Handing Over The Keys To The Blog

I’m just going to get to it.

After lots of soul searching, heartfelt conversations with friends, and intense debate between Swat, Jack and myself, I’m making the very difficult personal decision to leave Bruce Clay, Inc. and move back to the East Coast just in time to see it obliterated with snow and become a totally unbearable place to live. Or, said simpler, this will be my last week working at and blogging for Bruce Clay, Inc.

Truthfully, I can’t begin to express how much I’m going to miss everyone here (except Susan*). The entire Bruce Clay, Inc. organization has been great to me over the past two and a half years and I couldn’t have hoped to have been adopted by a better group of people. People who have helped me to grow, stood by me through personal roller coasters, and given me a voice in an industry that I love. And even though I’ll be moving on, I will miss them all dearly and will continue to value the wisdom and strong SEO background they have imparted on me.

The fact that I’m leaving is also why last week’s post thanking our readers was so important to me. Jim Hedger had no way of knowing the circumstances when he suggested it, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to say “thanks” before the news of my departure was made public. It greatly reduced the amount of snot that wound up on my sleeve.

I’m leaving, but obviously the blog will live on. In my absence, you’ll see a tag team of Bruce Clay faces (some old, some new) taking over the blogging reins while they transition and eventually adopt someone new to carry on the nonsense I’ve helped start here. I have full faith that in a few weeks they’ll be able to scrub the Lisa off this thing and make it an even better place for search marketers to hang out.

If you have any desire to be our new blogger/social media person, please send Susan your resume and let her know. I hear she’s very excited about the idea of getting someone new to abuse, torture and send for coffee.

And with that, it’s time to get back to business. We won’t be allowing any emo here on the blog, so don’t even try it.

*Okay, that’s not even a little bit true. I may just miss Susan most of all.

Lisa Barone is a writer, content marketer & VP of strategy at Overit Media. She's also a very active Twitterer, much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

See Lisa's author page for links to connect on social media.

Comments (59)
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59 Replies to “Handing Over The Keys To The Blog”

Volker Bütow

Wow, I come back from holiday and now this?

Lisa, keep on spreading your wordsmith love in whatever you do, be it SEM related or not.

Kudos!

Best of luck Lisa! Although, I am chimming in here a little late, I have enjoyed reading your posts very much and look forward to reading more from you in the future! :o)

Gram

As Susan’s Mom says….so say I! We wish you much succuss and happiness.
(Susan’s Gram)

(Susan's) Mom

God bless you, young lady. We will all miss you.

You are an amazing person and I’ll miss your musings. However I will be looking forward to you popping up somewhere on the interweb. Until then, take care and good luck!

Power to The Lisa! Long may you run. I’ll miss you here. You’re the best live blogger the world has EVER known and probably ever will. Seriously, you are sick. In a good way, like ‘sick blog dude’. And you have a way with words that’s truly exceptional, you put yourself in every post and inject it with humor and an authentic voice. You stand apart!

OMG Lisa!

I’m going to miss your blogging – and can’t wait to learn what comes next from you!

HEY – Long Island – are you going back THERE? I moved “back” to Long Island so many times over the past fifteen years it eventually got to the point where I became nauseous just thinking about it. So for me, I eventually got THAT out of my system and pray that you will to eventually, (one Islander comiserating over slush and ice storms and bitter cold winters and rainy humid wet dreary summers – to another… )

Yet I also believe in following your heart’s calling wherever it takes you (hence my having driven across the entire US seven times, every time a relocation, not just a vacation…

Lisa – seriously – God bless and all the best!

Lisa – Already said it on Twitter yesterday but I just took a look to see how many commented here. As you know, you’ve got some of the most respected people in the industry missing you already. I’m really happy to see they chimed in here. You have a special writing style that makes you unique. Be sure and take that with you. It’s why I read (and shared) the blog feed with many. Best of luck!

Thanks for all the great blog posts and inside perspective! Good luck with your next endeavor.

Lisa, you will be greatly missed. I’m just hoping that where ever you end up going and whatever you end up doing, it involves you writing in a space that all us saddened geeks can visit and enjoy.

Can’t believe you lasted this long in California – all that stupid sunshine and no snow!!!

I have enjoyed your writing and insights into the community. I hope to see your writing elsewhere soon, and wish you the best!

Lisa, I enjoyed reading your posts (esp Friday Recaps) and surely I’ll miss them here. I wish you the best on your future plans.

Hey Lisa, you’ve been an honest, authentic voice in the search world and I have an enormous amount of respect for you. Trust and credibility can be hard to come by on the net; it has to be earned over time. I’m not sure you realize just how much cred you have with so many people in the search community. All that and a great/entertaining writer to boot–that can be even harder to pull off, but you do it with style.

I wish you complete success and the best of luck in whatever comes next.

For as long as I can remember, Lisa, you’ve defined search industry blogging.
While other exceptional writers are in our space you have always written with a flow and style that no one else could touch. Your writing was the perfect way to infuse life to what I’d say is a pretty plain site design. That’s not a knock either… Bruce Clay’s blog remains one of the few that I refuse to read via RSS.
I’ll miss your honesty and values the most. Search writers often try too hard to please the masses, kiss up to the personalities or just write what’s safe for others to regurgitate. You’ve never seemed to be afraid to take an unfavorable stance and back it up with legitimate points.
I envy that actually.
You’re a writer, though, so I’m sure we’ll all have the chance to hear from you again. While I hope it’s in the confines of our tight knit community, I’d love to hear your take on so many other spaces too.
You’ll be missed, but I’m sure Susan, Virginia and the other writers will step up and carry on a great blog here for us all to enjoy.
Now… You’ve set the stage for one fantastic and final Friday Recap. You better deliver with more than just a few things you learned on BoingBoing this week. No pressure. :)

Kristi

Lisa – I loved your posts here at Bruce Clay. You will be missed. And I will be tracking you down to see if you are writing anything else that I can follow. ;-) I love your style! It rocks!

Congratulations! Is Mr. Lisa Barone relocating with you?

It is no secret how much I adore you. I think it is wicked yummy sweet that that you mentioned “*Okay, that’s not even a little bit true. I may just miss Susan most of all.”
I heart you and I heart her too.
I have a feeling that you will rock where ever you go

Lisa, I wanted to congratulate you on your move and wish you all the best in the world because you sincerely do deserve it. For many of us here in the SEO realm, you have always been very special and appreciated. Not “short bus” special, but the real kind of special.
Please do keep blogging, even if its not work related. You’ve got talent in it and many people greatly enjoy what you have to say.
On a side note, if you get sick of the east coast, you’re always welcome to try Hawaii. :)

Can we kidnap Susan and bring her East too? Splitting up you two just feels so wrong.

Wherever you go next, please tell them they need you to blog. Ok, WE need you to blog.

Can I adopt you? (I’ll even take the cats.)

Wow!
I’ll say that again: wow!
Good luck Lisa. I look forward to seeing you blogging again soon–you’re always welcome to guest at Marketing Pilgrim.
I hate to say it, but you’re going to leave big boots to fill. I pretty much only read this blog because of you. :-)
May your future be full of shiny blessing! ;-)

Oh my goodness. Thank you guys for all the supportive comments, emails and DMs. They mean the world to me. I promise not to drop out of sight too badly. If all else fails, there’s Twitter, right? :)

You have been a tremendous blogger, thank you for all your hard work, I’m sure you’ll be sorely missed at Bruce Clay. Best of luck wherever you land and remember to leave a forwarding URL!

Wow… certainly the end of an era! Here’s to the start of a great *new* chapter :)

Lisa – congrats on your decision and let me be (one of the first) to welcome you to the East Coast! If you are coming to NYC make sure to drop a line…
Best of Luck!

Thanks Lisa for all the great content. You will be missed by us all.

Good luck Lisa on your next venture. We will all miss reading your extremely funny and informative posts, but as with all the comments b/4 mine… we wish you the best. :)

Good luck wherever you end up Lisa (hoping it won’t be too long before we get to find out where you’ll be next – their subscriber list will rocket!)

Thanks for all the great reads; the informative stuff but especially the wicked sense of humour you bring to it all will be a tough act for your successor here at BC to follow.

Thanks for all the posts Lisa, you’ll leave a big hole at the BC blog. Good luck in your next venture!

So sad to hear that you are leaving. You are honestly one of my favorite bloggers. Wishing you the best for the future.

OMG!!
Now where are we all going to go to read funny, compelling and informative Blogs on life, the universe, and SEO-everything?
You did a GREAT job representing BC and the white hat SEO-ers everywhere! Good luck to you and I wish you success where you next end up!

Wow, that’s a big loss to BC. Seems like the perfect time to start TheLisa Blog. By the way, SS is looking for a recipe blogger;-)

Best of luck with your new endeavours Lisa! Change can definitely be a good thing, and I hope we’ll see you blogging fairly soon.
PS: I hate the snow just as much you probably do.

Thanks for the all the posts, Lisa and good luck on the East Coast. Embrace the new live awaiting you :)

Wow. Wow. It took me most of the post to accept that you weren’t joking.
And I’m SO jealous of you moving to the East Coast. (I miss home!)
While they’ll find someone to take your job and that person will carry on the blog in a fabulous fashion, I’m sure, they won’t find someone to take your place. And of course we’ll miss you.

Matt McGee

Barone!!!!! Holy $!$@#$ … I have no doubt that you’ll succeed in whatever comes next. You were one of the first to start sending links my way when I started blogging – I’ll always be grateful for that, but so much more for your friendship. God bless.

Best of luck, Lisa! Lemme know if you ever need a ride around Long Beach again! ;D

Best of luck Lisa…unless you are going to New England, then I’ll be so jealous I’ll have to hate you (and your cat).

I wish I had discovered you sooner.

Back to LI heh? Don’t forget your ice scraper. Time to relearn your local lingo too… sneakers, pie (for pizza), killa (for bitchen), and pissa (do they still say that?) The West Coast will miss you!

Hey Lisa,

It was nice meeting you in June at SMX. Hopefully this way it’ll be easier to run into you! Best of luck.

Thank you for all the posts while at BC. I truly enjoyed them. Good luck on the move.

“Jim Hedger had no way of knowing the circumstances when he suggested it…” Wow. That’s an understatement Lisa. I was floored by the announcement.

As Glen said, “… change can definitely be a good thing.” I hope the change is good for you and for the fine folks at Bruce Clay.

Best of luck on the East Coast. You’re an amazing writer. I hope to read your words again soon.

Hey Lisa, best of luck with the move. I hope it’s everything you imagined it to be. I can’t imagine going back to the East Coast after living out West as long as I have, but then again I wasn’t born there :) I’m excited for you!!

Very surprising to me. You were a great voice and I’m sure Bruce and others will miss you.

Am sorry to see you go! Have enjoyed reading all of your posts and just wanted to let you know you will be missed. Hope you keep in touch with all of us; best of luck!

Wow. Does that mean you’re going to visit? ;)

Best of luck on this huge move!

MikeTek

You’re not headed back to Long Island, are you? If so, I must immediately argue against this decision and demand that you go ask for your job back. Winter on Long Island – well, you know how it is. So cold. So lonely.
But it’s good to gain another east coaster in SEO!

Lisa,
Thanks for making this blog interesting and thought provoking.

May you find happiness in your future.

I’m surprised, but change can definitely be a good thing. Good luck in your future adventures Lisa!

Big move Lisa, I can only imagine it means congratulations for the new place you’re going to. Looking forward to seeing where that is to continue reading The Lisa goodness.

Lisa, you are the voice of BC. You will be missed here. Best of luck in your future plans.
It will be great to have you on the east coast!

Lisa,

Good luck to both you and those still working on this blog.

Lisa,
We will miss you and your entertaining voice! I wish the best for you as you move back to the east coast.

I’m sure many people will wish you well, but it’s not a real good bye, I mean, you’ll still be around the Internet, just in a different capacity!

Congrats on your big change, Lisa. I hope to see you blogging the search space again wherever you land :)
With all of that snow – and no sun and beach – you’ll have more time to blog, right?
~Carrie

I had a feeling this was happening after I read your “why I love the readers” post. I’ll definitely miss coming here and reading what you have to say Lisa. This blog will *not* be the same without you. What are your new career plans?

Congrats on the move, best of luck moving forward.

Lisa-

Blessings on your new venture! I know this was a hard decision. But hard decisions lead to new wonderful opportunities!

And, hey, we can still banter on Twitter…

Right?

Wow! Big life changes.
While I’m sad for Susan, I am happy for us on the East Coast… you can get to hang with us! :)
I feel the need for a East Coast Women’s meetup now!

Wow, Lisa. No emo here, but just a note of thanks for your writing here and good luck with your next gig!

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