Interview: Donna D. Fontenot
Thursday, July 20th, 2006
To kick off this new series of interviews I got a chance to get some gab from Donna D. Fontenot who is one of my favourite reads on the internet as well as one of the friendliest SEOs you will ever meet!
Donna runs the very well known SEO Scoop and her other main project Vista Babble, a Windows Vista info site.
What do you see yourself doing one year from now?
Retiring, hopefully. Although I will always have some ongoing projects to tend to, I am working towards being able to spend 90% of my time enjoying my family, and only 10% of my time making sure my websites continue to bring in money.
What’s your greatest strength?
Creating good content. Over the years, I’ve learned how to create content that both users and search engines appreciate. This makes the task of link building immensely easier. And since I hate link building, that works out nicely for me.
What’s your greatest weakness?
My inherent inability to enjoy dealing with clients. If I enjoyed working with clients, I would have made taking on clients a priority. Instead, I focused on working mostly for myself. Of course, in my opinion, that worked out fine for me, but I think a strong client base may have also been of some benefit as well. The funny thing is, I enjoy giving free advice, but I have an aversion to paying clients. Go figure…
What’s your most successful project to date?
I’ll never tell. Seriously, I learned my lesson the hard way, that some projects should never be disclosed - especially to other SEOs. Letting SEOs know what niche works well, just ensures that they will do their best to outrank you in that niche. I don’t mind openly discussing tactics. But niches? Nah, I’ll keep my best niches to myself.
How do you motivate yourself?
It’s easy to remember the many years that I was dirt poor. The constant struggle to pay bills and put food on the table never leaves my memory. That’s all it takes to keep me going.
What do you like to eat / drink while surfing?
Plenty of diet coke. I don’t eat much while at the computer. But I’m a heavy smoker, so cigarettes and diet coke get me through all of my extensive computer time.
What are your 5 favourite websites?
SEOrefugee (www.seorefugee.com)
SERoundtable (www.seroundtable.com)
SEOmoz (www.seomoz.org)
Cre8asite (www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/)
MeeVee (www.meevee.com) - Helps me to remember what I’m supposed to be watching on TV that night. Since I rarely remember what day it is, I can’t count on my memory to know both the day, and what shows are airing that day.
Choose a question to ask yourself
How would you describe yourself? I’m a happy pessimist. I tend to constantly worry that things will go wrong, but despite the ever-present worry, I am almost always in a good mood. Remember: You’ll never shine if you don’t glow. (Guincho Guy notes: A fantastic line from a great Smash Mouth Song too)
Choose a question to ask Guincho Guy
What the heck is a Guincho, and do you think people will be able to remember that url?
I am glad you asked me this. Guincho Guy and the reason behind the name can be found in the about section of the website. As for people remembering the domain name I would think some will, many wont. BrightonVibes will eventually redirect here as will SunnyMonkey so people will be able to choose the domain they remember. Hopefully most people will be reading the RSS feed or have the site in their bookmarks anyway, but that’s anyones guess.
Thanks again to Donna for taking the time to answer these annoying but eye opening questions. If anyone else thinks they would like to be interviewed (which also means some free link love) feel free to contact me, however I have messaged a few folks that I would really like to take part, thus far the response has been great. As always, feel free to leave your comments.
