Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012!

” My Christmas Baby ” (1947, Los Angeles)

Smokey Hogg (Guitar & Vocal)
Hadda Brooks (Piano)
Bill Davis (Bass)
Al “Cake” Wichard (Drums)

A bit of homerism showing through but how about those Dallas Mavericks! So great to see the good guys win one and show once again it takes a team to win not individuals. It would be easy to bash LeBron James but I think Dewayne Wade has as much of the blame on his shoulders as LeBron. I mean what’s up with basically calling Dirk out for his illness and then he has a “injury” after colliding with the Custodian? And in the game they had to win to stay alive, where was Wade? 6 of 16 shooting, 0 for 4 on 3 pointers, and where was he in the 4th quarter. Compare that to Dirk who struggled all game but in crunch time he came up with 8 points. DWade mocking Dirk, Really, I mean Really? Sorry not buying it, not even for a dollar. So all of you Mavs fans, enjoy the video below and you Dallas haters, enjoy it even more!!

Wishing you and yours a most blessed Thanksgiving! The following is a traditional turkey recipe.

Ingredients

* 1 (18 pound) whole turkey
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
* salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1 1/2 quarts turkey stock
* 8 cups prepared stuffing

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Place rack in the lowest position of the oven.
2. Remove the turkey neck and giblets, rinse the turkey, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in the roasting pan. Loosely fill the body cavity with stuffing. Rub the skin with the softened butter, and season with salt and pepper. Position an aluminum foil tent over the turkey.
3. Place turkey in the oven, and pour 2 cups turkey stock into the bottom of the roasting pan. Baste all over every 30 minutes with the juices on the bottom of the pan. Whenever the drippings evaporate, add stock to moisten them, about 1 to 2 cups at a time. Remove aluminum foil after 2 1/2 hours. Roast until a meat thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh reads 180 degrees F (80 degrees C), about 4 hours.
4. Transfer the turkey to a large serving platter, and let it stand for at least 20 to 30 minutes before carving.

Enjoy

I just wanted to take a minute and wish all a Happy Thanksgiving. Times are tough and it seems we hear more negative than positive everywhere we turn but we probably all have at least one thing we can be thankful for, I know I have many. So Happy Thanksgiving and GO COWBOYS!

The Info Group recently received Company Certification status from Microsoft adExcellence. Three employees are required to successfully manage a paid search campaign through Microsoft adCenter and pass the adExcellence test. Mark & Andy Stone and Scott Mattiza all completed the certification process with flying colors.

I finally took a few days away from everything and got my Google Qualified Advertising Professional certification.

To get this recognition I:
• Accepted the terms of the Google Qualified Advertising Professional program.
• Managed at least one AdWords account in a master account for 90 days.
• Built and maintained the Google Qualified Advertising Professional 90-day spend requirement.
• Passed the Google Advertising Professional Exam. (I won’t reveal my score but suffice it to say I could make the honor roll)

The next step is Microsoft adExcellence certification. Yahoo has discontinued their ad professional certifications.

Here we are in the New Year! I’m sure a lot of people are asking where did 2008 go but as they say you can’t look back and so I won’t except to say it was a great year with several highlights.

So 2008 was great and 2009 looks to be even better especially for search. Several questions intrigue me, like, how much will mobile search grow? How will Google promote impact search engine rankings?

I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

What a wonderful response to our newly launched live SEO Training Class available from Smart On SEO. The SEO Starter classes in September have filled up and the response to the October 7 & 21 classes have been just as enthusiastic. If you are looking to learn the fundamentals of effective search engine optimization, REGISTER NOW!

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We are proud to annouce a new venture, Smart On SEO! Over the past 11 years many customers and prospects have express a desire to learn search engine optimization and so using the old saying “experience is the best teacher” as our mantra we have developed a one day class that leaves the attendee with a plan and the tools to fast track their SEO project.

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We had a great time attending the AirHogs game last night. A small way of saying thanks to the hard working staff of The Info Group. Shout out to infielder Cody Merrell for giving the Mattiza boys autographed baseballs and to Fighter Pilot Ace Bacon for stopping by and giving hugs and fist pumps to everyone. To the gang at The Info Group I say, JOB WELL DONE and thanks for the dedication and enthusiasm you bring everyday.

If your company is located in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and looking for a very family-friendly and affordable company outing I can’t recommend attending a Grand Prairie AirHogs game highly enough.
I’m not making a commission for this endorsement but give J Willms a shout for your event.