Neil Patel on ProNet Advertising, social media and more

An Interview by Tony Hung

Neil Patel is one of the blogosphere’s rising stars, seemingly coming out of nowhere last year to find a pre-eminent place in the discussion of search engine and social web strategies at ProNet Advertising. But there’s more! Even though he’s a full time student pursuing a business degree at California State University of Fullerton, he wears many different hats. He’s the Chief Technical Officer at a SEO firm called ACS, is an evangelist for Text-Link-Ads, and is an internet marketing consultant in his own right, consulting for companies large and small, including Hewlett Packard and Samsung.

I got the chance to ask Neil a few questions along the way, most importantly a little bit about himself, where his blogging has taken him, how he’s gotten where he has, and what’s next for him.

Neil, thanks for taking the time for the interview. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the man behind the blogger?
Most people know me as a blogger and actually think I am filled with knowledge. I am 21 year old college student majoring in marketing. I am just an average Joe who loves to watch TV, have fun, and eat a lot of Taco Bell.

People might know you best from Pronet Advertising, but where else do you blog?
Every once in a while I blog at Search Engine Land, but the majority of my blogging takes place at ProNet Advertising.

How do you maintain such a busy blogging schedule with your consulting work? Are there any secrets you’d like to share?
Most of my day is mainly spent on school work and consulting work. I try to take online classes only so that I don’t actually have to go to school and can spend most of my day working. To be honest I don’t have too much time to blog, so I usually blog late at night or early in the morning. The only secret I have is that I work and blog most of the day, but try to manage my time wisely between the two.

Congratulations on your blog being named Search Engine Journal’s Best Social Media Blog. What role has social media (read: Digg/Reddit/Netscape) played in ProNet Advertising’s own success?
Thanks for the kind words! Social media has been really great to ProNet Advertising in 2 ways. First off, it has driven so much traffic to the blog that it has helped grow our readership. Secondly, blogging on social media has helped us carve a niche with the blog, which has helped separate it from the rest of the online marketing blogs out there. This brought ProNet Advertising lots of buzz within both the marketing and web 2.0 communities.

Where do you see social media as it applies to marketing and public relations as we’re now heading into 2007?
Social media sites have been so powerful in the last few years that they can make a major impact for companies. It can be used to promote new products and services (as we have seen with many web 2.0 companies) and at the same time it can also both help and hurt a company’s brand. If a Fortune 1000 company does something wrong that affects thousands of people, you can expect the story to hit the homepage of Digg, which ultimately ends up causing thousands of people to join in and start bad mouthing the brand.

Because of the power of Digg and other social media websites, I see more and more companies attempting to leverage the medium in 2007. Currently, this is what is causing a lot of spam to appear on these sites and sooner or later companies are going to have a difficult time leveraging them just like how it has turned into a tricky game to rank well on Google.

You’ve spoken at a few conferences, and are a coming speaker at the Elite Retreat Conference as well. How important is it for individuals in the SEO industry to go to these kinds of meetings – and what role did you going to these conferences help your own development?
It is very important for an individual to go to these conferences. They can be a great place to learn about new things that are going on in the industry and they can also be a great place to network with others in the industry. Going to these conferences can really help you grow as an individual and become more valuable to companies looking to tap into online marketing.

I have been going to these conferences for a little more then 1 year now and it has lead me to meet tons of new people as well learn more about the marketing industry. If I did not go to these conferences I would have never have gotten to where I am today.

What’s next for Neil Patel?
The next thing for me to do is release more web applications such as Serph, Siteblimp and Crazy Egg which ACS has been working on for a while. Other than that the only thing that I need to do next is finally graduate from college, which is taking a while due to work. I look forward to what the future holds in relation to social media and online marketing and am glad to be a part of it!

Many thanks to Neil for taking time out of his busy schedule for the interview. He can regularly be found at Pro Net Advertising, but also at Link Building Blog, and as well, Search Engine Land.

This Interview was published on February 6, 2007 at 7:54 am • Did you like it? Subscribe!
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