About Jey Pandian
The strongest steel is forged by the fires of hell.
It is pounded and struck repeatedly before it’s plunged back into the fire.
The fire gives it power and flexibility, and the blows give it strength.
Those two things make the metal pliable and able to withstand every battle it’s called upon to fight.
-Chthonian Savitar
Early Childhood
You could say I had a rough time growing up. My father passed away when I was four years old and I remember lighting his funeral fires. In my childhood, I was frequently beaten up and stigmatized in school because the other kids didn’t like the way I looked (I wore hearing aids).
Where most people played handball or dodge ball on the playground and interacted with other kids, I spent my life in the school library reading books about famous leaders such as Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, and Emperor Ashoka.
From them, I learned the meaning of character and what it meant to have integrity and loyalty. I learned the meaning of leadership and the value of inspiring people and what it meant to have them place their lives in your hands and follow you wholeheartedly.
I desired to be like them one day; that I may have the respect and trust of my fellow man.
College
I studied the sciences in hopes of becoming a surgeon. My dream was to eliminate poverty from India.
During the summer months, I would travel to India and spend weeks in the slums of India, talking to doctors and slum dwellers about their vital needs. My family was frightened for my safety and often refused to let me go on these trips but I did so anyways.
I carefully documented the horrors and atrocities of the Indian government on those who were less privileged and republished these news in the school newspaper to help the gain funds to fuel social projects in India.
In India, I felt a piece of me break when I saw wealthy folks treating the underprivileged like trash and ignoring them completely.
I swore that I would never be that way and that I would always give my fellow human being, a chance, their dignity and strive to make things better.
Professional Life
I got my start in SEO by accident. I worked for an online retail shop and saw all these empty fields for products which said meta-description and page-titles and systematically filled out over 20,000 items. I thought carefully about what people might type in for that product and used those words.
Little did I know that I was engaging in the foundation of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) known as Keyword Research.
A few weeks later, my client’s revenue grew by nearly 60% and I was hooked.
I found my way to Aaron Wall’s SEO Book and Todd Malicoat’s Stuntdubl website and spent years there. I studied and mastered Pay Per Click (PPC) via Google AdWords and then found Avinash Kaushik’s Occam’s Razor and learned web analytics.
I spent a few years working as the direct report of Jonathan Buckley – an extremely savvy Vice President of Marketing and learned email marketing and lead generation from him. I learned how to put myself in the customer’s shoes and think of how they perceive one’s product so that one can sell the right way to them.
I learned that marketing is composed of many different elements which must work together like cogs in order to effectively pay dividends. I learned that the bigger the marketing plan, the more one must win the respect of people around them in order to accomplish one’s goals.
Present
Today, I work for Catalyst as an SEO Manager. I joined this company to help further my knowledge in my craft as an SEO and pursue my love of internet marketing.
I am blessed by the generosity of many in the SEO community who have taken the time and effort to teach me about SEO and marketing, because without them, I would not be where I am today.
I have taken a moment to list them all below:
- Aaron Wall
- Todd Malicoat
- Avinash Kaushik
- Andy Hagans
- Debra Mastaler
- Rae Hoffman
- Brian Provost
- Michael Gray
- Tim Ash
- Marshall D. Simmonds
- Eric Ward
- Peter DaVangelo
- Lyndon Antcliff
- Seth Godin
- Neil Patel
- Richard Baxter
- Roger Montini
- Hugh Macleod
- Vanessa Fox
- Dave Naylor
- John Andrews
- Vanilla Coke
- Martypants
- Kris Roadruck
- Adam Audette
- Bill Slawski
- Lauren Vaccarello
- Alan Bleiweiss
- Rishil Lakhani
- Michael Martinez
- Eric Enge
- Ted Ulles
- David Mihm
- Dan Zarrella
- Ralph Teigtmeier
- Andy Beard
- Sid Kaw
- Kimberly Krause
- Jordan Kasteler
- Dave Snyder
- Greg Boser
- Loren Baker
- Brett Tabke
- Selena Narayanasamy
- Melissa Fach
- Elizabeth Able
- Nicholas Volkart
- Matt Bailey
- Thomas Ballantine
- Annie Cushing
- Dan Cristo
- Thomas Fjordside
- Donna Fontenot
- Kate Gamble
- Clarence d’avricourt
- Ruud Heijnen
- Lasse Heindorff
- Alan K’necht
- Jim Rudnick
- Don Rhoades
- Dave Harry
- Doc Sheldon
- Ian Lurie
- Ross Hudgens
- Lee Odden
- Danny Sullivan
- Brian Clark
- Darren Rowse
- Tony Adam
- Joanna Lord
- Rand Fishkin
- Tom Critchlow
- Will Critchlow
- Danny Glover
- Gabriella Sannino
- Boris Krumov
- Hugo Guzman
- Steve Gerencer
- Eren McKay
- Danny Wheeler
- Bryan Eisenberg
- Bruce Clay
- Lisa Barone
- Jonathan Allen
- Laura Lippay
- Jeremiah Andrick
- Earl Grey
- Michael Notte
- Chris Brogan
- Jessica Strichiolla
- Mike Grehan
- Paddy Moogan
- Andy Beal
- Terry Van Horne
- Jahnelle Pittman
- Adam Humphrey
- Andrew Shotland
- Mike Blumenthal
- Barry Adams
- Brian McFarlane
- Brian Ratzer
- Dan Thies
- Rob Adler
- Eric Wu
- Garrett French
- Jennifer Van Iderstyne
- Justin Parks
- Kathryn Katz
- Branko Rihtman
- Lyena Solomon
- Wil Reynolds
- Mel Nelson
- Rhea Drysdale
- Rebekah May
- Tony Verre
- Darren Shaw
- Wiep Knol
- Geordie Carswell
- Barry Schwartz
- Matt McGee
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