SEO.com CEO Receives Top Honors

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Dave Bascom Named in Top 40 under 40 February 2010
Dave Bascom Named in Top 40 under 40 Utah Business magazine named SEO.com president, Dave Bascom, among its 2010 Forty Under 40, a distinction recognizing top Utah "business leaders, tech gurus, professionals and entrepreneurs" less than 40 years old. "I can't think of anyone who deserves this recognition more than Dave does," said Nelson James, vice president of client services. "He has put countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears into this company and it shows in our growth, success, and the success of our clients." With innovation and persistence, the 34-year-old Bascom led his company to record growth and profits during the recent economic recession. Just a few years ago, he started his company in his basement. In the last year, the search marketing firm has grown from 12 employees to more than 60, moved to a larger office in Salt Lake County, and increased monthly revenue by more than 300 percent. In 2009, SEO.com has been named as one of the top 10 SEO firms in the country by PromotionWorld, one of the top 25 fastest growing companies in Utah by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum, and among the Emerging Elite by MountainWest Capital Network. "It’s been a great ride this year, and a lot of fun to see all the hard work pay off," Bascom said. "To look back at where we came from, as a tiny start up, is quite satisfying." Below, Bascom provides insight into his awesomeness by sharing his personal and business philosophy. Don’t Settle for Average I strive for excellence in all areas of my life. That doesn’t mean I don’t screw up sometimes. In fact, I fall short of excellence every day, but I keep trying. I learn from my failures and try to do better the next time. As long as I am constantly learning and improving, I am on the right track. In my business, I hire people who also strive for excellence. I don’t want people who will be complacent with just being mediocre. I want people who are willing to work hard to become the best in their field. Exceed Expectations I often discuss with clients what their expectations should be regarding the work we do for them. I try to set realistic expectations and then we lay out a plan for how we will achieve the desired results. Our team then works hard to over-deliver on what the client expected. We do everything we can to get better results and provide more value than the client is paying us for. Do the Right Thing I always try to have integrity in the choices I make and how I run my business. It’s not always easy to do the right thing and sometimes it’s hard to know what the right thing is when I’m trying to balance what’s right for the company and what’s right for myself, clients, employees, and investors. I try to set clear boundaries of what is acceptable and I never cross that line, nor do I let my employees cross that line. I know that policy has cost us some money in the short-term, but in the long run, I think it is better for us to be true to our standards. Trust People By nature I am a very trusting person. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are good and trustworthy unless they do something to give me reason to think otherwise. I believe that by trusting others, I am also trusted by them. I feel that my trusting attitude helps me to have a more positive outlook on life and a happier life. Give Back I have found a lot of satisfaction in finding opportunities to help out organizations and people who need a helping hand. Whether it’s mentoring a student or recent grad, doing Web design for a non-profit, or giving tips to a struggling entrepreneur, it feels good to give back however I can. I find that it not only lifts the person I am helping, it also comes back to help me, sometimes in a very significant, yet unexpected way. Have Fun I work very hard to be successful in business, but I try to balance the hard work with fun. In our office we have a fun break room with video games, foosball, and ping pong. At least once a month, we have office fun days, which has included a Jell-o eating contest, international waffle day, office chair races, and an exotic chocolate tasting party. This summer, I took our employees on a river rafting trip down the Colorado River. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know our team on a more personal level. I genuinely like the people I work with, which makes the journey a lot more enjoyable.	SEO.com Blog Merging Flash with SEO, by David Scoville Granted, we have lots of proof that search engines do index Flash text, images, and links. But unfortunately, many limitations still make it difficult to get the kind of rankings we enjoy with plain, old HTML. Indeed, SEO and Flash are like water and oil — mixing the two has been nearly impossible. Read more. 9 Surefire Networking Tips For SEO N00bs, by Scott Cowley If you’re new to SEO, you may be wondering how long it takes to get to where the real SEO pros are – speaking at conferences, writing books, running the show. I still don’t know the answer to that one, but from my own short experience, I’ve found it’s better to be really good at SEO and help make your clients happy than to aspire to be a famous SEO. That being said, your life and business career can be significantly more fulfilling if you learn how to network early, and become involved in the “SEO peoplesphere.” Read more. Book Review: ‘The Art of SEO’, by Dave Bascom One of the newest books in print about search engine optimization is “The Art of SEO,” published by O’Reilly and written by Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Rand Fishkin, and Jessie C Stricchiola. So what do you get when you pull in four of the most respected people in the SEO business to write a definitive book on the subject? Pretty much exactly what you’d expect: lots of juicy SEO goodness. Read more. Does Your Website Deserve to be Ranked?, by Jon Cuevas In search engine optimization, and with our websites in general, we do things with the intent of deserving a good ranking. We use a number of methods to target a specific market and we seek for quality links to link back to our sites. But do our sites really deserve it? Do our sites really deserve to rank well? Read more.
	What Matters in the World of SEO DIY Blog Post Graphics For The Non-Designer, by Scott Cowley featured in Search Engine Journal Building A Well Rounded Backlink Portfolio, by Greg Shuey, featured in Search Engine Journal Introducing Google Buzz, from the Official Google Blog
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SEO.com News SEO.com Weighs in on Health Here's the skinny: To promote good health among employees, SEO.com is holding a Biggest Loser competition. Participants will have their body composition tested before March 1, and then retested on May 31. The employee with the largest percentage decrease in body fat will win a free iPAD. Senior SEO Specialist TJ Welsh organized the competition and said, "Most of us sit at a computer all day, and the most exercise we get is typing on a keyboard. I wanted to motivate employees to eat better, lose weight and increase activity." Of course, Dave Bascom, a former taekwondo guru, agreed and decided to offer a coveted iPAD for the winner. Stay tuned for updates in the next couple months.
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