Hello fellow SEOers and SEMers! Welcome to SEO-KungFu.com, formerly the In-House SEO Blog (inhouseseo.wordpress.com). I chose the domain name SEO-KungFu.com because of a comment I posted on SEO-Chicks.com. In my comment I quoted an upcoming Dreamworks movie called Kung Fu Panda. Stay with me. The main character, Po the Panda (played by Jack Black), is a noodle maker that wants to become a Kung Fu master, but he’s not quite Fung Fu material … or so we’re led to believe. During his training his master asks him to demonstrate his skills, to which Po replies very hesitantly:

“Yeah, OK. I mean, I just ate, so I’m still digesting. So my Kung Fu might not be as strong as … laaaater on.”

If you haven’t seen the trailer, watch it and you’ll laugh yourself silly. Anyhow, Po’s explanation for his lack of skills kinda of reminds me of my path to becoming an SEO Kung Fu master. I am a relative newcomer to the world of SEO. I started in early 2007 and have been working hard to catch up.

I read most of the major SEO-related blogs like SearchEngineLand, Matt Cutts, SEOMoz, SEOBook.com, etc. I comment occasionally, but I feel I am, for the most part, out of my league with the SEOers who post regularly. That’s about to change thanks to this blog.

Hmmm, it just dawned on me that I should probably introduce myself! My name is Gary Cope and I am the De facto in-house search engine optimization and marketing professional for a company in Southwest Virginia.

Before you get off and running through the rest of the site, and I know you’re dying to, let me throw out a couple of disclaimers before you start rummaging.

First, I think I have a pretty good grip on the SEO basics, h1 and h2 tags, title and alt tags, link building, CSS, etc. I also do a considerable amount of keyword research for my company’s four Web sites. I am an army of one, which I suspect is the case for many of you who are also in-house SEOers.

Secondly, I am not Aaron Wall, Danny Sullivan, nor do I claim to know as much about SEO and SEM as they do. My path to an SEM career is one that would make your head spin. In short I’m a former sports journalist, turned corporate communications specialist, turned Web designer, turned Web developer, turned search engine optimization professional. It’s a long story. E-mail me and I’ll tell you about it if you enjoy tearing your hair out from sheer boredom.

If you are an in-house SEOers at your company and would like to talk shop or bounce some ideas of a fellow SEOer, by all means, e-mail me at gary.cope@gmail.com.

Together, we can make our SEO Kung Fun stronger and fight the good in-house SEO fight!

About Gary Cope, the founder of SEO-KungFu.com:

From TV sports anchor to self-taught Web designer and developer, Gary Cope has had quite the professional career since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1997. Armed with a degree in Communications, Gary moved to Michigan to work as the Iron Mountain bureau chief for WLUC-TV. After a short, and very cold, stint in the Upper Peninsula, Gary returned to Virginia where landed a videographer gig with WSLS-TV in Roanoke, but quickly worked his way up to sports reporter and anchor. He also co-produced Virginia Tech Sports Today during the 1998 season.

Gary left WSLS in September 1999 to take the sports reporter and weekend anchor job at WVIR-TV in Charlottesville. He spent two and half years at NBC29 before leaving television to become the sports editor for The Culpeper Star-Exponent and as a sports talk radio show host at WKAV in Charlottesville. After the managing editor of the paper abruptly resigned, Gary interviewed for the job, but Media General draggd their feet, so he accepted an offer from the state’s top weekly paper, The Fauquier Citizen, where he went on to earn a Virginia Press Association award for his sports feature writing and two more VPA awards for layout and design. Gary joined the corporate world as a communications specialist at SRA International, Inc., in Fairfax, VA. He moved back to the New River Valley with his wife and son. Gary currently works as the lead Web developer and in-house SEM. Gary founded CWI Media & Marketing in 2005. His wife Donna now runs the company.

Gary also founded VTHokieFans.com, an independent Web site covering Virginia Tech football, and writes for TechHoops.com and The Butter Room.

Gary is a native of Newport News, Virginia, but lives in Pulaski, Virginia.

Find Gary at the following sites: