Suppose You Were A Web Designer Like Ron Tebo

Suppose you wanted to make a lot of money for yourself as a web entrepreneur. How would you do it? Try different businesses until one of them clicked? Or try promoting different hot button search engine trends until one of them took off?

Ron Tebo does both. Because businesses named things like GoRonnie and Menu Schmenu might not have the trending capabilities that can get a guy noticed (yes, both of those names are among Ron's many business attempts), finding a trendy topic is probably the best way to go.

How high do you think items about child predators trend? Very high.

In fact, in 2007 the name of a self proclaimed pedophile named Jack McClellan charted pretty much through the roof, with a trending index of 150. For reference: President Obama trends at 80 on the Google index. 2007 is when Ron Tebo used McClellan's name and started a website called jackmcclellan.com.

That's how Ron Tebo found himself on television and radio - he started using a very hot name, and told people who came to his site that he going to fight against child predators. Why? Because he was abused as a child!

This illustration of Ron's face is modelled from one of the many videos shown of Ron's interviews during that time. I want you to look at it because I want you to notice something each time you watch a video of him being interviewed: Observe each time he looks down in just this way, to the right. According to body language, this is a common sign that someone is being creative - or possibly deceptive. If someone is looking to the left, they are recalling something, usually remembering details. Remember this. Watch when this action happens. It might help you form a few questions. Also remember this as we go through the next two sections of this blog, going deeply into this topic.

Ron himself has often repeated the full list of news shows and organizations that interviewed him after he created jackmcclellan.com. He was interviewed on CBS , on Larry King (transcript), on Fox News, by Glenn Beck (CNN transcript, scroll down), and several other media venues. I have seen a complaint to a gentleman named Ben on a page of facebook called The Survivor's Club in which he complained that ABC was not airing his September interview. The complaint was made April 14 of an unknown year (facebook doesn't post years) and I do not know whether this was about McClellan or the more recent story we will cover next - but it shows how determined Ron was to get on television. He asks Ben to "be the voice and inspiration to millions. Air my story!" Is he asking Ben to be the inspiration to millions, or is he wanting that for himself?

People have questioned why Ron did this from the beginning.  One person, Xavier von Erck, published his ideas about Ron in a piece called Navigating Stupidity. Ron's  response to Xavier is typical of Ron's responses, which snowball over time (I know that method only too well). The twist is that Ron had actually contacted Xavier asking him to help promote his story (see Xavier's piece). In Ron's response he ridiculed Xavier for having a website called Evil Vigilante - and yet, he apparently thought that was a terrific idea, because he borrowed the concept for Scifake.com, his current project. Ron's tour of the media was very broad, including a very odd turn in interviews during which he defended - yes defended - Jack McClellan. After all, he owed a lot to Jack. On the video of the Fox News Interview, Ron comments about Jack McClellan: "My right hand wants to shake his hand, my left hand wants to knock him up the side of his head, because, you know, if it wasn't for Jack, I wouldn't be here..." It was a sentiment he would repeat time and again.

But media attention only lasts so long. Ron decided to become an Internet vigilante and find other prey to keep things going. Fortunately for him (not for some of us!) that opportunity came fast and hard with  the sharp rise in paranormal shows, and the possible godsend (for him) of a series called Psychic Kids. He started concentrating a lot of time on his business with Scifake.com. His interest in predators and psychic fakery dovetailed nicely for him in this series.

His need for attention to keep things going led to regularly attacking Chip Coffey and Psychic Kids, then snowballed into acts that eventually brought him my way. But more on all that later. Let's go back and take a look at another method of getting noticed.

If you are a man like Ron, and have tasted the fruits of public attention all over the place, what do you do to keep that attention?

Is one of the options to go find the guy that abused you? And - why not make a video of confronting him?

Whoops - I can't provide a link to that video, because the video suddenly disappeared from youtube the day I posted on facebook that I was starting this blog.

Well - no, not quite gone. Not completely. And...I'd already seen it. Numerous times.

That's coming up next.