I have never seen a million dollar avatar first hand. I have heard about them before, but never actually knew or met anyone with one. All that has changed now as one of the blogs I visit now features an author that just got his very first one million dollar club avatar. Congrats Rand!

We Know Him As Randfish:

Million Dollar Rand:

Rand Somewhere In Between:

Let me explain a little more in detail for those of you who are not familiar with SEOmoz or their founder and prestigious blogger, Rand Fishkin. Back in August, SEOmoz blog readers and fans were surprised when Rand posted an article asking whether readers thought that his company (known for their laid back, easy going, business model) should accept and pursue outside investments and other venture capital. That article sparked quite a bit of discussion in the SEOmoz community and received 137 comments from readers eager to provide thoughts or feedback as to whether SEOmoz should indeed seek venture funding in their quest to educate others, offer tools and continue to provide their top-notch consulting service.

Obviously, Rand and the other members of SEOmoz had a tough decision to make, but we didn’t have to wait long to receive an answer back from them. In September, Rand posted another article announcing that SEOmoz had made the decision to “go the outside investment route” (for $1.25 million). That post also generated tons of reader comments (109 so far to date). It was nice of Rand to offer up some of the specifics they planned on implementing with the cash. The list included things like investing in new/current employees, attracting new talent, building better technology, expanding marketing efforts and taking some chances.

Ok, fast forward to present day and finally the point of my article. On Sunday, the deal was final per the post on SEOmoz announcing that the it had officially closed. Coincidentally, on the same day that Rand announced the closing, he also updated his avatar (which hasn’t been done in ages) on SEOmoz. The funny thing is that he didn’t only update his avatar picture, it was updated with him in a very nice suit, which he recently wore while attending a celebration with friends. I thought it was funny and if he hadn’t confirmed it was just a coincidence, I would have thought for sure that it had something to do with the funding deal closing (that or I figured he did it to be funny, which it was any way). Shortly after, he updated the avatar yet again, back to a more relaxed version of Rand.

I always get a kick out of the people in this industry, there’s always something entertaining going on. My point in writing this all is to give credit to SEOmoz for all their hard work and dedication to the industry over the years, thanks guys and gals. I also wanted to introduce our readers to them and urge any of you who have not already done so to go check out their blog, content, tools, premium services and other juicy SEOmoz tidbits.

Well done Rand. Can’t wait to see your FIVE MILLION DOLLAR avatar!!