Resume
Internet marketer with 6+ years of experience in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, organic search engine optimization (SEO), e-commerce management and copywriting. Former newspaper editor with excellent writing skills.
Internet Marketer
4/2009 – present
SEO Woman Internet Marketing (http://www.seowoman.com/)
As an independent contractor, I have helped clients with a number of internet marketing activities, including SEO site reviews, phone consulting, PPC management and copywriting. In addition, I have developed several affiliate websites under my own brand, designed primarily in CSS on Wordpress and the Thesis framework.
Webmaster/SEO
9/2003 – 4/2009
Aria Medical Equipment (http://www.ariamedical.com/)
At this Internet-based medical sales company, I was directly responsible for every facet of our online presence, as well as the bulk of our offline marketing efforts. This includes web design, e-commerce management, copywriting, pay-per-click advertising, social media, search engine optimization, email marketing and blogging.
Organic SEO
Using methods including linkbuilding, on-page optimization, blogging and high-quality directory submissions, I achieved first-page organic rankings for a number of profitable search terms on Google, such as “medical equipment,” “exam table” and “home care beds”.
PPC Advertising
My online advertising budget averaged around $25,000 per month, which included PPC ads on Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and several smaller niche websites such as MedMarketplace.com. Over time, I increased the average click-through rate on our PPC ads from 1-2 percent to over 10 percent and ROI by 40%.
E-commerce
Since my hire, Aria’s online catalog grew from about 50 products to nearly 4,000, the bulk of which I personally added. I have installed, configured or otherwise created e-commerce stores on Magento, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, osCommerce and eBay, as well as set up Google Base (formerly Froogle) product feeds. By modifying the shopping cart page based on basic usability guidelines, I quadrupled our average monthly online sales orders and created a strong new revenue stream.
Analytics
Each month, I prepared a detailed Return on Investment (ROI) report for the management team, showing the breakdown of sales vs. ad dollars spent for each type of product. I am very familiar with Google Analytics and the phone call tracking program ClickPath.
Copywriting
Since the majority of the products sold at Aria were professional medical equipment, I was constantly required to summarize highly technical documentation into readable product descriptions. I wrote copy for PPC ads, print brochures, email campaigns, newsletters, how-to articles, training materials and executive correspondence.
Hardware / Software
Web-based software I frequently use includes Google Analytics, Docs and Gmail, Crazy Egg, Wufoo and many others. I am most comfortable with a Windows machine but have years of experience with both Apple and Linux operating systems. My day-to-day life involves extensive use of Microsoft Excel and Adobe Photoshop, as well as a grab bag of text editors, FTP programs, chat / Twitter clients and web browsers.
Memberships / Conferences
Major conferences I have attended include SMX Advanced (Seattle 2008), Pubcon (Austin 2009) and Search Engine Strategies (San Jose 2009). I have also attended one-day SEO training sessions with ClickZ (New York 2007) and SEOmoz (Seattle 2007). I’m a former SEOmoz Pro member and a WebmasterWorld Supporter, and I have been active in the SEO community online at Sphinn, Twitter and many other social media sites.
Associate Editor
3/2000 – 7/2002
Reno News and Review (http://www.newsreview.com/reno/)
As second in command at this alternative newsweekly, my duties were flexible, but the bulk of my job consisted of writing stories, copy editing all content before it went to press, assigning stories to freelancers and training interns. I also did some page design and photo manipulation. Before being promoted to Associate Editor, I also worked as Calendar Editor, Copy Editor, Proofreader and Arts and Lifestyle Editor.
I won a Nevada Press Association award for Best Local Sports Feature for Zoom Zoom! The Sports Car Club of America puts you in the driver’s seat. An archive of my work at the Reno News and Review can be found on my author page.
Editor in Chief
5/1999 – 5/2000
Sagebrush (http://nevadasagebrush.com/)
I managed all aspects of the Sagebrush student newspaper except for ad sales. My duties included writing, editing and assigning stories, working with photos and page design, hiring, firing and training staff and managing a budget of approximately $145,000. Before being elected Editor in Chief, I also worked at the Sagebrush as Assistant News Editor, Copy Editor and Staff Writer.