Wow – two boring, business-related posts in a row? You know the deal, people. I work in SEO and this site is a great way to get my new projects spidered – so please bear with me. You might even learn something.

The distribution of online press releases has become a major facet of search engine marketing. The practice can be as easy as it is effective, and my new site will strive to answer all of the most popular questions. I know a heck of a lot about this stuff, and decided it was time to put my thoughts and know-how down in one place. Click through, have a read and then suggest press releases at your next marketing meeting for an instantaneous hand-job from your CEO. Hopefully they will give you a raise… and are also of the opposite sex.

Blog this, and blog that. You’re sick of hearing the word. You’ve met 7-year-old kids who have told you your company needs a blog. And now you’re not allowed to be within 30 feet of 7-year-old kids anymore. What the heck are blogs, exactly – and why do they make a difference to your marketing mix? Why am I bothering to tell you? Show me on the doll where the bad man blogged you.

At its simplest definition, a blog is little more than an easily updateable, content management system (CMS). At it’s most effective, it gives individuals and groups the ability to become authorities in their chosen field. Coupled with a service or retail based website, an objective and original blog of quality can drive scores of relevant visitors who may then convert to customers, employees or new friends.

But how do blogs relate directly to SEO and SEM in general? The original content your company creates is ideally updated every few days. Indexing spiders are more likely to visit, and look favorably upon, websites that have changed somewhat each and every time the drop in for a visit. This will increase spidering frequency, and also improve your legitimacy in the eyes of the major algorithms. Not to mention all of the unsolicited incoming links that objective resources effortlessly attract.

Make it good and make it frequent. Add good, niche subject matter and the rest just may take care of itself. I’ll spare you the Field of Dreams analogy.

I’m really looking forward to digging a hole and crawling into it just as soon as I possibly can. Things have gotten overwhelming fast, and I am looking for ways to quickly cull the herd of stress monkeys stampeding through my weakening psyche. Yoga, aromatherapy and hard drugs aren’t going to cut it. I have to learn how to say “no”. Learn how to say “I am too busy”. Learn how to change my phone number and mailing address before I’m found pushing a shopping cart full of dead squirrels through the Public Garden.

What I should do is stop managing my building. But I’m going to press on, as the worst is almost over. I’m not worried about jinxing myself because short of Godzilla, locusts, nuclear termites or Tom Hanks and Shelly Long moving in – the worst is definitely almost over. It has to be, or I’ve obviously got to start considering the possibility that I may have somehow angered a Mayan God at some point. What I am going to do, is wrap up all the side-projects I have on the go that aren’t making me any money. This blog being one of several exceptions.

Family – I don’t talk about much here. The job – same rules apply, however I will say that both are a bit fucked at the moment. Life happens, and I’m not cruising for sympathy by any means. There are 8 million stories in the windy city, afterall. I’m simply getting the monkeys down in writing to help me figure out a way to combat their growing numbers. Membership is way up this year. I don’t make enough money, have enough ex-wives or have lived the sort of evil life that should warrant me considering becoming a sherpa at 32.

The most important thing I have decided to do, and I’ll likely live to regret publicizing this, is to cut down on the vices and stock way up on the healthy. Vices may constitute beer or frozen DiGiorno’s pizzas. Healthy might consist of a new gym membership or a garden salad. I haven’t figured out the details yet, but have been running some personal experiments that have proven promising in terms of productivity and clarity. This isn’t a mid-year resolution. This is a sea change. I’m calling my shot, and you can just watch me. Besides – Tiernan’s is history. That’s bound to add 5 years to my life right there.

Sort it out, Pye. Sort it out. Sherping awaits.