I first moved to the U.S 20 years ago. During the time of going through the green card and permanent residence process, a family member sent me a guide to learning HTML. I found it fascinating. Pretty soon I was able to code websites from scratch and with a sampling of CSS was able to make them look half-decent too. In preparedness for joining the workforce I built myself up a portfolio of websites, offering my services for free to any company who’d take them.
After creating, building, and launching the websites I realized that there was something more that needed to be done – how were people even going to find the websites that I had built? After doing some searching I came across this thing called Search Engine Optimization, which was still very much in its infancy in the early – mid 2000’s. There wasn’t too much information to be found online so I experimented on my own websites and found out what worked and what didn’t (let’s just say the barrier to entry for SEO then was much lower than what it is now).
Early Career
My first job was as a digital technician at a local photography firm. I offered my ‘webmaster’ skills to update the company’s website and increase their presence in search engines. I built the website to match WCAG coding standards, added page titles and descriptive meta tags, sprinkled keywords throughout the site and the visits jumped. A lot.
During my early SEO career I networked with people I respected in the SEO industry and I was like a sponge, soaking up whatever information I could find. I received a job offer from a boutique SEO agency and jumped at the chance to join. This was really my first foray into the agency world and SEO on a larger scale.
Companies I’ve Worked for:
I’ve enjoyed working for some of the most respected companies in the U.S, here’s a brief outline:
- Bridgestone of Americas – Senior Web Product Manager. Tires are just the beginning.
- Asurion – Senior SEO. Supporting the tech that keeps you connected.
- Nisolo – Director of Customer Acquisition & Inbound Marketing + Data & Analytics. Intentionally designed. Ethically produced. Fairly priced.
- Advance Financial – Digital Marketing Manager. Providing Financial Services throughout Tennessee.
- Cj Advertising – Head of Search. Legal Marketing and Attorney Direct Response Marketing and Advertising.
- Raven Tools (now TapClicks) – SEO Manager. Formerly Sitening, Raven is now one of the comprehensive toolsets for managing digital marketing campaigns.
- Sitening – SEO Manager. A Nashville SEO Agency servicing national clients.
- TopRank Online Marketing – SEO Specialist. One of the leading agencies in online marketing.
For a more detailed overview, feel free to view my LinkedIn profile.
15 years later and I’ve worked as an SEO in-house at global organizations and on the agency side managing campaigns that reached millions of customers, driving significantly more revenue and leads.
Why SEO?
One of the questions I get asked a lot is what keeps me interested in SEO? For me, the opportunity to make a positive impact, whether at a startup or at a globally recognized company, is something that keeps driving me forward.
Opportunity exists for businesses of all sizes to use SEO to grow their audience and revenue. All SEO campaigns are different, it’s not a one size fits all strategy, and that opportunity to keep driving growth is super appealing to me.
I live in Nashville with my wife, Great Pyrenees Mix, Arthur, and a very ornery cat whose name is Bruce. I’m a fully qualified soccer coach through the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), and the United States Soccer Foundation (USSF).
Follow me on Twitter for continued conversations around SEO.