Since joining the 10e20 team in July, I’ve been so impressed by 10e20’s professionalism, work ethic and encouragement to each other and to our clients. Greg and Jake are two of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. Patrick’s design skills are so fantastic that I’ve threatened to clone him on a regular basis. Victor and PJ pretty much define “cool as a cucumber” and never seem to get frazzled or overwhelmed. Rody is like the Wolf from Pulp Fiction — she always seems to get everything done and make sure all is in order. Steph is very smart and headstrong, and in my short time working with her I can already tell that she’s an invaluable addition to the team. Danielle is nurturing and encouraging, never being too busy with the baby to make time for her employees. And Chris has by far been one of the best work mentors I’ve ever met. He’s straightforward, tough but fair, expectant but encouraging, and knows when and how to get the best possible performance out of his employees.

So why would I leave such a tight-knit family after less than a year? Believe me, the decision was a tough one. While I loved working with everyone, as is the case with many people in this industry, I wanted to transition away from client consulting. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked with some great clients at 10e20, and I hope some of the friendships I’ve made extend far into the future. However, after doing some variation of client work for the past four years, I wanted to change things up and bring my strengths to a different table.

I bet you’re wondering what that table is…well, I can’t really divulge too much because the company’s in “stealth mode” right now, but basically I’ve accepted the role of Director of Marketing and Community Relations for a start-up that’s working on a soon-to-be launched media website. There’s no more client work; instead, I’ll be working diligently on testing and improving things until the launch date, and from there I’ll be marketing the site and building up its community. I’m very excited about it and can’t wait to share more with you all, but for now you’ll have to wait until we get our beta rolled out.

If I could take the entire 10e20 team with me, I would in a heartbeat. Our clients would probably be bummed, but I would selfishly keep them all to myself if I could. I really couldn’t have asked for a better work environment and group of coworkers. I’m really going to miss working with everyone — hopefully I’ll get that New York Marathon entry so I can visit NYC (yes, I still live in Seattle, and no, I never relocated) and run with Jake while our peeps cheer us on. Until then, I’ll still be contributing to the 10e20 blog every so often, plus there will still be great content courtesy of the rest of the team, so keep checking the website and the 10e20 Twitter account for updates.

As for me, I’ll still be around on Twitter, Facebook, email, and my personal blogs (one of which I promise to resurrect and update on a semi-regular basis), plus I’ll continue to guest blog on various industry sites every now and then, so don’t think I’m going into stealth mode along with this new gig. I’ll also be speaking at Searchfest next month alongside Matt Inman (and by “speaking,” I of course mean rushing through my crappy presentation so everyone can hear how awesome The Oatmeal is), so if you’re attending or will be in the Portland area, be sure to say hello.

That’s it for now. Keep 10e20 in your hearts and minds, as they’re one of the best (if not the best) social media marketing companies that exist today. I’m going to miss everyone, but rather than say goodbye, I’ll settle for a “See you soon.”

I have personally known Stephanie for many years and I have watched her grow in her understanding and love for all things social media. She has helped conceptualize, implement and execute successful social media programs for some of the biggest brands in the world.  She will now bring her knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to 10e20 & our clients.

Stephanie comes to us from Morpheus Media, where she worked directly with clients such as Louis Vuitton, DKNY, Lord & Taylor, Diane Von Furstenberg, Vichy, Thomas Pink, eLuxury & Belvedere Vodka on their social media initiatives.

Aside from working with our clients to get them even better results, Stephanie will also be contributing here on the 10e20 blog, on Twitter and in our upcoming newsletter.

Want to learn more about Stephanie or connect her with in the meantime?

• Check out this great interview Julie Joyce did with her
• Check out some of her SMM posts on the SEO Chicks blog
• Connect with her on Twitter — @frozen2late
• Connect with her on LinkedIn
• Send her a message here

Or join me in welcoming her to the 10e20 team and into your RSS & Twitter streams in the comments below!

I am really excited to announce the newest addition to our team, Rebecca Kelley, 10e20’s new Director of Social Media.

Chances are quite good that you know the name Rebecca Kelley. She is one of the most prolific and popular bloggers in the Internet marketing arena. Following her 3+ years of stellar work on the SEOmoz blog and many other places, Rebecca has joined 10e20.

Danielle and I have known Rebecca for many years and count her as a close friend. When the opportunity arose to work with her, we couldn’t pass the chance up.

But Chris, what can ‘I’ look forward to?

More blog posts! Rebecca will be running the 10e20 blog by setting the editorial calendar and also blogging very regularly here. So if you haven’t subscribed to our RSS feed yet, now would be a good time.

More great content! If you’re a current client of 10e20 (or a prospective one), you can look forward to working with Rebecca for some amazing ideas and viral content.

A 10e20 newsletter and more… Later this month we will be launching a 10e20 newsletter which will have exclusive content. Stay tuned for details.

Plus 70% more snark!

In the meantime, want to connect with Rebecca?

* Catch up with her in person at the upcoming SES San Jose conference on August 10th – 14th.

* You can follow her on Twitter here.

* Send her a message.

* Or join me in welcoming Rebecca to 10e20 by leaving a comment below.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to subscribe to that 10e20 RSS feed, it will definitely be worth it…

Greg has officially joined 10e20 as our new Director of Internet Marketing.   Greg will also be posting here at the 10e20 Blog on a very regular basis (his posts from last year were some of our best and most popular posts).

Want to connect with Greg?

* Catch up with Greg in person at the upcoming SMX West conference.

* You can also follow Greg on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gregfinn

* Or shoot him a message.

SEO Class. This Friday (April 11th) I will be helping out Jim Boykin with his SEO Class. This is the first one since Jim took it over and brought it under the umbrella of his Internet Marketing Ninjas program and features some amazing presenters. I’ll be presenting on social media marketing tactics and attendees will also get to learn from Michael Gray, Greg Niland, Ted Ulle (tedster), Kim Krause-Berg, Barry Schwartz and of course – Jim Boykin. I think it’s pretty much sold out but if you really want to go, email me (cwinfield [at] 10e20.com) and I’ll see what I can do.

SMX Social Media (Long Beach). This is taking place on April 22nd & 23rd. The first SMX Social Media happened in October here in New York. The show was amazing. So many people have told me that they got so much out of it. Danny and the folks at Third Door are now bringing that show out west to do an encore of it in Long Beach, California. Going to this show for the networking alone is a no-brainer to me. There are still a few tickets available for this one and you can find them more info here. I’ll be speaking on the first day (along with Neil Patel) on the Social News panel.

If you are going to be at any of these events – please let me know so that we can chat.

Search Engine Strategies New York. Last month I had the pleasure of presenting at SES NY. I spoke on a panel called Social Media Marketing – What is it and What is it Good For? with people from Yahoo!, IBM, Comedy Central, Ogilvy and BlogHer. My presentation focused on three of my favorite social networks (Digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon) and how to leverage them effectively for your business (with three case studies for each network).

Coverage of the panel can be found here, here, here, here, here and here. I also did a video interview with my Shimon Sandler which you can see on his blog. Thanks to Li for the picture.

AP Story on Ask.com. Back in early March, I spoke to Michael Liedtke from the Associated Press about a story he was doing on the big changes with Ask.com. The story titled Ask.com gets a makeover, lays off 40 ran in about 300 publications and contained my thoughts:

“No matter what (Ask) did, it just wasn’t enough to get people to leave Google,” said Chris Winfield, who runs a search engine consulting firm, 10e20. “This looks they are raising the white flag.”

USA Today story on Google’s DoubleClick acquisition. The next week I spoke with Jeff Graham from USA Today about the EU’s approval of the Google/DoubleClick deal and what it all means. Jeff wrote a nice piece titled Google closes deal with DoubleClick which contained my thoughts:

Getting the green light into the display advertising market “couldn’t have come at a better time for Google,” says Chris Winfield, president of 10e20, a New York-based firm that plans search marketing campaigns for businesses.

Winfield expects Google to weave DoubleClick into its existing self-serve advertising tools, which enable businesses large and small to create and submit ad campaigns online without the assistance of a salesperson.

“Yahoo may be the leader in display now, but if Google can make it much easier for anyone to launch a display ad campaign, they sew up the business,” he says.

The other cool thing about that article was that I got my very own USA Today site links (I guess because I’ve been so many of their stories):

Search Engine Land columns. I have also wrote three columns for Search Engine Land that I’d like to share with you. The first is called Five Simple Linkbait Metrics (& How To Measure Them Cheaply) and shows people how identifying & measuring social media metrics can be easy and inexpensive. The next was called Say It Right! The Art of Commenting On Social News Sites and deals with the often overlooked subject of commenting and how powerful it can be. Finally last week I wrote How to Make Your Content ‘Submit Worthy’, which deals with simple steps you can take to make your content more appealing to social media users (and especially power-users).

I hope everyone has been great and I would love to hear about what you have been up to!

Each day, 7 days a week, I spend no less than 4 hours conducting well over 150 queries, searching and scanning search engine result pages 2, 3, 4 even 10 pages deep. Organic results, I can’t get enough of them.  Descriptions, domains, URLs, Titles; I’m sick and obsessed with them. I search at least 4 different search engines , 6 social media and bookmarking sites, 3 social news sites, 2 blog search engines and 3 comparison shopping sites every day. Web, images, video, books, you name it, I search it.

I search until my eyes hurt and are bloodshot, ’til I have a headache, my fingers hurt, my arms tingle with pins and needles, my elbows are sore and my legs feel numb. Then I search more, almost until I forget to go to the bathroom.

I search until my laptop crashes. I pull up my other computer and search until I’m hungry, skip eating until I can stand it no longer and then search with food falling out of my mouth. I wake up in the middle of the night, out of nowhere in cold sweats with great vim and vigor, to search something never searched before, and I squint in the dark quiet of the night at search results until my body shuts me down again. I go late to personal events so that I can search more. I miss important events, family milestone events, to search more.

I simply cannot get off this search thing. Why? Because it’s everywhere and I’m an addict.

I don’t want to give it up. I can’t give it up; I LOVE it. Why? Because it helps me live and keeps me vital. What does the addiction help me with and why is it so powerful?

• I conduct research on almost any subject and learn more to become well-informed.
• I discover products and services.
• I uncover good deals and better prices.
• I connect with new businesses and business solutions.
• I generate new business.
• I meet new people.
• I identify personal entertainment solutions.
• I decide which tools are most refined and best to feed my addiction.
• I learn more about my client needs.
• I understand more about competitive search niches.
• I become a better search marketer.
• I feed my need for search and get my fix.

I will never give up this wonderful addiction. Sometimes it’s painful and causes hurt and affliction, but it’s too good and too powerful and keeps me too happy to let it go. I will never give it up. I am search addict.

I wonder who else is an addict? And, how do you satisfy your addiction to search?

Don’t forget to subscribe to the 10e20 RSS Feed for more great coverage and updates!

I am one of the founding members of IM-NY and am thrilled that the group’s leader, Greg Niland, was able to put this all together. This is going to be a 3 hour open bar party and we are asking everyone to donate $40 at the door which will go to Ronald McDonald House Charities. On top of that Best of the Web and Text Links Ads are covering the complete cost of the party (btw, if you aren’t using these two companies as part of your search marketing efforts – I would highly recommend heading over to their sites and checking them out).

Here are all of the details for the party:

• When: MONDAY April 9th from 7 to 10pm

• Where: Town Tavern at 134 W 3rd St & 6th Ave

• What: 3 Hour Open Bar Party for $40 donation at the door

• Good: All money goes to Ronald McDonald House Charity

• Fun: This charity Party is open to everybody. So even if you aren’t going to SES or don’t think you would know anyone – come on down. You’ll have an amazing time and will be helping an excellent cause.

• Big thanks: to BOTW & TLA for covering the cost of the party.

If you would like to also contribute to this charity event (money, raffle prize, whatever) contact Greg Niland using the IM-NY contact form.

So I will be offline for about 5 days (the longest time since we started 10e20) for the wedding and then a quick trip to sunny Bermuda (which will be a stark contrast to this snow storm today). All the best and thanks for your support!

Some of you might have seen Barry Schwartz hinting about his new “sidekick” recently – that sidekick is Tamar. Tamar will still be contributing here at 10e20 but will now be writing on Search Engine Roundtable mainly and working with

Tamar started at 10e20 as a systems administrator but I noticed how involved she was in social networks, how much she enjoyed them and understood them on a very pure level. Seeing this I took her under my wing and started teaching her about SEO, social marketing and encouraged her to start building out her own blog (Techipedia) and become a main contributor here at 10e20. She learned quickly and has put together some really amazing posts professionally and personally.

I am very proud of the writer she has become (which she always had in her) and at how much she has grown in the past year. I am looking forward to seeing her work with Barry and her future contributions here at 10e20 and on Techipedia. Tamar, I wish you the best of luck and will definitely keep in touch on a daily basis.