blonde. Hmm…

What’s the first thing you do when you get to work?

I drink my cappuccino, read emails and check out Twitter.

Have there been any figures in the digital industry who have been instrumental to your success?

Yes for sure, when I first started out I was a regular over at SEOmoz, I lived on SEOmoz and was a royal pain in the butt asking questions. Rand Fishkin is one of those people that are truly great because he makes you feel that you can be great too. He’s a great guy and I think his enthusiasm rubbed off on me and all the other readers.

I also think Rob Kerry (Evilgreenmonkey) helped me a lot by simply introducing me to people and taking me under his wing when I first started out on the conference circuit. I also used to bug the hell out of Rob with technical questions, Rob also still hosts SEO-Chicks =) ha! Bless his evilgreen monkey face.

And in the last year my fiancé, Jon Myers, have had a big impact on my success. I don’t think I wouldn’t have dared going at it on my own if it wasn’t for Jon encouraging me. It’s something really reassuring about having a partner in the same industry as you as you really feel they understand where you are coming from but who can also challenge you. Me and Jon talk about Search way too much.

Coffee or tea? (There are no other drinks)

Coffee hands down. Although I do quite like a cup of Earl Grey in the morning with my cereal (oh ja, I live in Surrey darling so it’s ok)

Have you been caught up in the Twitter craze?

Yeah definitely. Twitter is a great networking and marketing tool, although I twitter less about me personally now. I don’t get how people decide to follow you though, as when I have been tweeting all week about very relevant search stuff people unfollow but then I tweet something like “I can hear a pigeon on crack” and suddenly I get loads of followers. Lol.

But mostly I use twitter for networking and staying in touch, I was never a fan of instant messenger, it’s too intrusive, people just bug you all the time. Even when you say you are “busy”. With twitter you can reply whenever you like and people won’t get offended. Or at least I think they don’t.

You can follow all the Lisa D action in realtime on Twitter.

Thanks Lisa, and may the force be with you.