SEO Roadshow interview: Mediadonis aka Marcus Tandler

You are known by the name Mediadonis, why this name?
Well, I actually had a different monike, when I first started out doing SEO and contributing to forums. Since I was working as Head of Online Marketing for a german jobboard, I just couldn´t be that open about my endeavours in the SEO & Affiliate sphere. But when I quit there, I was looking for a brandable moniker, to have a fresh & clean start. A friend of mine actually thought of that name first, brainstorming for possible names for his media-company (he´s actually doing classic media stuff, and no online marketing). He came up with another name for his company, and never used the name, so I asked him, if I can have the it… and I´ve been called Mediadonis ever since :). 

Would you call yourself more an affiliate or more a search-person?
I consider myself an Affiliate, although I do quite a lot of SEO consulting (and also speak mostly on SEO stuff at conferences, and rarely on Affiliate stuff) 

You travel a lot, what sort of trips are those? All to events?
Most of the times it´s actually really conferences. I´ve been enjoying the conference-track for quite a while now, although I get kind of tired the last couple of weeks. But I just had a really heavy travel schedule, speaking at about 13 conferences last year.

But I also just love to travel. It´s so nice for an Affiliate to be able to work from literally everywhere, since you really only need your laptop. 

How would you compare the European search community to the rest of the world? Is Europe behind, in front or is it similar?
It´s definetly behind, although there´s a lot of stuff, like f.e. Post-View  Advertising, which is almost unknown over the big ocean. That´s one of the reasons, I love going to conferences in the U.S. – there´s just a lot of stuff, which is already old over there, but you can still earn good bucks over here in germany with! 

The German market seems to be growing more and more, how do you feel the German market stands compared to the rest of Europe?
I think Germany is one of the best markets in whole Europe. It´s got loads of internet-savvy  people, that love eCommerce and order stuff over the internet. And Google got a tight grip on the german market, being the total monopolist source of traffic over here – so you really don´t have to worry about other searchengines & platforms, and can focus completely on doing a great job in Google! 

What will be the biggest source of traffic in five years?
I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you :) 

Do you believe real time search engines will be a thread to Google's dominance?
Not really. Real time search engines are mostly used by really tech-savvy folks, and not the general audience. And Google does a pretty good job these days on f.e. current events.  

Would you call Twitter a search engine?
Not really. Would you? 

How do you feel about Bing?
The U.S. results are actually pretty good, but in germany it´s still good´ol live search in a new dress… But I got quite a lot of Bing referrers in the last couple of weeks, maybe it could even pick up a bit, when the Big M. rolls out a massive advertising campaign?! 

What's your view on Searchcowboys as you know it?
SearchCowboys has really become a must-read for anyone in the search-industry, especially if you´re working in any of the European markets! Honour to whom honour is due Bas, you really do a great job with SC!

We are glad that Marcus likes Searchcowboys because Marcus will be an addition to our team of columnists. Be sure to look for his contributions!

Below you can find a video of Marcus when visiting the Amazon for a project Amazonica, which supports the life in the Amazon.