Josh Steimle (the owner of MWI, a Utah-based SEO and SEM firm) recently criticized Vizad for creating what he calls “fake blogs.” I won’t go into the ethical debate of owning domain names with the intent of increasing search engine rankings - Josh has some of those (check out the especially useful and relevant links on the bottom, right-hand corner - my favorites include Pain Pump Lawsuit, Herbal Remedies and an Eating Disorder Treatment Center - it’s so hard to get those skateboarders to eat!).
What really bothered me was a recent post that seemed to call into question whether a girl could do SEO. See bottom of screenshot:
I don’t want to get into the local Utah-mudslinging - I think MWI is a great firm (look at that, no “nofollow” tag!). I also think that SEO.com (formerly known as Webtargeted), OrangeSoda, Utah Webservices and 97′th Floor are good firms (still not nofollowed!). I’ve seen some of their work, and although we are competitors and they’re not always my favorite people, to me it has always felt like friendly competition.
The hard part of being a woman and owning a company in Utah, however, is that a lot of “businessmen” still don’t realize that women can be effective in the world of business - more specifically, internet marketing. Most Utah businessmen have stay-at-home wives, and that’s how they tend to view a woman’s role. For now I have chosen to start and run my own business. Part of running this business is blogging on my SEO-related website - I guess I should take it as a compliment that Josh doesn’t think a woman could have written all this?
I’m not alone - I wanted to call attention to two other women in Utah who have been involved in the SEO-industry - Janet Meiners(aka Newspapergrl) and Elisabeth Osmolowski (a moderator at Search Engine Watch) - and yes, Josh, they are both woman who actually understand SEO!
Well, as I’m sure you guessed by now, I am a woman (see picture - no further proof will be offered - this isn’t that kind of a website). Hopefully this will clear things up for you about women and SEO and that yes, a woman can write a blog all about internet marketing.
Happy Blogging/Marketing/Whatever! (Even you, Josh! 
)
October 17th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Jen, congratulations - it sounds like you’ve really grown the business to have people watching you this closely. It seems like just yesterday you were telling me that you were starting a marketing company (a year ago or so?).
By the way, MWI really used to be the SEO company here in Utah. However, I talked to somebody who works at a different SEO firm the other day who said that they don’t have an office or do SEO anymore - I think they just sell get contracts and sell them to another local firm now. I wish I could do that!
October 17th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
[…] : SEO Gurl wrote an interesting post today on Guess what? Girls do SEO, too!Here’s a quick excerptGuess what? Girls do SEO, too! Posted by seogurl Josh Steimle ( … of increasing search engine rankings - Josh has some of those (check out the especially useful and relevant … Newspapergrl) and Elisabeth Osmolowski (a moderator at Search Engine Watch) - and yes, Josh, they are both […]
October 18th, 2007 at 8:09 am
I don’t know what Josh’s problem is.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
It’s pretty clear what Josh’s problem is:
http://www.donloper.com/you-might-be-an-entrepreneur-if/
If you run a private business (practically a one-man-show) for years and years and you don’t turn a profit, you really aren’t qualified to give business advice of any kind. For some reason Josh thinks he’s qualified to give advice of almost every kind.
It’s not really offensive because that’s what 90% of blogging is all about. But it is pointless.
It’s nice to see SEO Gurl has the right attitude. You go girl!
October 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I didn’t take it to mean that he didn’t think girls could write about SEO as much as he thought the content was written by robots. From India.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Jen, if you have robots in India writing the content on this site I need your script. It would be worth millions of dollars
October 19th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Thanks for your comment, Ryan - I do appreciate it. I can see that you (Neumont University) are a client of Josh’s. I’m glad that they’re doing good work for you so that you don’t mind coming to his defense.
Cheers!
October 20th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Yeah, I noticed Josh’s post about the “fake” blogs the other day and I clicked over to the blogs mentioned (including this one) and I didn’t see how he could get off calling it a fake blog. I think he must have read a single post and made some huge assumptions and let his competitive feelings get the best of him. Obviously he knows he was wrong now (obviously you’re a real person!) so it will be interesting to see if he owns up to his mistake.
October 20th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
First off, I went to school at Neumont. Neumont hired MWI a while back for some work. I don’t really see how that makes ME a client of MWI. I’ve never met Josh or had a conversation with him. I was merely pointing out that it didn’t seem to me that he was trying to make the point that girls can’t do SEO. I think that might have been a bit reactionary on your part - maybe for the simple purpose to stir up some attention or maybe you honestly believed that was what he was trying to say. When I read that post, I interpreted it to mean that it was a “manufactured” blog made to look like it was written by a girl solely for the extra element that might bring. This, of course, was before I looked at any of them, which is why I then did, only to see this post, where I decided to share my sentiments which you apparently took as me playing defense.
Anyways, you should be enjoying the exposure this mini controversy has brought - it looks like this post now has more comments than all your posts combined since the creation of this blog. Well played.
October 20th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Ryan - you’re right - I shouldn’t have assumed you were a client of MWI simply because you are (or were) associated with Neumont, a client of theirs. My apologies.
One thing you should remember - this “mini controversy” was started by Josh. I have never gone out and criticized any Utah SEO firms. I’m just pointing out that Josh, by saying “…SEOGurl (which I highly suspect has no content on it that was written by a female)…” really made himself sound as if he couldn’t imagine a female writing a blog all about SEO. I’m not the only to make that interpretation as you can see by the previous comments. It’s not a fake blog - anyone can see that. It has original content, and it’s only linking to one company - Vizad.
I can assure you that the last thing I’m looking for is more attention from my competitors.
Cheers!
October 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Dave - thank you for your comment. I added SEO.com to the list of Utah SEO’s - since the acquisition of the domain name I tend to think of you guys more as a national brand but it’s great to see a local company doing so well
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 am
Well girl - I agree (funny, we’re both actually women, not girls like our sites suggest) that was an insulting comment by Josh.
I went to a women in technology lunch last week and it was good to just see so many high tech women in one place. It’s tough to believe that this is even an issue but in Utah it is. A lot of the talks still seemed to be in defense of women rather than an accepted norm.
We should have lunch and shop talk sometime - thanks for the mention!
Janet
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Thanks! Utah is really becoming a hot-bed for SEO…and many of us (my company included) are really just getting started.
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:22 am
I used to work for MWI as the head ‘SEO guy’ but left a few months ago to go with another company. Knowing Josh fairly well he does tend to speak his mind; probably a little too much at times.
It is interesting though all the ‘hype’ that post generated.. guess it gives the utah seo community something to talk about.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Wow, I haven’t seen this much drama since Jason Calecanis called out SEO as B.S. Look beneath surface though, controversy is one of the best forms of link bait. My assumption is that Josh is calling out all the players in the local industry, whether negative or positive, to most likely expect responses for linking or branding purposes.
Regardless of intentions props to the both of you for high rankings and success.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Janet - thanks for the support. It’s always nice to have other women to talk with in the internet marketing industry. I’d love to get together for lunch sometime! We’ll chat - I’ll shoot you an email.