If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my feed or subscribe to me on Twitter, which is updated on a more frequent - and more meaningless - basis.
So, I was reading the social networking whore (I have vowed to use the word whore in his anchor text for at least six months) the other day and saw him make a comment that he had trust for several people in this industry and I was listed as one (thanks babe, feeling is mutual). Then, I found the new Tropical SEO blog and saw a post of his where he mentioned a few names from his “trusted 25” of which I was also listed (thanks again).
After reading these two mentions and thinking of other allusions to trust given in various forms, like Rand’s list of the best fifty blogs in the search space, I got to wondering…
Why do you follow or trust those that you do?
- Does trust come from conversation and friendship, online or off?
- Does it come from meeting someone in person and gaining a “vibe”?
- Does it come from reading various works by the person and finding them to be in sync with your own beliefs?
- Does it come from transference (meaning that someone you follow also believes strongly in another person and the trust simply transfers)?
- Does it come from perceived celebrity status (everyone always talks about the person, so they must be good)?
- Does it come from credentials held (speaking at conferences, moderation at forums, articles published)?
So tell me… Why the hell are you here reading this post? And why are you reading everyone else you read? How did you end up finding your favorite people to read and what made you decide to follow, read or trust them on a regular basis?
-- Subscribe to the Sugarrae feed
{ 1 trackback }
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
All of the above :-)
In the SEO world, I tend to trust people who talk about linking and (link-related) trust-building. Probably because I generally think like they do!
I love it when you talk dirty …. ;-)
It’s being honest about who and what you are, even with your faults. It’s also knowing the person has ‘got yer back’ when things get tough, and lastly it’s knowing that person is humble enough to admit they made a mistake and then doing what’s right to fix it.
I think “celebrity status” goes a long way. Without it, you wouldn’t even hear about someone’s intelligent thoughts on any subject.
You cannot be a regular reader of a blog w/o first hearing about it and you can’t hear about it unless it has some degree of critical mass…unless of course you just stumble on something. (Which I’ve done on occasion.)
Trust comes from a track-record. You can’t have trust without having enough “data points” to review. [eck! that sounds so clinical!] Bloggers who regularly update their site have a better chance of developing it.
Oh…and gratuitous stories about parties, goldschlagger and limo-rides doesn’t hurt either. :P
I tend not to trust many people… but when i got out looking for someones trust, i usually play their weakest fantasy… you just got to be the person they want you to be, which is actually very easy for the first impression. Its maintaining the image that is hard.
LMAO - alCHy - topic is why you trust people in search engine marketing, not how to make random women in bars trust you… but then, maybe you think they’re related?
Because you don’t mince words? Because in your own rough edged way (me, too, sorta . . maybe worse) the fact that you care comes through even whilst you are talkin’ trash and dope slapping someone? Because, as best as I can tell (and I’m not really qualifed to tell, but that ain’t stoppin me) you know YOUR shit . . err . . I mean art? Because you’re a chic that curses like a guy? Nah, that last one is disingenuous. Mostly I think it’s the respect that is tied to trust . . like knowing that you know something, that you paid your dues, that you help others, that you don’t really talk down to people, that you have a heart, . .
OWTF, I think I’m getting mushy here at the end.
It’s because rumor has it you have a sense of humor and maybe someday we’ll shoot craps or play blackjack and I’ll actually get to see who amongst us has the more wicked sense of humor. ;-P
Since I personally have the memory of a goldfish Ill answer each Q one at a time
Why the hell are you here reading this post? Someone referenced it, but in due time I always read your blog.
And why are you reading everyone else you read? They do one of the following 1. Inspire me to get back to work(we all have those off days) 2. Inspire me to think of new ways to solve new/old problems differently 3. Teach me something I dont have the time to research indepth as I would like to myself 4. Add another voice to a long list to make up an answer. I dont trust just one person, I prefer to take a group of answers and along with my own results via practice and theory formulate my own answer.
How did you end up finding your favorite people to read and what made you decide to follow, read or trust them on a regular basis? Many I found on WMW, WMR, via meeting people such as yourself and others at conferences or through other blogs/blog posts/articles.
I love it when you talk honest.
Honesty and straight talk is so hard to find in this industry. Some people are polite, but most are just hedging and evading. No, there are no absolutes, and there are a lot more people saying they are experts who really are mostly just guessing a lot. So I read your blog because it seems like you say what you want without too much BS/Sales in the middle.
And to answer the question, I think a lot of what I look for is keeping track of who to keep track of. The best sources of actual useful information come from people who have a clue.
Plus it’s much more fun to read about being a shameless whore and all that than whether the current PR update at some Google data center means anything.
Tom H
P.S. Oh, and since I am also shameless… WTF — are you going to get back to my request to you for us to give you money to talk dirty to us about our site? Or does your web submission form not work? Or did my spam filter eat your email reply? :-)
Tom - apparently something went wrong, because I never got any form from you. Weird… I’ll shoot you an email early next week when I get back from NYC. :-)
I definitely trust Michael Gray, even though I was badgering him on the issue of demonstrating *why* you trust someone else. Otherwise I wouldn’t waste my time giving feedback. :)
Trust is one thing, but trust within SEO? That’s different. WHY trust someone…. in SEO it’s for different reasons than in, say your community.
So in SEO, why trust someone? To work together, you need to share proprietary info. You need to reveal tactics, and perhaps more importantly, expose your weaknesses.
So what earns that trust? I’m afraid it’s the same across the board for humans: it depends on what is to be gained. Some value having a drinking buddy at SES…some value having someone to ask for a PR7 link on short notice, no questions asked. Some value having IRC buds, some like to get promoted on blogs… it’s wide open. Hard to make a meme on something so diverse…. IMHO.
To really trust? I hardly get that from reading someones blog. I have to break bread and have a few wobbly pops to get any sense of trust from someone.
You must log in to post a comment.