WELCOME TO MY BLOG!
Teaching SEO for Small Business Owners at WordCamp Atlanta 2012 (AKA My Nerd Nirvana)
Photo courtesy of javajoba
WordCamp Atlanta 2012, which took place the first weekend of February, seriously rocked. Not that I’d expect anything less from a conference designed exclusively to bring together WordPress enthusiasts.
I had the privilege of leading two back-to-back sessions on search engine optimization for small business owners. My talk was formally titled, “SEO & WordPress: Do this, not that for the small business owner or solopreneur.” Two hours of talking about SEO and WordPress + meeting other cool business owners = a slice of nerd heaven. 
As always, the audience was fabulous and there were lots of great questions and interaction. If you missed the presentation, here are a few links:
- Atlanta social media consultant Charity Hisle gives a presentation recap on her website
- The SlideShare link to my SEO for small business owners presentation
- WordPress.tv recorded most of the talks from WordCamp Atlanta, so the video of my talk should be available soon (although as of publishing this post it’s not there yet)
For anyone that attended the presentation (or even if you didn’t attend but are trying to learn about search engine optimization), if you have any questions about SEO’ing your website, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Photo courtesy of Brandy Nagel
Announcing My Ebook Launch – Coming January 2012
I’m truly excited about something that’s about to happen in the next week: the launch of my first ebook, How to SEO Your Site: DIY Techniques for Small Business Owners.
In August 2011 I quietly decided to start writing my first “how to SEO” ebook for small business owners, solopreneurs and consultants who couldn’t afford expensive SEO services. I fielded questions frequently from SBOs who were frustrated by the technical jargon. Plus, a lot of people come to me wanting to know how I rank on the first page of Google for my keyword, “Atlanta Copywriter.”
Day by day SEO is becoming more small business friendly, and I certainly wanted to do what I could to be part of that.
The idea formulation, research, outlining, and drafting took a solid 4 months. Because my day job (client copywriting project work) has kept me very busy, I restricted myself to working on my ebook only during weekend, evening, and early morning hours. And finally, it’s ready! A few weeks ago I sent it to a proofreader and graphics layout person, and it is finally ready. I’m thrilled with how it turned out! I just uploaded the ebook to E-Junkie and I’m drafting my sales page now.
Here’s a sneak peak at the cover and table of contents:
Cover Image
Table of Contents:
TOC – How to SEO (A DIY Workbook for SBOs)
The ebook will be ready for purchase soon – just in time to kick off 2012. Thanks to everyone for your support!
SEO Training: Atlanta Workshop Follow-up
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to present a workshop at Digital Atlanta’s 2011 Conference. My presentation was on educating small business owners and solopreneurs how to start an SEO strategy for their own business. We covered keyword research, on page SEO, link building, competitive analysis, myths and misperceptions about SEO, WordPress, Google Analytics and more.
We had a packed room as the workshop sold out all 50 spots pretty quickly, which confirms that SEO is a hot topic. I certainly understand that there is a big need for reliable,understandable information.
Such great things came out of that talk, and one workshop attendee booked me for another SEO related speaking gig in January, which will be great. I’ll start promoting that as soon as details are finalized.
In the meanwhile, here are a few photos from the event. Enjoy!
Live in Atlanta? Want to Learn More About SEO? Join Me For a Free Workshop
Friday, November 11, 2011
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Roam Atlanta, 5815 Windward Parkway (2nd floor), Alpharetta, GA 30005
Business Workshop: “SEO On a Budget: Do This Not That” 
Atlanta’s hottest conference on social media, technology and marketing is only a few weeks away. This week-long conference, Digital Atlanta, features multiple free and affordable workshops, panels and seminars takes place November 7-11, 2011.
I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a speaker this year. My topic is “SEO On a Budget: Do This Not That.” Designed for solopreneurs and small business owners in particular, the session description is as follows:
If the thought of implementing an SEO strategy seems too daunting for a small business owner like yourself, then this workshop is for you. Rather than tell you what to do, we’re going to show you what to do (and what not to do) through case studies, examples, graphics, and stories. We’ll review the basic fundamentals of SEO and share action strategies that you can take away and implement immediately. Get ready to take notes as we discuss the myths, misunderstandings and must-do action items to start kick-start an effective SEO strategy.
Here are the session details and logistics:
Cost: FREE
Friday, November 11, 2011
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Roam Atlanta, 5815 Windward Parkway (2nd floor), Alpharetta, GA 30005
Business Workshop: “SEO On a Budget: Do This Not That”
Although this workshop is absolutely free (score!), RSVP is required. To register, visit http://jmunn.eventbrite.com/. To find out more about the other awesome events taking place during Digital Atlanta, visit the website for the full schedule: www.DigitalAtlanta.org
Bring ALL your SEO questions and concerns so we can get some really good dialogue going. I look forward to seeing you there!
P.S. Right before I hit “publish” on this blog post, I checked the registration list. We’re already about 50% full at 25 attendees. Register today to reserve your space! If for some reason you can’t attend but would like more information, I’m going to try and record the workshop. While I can’t promise that 100% (I haven’t exactly cleared this with the event organizers yet), email me if you’d like to be notified about free access to the video.
What Do You Want – And Expect – From Your Copywriter?
Do you participate in industry surveys or do you automatically hit the “delete” button when you receive a request? I try to fill out most survey requests I receive (especially when the results are published publicly). One that I take the time to participate in every year is the Freelance Forecast survey from Boomvang Creative Group. The results from the 2011 survey are in and as usual, the responses are very interesting. This survey not only polls the freelancer, but also the client.
Here are some interesting takeaways about what clients want from their freelance copywriter. Would you agree with them? This is only an excerpt from the long list of items that clients thought were important, but I’ve included just a few crucial ones here:
- Deliver on what was requested
- Listen!
- Keep me posted that progress is being made through the course of a project and that the deadline will be hit without any problems.
- Just GET it!
- Suggest ways to make my job easier while working with them
- Be reliable and respond calls/emails in a timely manner
- Research our subject matter and audience before tackling assignments
- I want freelancers to tell me when there is a better way to do something than what I have told them to do. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t, but I always want to hear the reasoning behind their choices. I want their expertise.
Source: Freelance Forecast 2011, ©BoomvangCreative.com.
What else would you add to this list?
Until next time!
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