Chris Hooley’s -ThinkBait-

My recent post garnered far more attention than I thought it would. I wrote exactly how I felt and though I still stand by it, I feel badly for Liana about how this is all shaking out. I did not intend on hurting her in any way. My blog post was a way for me to vent and respond to hers.

In Liana’s defense, what I perceived to be an outright injustice was probably more about poor communication. She did attempt to tell me about her stunt before it happened. I didn’t know the exact specifics (maybe because we didn’t discuss them in detail enough) but I practically sorta kinda gave her a go ahead (remind you -I didn’t know it would be practically the same stunt, poorly duplicated).

Liana is a smart person who is more seasoned in the conference circuit than I. I do not think her intentions were bad. Regardless of fault, opinion, who was first, who’s was best, etc. I don’t wish Liana any harm or negativity. Liana, I apologize for any negativity that this has probably caused you. It got out there, and got blown out of proportion. That was not the intent.

To the members of SEO / SEM community who don’t appreciate linkstunting, offline linkbaiting, buzz linking, buzz marketing stunts or whatever you want to call it: I apologize to you as well. I never intended to disrespect anyone and I certainly hope nobody takes any of my campaigns or stunts that way.

I owe our community a lot. I came from this community, and because of it I have a successful career and a great life for me and my family. I don’t want to be burning bridges or hurting others, I just want to have fun and experience success with / like the rest of you.

SEOs and marketers, here’s a good takeaway. This is a lesson on how a good idea in theory can cause problems in the execution. Just like any form of SEO, offline buzz marketing / link baiting is new and will likely rub at least some subset of SEOs the wrong way. We all need to grow with it and push it in the right direction we would like to see it go in the future. It is OUR responsibility to respect others’ dignity if / when we decide to implement these tactics that involve others.

I can’t believe I am about to write this. It goes against what I think I should be doing, but this went down all wrong. It’s time for some damage control. I don’t want people to think I am a jerk or a crybaby, and the way this so called “controversy” is rolling out leaves me looking like a weenie with no voice. Up until this point I have avoided blogging about this on purpose. It’s just killing me tho, I need to get this out.

The Background:

Liana Evans and I used to speak almost daily via IM. I used to be the only other author on her blog who posted anything (that is until she removed me as an author). After the DrinkBait campaign, I told her in complete confidence the explicit details about what happened, how it worked, and what I would be doing next. She was the only one who knew I bought nearly 1k worth in domains ending in the word “bait”, and I literally gave her a list of the best ones in a normal conversation… before I told her all of this she promised me not to say a word.

I also explained in detail how I would be doing some fun stunts at conferences in the future, and that I was going to angle for the “WOMM / Outside the Box Buzz Link Baiter” SEO guy.

There are so many ways to be an SEO. This one was a good fit for me and I’ve been working on plans to make a name for myself that way. It was more than just one little stunt, it was a biz dev thing. Up until HatBait, I thought the idea was original and unique to only me.

The Heist:

Liana didn’t tell anybody specifically about my domains or my plans, instead she one-upped me. She stole my domain idea, my idea of taking pictures with people with said domain that 301 redirects to the personal blog, and the buzz marketing stunt at an SEO conference thing in general. If you know Liana, you know she has never done a stunt like this before I gave her my blueprint in confidence. Check her other domains, they were registered on November 22.

It’s not stealing a marketing idea, it is stealing a business plan and personal development idea. This is what I was going to be. I told her in confidence, and she took it and is currently slapping me in the face with it.

The Punch in the Nutts:

To make things worse, after our conversation (which I assumed was in confidence) she wrote a blog about how “I was upset about her HatBait fun” and everywhere I saw DrinkBait, she was right there with HatBait. She even started to downplay my original idea in our “controversial” conversation and on her blog. To me, it looks like she is trying to one-up me on purpose.

It’s frustrating, and I am not sure what to do. I don’t want to be known as the guy who gets in blogger flame wars and I don’t want to be a crybaby, but since she’s the one blogging about it, she wrote the story as people will remember it from her point of view. I already know this: I can’t win in this situation.

Now everywhere I look,”her brilliant idea” is popping up. Kudos to her for putting so much into it, but seriously, it is hard for me not to feel slighted. I wanted that so bad. I told a few close friends, and Liana, about what I would be doing with my career and I was really excited. I feel like she knocked the wind out of me, and I have been pretty bummed out about it.

The Reason I Posted This:

I wanted to make my case so everybody didn’t think I was a huge a-hole (although this post may have the opposite affect lol). I feel like I was screwed… not because somebody took a little idea, but because a friend is taking credit for and cheapening my own efforts that made me unique. I feel like I am no longer unique because of this. I’m not sure if I even really want to do buzz marketing stunts anymore because I feel like she cheapened it, and eventually I would be avoided at conferences because people will be expecting me to run up on them and “harsh their mellow”.

Even people I consider to be my friends are blogging all over the place about “her awesome idea” with no mention of where it actually came from. Kinda sucks. I don’t want to be that guy stifling creativity or saying “that’s mine!” because that’s a lame way to be. Props to her, she enhanced my idea and did a great job with working more people into it, but in all the blogs I have read about HatBait, there is no mention of where the majority of idea actually came from. Oh well, I guess it is what it is.

To be honest, I actually have some underlying jealousy about this too. I saw a few nominations for best linkbait of 2006 for DrinkBait, and I saw some for HatBait. I would be butthurt if HatBait won. *warning this next sentence is dramatic, and is mainly for stress relief* The most fun thing I have done in probably a year would not be the same, my memory of an awesome life experience would be tainted, my original idea would fade into obscurity, and Liana Evans would be known as the person who is the “crazy outside the box thinker / fun conference stunt link baiter”. There is something wrong with that.

A Deeper Lesson:

I also learned something else from all of this… never blog when you are upset. It shows in my writing. Especially when you write a post about “ways to suck in the blogosphere”. I owe Liana an apology since #9, #4, and #1 were pretty much directly speaking about her, as was blatantly obvious. That post wasn’t cool, and that aint me. In fact, this very post here pretty much goes against everything I said in the prior post. It’s also likely why I got that MySpace death blow. Next time I want to blog something seething like that, I should learn to bite my tongue for a bit.

The MySpace Death Blow:

A few days ago Liana removed me from her blog roll, her author list, and MySpace (lol) To her defense tho, the conversation we had started rather cool, and ended up with me being a jerk, and I was the first person to pull the blog roll link… My reason was because I have no other external sites except my own on my blog, and she sold me on blog rolling her by personally asking me to. After she stole my idea I felt like she was using me, so I removed that link. If I had a blogroll that had all the blogs I love to read, my page would be a scrollathon withover a hundred outbounds on every page. I don’t have a blogroll because I just don’t. She was the only person to sell me on getting me to link to her this way.

I was thinking of posting the transcripts of our IM conversation, but I don’t think that would be an appropriate thing to do to Liana. Just remember, if she posts the transcripts, you heard it here first and she took my idea. Again…

The End?

I don’t know. I had so many plans and ideas with this angle. I was so excited for the next few years. I’m not sure if I even want to do it anymore, and I feel like the blogosphere would probably not even give a crap either way. I’m new. I made a splash and somebody else stole my thunder. Who even cares at this point right?

We’ll see. I still need to do some soul searching about all of this.

Too bad it’s not A) my publicity -or B) my link. NY Times, how you torture me with your fickle linking ways! For a little backgrounder on why I am both proud and in complete agony at the same time, read on.

I woke up to read the following instant message waiting for me from Liana:

Liana says:

i really don’t know if you are awake or not…… but i have to share this with someone who would have a inkling as to WHY …. i’m like giddy….. the New York Time just quoted my post from SMG!!!!!

Liana says:

Click HERE!!

Chris H says:

Dude!!!!

The only word I could think of that could express my excitement… “Dude!!!”

That’s a pretty sweet reference there! I dealt with a reporter from the NY Times once, and after a week of getting information back and forth, phone interviews, and even getting pics taken from a photographer they sent out… they finally published our story. Still no link love! For those who know me, you know I’m a publicity junkie too. The evidence is even in the title of this blog (notice the “III” next to Loving Publicity).

My entire NY Times experience was blogafied here.

The SEO Gods must be smiling down atcha Li! That domain / site RARELY EVER links out and has a TON of authority, usually only referencing publically traded companies.

Way to go Search Marketing Guru Liana!