Welcome to a new
Introducing
We asked her everything from how she first got into SEO to what empowers her to be the brilliant woman she is 💪🏽
How did you get into SEO?
When I started my travel blog 5 years ago, I had no clue about how to do this AT ALL. I just wanted to share a few insights as a traveller and ex-pat. What frustrated me was that, after an entire year of endless work, my site was getting 5 views per day - after hundreds of hours trying to figure out WordPress and this Internet "thing."
A year later, I figured I could become a web content writer and use my blog as a portfolio to get going. So I did! Still...no idea what SEO was. But then, as I got more work, I decided to fully embrace the freelancer's life and went all in. I got a mentor, learned the ropes of GSC and the basics of SEO, grew my blog exponentially, and just loved it.
It feels like a game. A really cool crossover between tech and human insight. I started taking courses and applying the teachings to my blog. However, what captivated me was that now I knew all this, which I could use to help other businesses in the same position I was in before.
What is your favourite SEO task?
I feel I'm like a Miss Marple - Agatha Christie's lady detective, haha. Running audits, finding issues, and creating a strategy for my clients is my fave task. Walking them through the journey of understanding SEO sets the foundation for long-term relationships. So I guess building that trust with my clients is my other favorite part of doing SEO.
What is your go-to tool or resource that you can't live without?
The Detailed SEO Chrome extension became a bit of an obsession which now I use even when I'm navigating the web for personal reasons. KeySearch is my darling too. I use it for research but also love its content assistant. Sitebulb, Screaming Frog, and Semrush for audits. Ah! I'm also obsessed with Ahrefs weekly keyword ranking emails - and Google Search Console, of course!
What is something you learned in SEO that made you have an 'AHA' moment?
A great AHA moment was when my blog's rankings went up, and I started making money on Amazon! I couldn't believe people were clicking - and then I'd get money. So it'd boil down to seeing the impact SEO can have.
What is your proudest industry achievement?
Launching Joyful SEO is a great achievement as I'm like...giiiirrrrl! You've got your own agency, and it's growing already - and it's been only 2 months.
I did an SEO session in February for 10 start-up founders at the Te Ohaka incubator space in Christchurch.
Becoming a New Zealand Business Mentor is another one I hold close to my heart! It's truly what inspired me to start Joyful.
And of course! Having grown my own blog. I must confess I don't pay much attention to it nowadays. But still, it reached 1.2M impressions in 90 days, only a few months after I started optimizing and building links - and with just a handful of articles. One of my articles gets over 3k views per month, traffic that's been sustained for the last year. And I'm not even doing anything to it!
What advice would you give women who are starting out in SEO?
Learn by doing
Take courses
Stay up to date
The fundamentals remain - and are a great place to get started
Actively listen to your clients
Tell people what you do!
Build trust. And learn to trust your instinct
Give a shout out to a woman in the industry who inspires you and tell us why
Megan Kioulafofski from Sublime SEO as she's a kickass SEO expert, and we've been working together for over a year now. And Bel Temby (from Digital Services Lab) as she's been my client for over 2 years, always supporting my work and giving me excellent opportunities. Both inspire me with their respect for their clients and how they deal with being agency founders.
Finally, what empowers you to be the brilliant woman you are?
This group empowers me! I'm a silent reader, but I've learnt SO much just by reading posts in this group. And then, seeing my clients grow gives me an SEO-high!
I don't have a motto but must say Power Yoga has been extremely empowering - not too related tho haha. I started practicing when I started freelancing. Building strength and confidence from the inside out!
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Thanks to Martina for a truly insightful interview. You can learn more about her through her website and connect with her through LinkedIn.
To view more interviews with brilliant women, check out our Interviews page. If you've enjoyed reading this interview, then we'd love for