In no way do I purport to understand the alchemy of search engine optimization ? that arcane conflux of meta tags, algorithmic jockeying and ritual sacrifice to Google that produces page rankings and spankings in equal measure. Well, who knows if it’s equal ? that sort of proprietary information lives in some server barn in Mountain View, CA. This much I do know: I invested a modicum of effort in upping SEO on DHowell.com (the original incarnation of FMRL.com) with eye to ranking favorably with such terms as ?branded entertainment,? ?transmedia? and my own keyword cocktail ?branded transmedia? and have enjoyed positive results both online and off. By flicking a few switches on the SEO-friendly Thesis Theme for WordPress and going over the site with the fine grit web tools Google offers, I was pleased to receive an email from San Francisco expat entrepreneur Dave Watson, who works in similar spheres as I in the Czech Republic. Apparently, Watson Googled something akin to ?transmedia blogs? and found DHowell Media Group (now FMRL), which led to an invitation to coffee at Napa’s Oxbow Market while he visited the states. There, we swapped notes on our shared niche, talked shop and hatched fiendish schemes. SEO as a networking tool ? what’s next? CRM for dating?