In 1938, legendary Jazz Promoter John Hammond saw a huge business opportunity. He organized and promoted a concert in New York City featuring the three masters of a new vibrant art form. When Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade "Lux" Lewis performed in Carnegie Hall, it launched a national craze. Businesses and clubs had to hop on the bandwagon and get with the program. Newspapers began to assign special editors to cover the ?music beat? and report about this incredible energy as its popularity spread into the clubs. Soon all of the ?happening? places were featuring top musicians playing these infectious energetic tunes. Club owners seeking to get good reviews and ?cash in? would do whatever necessary to bribe the music editors so they could acquire good press. Bribes of free food, free drinks, free women were commonplace. Musicians and club owners understood that one bad review from the critics would kill the good times! Or so they thought?



The name of this musical art form was Boogie-Woogie. The slang term that the musicians gave to the critics was the Boogie Man!

Yes, the Boogie Man was the monster who could criticize and sit in judgment.

In spite of his inability to create or understand music they somehow were qualified to evaluate it. The Boogie Man, like an executioner could determine the fate of musicians and club owners with his words. The Boogie Man was fear incarnate. He could kill the party as quickly as the review could be published. The Boogie Man was bad news!

It is horrifying to think about how the Boogie Man turns the possibility of a dream into a nightmare. Or how the Boogie Man distorts our own ideas of success and happiness by making us believe that he can stop the music in our lives! All illusions that unfortunately every great artist has embraced at some point in their careers.

Stop and think about what life would be like without the telephone, the car, airplanes, electricity, the internet or any other incredible creation that man has created to resolve the problems related to survival. I can assure that these blessed inventions would never have seen the light of day if their creators were concerned about the boogie man. The boogie man is not only a concern over the judgment of others. The boogie man is much more insidious, he represents everything in our life that we cannot take responsibility for. Our blame list so to speak. The boogie man is that part of us that makes us believe that the problem is somewhere over there.

Have you ever noticed how scared people are of being judged?

I tell you this story because I consider todays search engine the boogie man of the new millenium. The search engines sit in judgment just like the boogie man of yesteryear. They terrify small and large businesses alike. Worse they judge and never establish the criteria for their judgment.

My question to you is, who empowers todays eBoogieman?

If you understand what creates high search engine rankings you can always do the dance and get them back.

My advice: Get On The Other Side of Judgment!

Promote, Promote, Promote.

There are lots of ways to drive traffic to your website that do not rely on the eBoogieMan.

Sometimes it takes death to teach us about life. Occasionally we must go through misery to understand joy. And sometimes it takes the slang born in the Great Depression to understand that we will always get whatever we put out attention on. You can Boogie Woogie or you can waltz with the Boogie Man. The choice is always yours!