Here I am talking about Jason Calacanis of Mahalo again, and how he spoke against SEO. Yes, he got me with his linkbait, but not in the way he got everyone else. Instead of writing another post about how he was write or how someone was wrong I want to explore the impact on reputation that controversial linkbait has. When Calacanis spoke about the soon to be death of SEO, he started an uproar and big players got involved.
Shoemoney and Marketing Pilgrim agreed with Calacanis explaining how they agree with him, while Michael Gray, Ian Lurie, and Taylor Pratt shrieked spoke emphatically for the future of SEO. As you can see Calacanis’ statement created a debate, one that continues to go back and forth days after his original statement, and has definitely brought attention to Mahalo while doing so.
What would have happened if a lesser known person has made the comment Jason did? My belief is that if a relatively new blogger attempted to create the same debate and use it as linkbait, he would have failed miserably. Calacanis’ reputation in the Industry make his idea’s important, and being the CEO of a search engine that claims to be immune to “SEO” (depends on how you define SEO), puts him in the perfect position to make the claims he did.
But let’s say a new blogger did attempt to create the controversy and it succeeded. What would happen to that blogger’s reputation now? How does a new blogger hold his own against “Industry experts” like Michael Gray and Ian Lurie; experts who would be more inclined to defend their industry than Shoemoney or Marketing Pilgrim would be to defend a random blogger.
The importance of keeping your reputation intact should be of utmost important in the blogging community. That reputation adds credibility to what you write, and makes readers more likely to consider you an “expert”. New bloggers should try to stay away from creating senseless controversy as linkbait, unless it’s something you truly believe (I’m not saying Calacanis didn’t believe what he said, but he definitely wanted to send a message by saying it to a room full of SEO’s). Making friends is a lot better than making enemies when you’re starting out, and it makes life easier down the road. A friendly debate can be good, but don’t bite off more than you can chew.
{ 3 comments read them below or add one }
I don’t think I shrieked so much as spoke emphatically…
Ok Ian, I can agree with that. I’ll change it right now.