I know that sometimes it’s difficult to believe folks online. There are plenty of scam artists and wannabes hanging out everywhere that will lead you to believe they are what they say they are. That’s why I want you to know me, and tell you what makes me qualified to talk about this subject and in fact, anything online for that matter.
I’ve worked online since 1997 when I created my first website which is still alive and well today. It didn’t take much to be off and running creating more websites for other businesses. Remember, back then it was the “stone age” and you had to hand-code a lot of websites online. Thank goodness they’ve evolved.
Shortly thereafter, I became co-owner of a firm that offered web hosting as well as web site design and ended up doing site design for limousine companies. That then moved into working for a large telecommunications firm in the programming department where I created databases and back-end Intranets using PHP programming. Shortly therafter I moved into a management position within the same company with control over a very large national project. As the story goes with a lot of companies even back then, they had to start laying off hoards of people and my entire department along with the large national product was nixed.
Now without a job, and in a panic, I hooked up with a company that I had ties with in the past and together we set out developing more websites for some very well known companies such as Working Mother Magazine and NAFE, the National Association of Female Executives.
It was during this time that began my interest in SEO. With competition becoming more and more fierce online, I literally submerged myself in the study of SEO. I made mistakes, just like anyone and through trial and error, more study and more implementation, finally “got it”. This was over 7 years ago.
Since then I have consulted small and mid-size businesses on how to develop their websites in such a way that not only would the search engines love them, but that visitors would want to come and stay.
Quite a few years ago I started up this website, SlingBrain, but really didn’t do anything with it. I was quite literally far too busy and to be honest, didn’t know what to offer people.
Then it dawned on me “why not give advice and tips taken from my history in SEO and online marketing for free?”
And so, the site finally came into existence.
A couple of years ago, I toyed with the thought of writing a book for small to mid-size companies telling them exactly how to optimize their websites the ethical way. At the time, it was just a thought but then recently I actually did sit down and write a short guide for businesses called Plain & Simple SEO which covers some very basic SEO techniques that any business can use to help give themselves a little boost in the Search Engines.
It was a pleasure to write this guide as I knew that it would considerably help those who couldn’t afford the high-priced SEO firms.
This guide is only a stepping stone to a much larger step-by-step process that all businesses can use to either optimize their sites themselves or to hand over to an in-house SEO expert to use. This will be done sometime this year.
So that’s my story in a very small nutshell. I hope you find this site informative and useful. I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions on what you like, don’t like and would love to learn.
- Kristine Wirth
