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The Top Ten Hottest Moms in Search Engine Marketing

 

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Who are the working superstar moms in SEO? The ones with the talent, knowledge and street cred to continue to push the envelope of innovation? The moms who can rank well on Google and with their families?! Though it took me hours to locate these talented ladies, I’m pleased to introduce you to the hottest of the hot role models, the ground-breakers in the industry.

In no particular order, here are the Top 10 Hottest Moms in SEO:

10 :: Gillian Muessig

Why is she hot?

Gillian Muessig is President and Co-Founder of SEOMoz, and has been in the internet marketing space since 1993 (and traditional marketing for longer). SEOMoz is one of the most prominent SEO blogs on the internet, and they serve up their SEO services to heavyweights such as AllBusiness.com. Gillian is also mom to SEOMoz Co-Founder Rand Fishkin - so it’s safe to say that SEO truly runs in this mother’s blood!

9 :: Stacy Williams

Why is she hot?

Stacy Williams is Managing Partner at Prominent Placement, a company I must point out has an impressive lineup of female employees in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Stacy is also a nationally recognized leader in SEO, and is speaking at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference this week (along with many others on this list!!).

8 :: Debra Mastaler

Why is she hot?

Debra O’Neil-Mastaler is President of Alliance-Link, a company specializing in link building strategy. Debra is also an accomplished speaker and trainer, teaching seminars for High Rankings and SES. Debra can also be found in the blogosphere at TheLinkSpiel.

7 :: Karon Thackston

Why is she hot?

Karon Thackston is a leading Copywriter specializing in writing for the web with her company MarketingWords. She also frequently teaches SEO Copywriting in seminars around the country. You can start tapping Karon’s knowledge with her online article library or catch up with her at Jill Whalen’s Search Engine Marketing Seminar in June!

6 :: Rae Hoffman

Why is she hot?

Rae Hoffman of SugarRae, like many other moms, fell into internet marketing by accident. But Rae’s story is not like a lot of other moms, in that her son’s stroke at the age of 2 weeks necessitated a crash course in navigating the web in 1997. Yet Rae, like any real hero, has turned her obstacle into an opportunity, and now she is one of the leading experts in SEO, reminding everyone to “Never mess with a woman who can pull rank!”

5 :: Nina Hale

Why is she hot?

Nina Hale runs her own firm, Nina Hale Consulting. Nina is a prominent face in the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and works with companies such as Hazelden, a personal favorite as they are one of the leading alcoholism and drug addiction treatment centers in the nation.

4 :: Kim Krause Berg

Why is she hot?

Kim Krause Berg writes on one of the most prominent woman-authored SEO blogs at Cre8pc. She also writes for just about every other SEO publication on the planet, including Search Engine Guide, High Rankings, WebProNews, Search Engine Round Table and SearchNewz. She’s also one of just a few work at home moms who mixes SEO and family on her blog, which makes Cre8pc a must read for any mom who gets riled up about Google juice (like me!!).

3 :: Jennifer Laycock

Why is she hot?

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, which is one of the best resources for SEO on the internet specifically for small business. She also rose to fame earlier this year when she took on big business with her personal blog, The Lactivist, when they didn’t like her pro-breastfeeding t-shirts “The Other White Milk”. Jennifer can be found writing about SEO nearly everywhere online, and is also a frequent speaker at SES.

2 :: Jill Whalen

Why is she hot?

Jill Whalen owns HighRankings, which is one of the leading SEO firms led by a woman, period. Jill writes for most of the leading SEO publications, including WebProNews, SearchNewz, ClickZ, Inc.com, and Lycos Small Business as well as her blog, InspiredSEO. I also heard of her well before I ever became a blogger, so she’s got some serious brand recognition. Some of her SEO clients include Procter & Gamble and Geico, and her speaking engagement list is nearly a mile long - this mama knows her stuff!

1 :: Jennifer Slegg

Why is she hot?

Jennifer Slegg of JenSense fame is arguably the leader of the pack when it comes to SEO moms. She is also one of the most respected experts in contextual advertising, and her podcast on WebmasterRadio on the subject is one of the most listened to shows on the site. Also known as “Jenstar“, Jennifer can flaunt some pretty serious street cred among the big boys in the industry - as voted by her peers (check out those poll results)!

Although she’s not a mom (I think…), I also want to give a special shout out to Li Evans of Search Marketing Gurus, whose Women of Internet Marketing series was an exceptional resource in putting this list together (and is a great read, too!). Thanks Li!

For more superstar Moms, check out the Top 100 Mom Blogs!

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    Discussion

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    Comments

    1.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 12:49 pm, Cucirca said:

    Jennifer Laycock deserves to be in this top ;)

    2.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 1:51 pm, Jordan McCollum said:

    Hey Wendy–I’m another mom in SEM (I write for Marketing Pilgrim). I’ve compiled a list of the most popular parent blogs (mostly mom blogs, of course), which is based on their popularity and efforts to create a community as measured by Technorati, MyBlogLog, on-site comments and other factors. It’s modeled after Todd And’s Power 150. Check it out for an authoritative listing of mom blogs!

    3.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 2:09 pm, Glen Allsopp said:

    For some reason the RSS version of this is very messed up

    4.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 2:17 pm, Hethir said:

    Wow, I am so proud of all of you. I love this feature of women who are inspiring.

    5.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 2:37 pm, Leigh said:

    What a fantastic list of great Women/Mums, they rock!
    I agree, so inspiring! It would be great to see some more features along these lines Wendy.

    6.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 2:41 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    I had already planned on it for the rest of the month, ladies!! What I didn’t realize, though, was just how hard it would be to figure out which of the prominent women in the industry were moms. A lot of their bios didn’t mention being a parent, which led me to lots of googling of names with “mom” or “daughter” or “parent”, etc.

    I must admit it was a labor of love, though - I’ve been wanting to get this post up for WEEKS! :D

    7.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 3:30 pm, Gayla McCord said:

    AH Ha! Now it all make sense :P Great post Wendy! Most I’d heard of and read before, but I have found a couple’a new addictions from your list :)

    8.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 4:02 pm, Easton Ellsworth said:

    Dugg Dugg Dugg, Wendy!

    9.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 4:22 pm, Gayla McCord said:

    I just love going on diggs :) I follow Easton :)

    10.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 4:25 pm, Laura said:

    Ah, to be hot someday. :)

    Great list - LOVE seeing so many women up there.

    Laura
    (who lurks :D )

    11.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 4:49 pm, Dan and Jennfer said:

    No wait just one minute - where’s Wendy in that list? I’m not voting till I see Wendy in the list too! Strike! Strike! Strike! :-)

    (hey, thanks for adding the comments notify by email plugin; the cocomments thing didn’t work for me.)

    Have an awesome day!
    Dan

    12.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 6:28 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    Dan you flatter me - Stop! ;)

    Actually, I’m peanuts compared to these gurus, but I will admit I’m learning more every day!

    (I did add that plugin JUST for you!!)

    13.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 6:30 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    Jordan - I saw your post while I was researching this article! It’s great! I have a few more in this series and I’ll definitely throw a link your way when I cover blogging.

    But I must admit, I’m not a fan of Technorati’s ranking system - especially when some of the top 1000 blogs have an Alexa of 500,000+!! It’s all very subjective, don’t you think?

    Plus I didn’t know you wrote for Marketing Pilgrim - I knew I would be missing great moms for this list~ :( It was extraordinarily difficult figuring out the “who’s who” in the space and also figuring out if they were a mom!!

    Wendy

    14.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 6:44 pm, Char said:

    More resources - yeah! Thanks for compiling this list Wendy.

    15.
    On April 11th, 2007 at 9:58 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    Laura - I’ve noticed you lurking! Thanks for delurking yourself! ;) Welcome!!

    16.
    On April 12th, 2007 at 8:18 am, ScamHunter said:

    Thanks for highlighting all these great women. The only one I’ve heard of was Jill Whalen. SEO seems to me to be very testosterone-laden field with a bunch of guys constantly strutting their stuff and emailing you about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you can get it on. The women go about doing a great job much more quietly, which can make them harder to find. BUT I’d prefer the more modest expert any day. Thanks for pointing all these out.

    17.
    On April 12th, 2007 at 9:01 am, Matt Williams said:

    It was great to read someone else thought what I’ve known for quite some time — that Stacy Williams is a “hot mom”! I’m truly blessed to be her spouse!!!

    Seriously, however, our company is equally blessed by our staff. Although it’s (hopefully) not apparent, our operation is virtually-based, with each of our staff working from their homes. We’ve intentially recruited stay-at-home moms that have extensive knowledge and experience, but have placed a higher priority on their families than climbing the corporate ladder. In so doing, we’ve been able to secure some of the most talented and dedicated individuals we’ve ever been associated with. Subsequently, our business has experienced tremendous success, which would have been much harder to achieve without our team.

    For anyone considering whether to consider having virtual workers, the one takeaway you can know from our experience is that no one gets more done in a day than a mom! And for those seeking a virtual working opportunity, keep perseveering — the opportunities will come.

    18.
    On April 12th, 2007 at 3:10 pm, Jordan McCollum said:

    Wendy–don’t worry, I don’t feel slighted in the least. I definitely don’t rank with these ladies. (A little SEM humor… oh, it’s terrible!)

    Technorati is useful in terms of finding the number of unique blogs linking into a site, but not actual traffic numbers, of course. Alexa tends to be highly skewed toward search marketers/techies (ie people more likely to install the toolbar and enable its tracking). I prefer Compete to Alexa (though Compete does face similar problems). The Popular Parent Bloggers list didn’t use traffic counts as a measure, but the most heavily weighted ranking factor was the number of comments accrued in a single week, which is somewhat indicative of traffic and popularity as well as an effort to build a community around a blog.

    I’m glad you referenced the Women of Internet Marketing series; it definitely deserved a link in an article like this!

    19.
    On April 12th, 2007 at 3:19 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    Jordan - great ranking system!! Maybe next time I can get on the list, too. :D

    20.
    On April 13th, 2007 at 8:22 am, Lyndon Antcliff said:

    Great list of SEOs’ regardless of sex.

    Great post and I really like the design of this site, even if I am a bloke.

    21.
    On April 13th, 2007 at 3:00 pm, Li Evans said:

    thanks for such a fun article :)

    and as for me…. no kids, just my dogs!

    22.
    On April 14th, 2007 at 9:07 pm, Irene Janes said:

    I entered SEO when a mother of a child needed help in creating a website for her child who had Stevens Johnson Syndrome.

    Having been a computer training for over 20 years, I decided to aid by adding Paypal buttons for donations and SEO techniques.

    Today, I am still involved with Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Yes, the site is sponsored by an attorney but please don’t over look the message being sent out to the public.

    Providing information about Stevens Johnson Syndrome, including care, causes, risks, symptoms and treatments for this serious (bodywide) allergic reaction to drugs, medicine or prescriptions is important both medically and legally.

    I believe, increasing public & professional awareness of understanding Stevens Johnson Syndrome and locating doctors who specialize in the treatment of SJS and TEN (burn surgeons, eye surgeons, and dermatologists) will help others.

    23.
    On April 14th, 2007 at 10:36 pm, Jill Whalen said:

    Nice list!

    One correction, however; Karon isn’t actually a mom yet. She is definitely hot and definitely in search marketing though!

    24.
    On April 14th, 2007 at 10:58 pm, Wendy Piersall said:

    Oh, no Jill! Poop - I could have sworn someone told me she was a mom!

    Shhhhhh…… don’t tell anyone I goofed! :D

    25.
    On April 16th, 2007 at 3:19 pm, Scott said:

    Wendy, I know that it bugs you when people make editing suggestions for your articles, but the title of this article obviously should have been:

    “The Top Ten Yummiest Mummies in Search Engine Marketing”

    ;)

    26.
    On April 17th, 2007 at 11:12 am, Nina Hale said:

    Wow, this is so incredibly cool, and what a Great Site you have. But I think you mistook the hotness for early onset of hot flashes?

    27.
    On April 17th, 2007 at 2:22 pm, Derrich said:

    “…you’re the fairest of them all.”

    =) *blush*

    Mentions on other sites...

    1. Back From SES, Let the Link Love Begin… - Sugarrae on April 15th, 2007 at 10:47 am

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