GoDaddy faced a huge backlash for supporting SOPA. In a PR stunt, they released a press release saying they no longer supported SOPA, only to still be on the official list of supporters. Then they finally came out against SOPA, but it was already too late. I’m not going to quote any number, but people definitely left GoDaddy in mass for their support of SOPA.

The Stop Online Piracy Act is a terrible piece of legislation that was written by lobbyists who support the content industries with no help from the technology sector. A co-sponsor of the bill Mel Watts (D-NC), was pretty blatant in saying, “I’m not a nerd,” while babbling about how he is not an expert and that the experts were wrong. The sponsors of the bill have absolutely no idea what they are talking about, but they still want to pass the bill.

With nearly EVERY big Internet player that your grandmother has heard of coming out against SOPA, they may have a trick up their sleeves to be sure everyone is aware of how serious of a threat this is to their very existence, let alone our Freedom of Speech. Apparently, the NetCoalition (who include Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, and Yahoo) are considering a day of protest. While it is not clear if the companies themselves have agreed to a blackout day, it does have the ability bring some serious punch to the fight against SOPA.

I’m not so sure any of these companies would really shut down their entire sites for a day, it is certainly possible that they will have messaging throughout their sites that explain what SOPA is, why it is bad, and what you can do to speak out against it. As a Search Marketer, it will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out. Word has it that the black out day would be set for January 23, a day before Congress is set to reconvene on the issue.

I will leave you with this video:

If you know me well, chances are you know I am a fan of mustaches. I have never seen my father’s upper lip bare. He rocks a handlebar mustache that is almost mandatory as he works in law enforcement. I have been growing a mustache off and on since my early college days, and the only mustache I have been known for is the handlebar mustache, so all my friends nicknamed me BARS.

Let’s just say, mustaches have been part of my life for a long time. I have relatives who are long gone that had mustaches. I don’t know what has happened since the 1970′s that made mainstream mustaches out to be creepy – for pedophiles or porn stars – but regardless of the popular opinion of mustaches, I like them.  A study conducted by the American Mustache Institute and Quicken says men with mustaches make 8.2% more money than those with beards, and 4.3% more than those with clean shaven faces.

Michael Halvorsen eating Altoids for Movember (credit Reuben Yau)

Last year, I helped set up a team at Manta for Movember. We raised some money and helped bring about awareness. I have been trying to talk every man I know into participating in Movember because it is truly for a good cause. For those of you who are not aware of what Movember is, it is a month long of mustache growing in support of men’s health. All funds raised for Movember go towards funding the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong. While the risk of testicular cancer is roughly 1 in 250, the risk of prostate cancer is much higher as 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer! So for me, it’s a no brainer to grow a mustache during the month of November in support of Movember. Women can also participate by donating and telling their friends and family about Movember.

It’s easy as hell to participate in Movember. On November 1, men start with a clean shaven face – that means no beards and no pre-existing mustaches allowed. Throughout the month, you shave the rest of your face daily and grow the mustache from scratch. And to do more for the cause, you can register your team over at Movember.com and begin collecting donations both online and in person. Last year, the team I set up at Manta raised money and was also featured in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper.

This year while at SMX Advanced, I talked to both Matt Cutts and Duane Forrester together about them participating in Movember. I asked them to participate again on Twitter and they both agreed to.

Talking to Matt Cutts & Duane Forrester about Movember (credit Thomas Ballantyne)

Matt Cutts and Duane Forrester Agree to Participate in Movember

Will you be participating this year? You should! For men, our mustaches are our pink ribbons. When someone asks you, “Why the creepy mustache?” You can answer, “Cancer.” If you don’t want to grow a mustache and set up your own team, you can donate in my honor.

The Distinguished (look of) Michael Halvorsen

UPDATE 10-28-2011: Duane Forrester made the official announcement on the Bing Webmaster Tools blog.

Photo credits: Reuben Yau and Thomas Ballantyne of Bullwark Pest Control.

A few weeks ago a friend who had been following the whole SEO Columbus fiasco informed me that Mr. Joe Rozsa has applied for a Service Mark for “SEO Columbus.” This is a little alarming for MANY reasons.

I first received an email from Mr. Joe Rozsa on February 2, 2011. He left me a voicemail on February 4 and I returned his call that day, shortly after his voicemail. I am assuming he filed for the service mark BEFORE he called and left me the voicemail. Either way, I caught Mr. Rozsa in yet another lie.

After I heard about him filing a service mark, I tweeted about it:

Mike Halvorsen's SEO Columbus Tweet

A little while later, Mr. Joe Rozsa replied:

Joe Rozsa Lies on Twitter

This is simply not true. You can look at the timestamps on the emails he sent me. He filed the application after he started harassing me with the baseless emails. And I am pretty sure the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has the right date.

From the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office

It says that he filed the application on February 4, 2011.

Mr. Joe Rozsa, filing an application with the USPTO is in fact, a very LONG process. You have only filed the application. It has not been assigned to an attorney for review. That means that you were not granted any rights to the mark. That means you do not have a service mark for “SEO Columbus”. And that my friend, means you and I are not finished with each other yet.

He continues by saying:

Joe Rozsa's Blabbering

I will be filing objections with an attorney to your application when the time comes. I have already spoken to the other real SEOs in Columbus. They are on board because this involves them, too.

I have spoken to Rhea Drysdale. As an SEO, you should know her. She’s who fought to be sure someone wasn’t allowed the rights to trademark “SEO”. The SEO community worked with her. She has offered to help me.

I hope you’re ready.

Photo credit: Springboard SEO

It’s 2011, and revolutions can happen faster than at any time before.
They can sweep across the nation in days all because of the power of
the Internet. It’s fast and its at our fingertips. I can be virtually
anywhere and have access to the Internet on my phone. This is more
powerful than anything we’ve had access to before. People can organize
faster and with greater cohesion. The speed of communication has
become a right in Obama’s recent State of the Union address.

I can only hope it becomes an amendment to the United States
Constitution one day: The right to access the Internet.

I don’t care about your beliefs on how the release of United States
diplomatic cables affects our government. I care about the things our
politicians are doing in our name without our consent. They make
decisions that breed a system of hate for our government. They do
things to help American businesses that in many times are not in our
best interest. These cables expose truths and reveal the extent to
which our government is complicit in atrocities and suppression of the
people. It’s fucking 2011! It’s time we have a say in how things are
done. I’m not talking about the Tea Party that ruined the
get-togethers I could have had with my friends. Those people are
talking about a lot of the same shit we’re all used to; the same lies
we’ve been fed by the media, especially considering Rupert Murdoch is
one of the top 3 contributors to the Tea Party.

This revolution in speedy communication should never be stifled by any
corporation for the sake of profit. These should be inherent rights
given to the people. The Internet should be free for everyone. Great
things can happen and will happen with the help of the Internet. We’re
in a good spot, but we need to fight for everyone all over the world.
We deserve the right to communicate in whatever ways we desire. The
Internet is ours.

Am I wearing a onesie or a feetie?

Growing up as a kid, I wore these things a lot. But a lot of my friends keep telling me it’s not a onesie but instead a feetie. The “onesie” as I like to call it, has your feet covered.

So what am I wearing? Onesie or a feetie?

For those of you in the SEO community, you are already well aware of the 30 day challenges of Matt Cutts. He’s done a bunch of 30-day challenges so far. His last was “a picture a day.”

The coffee problem

We have some damn good coffee at work. So damn good that I find myself drinking it all morning up until lunch. It’s Starbuck’s Verona and its oh so good. So with a little inspiration from him, I have begun my own 30 day challenges. I started a 30 day tea challenge on the 15th of November in an effort to be healthier. I used to drink tea all the time and since I started working here, that coffee has been controlling me.

My next challenge

I’m going to keep this up. I’m going to keep on coming up with new challenges to complete. This time around I could use some help from you. Have an idea for my next challenge? Lets hear your ideas.

Links are still an important signal to the search engines and as such, every SEO campaign should include link building efforts. But anyone who has worked with an agency knows that the details in link building efforts are usually left out of the discussion. Very few companies offering SEO will divulge where they are getting your links from and how they are going about doing so. This can be a problem for you for several reasons.

Paying for links is against the search engines guidelines.

Paying for someone to ask for links is not against the guidelines. However, if the SEO company you hired is actually paying the site owner for the links and doesn’t state that somewhere on the site (ex. Paid Links), your sites rankings can be damaged. Do a Google search for “Matt Cutts paid links” and you’ll see this is a big deal.

A link on a spammy site (or illegal site) can hurt your reputation.

Do you really want a link to your doctors office on a site for online gambling? Do you want a link on a racist blog? You really have no idea where they are getting your links if you don’t ask. Chances are over 90% of the links will be from blogs that have little or no unique content. The majority of the content is scraped (stolen) from other sites.

They’re making you look like a fool.

Are they sending out emails on your behalf? What are they saying about you? Can they spell? You have no idea what kind of emails are going out. They are acting on your behalf and you’re trusting them more than you should.

You’re buying snake oil and you don’t even know it.

SEO companies will try to keep you in the dark. They don’t want to explain all their processes. But how can you really know you’re getting your money’s worth? You have to ASK. If you have a monthly on-going SEO budget and the SEO company you’re using has used up 3 or 4 months worth of budget on link building, you had damn well better ask for a list of the links they got for you. Don’t just ask for a list of the links they attempted to get you, get a list of the actual links they secured for you.

The whole moral of the story here?

• Ask questions.
• Ask for deliverables beyond getting a bill for the month with a memo that says “December budget used on link building efforts”.
• Ask to see a list of the sites they have attempted to get links and a list of sites they actually got links on.
• Ask to be BCC’d on EVERY email being sent out on your behalf and demand access to the email account.

Seriously. It’s only your money and reputation on the line.

If you haven’t already heard about Mediative, it’s time you do. They are an “Integrated Digital Marketing” firm that is going to be a serious contender in the marketing industry. Mediative was recently formed by the Yellow Pages Group Company and combines Enquiro, Adsplash Media, Acquisio, and Uptrend. Each of these companies brings a lot to the table.

Enquiro was an SEO firm that was well respected. Adsplash Media and Uptrend are both ad networks. And Acquisio is a PPC management platform.

All of those combined seem like a pretty big deal. But when you combine the above companies with the existing Yellow Pages Group’s customer base, you have a real powerhouse.

I really don’t have much else to say about this other than some SEO agencies are going to have a real hard time keeping clients when they can go through Mediative to handle nearly all of their marketing needs. Well played YPG :)

Read more here.

Halloween is right around the corner and I still haven’t figured out what I want to be. I do know that I will be enjoying some cold beers. Since I know everyone else will be enjoying some alcohol, I figured I’d pass along this other cool chart I came across.

2,669 Beer and Ale Companies in the U.S.

This chart is extremely interesting. I knew there was a lot of money in alcohol, but I really didn’t expect to see so many brewers making so much money. I would have expected there to be many more small companies with lower revenue.

Kind of Crazy.

Last Wednesday I was involved in a car accident. My back hurts sooo bad. Back pain is absolutely the worst (broken ribs probably hurt more). Some idiot rear ended me. I ended up taking a trip to the ER to see a doctor. Earlier today, I made a follow up visit to my family doctor.

While on the topic of doctors, I have a rant:

I HATE going to the doctors because no matter what doctor you visit, they overbook appointments. I had an appointment scheduled for 2:30pm earlier this afternoon and I didn’t see the doctor until 3:15 which brings me to the point: all doctors offices are terrible with time. I don’t understand why this industry gets away with this. If anyone else you did business with showed up late on a consistent basis, you would refuse to do business with them. Why do they get away with this crap? It’s not like they don’t know what time it is because they ALL wear nice watches.