Interview Series

Arnie Kuenn is the president and founder of Vertical Measures, LLC, as well as the founder and president of the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association (AZIMA) and has presented at SMX Advanced, AMA Phoenix, Pubcon and many online webinars. Follow him on Twitter: @ArnieK.

Can you tell us a little about Vertical Measures and your role there?

As ion interactive's online marketing manager, Megan Leap manages webinar, social media, search and email campaigns. She has extensive experience in conversion rate optimization and social media marketing, and when not championing high-ROI online marketing strategies, can be found running marathons across the U.S. She is also a frequent contributor to the Post-Click Marketing Blog. Follow Megan on Twitter: @MeganLeap.

What’s it like for an online marketer who’s marketing LiveBall, an online marketing software product, to other online marketers?

Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency, and home of the Inbound Marketing Summit conferences and Inbound Marketing Bootcamp educational events. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies. Chris is also co-author of the book Trust Agents, with Julien Smith. For more information, read his blog or follow him on Twitter.

What are the first three things someone should do if they have little to no social presence and want to change that?

Tamar Weinberg is a freelance writer, blogger, and social media strategist. Her specialties are blogger outreach, content promotion, community management, and viral strategy. In July 2009, Tamar published “The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web,” which covers the gamut of social media marketing topics in an easy-to-understand format. Tamar is also the community and marketing manager for Mashable, the top ranked blog on all things social media. She maintains her own blog on social media marketing strategy at Techipedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamar/.

Alexander B. Howard is the associate editor of SearchCompliance.com at TechTarget. His work there focuses on how regulations affect IT operations, including issues of data protection, privacy, security and enterprise strategy. Prior to joining TechTarget, he worked as a knowledge broker, Web designer, carpenter, garde manger, teacher, health columnist and IT consultant. Alexander graduated from Colby College in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in biology and sociology. In his spare time, he enjoys running with his greyhound, reading, microblogging, fishing, cycling, gardening, cooking and hiking. Learn more at his blog or follow him on Twitter: @digiphile.

What role does social media play in your job (or career, if you prefer!)? What role does it play in your personal life?

Julie Joyce is the cofounder and director of operations at the link development firm Link Fish Media, Inc. Headquartered in Greensboro, NC, Link Fish Media specializes in building links for the most competitive industries.

On the Link Fish site, you talk about the importance of "managing your links." What does link management entail?

Oh dear, you looked at that site? Ha! We've ignored it, we're trying to agree on how to redo it, and generally I just can't bear to look at it. OK, so link management ...

Wiep Knol is a link marketer from the Netherlands. He learned about online marketing during his study in 2004, and was hooked instantly. Two years later, he was hired to set up a link marketing service at Tribal Internet Marketing. Now, Wiep works as a partner for LinkBuilding.nl, and he runs a few other online projects as well. 

Want to read more? Check out Wiep's link building blog, or follow him on Twitter.

You recently started your own consultancy. What was the impetus for the switch, and what are your plans for the future? Do you want to create your own agency, or remain independent indefinitely?

Hello world!

I was interviewed today by Sarah Worsham (sazbean).Sarah is among other things, a Web Strategist, Geek, Mother, Wife, Webgrrl, Computer Engineer and MBA! She runs a website that focuses on helping companies and organizations use the Internet to reach their business goals.

The topics are focused around business & entrepreneurship and you can read the article here.

Dixon Jones is the managing director of the respected UK Internet marketing consultancy Receptional, which heads up the marketing of MajesticSEO, the world's largest open anchor text link map of the web. He has spoken at Internet marketing conferences including Pubcon, SMX, SES and International Search Summit. To learn more about Dixon Jones, check out his website or follow him on Twitter: @Receptional.

Tell us a little bit about your roles, both at Receptional and at Majestic SEO.

Ben Wills and Garrett French are the cofounders of Ontolo, a link building agency. Check out their link building blog or follow them on Twitter: @benwills and @GarrettFrench.

(Note: Also check out Ari Ozick's SEO Contrarian blog for a similar series of interviews with link building gurus Tuesdays of this month.)  

What factors go into a "quality" link?

Garrett: