I’m very happy to announce to Search Engine Journal readers that the SEJ Family is growing in more ways than one. On November 22nd, I married the love of my life, Mrs. Janna Baker, in a small ceremony here in Tampa, Florida. Some of you may have met Janna at SES New York or briefly at ScarySEO.
Over the past couple of years, Janna has changed my life, my direction and my drive and we will now be spending the rest of our lives together. As cliche as it may sound, I never thought I would meet anyone who compliments me in so many ways, while also filling the voids which were once missing in my life (she also keeps me in line).
On a professional side of things, Janna is a Database Administrator for an Interactive Marketing company, so if I have a rough day measuring analytics or sales conversions and need to vent, she kinda knows what I’m talking about (and vice versa as my programing, SQL and Visual Studio skills have gotten better with her around).
Tomorrow morning we’re heading to Royal Hideaway, a resort in the Riveria Maya region of Mexico, which is located near Playa del Carmen, about an hour or so south of Cancun. We’ll be on our honeymoon for 7 days (my first real vacation in about 6 years), and although I plan to check up on the happenings of SEJ while we’re enjoying ourselves, please don’t hold me to that. In my absense, a handful of really great people will be contributing to keep readers on top of the search marketing world, and I’ll list those people below, after the next announcement.
Ann Smarty is a Mama!
Search Engine Journal’s Ann Smarty became an SEO Mom on November 23rd, giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. Ann will be taking a bit of a break from her daily social media interaction, but will still be contributing to Search Engine Journal on an ongoing basis, bringing tips, tutorials and helping to manage Columnists here at the Journal.
Ann has been a treat to work with over the past year or so at SEJ and on various projects, and I’m pretty sure that all of our readers join me in wishing her and her baby girl health and happiness.
New Search Engine Journal Contributors
As readers of SEJ, you’ve probably noticed some new faces over the past couple of weeks (and a lot less of my own ugly mug). A lot of this has to do with my own side projects and managing my search marketing company’s direction after the tragic loss of my friend and business partner; but for the most part, it’s because I thought that sharing the voices of these bloggers, consultants and rockstars would not only help diversify SEJ’s offerings, but also introduce our readers to some very smart people.
These smart people who have joined the Search Engine Journal family in one way or another include :
- Debra Mastaler
- Dev Basu
- Dave Snyder
- Kate Morris
- Julie Joyce
- Brian Carter
- Jonathan Dingman
- Darrell Long
I’m also very happy to announce that we are currently working with Unique Blog Designs to launch a new Search Engine Journal design with more of a community approach to blogging, contributions, asking questions and commenting. More news on this will be coming soon!
With all of the new additions to our family, including the IMBroadcast project, I’m fairly sure 2009 will be exciting times for all of us at Search Engine Journal and our readers 🙂
Thank you!
