About

Who Am I and Why Does My Opinion Matter?

The first question is easy to answer. I’m Brent Chaters, I’ve been involved in web or multi-media design since 1998. I’ve done both freelance and full time work over that time, working on ranging of projects everything from web design to CD multi-media applications to mobile web design to search optimization both paid and organic to information architecture to social media strategy and deployment to name but a few things, for both small business and the enterprise company.

So why does my opinion matter? That’s probably the most important question. The problems or topics I’m interested in covering are I hope broad enough to apply to either web design in general or to business as a whole. I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked on sites for small and medium business all the way up to large international corporate sites. Hopefully some of the topics will cover both the small business perspective as well as the large corporate perspective, sometimes these goals align and sometimes they will have very different needs or markets. You can also check out my resume on linked-in.

I’m also the author of Mastering Search Analytics published by O’Reilly, and have written for the Search Engine Journal

I’ve been involved in projects that have won or been nominated for local and national awards, however in the end to be honest it’s just that; my opinion, you may agree with it you may disagree with it, wherever and whenever I can I will try and keep the dialog open to let you post comments and to further discuss any topics.

What’s This All About?

Gab Monkey is my personal space to voice my thoughts on what is happening with web design, technology, in our personal lives and changing how we do business, this may cover topics including: search optimization, evolution of the web, social media, and pretty much anything else that I feel like. On occasion I may divert to other topics, but hopefully the conversation will always be thought provoking and not just a re-hash of information you’ve read on other other sites.

When Will I Make Updates?

Whenever I can or whenever I have something to say. I’d like to say once a week, maybe more maybe less. The main thing is I don’t want to just be putting up stuff for the sake of putting it up, that’s what Twitter is for. Fortunately all the blog posts are published via // RSS and Email so you can subscribe to get content pushed to you when you want it to make it as convenient as possible.

How is this site any different from all the other sites like this?

Hopefully a lot of what goes up on my site isn’t just me amplifying what other sites are publishing, you won’t see any articles re-published from other sites here (I may comment here about them) but this site isn’t meant to amplify what others are saying, or to make lists of other sites. I’d like to think that what I have to say will spark some discussion, or at the least give you something to think about.

Why The Name Gab Monkey?

Mostly because I thought it was a fun name. I think sometimes we forget that the things we are passionate about are not always the most important things in life, I wanted something that would be a reminder that the point of this site is engage in conversation, to have informal discussions, maybe rant occasional, maybe even rave, but it’s still just a site about web design, digital marketing and technology and it’s meant to be fun.

Where else am I online?