Stephan Spencer

Stephan Spencer is a three-time author under the O'Reilly Media brand, search engine optimization (SEO) expert, inventor, podcaster, speaker, and founder of Netconcepts.

Stephan Spencer
Stephan at Pubcon 2014, Las Vegas

Early career

Spencer holds an M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In his PhD study, he worked in the Institute for Molecular Virology and Department of Biochemistry where he developed improved visual representations of biological viruses.[1][2] Spencer served as research assistant on a project researching ways to improve communication about virology on the world wide web.[3][4] He presented a paper on this topic at the Second International Worldwide Web Conference, where he met some of the team from Netscape and got interested in web development. In 1994, while still in graduate school, Spencer developed his first website.[5] Spencer left his PhD study to pursue a career in Internet marketing.[6]

WritersNet

Spencer founded WritersNet in 1994 while a graduate student. WritersNet was acquired by CrowdGather in June 2011.[7][8] In January 2008, a lawsuit was filed against Spencer as the founder of WritersNet by literary agent Barbara Bauer, who simultaneously filed suit against the Wikimedia Foundation, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Inc, and over a dozen other parties on the legal claims of defamation, conspiracy, and tortious interference. Wikimedia Foundation was removed from the suit in May 2008,[9] and the suit itself was dismissed in November 2010.[10][11]

InnSite

Spencer also founded InnSite while a grad student in 1994.[12] InnSite was an early implementer of real-time updatable user-generated content, and was featured in the book Special Edition: Using CGI published by Que in 1996.[13] InnSite was named "Best Inn Directory of 1998" by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.[14] InnSite was acquired by an undisclosed party in 2010.[15]

Netconcepts

In 1995, Spencer founded web design agency Netconcepts on a bootstrap budget in Madison, Wisconsin.[16][17] The agency provided Internet consulting,[18] an ecommerce platform called GravityMarket and an email marketing platform GravityMail with automated spam scoring.[19] However, over time it grew to specialize in search engine optimization.[20][21]

New Zealand

In 2000, Spencer moved to New Zealand to set up a second Netconcepts branch in Auckland. He acted as managing director from a smaller office in Christchurch while the Wisconsin office continued to operate as headquarters. The company used an internal intranet to collaborate between offices.[22] Netconcepts grew to over 40 employees between the two offices, with yearly revenue of over $5 million, making it one of the largest SEO firms in New Zealand. However, clients were typically US-based, and included corporations such as Verizon, Home Shopping Network, and REI. The firm received recognition for its flexible hours and employee-centric working environment, including from the New Zealand Government.[23][24][25][26] His operation in New Zealand had notably high staff retention rates.[27] Spencer moved from New Zealand back to the US in 2007.[28]

Acquisition by Covario

Netconcepts was acquired by Covario in 2010.[29] Spencer worked as Vice President of SEO Strategies at Covario in 2010 for less than a year after the acquisition was finalized.[30]

GravityStream

Spencer is the inventor of the pay-for-performance SEO technology platform GravityStream,[31] was included in the acquisition of Covario and now part of Rio SEO's toolset.[32][33]

Post-Acquisition

Spencer now works as an SEO and internet marketing consultant and has worked with clients such as Zappos, Chanel, and Sony.[34]

Spencer is on the advisory board to CrowdGather,[35] and board member to Impact Network, a charity that builds and operates schools in Zambia.[36] In 2008, Spencer worked with Jimmy Carter's humanitarian organization, The Carter Center, to set up a successful blog.[37]

Writing

In 2009, Spencer co-authored The Art of SEO, with Rand Fishkin, Eric Enge, and Jessie Stricchiola.[38] Published by O'Reilly, the book was named Search Engine Land's Best SEO Book of 2009.[39] Spencer and his co-authors came out with the second edition of The Art of SEO in 2012, and the third edition in 2015. Spencer is author of Google Power Search, an advanced Google search manual, published in 2011 by O'Reilly.[40] Spencer co-authored Social eCommerce with Jimmy Harding and Jennifer Sheahan which was published in 2014 by O'Reilly.[41]

Spencer is a contributor to a number of marketing journals and blogs. He has been published in Practical Ecommerce,[42] MarketingProfs,[43] Search Engine Land,[44] Multichannel Merchant,[45] The Huffington Post,[46] and CNET,[47] among others.

Bibliography
  • Enge, Eric, Stephan Spencer, Jessie Stricchiola, and Rand Fishkin. The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization. N.p.: O'Reilly & Associates, 2009. ISBN 0596518862
  • Enge, Eric, Stephan Spencer, Jessie Stricchiola, and Rand Fishkin. The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization. 2nd ed. N.p.: O'Reilly & Associates, 2012. ISBN 1449304214
  • Enge, Eric, Stephan Spencer and Jessie Stricchiola. The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization. 3rd ed. N.p.: O'Reilly & Associates, 2015. ISBN 1491948965
  • Spencer, Stephan. Google Power Search. N.p.: O'Reilly & Associates, 2009. ISBN 1449311563
  • Spencer, Stephan, Jimmy Harding, Jennifer Sheahan. Social eCommerce: Increasing Sales and Extending Brand Reach. N.p.: O'Reilly & Associates, 2014. ISBN 1449366368

Speaking

Spencer has been speaking at Internet marketing conferences for over 20 years, including covering SEO and digital marketing topics[48] for the American Marketing Association (AMA),[49] Shop.org,[50] Internet Retailer,[51] SMX, Search Engine Strategies,[52] O'Reilly/TechWeb,[53] PubCon,[54] NEMOA, Etail, WordCamp,[55] ACCM,[56] among others.

Media

Spencer is the host of two podcasts, Marketing Speak and The Optimized Geek. Both have appeared on iTunes New and Noteworthy[57][58] and In 2016, Spencer made multiple live television appearances on local affiliates of ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC,[59] speaking about the geek lifestyle[60] and raising awareness for children in foster care.[61]

Family

Spencer encouraged his oldest daughter at the age of 14 to start a blog, neopetsfanatic.com. He advised her on using AdSense to monetize the site, earnings were up to $1,100 per month.[62][63][64] Spencer and Chloe have co presented at conferences DMA08 and BlogPaws. Chloe has spoken on her own as well, including BlogHer, DMA, YPulse, SMX West, BlogWorld, SMOC, and SES, and has appeared live on Denver 9News and the Bay Area's ABC7 News. BlogPaws has appeared on live TV as well.[65][66][67] Spencer and Chloe have appeared on interviews such as blogtalkradio,[68] as well as Chloe has appeared alone on WebProNews,[69][70] ClickZ,[71] ReelSEO, and Blogger Stories.[72] In addition to encouraging Chloe to blog on her own site, he encouraged her to blog for The Huffington Post and, on his recommendation to Arianna Huffington, Chloe became a Huffington Post blogger at the age of 16 in 2008.[73]

References
  1. "Reovirus Virion-Like Particles Obtained by Recoating Infectious Subvirion Particles with Baculovirus-Expressed ς3 Protein: an Approach for Analyzing ς3 Functions during Virus Entry". merican Society for Microbology. Journal of Virology. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  2. Spencer, SM; Sgro, JY; Dryden, KA; Baker, TS; Nibert, ML (1997). "IRIS explorer software for radial-depth cueing reovirus particles and other macromolecular structures determined by cryoelectron microscopy and image reconstruction". Journal of Structural Biology. 120 (1): 11–21. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.648.3079. doi:10.1006/jsbi.1997.3902. PMID 9361260.
  3. "Communicating Information about Virus Structure and Biology Via the World Wide Web". Institute for Molecular Virology. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  4. "Electronic Publishing of Virus Structures in Novel, Multimedia Formats on the World Wide Web". Institute for Molecular Virology and Integrated Microscopy Resource. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  5. Bankston, Karen. "How a Dane County Business Set Up Shop on the Information Superhighway". Netconcepts. In Business. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. "Who Is Stephan Spencer: Web Marketer - Stephan Spencer". 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  7. "About WritersNet". WritersNet. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  8. "Case Study: WritersNet". Netconcepts. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  9. "CrowdGather Adds Writers.net To Portfolio Of Forum Properties". The Street. Business Wire. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  10. "Bauer v. Wikimedia". Digital Media Law. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  11. Spencer, Stephan. "Bloggers Aren't at Fault for Comments Made on Their Site". Netconcepts. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  12. "Case Study: InnSite". Netconcepts. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  13. "CHAPTER 28-Learning from the Pros". Que Pub. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  14. "Best Inn Directory of 1998". Netconcepts. Yahoo! Internet Life. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  15. "Case Study: InnSite". www.netconcepts.com. Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  16. "Stephan M. Spencer, M.Sc". Netconcepts. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  17. Patel, Neil. "Are You a Hustler?". Quicksprout. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  18. Hembry, Owen. "Businesses move into blogosphere". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  19. Gardner, Elizabeth. "A Marketing Geyser". Internet Retailer. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  20. Ballantyne, Stephen. "Netconcepts does it the other way round". Internet Archive. National Business Review. Archived from the original on September 6, 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  21. Hedquist, Ulrika. "Natural selection makes for online success". Computer World. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  22. Shaw, Steven. "Searching for better returns". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  23. "Case studies: Stephan Spencer". Employment New Zealand. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  24. "Netconcepts a happy Kiwi sweatshop". Business to Business. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  25. Newman, Judy. "Netconcepts helps companies increase sales on the Internet". Madison. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  26. Gifford, Adam. "Web firm wins search engine deal". The New Zealand Herald.
  27. "Breakfast - Tuesday November 21". One. TVNZ. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  28. "Meaningful SEO Metrics" (PDF). StephanSpencer.com. StephanSpencer.com. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  29. Baker, Loren. "Covario Acquires NetConcepts". Search Engine Journal. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  30. "Stephan Spencer". LinkedIn. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  31. "Dollars For Hours On The Way Out For SEO?". MediaPost. Search Engine Land. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  32. Evans, Katie. "Acumium acquires e-commerce platform from NetConcepts". Internet Retailer. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  33. Patent US20070143283 A1. "Method of optimizing search engine rankings through a proxy website". Google Patents. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  34. Reynolds, Molly. "How to Get the Most Out of Your Brand Journalism Campaign". Inc.com. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  35. "Advisors". CrowdGather. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  36. "The Board". Impact Network. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  37. Santicola, Abny. "Five Tips for Making the Most of Blogs". Non Profit Pro. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  38. Enge, Eric; Spencer, Stephan; Stricchiola, Jessie; Fishkin, Rand (2012-03-17). The Art of SEO (Theory in Practice). ISBN 978-1449304218.
  39. Sherman, Chris. "A Roundup Of 2009's Best SEO Books". Search Engine Land. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  40. "Google Power Search. O'Reilly Media". O Reilly. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  41. "Social eCommerce". O Reilly. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  42. "Articles by Stephan Spencer". Practical Ecommerce. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  43. "Stephan Spencer". MarketingProfs. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  44. "Stephan Spencer". Search Engine Land. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  45. "Posts By Stephan Spencer". Multichannel Merchant. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  46. "Stephan Spencer". Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  47. Spencer, Stephan. "'Google bowling' and negative SEO: All fair in love and war?". CNet. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  48. "Speaker Profile: Stephan Spencer" (PDF). stephanspencer.com. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  49. "Stephan Spencer Founder and President Netconcepts". AMA. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  50. "Stephan Spencer Author". Shop.org. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  51. "Stephan Spencer". IRCEContent.com. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  52. "Speaker Profile Stephan Spencer". Search Engine Strategies 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  53. "Stephan Spencer". Oreilly.com. O' Reilly Media, Inc. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  54. "Stephan Spencer". Pubcon. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  55. P, John. "WordCamp 2008 San Fran: Stephan Spencer – SEO Mistakes Most Bloggers Make". One Mans Blog. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  56. Ramaswami, Rama. "Live from ACC: Power Forum Packs a Punch". Multichannel Merchant. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  57. "About - Optimized Geek". Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  58. "About - Marketing Speak". Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  59. "SEO Interviews of Author and SEO Expert | Stephan Spencer". Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  60. Stephan Spencer (2016-05-04), Stephan Spencer on NBC TV Albuquerque - "Geek to Chic", retrieved 2016-07-10
  61. Stephan Spencer (2016-06-02), Stephan Spencer on ABC TV Reno - "Foster Child Myths", retrieved 2016-07-10
  62. "So Easy A Child Can Do It". MarketingProfs. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  63. Spencer, Stephan. "SEO So Simple A Child Can Do It: In 5 Easy Steps". Search Engine Land. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  64. Welch, Lynn. "It Beats Babysitting: McFarland Teen Makes Money By Blogging". High Beam Research. The Capital Times. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  65. Spencer, Chloe. "Speaking at BlogHer 2007". Chloe Spencer. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  66. Schoemaker, Jeremy. "On Panel @ DMA w/Stephan & Chloe Spencer". Shoe Money. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  67. "SMX West 2008: Chloe Spencer". WebProNews. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  68. "Optimize your Blog for Search Engines". BlogTalkRadio blog. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  69. Spencer, Chloe. "Interview with WebProNews". Chloe Spencer. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  70. Johnson, Abby. "How Teens Can Make Money Online". WebProNews. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  71. Heine, Christopher. "Digital Wunderkind Discuss the Best Teen-Focused Campaigns". ClickZ. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  72. "Blogger Stories: Chloe Spencer". Blogger Stories. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  73. Kotecki Vest, Erin. "COUP! 16-year Old Takes Over Huffington Post". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
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