SparkToro Blog

Posts by Rand Fishkin:

Hiring Moz Startups Team

Some Thoughts on Firing Employees

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
This past week, I read a terrific Quora thread on firing. The depth and breadth of answers shows the wide range of opinions and practices on the subject, and it made me think about the topic for this blog. Companies are rarely transparent about how and why they let people go, so hopefully we can be an exception here, at…
Marketing Psychology

The Missing Narrative

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I love the Green Bay Packers. I love the history of the team. I love that the town of Green Bay’s (population 107,00) residents own the team rather than a billionaire in a big city. I love the stories of struggles and near-bankruptcies they faced in their history and how the sale of shares that would never be repaid nor…
Hiring Startups Team

When Brilliant Minds Become Brilliant Jerks

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
The NYTimes Bits Blog has a worthwhile read from last week entitled “What Do You Do With the Brilliant Jerks?” I’d encourage startup founders and team members to take 8 minutes and read it thoroughly. On its face, the article didn’t strike me as especially controversial, but the comments(and some of the responses on social media) tell a different story.…
Data Marketing

10 Lessons Learned from Avinash Kaushik’s Magnum Opus on Facebook Marketing

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Earlier this week, Avinash Kaushik, who’s certainly among the most brilliant marketing minds of the generation, wrote an exceptional piece on Facebook Marketing. It’s a lengthy read, but a worthwhile one, and I urge anyone who reads this site and uses Facebook to reach an audience to spend 30 minutes to fully parse what he’s put together. (from Avinash’s post)…
Product

App Store SEO: Why I’m Still a Skeptic

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I love how the field of SEO has branched out to include a lot of tasks and channels greater than just the search engines. That said, although I hear a lot about SEO for the app stores (mostly Android’s “Play Store” and iPhone’s “app store”), I have a lot of skepticism about making big investments there for a few reasons:…
Moz Startups

IPOs, Acquisitions, and The Long Term for Moz

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Somehow, the company we started has become somewhat successful and reached some really interesting milestones. Honestly, what SEOmoz has achieved in the past 5 years is beyond what I could have hoped for. It’s exciting and it’s humbling, but it’s also a little bit scary. There are 94 incredible people at the company devoting their professional lives (and often a…
Personal Psychology

Just Because I’m Terrible at It Doesn’t Mean I’m Going to Stop

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I think I might have some masochistic tendencies. Usually, when people are terrible at something, they find alternatives, or they stop entirely. I do that sometimes, but I’m also weirdly persistent when faced with an obvious lack of acumen for a skill or pursuit. In college, I was captain of the only flag football team not associated with a fraternity.…
Personal

Taking a week off of blogging

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I’m heading to Ireland – Belfast & Dublin – for the next 9 days, so I’m going to take some time off blogging. It’s been a huge challenge writing every night again (haven’t done it in a few years), but it definitely takes a toll. Hopefully the week off will help.…

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