« Dropped Search Engine Rankings | Main | Learn SEO: Competitor Analysis »
Conversation With Rob Dogg - How to Rule the World
By Kimberly Bock | February 18, 2008
I had the chance to talk to Rob Dogg - “How To Rule The World” about a few things and he gave me permission to post what we talked about. Not your normal interview setting, but then again, I’ve gotten fairly comfortable with abnormalities. Keeps me humble.
Me: You there?
Rob: Yeah whats up
Me:Just wondering if you able to answer a couple of questions?
Rob: Sure hit me up any time your ready
Me: Schweet but I’m kind of flaking out over what to actually ask you. I don’t have very much history on you…
Rob: What topics you want to cover?
Me: Maybe a couple of personal things like where your from then what brought you to Sphinn and Stumble, what your present efforts are with your site, future plans, that sort of thing.
Rob: So lets see..My name is robert priolo, I just turned 27
I live in Southern California
I studied computer science, programming and marketing in college
I grew up in a business oriented family
My grandparents and both parents were all self employed
Most of my aunts and uncles are also all self employed
Once I finished studies I began internet marketing
I started on eBay selling goods for a business owner that I met
I then took my knowledge to a bigger business and started an ecommerce operation
Grew that business into a multi million dollar company
Me: You did not…
Rob: Yeah selling home improvement items like kitchen sinks and faucets
The home improvement market was hot
After that I started my own ecommerce business in the same industry
(interruption: So cool)
Turned that into a business doing over 1.5 mill per year
Then the housing market started to crash and I got out
Then turned to internet marketing
(interruption: Man, I wish MY living room would do that)
Was picked up by an SEM agency from which I have been consulting for over a year
Now I am studiying social media and SEO to start my next big internet project
Me:Is How to rule the world your own?
Rob: Yeah i started that as my 2008 new years resolution to educate others on my history and share my knowledge
How to rule the world means how to rule the world of marketing, ecommerce, ebusiness, seo, social media and blogging
Me: Schweet
Rob: I was also going to include some other topics such as self improvement, relationships and mind enhancements such as increased memory and speed reading but not so sure anymore.
Me: Changed your mind?
Rob: Yeah the blog is heavily focused on how to do things on the net but i may reconsider once I have gotten into it a bit longer. In my experience many people do not really understand the internet and how it works.
Me: That’s the main reason I operate “Learning SEO Basics”. There’s a lot to be learned and not enough free resources.
Rob: I set out to prove how to do it and that it can be done. I am only a month and some many days in, but I have had much success thus far.
Me: What has made you focus on Stumbleupon in the last few posts?
Rob: When I first started blogging, I started off my just commenting on other blogs it brought in a fair amount of traffic.Then I started to get stumbled. My logs were going crazy so I decided to investigate
Me: I know the feeling, I love it when that happens. :-)~
Rob: Then I discovered the power of SU and made a comitment to master it as you can read on my SU series part 1. I recieved a lot of heat on that article at first. Many SU members thought I was out to SPAM the system. But I have been congratulated by many of those people since then.
Me: What is your primary focus? Social Media or SEM?
Rob: SEM and social media are both my focuses, niether takes more preference.
Me: What do you hope to achieve by being an active member of SU?
Rob: A strong network of relationships with those interested in my subjects of interest to help promote others and myself within this interest group and their friends and fans
I mostly want to educate and help others develope a living on the web as well but I have come to the conclusion, internet marketing and making money online is not suited for everyone
Me: What made you decide to enter Sphinnland?
Rob: Many of the same SU members I have networked with requested I also start on Sphinn, Mixx and Digg I will also be doing some hard time with delicious, zoom, mybloglog, blogcatalog, squidoo and Reddit too. Search Engine Marketing and Social Media are two very big different worlds and both have their benefits
Me: so, what do you do for fun?
Rob: Lets see..I enjoy video games, night clubs, raves, tance music, golfing, social parties. Im not much for sports, but I really enjoy being out with people during events. Im not your average computer geek, as most SEO’s are portrayed.
Me: Girlfriend?
Rob: Yes i just got together with a girl recently
Me: Schweet..Did you meet her online?
Rob: No I met her offline, I have tried internet dating but the results are disturbing… haha
Me: Dating is disturbing on OR offline
Rob: True… very true. I also study dating similar to the way I study marketing
(interruption: This ought to be good..)
Me: I thought ALL men did that
Rob: Not really. They think they do, butI have realized that many know nothing about it. Dating is actually a science.
(Interruption: Oh no he didn’t go there..lol)
Rob: And for men is really hard to grasp.
Me: Tell me about it..lol
Rob: I know what it feels like, and its very hard to break the natural man mold and learn to date successfully
Me: What exactly IS the ‘natural man mold’? lol
Rob: Its what guys natually do when they are in the “girl hunt” mode. They change completely and dont know how to act socially. Their minds turn blank and they don’t know what to do so they sit and stare from the back of the room or they approach a girl and say all the wrong things. Some guys can do it natually, or they learn it over time but 80% of guys are lost… trust me. Honesty is very important, and one that most men will start off lying about stuff.
Me: No comment there…What do you want to do with your future rob…business and personal?
Rob: Business, I plan on consulting, working from home, blogging and educating others all of which bring in a healthy income. Personally, I enjoy socializing a being with friends, travel and explore the world. I hope to develop more free time to do the things I love by developing passive income from multiple sources
Me: Have any suggestions or advice for anyone trying to make a ‘go’ of it with SEM?
Rob: I would say do a lot of reading, do a lot of testing, and don’t trust 80% of anything you read in a guru guide. The data is out dated and if a guru is willing to share anything, its old news and of no use to them anymore.
Me: What exactly do you mean by a guru guide? I ask because I want some guru’s out there to still like you if they read this..lol
Rob: There are many how to guides I have seen circulating about how to run a successful adwords campaign
I have read some of them and most if the information is trash. You get more experience by doing. Test everything and don’t leave anything to chance. SEM does not magically work. The magic can only be performed by a magician. haha.. if your a guru and you publish old information, shame on you….you know who you are!!!
Me: what other sites do you have or have performed services for?
Rob: robdogg.com is my current active. I own about 100 others, but many are under developement at the moment. Performed services on? I have worked on murad.com, publicstorage.com, fredericks of hollywood, american management association, union bank of california..Those are the big ones but I handle many smaller clients as well.
Me: What’s this talk about a contest going on at robdogg?
Rob: Im looking to spur up some active involvement on my site and I want to reward those who are. I am having an ongoing contest. Every week a new winner will be announced and placed into a 4 ad spot rotation. Anyone can play. I plan on hosting some other contests in the future as well. The first contest will have 4 winners to take up all 4 ad spots then the contest will continue every week. The person with spot 1 will move to spot 2 and 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 and 4 will be removed. Every week this will happen so a new opportunity to be on my site will exist. The entry is simple:
Link to my site in some way shape or form that provides a quality anchored text link, then comment on the contest page to inform me what you did. The link can come from a review, a blogroll, an article review or even a sig from your active forum postings or maybe even inclusion on your social media sites.
Me: link lovin’
Rob: Very much…The reward is free ads in exchange for free link love. It doesn’t cost you anything and it doesn’t cost me anything..just exposure for both parties.
Me: Well thanks for giving me the scoop about you. You’ve been showing up everywhere and I thought we should know what you’re up to. :-)~
Rob: You’re welcome, no prob..
Topics: Interviews |