Robin Good Interview: Empowering Users, Search Engines, SEMPO

by Massimo Burgio, January 2010

It’s a little bit of a shame that I took so long to publish this interview to Robin Good. Originally recorded on a sunny december morning in Rome, these files ended up in a back-up hard drive I lost track of, and that I finally found more recently (with a lot of other “lost files“). Nice that I finally got them back.

Robin Good is one of my favorite references when it comes to internet marketing. Despite of the Sherwood-esque nickname Robin Good decided to be public with, Robin (real name Luigi Canali De Rossi) is an italian chap living in Rome where he set up the headquarters of his organization, that keeps growing behind the efforts of the knowledge sharing website Master New Media and other independent publishing ventures such as RobinGood.tv.

As a matter of fact, independent publishing is what made Robin…. independent, as he has been the very first pioneer in Italy (and among the firsts in the world) in setting up a business model based on Freeconomics (the free Economics recently discussed in a book also by Chris Anderson of Long Tail fame) – giving knowledge away for free, empowering web users towards the adoption of internet tools that can actually make them free to set up any publishing initiative on the web.

Robin Good’s business model is based on advertising, and Robin has been the first independent publisher in Italy to be able to get a steady stream of profits generating uniquely from advertising on his web properties.

So I put my SEMPO hat and, on a sunny december morning, I met and interviewed Robin Good! Please note that, even if the recordings are 2 years old, the topics discussed from both Robin and myself (below) are still hot and valid today – maybe because we both are internet visionaries? =)

Independent publishing has been of course the topic of the first part of the video interview, a good way for Robin Good to introduce himself and the topic. Watch the video here embedded in this page.

In the second part of the video Robin Good touches base on search engines, and compares search engines to “The Great Librarian“, a very interesting metaphor that really amused me – but very true! Video here on this page too.

Third and final part of the interview to Robin Good went back to independent publishing and, more in detail, on the vast availability of internet tools that can allow any user to set up any publishing venture on the web for free. Watch out, free in the sense that you can accomplish many thing on the internet without buying big and expensive platforms and tools, but reaching your internet goals will still have a cost in terms development, production and maintenance.

Setting up an online publishing venture is not a game and requires vision, skills and plenty of time and material. And yes, some money too – because Freeconomy is good, but then you will find out that to make a great job you still need the premium version of most of the free tools… Anyway, Robin’s vision at this regard is pretty clear, and I personally support it. Watch the third and final part of the video interview on internet tools.

I need to post also the videos of Robin Good interviewing me! As a Master publisher and video evangelist, Robin didn’t waste the opportunity to interview me for RobinGood.tv, in a long recorded conversation on several search engine optimization and social media marketing topics.

My video by Robin Good have been around online for a long time with the title “SEO and Social Media: Q&A with Massimo Burgio“. For your convenience, I have put together some of the key segments, where I answer to Robin’s questions about the importance of good content for social media marketing, and of a frank communication in social media engagement.

We also discussed more social media marketing topics such as “which are the best social media network” and about “which social network companies should focus”. Good tips also on the management of social media marketing campaigns and communities on social networks, and a final word on SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization I proudly represent. Enjoy the videos. Thanks Robin!