EightBlack.

Not that any serious website owner should take note of it anymore, but PageRank is one of those “vanity” things. Reassurance to your own self that all your hard work has paid off (if you’re a blogger) or a webmaster.

That little green indicator at the top of your browser (which by the way you have to install) causes more arguments and blog posts in the blogosphere and forums than you’d care to count.

A high PageRank number alone has little to do with traffic, engagement and total content.

It’s also no indication, if you’re an advertiser, that you should pay more on a site with high PageRank.

Having said all that, I smiled just a little this morning when I discovered this humble blog growing by one more peg on Google’s radar.

Means nothing to you. And will mean nothing to me once I’ve had lunch and something alcoholic to drink.

The only numbers we should be looking at are the numbers that our web analytics interface shows us. Period.

We’ve been off air for the past little while. Unfortunately, some brain dead moron decided to hack the site. But never fear. We’ve got something of a secret weapon - its called a “Ben”.

“Ben” is a 22 year old super freak on computers and code. And were pretty close on tracking down who did this. Stay tuned…

Our post yesterday on “Getting Ready For Web 2.0″ made the Times Online yesterday in London. Not that it means much.

The hotel is already starting to hum with activity - not sure why they chose The Palace though.

Onwards.

Registration in about 3 hours time. Now if I could only work out this bloomin’ Twitter nonsense, I’d be ok.

If you author your own blog, one of the things you notice when you read other blogs is the platform its written in. There’s really only 2 that most people use - Moveable Type and Wordpress.

Our blog is written in Wordpress. For a technically challenged person like me, I find it simple to use. And extremely customisable.

We use Wordpress for all our client blogs. And we’re building some large scale CMS environments using WP. After all, Wordpress is nothing more than a very malleable, open source Content Management System.

There’s a good article here which compares the 2 (link courtesy John Battelle). And happy to answer any questions regarding Wordpress and how we use it. (Actually, it wont be me that answers the questions, but someone a lot smarter!).

Well not really. But I always wanted to say that. Actually, on a quick family ski holiday. Posting normally next week.

5 years is a long time to work with anyone. Especially when that person is me.

Today marks the last day for David Galt, our Client Services Director. Most people know him as they guy who makes things happen or the guy who’s “Mr. Reliable” when they either can’t find me or cant get me to respond.

I honestly dont know how I would have run our business in the beginning (and now) if it wasnt for Dave. From those early days working beside each other in the 4th bedroom of our house, to our cramped office in Latrobe Street, to now our digs in St Kilda Rd.

I remember when I jumped off the corporate treadmill and I wanted to go and have a muck around with this internet stuff. Dave was a junior marketing assistant at the company I just left. I called him and said “Hey, I dont know what I’m going to do in the online space, but I sure could use your help”. To his credit, he jumped straight in. And I am eternally grateful for the faith he put in me in the beginning.

Like all start-ups, we’ve seen the good and the bad. Our seminar, back in 2004, would not have been possible without his contribution. He’s met some great people, both here and principally in the US. And he’s travelled well. He’s developed formidable online skills, he approaches an industry that suffers from hype and hysteria with a sense of calm and he is, quite annoyingly, mostly right with his calls. Which shits me.

My humble words here cant do the guy justice. Let the evidence speak is all I say. In the time he worked with me, I never had a client say one bad thing, in fact, all I heard was praise. To such an extent, a client hired him for a year to work on site. He handled that assignment with the maturity of a consultant 10 years his senior.

Dave has earned his stripes. He’s earned my utmost respect. More importantly, he’s earned the respect from each and every client we’ve ever worked with. Which is no mean feat.

Next week, his career takes off. He assumes control of the online efforts for Webjet, one of our clients. A public company with revenues in excess of A$250 million and a significant online budget. I know he’ll handle the new job with ease.

Dave deserves this opportunity. And from the bottom of my heart, I thank him for his contribution over the last 5 years.

(And next week will be an interesting environment for us all. Dave becomes THE client, not the employee. He’s joking with me that he’s going to give me a hard time. I’ll resist the urge to go and tell him to “sit and rotate” when he needs something done. After all, he knows how to do it all anyway).

Dave, I am indebted to you my friend. Always.

I don’t know about you, but the year seems to be picking up pace, not slowing down.

David Galt, our Client Services Manager starts a new career with our client Webjet in a week or two. This is an outcome you only ever hear about - not actually witness. More on this later. I couldn’t be happier for Dave. I’m a little stressed about how we’ll try and “replace” him, but we’ll cope. Sort of. You know the management saying that “no one is indispensible”. Thats mostly true and I subscribe to it. But Dave comes close to proving this statement to be a complete lie, in the regard that he just may be nearly impossible to replace.

We’re looking for a Junior Account Manager - the position overview is here.

And we’ve opened offices in London and San Francisco this past quarter.

We also are pushing hard into the web analytics space, with concurrent training with 2 of the world’s most respected platforms continuing (with Google and Omniture), resulting in certification for our team.

I’m hoping to announce the Head of Analytics for Eight Black in a week or so. Stay tuned.

Travel schedule - for those who are interested in where our (my) focus is for the remainder of the year.

1. Seth Godin’s small gathering in New York, September 6. More here.

2. Web 2.0 Summit - San Francisco, October 17-19. I’m delighted that I’ve been accepted to attend Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Like we did for Web 2.0 Expo earlier this year, I’ll be blogging live from the event. Man, was this a tough gig to gain entry to. Attendance by invite only.

3. Blog World Expo - Las Vegas, Nov 8-9. One of the most important relationships we’ve developed in 2007 is with Dave Taylor. Dave and I spent a half a day together recently and Blog World Expo is his baby. I’m glad I introduced Avinash Kaushik to Dave, as Avinash is now a part of the speaking line-up at Blog World. This should be a great event - 5000+ attendees expected and some of the most serious bloggers on the planet in attendance.