This post will seem like a rant in spots, but if you stick with it I think some of you will be inspired enough in your efforts to fill your pockets with a little extra coin; the only result that matters in our industry.
I read a post by Lisa Barone at BruceClay.com entitled Don’t Be Popular. Be Useful. , and got to thinking about how some of those same concepts translate past blogging into the actual fabric of the industry.
The ratio of self-promoting perpetrators in our industry to actual talent seems to be ever increasing.
The former is soft and glass jawed, the later is a mean spirited glass chewer.
The former has a limited value based mostly on a segmented time line, the later will be an innovator in our industry as long as there is one.
You shouldn’t really need to have me tell you which one of these two schools you fall into, but I love allegory so let me tell you a tale to help you understand what the heart of a glass chewer is made of.
Represent Miami
I grew up in a section of North Miami called Biscayne Gardens. We were about 6 miles from the Liberty Square Projects that spawned people like Trick Daddy.
When my family first moved to the area it was a fairly middle class neighborhood. By the time we left the neighborhood, one neighbor on our block had been raided by the DEA and another was shot in his front yard.
But no matter what, I loved my hometown, and as a kid I wore it like a badge.
I listened to 2 Live Crew and loved University of Miami Football.
In 1987, when I was just a kid, and in the middle of this love affair with my flawed hometown, the Hurricanes put the best team they ever had to that point or since on the field.
The team consisted of Steve Walsh, Michael Irvin, Jerome Brown, and the Blades Brothers.
The team was characterized by their brazen off field nature. They would wear fatigues on the plane to a game, talked a ton of trash, and had urban figures like the godfather of hip hop Luther Campbell on the sidelines during home games.
Neither college nor pro sport had seen anything like what they were doing, and in a way it set a blueprint for the way college football would be played, and how athletes would be perceived from there on out.
The best thing about that Hurricane team was that everything that they said they were going to do to a team before a game they did during the game.
They told you they were going to score all over you, and they did.
They told you they were going to make you bleed, and they did.
They were glass chewers. They were tough, full of heart, and anything they claimed was backed up tenfold. Their brazen nature was pure confidence, and not disingenuous overconfidence.
Now think of a pop culture image
Apollo Creed in Rocky IV.
He enters the arena for an exhibition fight with Ivan Drago, amongst pomp and James Brown singing “Living in America.” All flash, all glitz. He talks his game, and by the end of the fight he died in a pool of his own blood.
He was a glass jaw.
The allegory is simple
If your going to talk, back it up, and back it up with what is real.
What good is a #1 organic ranking for a high traffic term if you have a 75% bounce rate for the term and are converting at a clip below 1%?
That #1 term you are flaunting means you do not understand your niche, or half of your job, which is to convert, and makes you look like a clown.
A win in our game isn’t a pretty glass jaw finish, it is chewing through the thick glass to achieve the big pay day. Our game is all about money. And those that lose sight of that, opting for the nonsense on the periphery are not worthy of the high profile marketer status they covet.
This game is all about end results, and the only result that matters in the end is a return on whoever’s marketing dollar you are spending.
Don’t write blog posts about being an Internet entrepreneur unless you can point to your sites and say this is what I have done. This is the blood I spilled, and the heads I cracked.
Shoemoney is a glass chewer.
Sugarrae is a glass chewer.
Don’t write posts about how great you are at linkbaiting, show me what you have done and how it made you money.
Neil Patel is a glass chewer.
Michael Gray is a glass chewer.
Stop writing posts that are only designed to regurgitate someoneelse’s thoughts to gain the attention of the industry and prop you up as something you are not. Be a legit authority and thought leader, by testing, inventing, and not being afraid to fail.
Andy Beal is a glass chewer
Aaron Chronister is a glass chewer.
Chris Winfield is a glass chewer.
David Harry is a glass chewer.
Matt McGee is a glass chewer.
What school do you belong to?
In my opinion, this concept is more worthy a debate than the white hat , black hat nonsense so many obsess over. The glass jaws, the fakers, the snake oil salesman are the people that make our industry difficult to sell to both Fortune 500 companies and SMBs alike. They spread misinformation in order to personally brand themselves, and the result is a thick layer of misconception about concepts like SEO, SEM, and SMO.
I don’t claim to be a glass chewer yet, but I do claim my ambition to become one. The only desire I have in this industry is to lead through innovative thought, get results through creativity and hard work, and to dominate my niches through a relentless aggression. This all takes work, and dedication. Hopefully I don’t get distracted by the glistening lights of ego and short term gain.
If all goes as planned I will be showing up to future Industry events in fatigues with everyone saying, “Who the hell is that asshole?”
To which I will respond, “I am the dude that kicked you off your SERP and took your kid’s lunch money.”
All while chewing on freshly crushed glass.
Update: Some more glass chewers that come to mind
Chris Hooley aka SearchStudent aka Dude whose liver must be like three times its original size
Dave great rant/post! I totally agree with you and sometimes I find that I am not being much of a “Glass Chewer” but will do my best to be one so I don’t get punched in the throat!!!
I always find myself slipping to the dark side. It is hard in an industry that seemingly rewards nonsense to keep away from it. Just always need to look at those I look up to and say how have they done it, and what makes them mentors (unwilling or knowing) to me. I get creeped out by some of my own actions sometimes, and I think that is partly why I do rants like this.
To keep myself focused.
Fun post!
That would make me a marshmallow chewer. :)
Dark side it is. Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan!
I call it playing the fool, and you call it glass chewing. That is cool.
Chris! I prefer MF! LOL
I see Internet as East Harlem! Have the balls to walk it, before you try to preach it!
“In my opinion, this concept is more worthy a debate than the white hat , black hat nonsense so many obsess over. The glass jaws, the fakers, the snake oil salesman are the people that make our industry difficult to sell to both Fortune 500 companies and SMBs alike. They spread misinformation in order to personally brand themselves, and the result is a thick layer of misconception about concepts like SEO, SEM, and SMO.”
Interesting and entertaining read. Attitude and presentation…and proof. Nice rant!
Like the rant and would love to see more of these types of rants.
Tired of all the Glass Jaws posting crap that they know nothing about.
Glass chewers – I like it!
There are so many SEO and SEM companies that are all talk and no conversions/rankings, and in the end that is all that matters. Hell, some of them don’t even rank for their own keywords (perhaps that can be a sign of the glass jaws).
And I like your hometown love – I’m from Detroit and I have the same sort of perverse pride.
Epic post.
Rant or revelation, it is the TRUTH. Great post!
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