Forbes Magazine called Heather Lloyd-Martin “the pioneer of SEO copywriting.” Over 20 years ago, Heather was the first person to discuss SEO writing best practices -- long before Google was everyone’s favorite search engine. Today, she continues to stay on the SEO leading edge, helping marketers understand Google’s latest updates and create standout content.
Heather has consulted with and trained leading brands across various industries, including publishing, travel, SaaS, search engines, and education. Her specialty is breaking complex information into bite-sized chunks, helping marketing teams learn to love (and master) SEO content writing and strategy.
Heather lives outside Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two cranky cats. She loves working out, hopping on planes, rafting the Colorado River, and Starbucks almond-milk lattes.
Twelve years ago, the SEO world was officially rocked by a … Panda. No, not the cuddly black-and-white creature. On February 23, 2011, Google’s Panda algorithm update rolled out. And everything changed like that. ::snapping fingers:: Back in 2011, Google was a different place. Seeing low-quality content positioning was common. Experienced SEO writers were competing […]
Chances are, you’ve heard about ChatGPT’s AI technology and its ability to crank out everything from break-up texts to college essays. As content writers, we may smugly laugh at AI content and all its mistakes. “Robots aren’t coming for my writing job. ChatGPT can’t do what I can do.” I ask you this with all […]
Here’s a trick question. A blog post gets top search positions, but it only drives about 100 visitors from Google a year. Of those, only 15-20 turn into customers. Should you: a. Delete the non-performing page? b. Rewrite the content? c. Celebrate? Are you kidding — the page has a 15-20 percent conversion rate! Yup, […]
Four weeks ago, I launched my LinkedIn newsletter called The Well-Branded Woman. It’s been a freaky, fun-filled ride, complete with unexpected twists and turns. What I thought was going to happen didn’t – and what did happen blew my mind. Here’s what I did and what I’ve learned (so far!). Here’s how I set up […]
Imagine this… You decide to add a new ongoing project to your content marketing plate every quarter. In the first quarter, you’d start podcasting. After that, you’d start writing in-depth guides and asking influencers to promote your content. By the third quarter, you’d create monthly webinars. And on and on. Sounds easy, right? You’re creating […]
Are you tired of bidding on jobs, only to be told you’re “too expensive?” Are you having problems making ends meet, and “feast or famine” mode is burning you out? Yup, I hear you. Job sites like Upwork are an easy way to bid on multiple projects. BUT, there’s a downside… Prospects are often flooded […]
Does it feel like you need permission to fire a client — especially now? I get it. I do. It’s easy to put our needs on hold and think, “I don’t love working with this client, but it’s not so bad.” At the same time, you may lose sleep, dread the work, and wish that […]
Heather’s note: I originally wrote this post in 2011 and started with 31 questions. Since then, I’ve added 33 more questions you can ask your new SEO writing client, for a total of 64! Enjoy! Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to ask a lot of questions. Why? Because that’s how I learn. […]
Do you know what’s not fun? Another site stealing your content. Copyright violations have happened since the beginning of Google time. Years ago, I wrote a blog post about what to do if somebody steals your content. Fortunately, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) makes it “easy” to get offending content taken down. In many cases, someone […]
In a fascinating burst of synchronicity, I was halfway finished with this blog when the news hit about Google’s digital marketing certification course mentioning keyword density and word count. Sigh. This is one of my rant-filled blog posts. You’ve been warned. Are you confused by all the SEO writing course options out there? That makes […]
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