Its been a great year and it looks like 2009 will be a year of change. Now is the time of year when every blog in the world does a predictions post but I am not doing that as I hate them….

So what I thought I would do is run through some of the people I have met for the first time or gotten to know better this year and explain why you should know them too: -

Dean Hunt
I have known Deano since before he was Dean Hunt Buzz Marketing Genius and this year we got back in touch again. I love the way Deans mind works. I know he has some big plans for 2009 and he is as always someone to follow closely

Read and subscribe to Deans blog and follow him on Twitter @deanhunt08

Julie Joyce
Mrs Jay Young and owner at Linkfish as well as an SEO-Chick and a guest blogger at SearchMarketingGurus.

Got to know Julie a bit better this year and she really makes me laugh, most Americans tend to miss interpret my British sense of humour but Julie gives as good as she gets.

Personally I think shes a bit of a crab sniffer, you would need to ask her why…

Follow her on Twitter @juliejoyce

Chris Angus
Chris is a quiet member of the SEO world but the more I have gotten to know him the more I am of the opinion that hes a great guy. Genuine, kind and really knows his stuff.
One of the main qualities I admire in people is the ability to be a ‘free thinker’ – someone who doesnt follow the crowd but has his own opinions and actually puts them into action.

I think the quote from Aaron Wall on this post is very apt

“He is a bit quiet compared to many ‘names,’ but when I have a question about searches, he is one of the first guys I ask.”

Chris writes at his blog Pingpongpie

Niall Harbison
I have followed Nialls cooking videos since he first posted ‘The perfect steak’ on Youtube and have watched as he turned that into the growing business that is iFoods.tv today. A great entreprenuer and a man who understands how new media can help him build a valuable brand.

Have a look at iFoods (Warning – it will make you very hungry!)
And follow Niall on twitter @niallharbison

The guys at Setfire Media
Had the chance to spend a little time with Ian Cowley, David Lindop and Sean Blanks when I was over at SEOroadshow and you couldnt meet nicer people. Sean has been a real gent helping me with some details on a forthcoming project and to spend some time over at their place was great, they have a really strong business by the looks of things.

Hop on over to Setfire and see what they are about

Other people I managed to get to know a little better were: -
@simonheseltine – Good at SEO bad at choosing a decent footy team
@storyspinner – Li is one of the nicest people I know
Ed and Mary Purkiss – You couldnt find a nicer couple – go on try – see!
Dr Karl, Ben and Stephen (@bonytoad) over at conversion rate experts – brilliant at what they do.

I hope you all have a great 2009 I know I will!

Just a side note, if you like any post on here please feel freee to tweet it by clicking the link at the bottom of each post.

When Esrun told me his macbook had died I assumed he would go out and buy another.

But he decided to do what Steve always does and throw a surprise… He built his own Quad Core Mac!

I noticed Rob tweeting about it today again and it looks as if a few people will be following his lead.

Personally I am not sure ill be able to do it, heres how mine would end up

Well the seat is more comfy and its a macbook on my lap and its not quite as messy but you get the general idea…

Im looking for your suggestions on what I should write about. To make it easy for you to tell me I have added Skribit to the sidebar on the homepage here.

Its a simple service where you can suggest topics for me to cover and ill do my best to write content that matches those suggestions.

Some things I have been thinking of writing about include: -

Scraping – basic principles and technique
Making your on page links less attractive than the links that pay
Link bait starters guide