Long story short the internet virtually exploded while I was in grad

[zihadhasan012]

School to become a household phenomenon, so I finished my Ph.D. and went to work for a startup in 1997. We went through the usual identity crises, from ISP to ASP to niche developers for the tradeshow industry, and I found myself going from being one developer in an abandoned warehouse to Executive VP of a $2M company and staff of 16. In 2005, I finally decided that it was time to take the next step, and so I started my own company, User Effect, focusing on website usability.


I wanted to get back in the trenches with client qatar mobile phone numbers database s and finally put everything I had learned to use. At the end of 2006, a client convinced me to attend my first SEO conference (SES Chicago). I had dabbled in SEO since the late 90s, but was always turned off by the snake-oil side of it, especially in the early days. What I learned at that first conference really opened my eyes. I started to see how search was an essential part of the user experience – you can’t tell where people are going or help them get there if you don’t understand where they’ve been.


I had the good fortune to see a certain Rand Fishkin speak at that show, and I learned about a community and blog called SEOmoz. In the 3 years since, the Moz community has become not only one of my favorite learning platforms, but a home away from home, and the launching point for dozens of friendships. I’ve gotten a lot out of this community, and now I hope to be able to give just a little bit back.