Update:I’ve decided to change the diagram below because development and SMO don’t really overlap all that much (it could be argued they don’t at all), so I think my new diagram is a bit more appropriate. You be the judge. – Andrew 8/19/08
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I’ve been toying around with what I guess you could call the philosophical underpinnings of SEO lately, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that SEO shouldn’t be a pursuit in and of itself, but should be an organic result of work put into development and social media marketing. And I would be remiss if I didn’t include a Venn diagram to illustrate my point.
Obviously a developer should have an eye for SEO so he knows how to code. I’ve also lumped content writing into development because that’s where it belongs historically. This person should also be aware of how search engines work so he can write accordingly.
The social media side is really just the kind of marketing that draws traffic to your sites and generates quality links. Essentially, the SEO part of social media is link bait.
I’m pretty sure that these positions, coder, writer, and social marketer, combine to form the heart of SEO. Sort of like Captain Planet. Thoughts?
For several years now, I’ve maintained one iTunes database even when I buy a new computer or reformat. It’s been important to me to have things like play count, last played, date added, etc. because it helps me create dynamic playlists for work. So I was stoked when I found out about Last.fm because it does more tracking of that kind of thing and throws a social networking edge in there to boot. 
Well, it’s time to say farewell to the old theme. I liked it while I had it, but I needed a three column theme so I have room for all the widgets I keep adding. Also, I’ve recently decided that my favorite color is red, so this seemed fitting. I like this theme because it’s simple, clean, and easy to tweak.