SEO Mentor

If you want to meet a cowgirl that loves Paid Search Marketing then you can’t miss my interview with Brandy Eddings. As you will find Brandy is not only a PPC genius she also is a huge football (Dallas Cowboys) fan and she also works on muscle cars. Now who wouldn’t want to get to know a girl like that!!!

Garrett: Hello everyone, this is Garrett Pierson, Your SEO Mentor, and I am here today with Brandy Eddings of BrandyEddings.com. She is a paid-search marketing expert. How are you Brandy?

Brandy: I’m good. How are you doing, today?

Garrett: I’m wonderful. Thank you for your time and thank you for being here. Brandy, I’m going to start out with my introduction question that I ask everybody, because we want to get to know you a little bit more. What can you tell us about yourself, your background in the online marketing industry, your family hobbies, anything you want to talk about?

Brandy: I’m a wife and a mom of two wonderful children, with very unique and inspiring personalities. I have a little girl who is ten and a little boy who is six. They’re just the light of my life. That’s usually what I spend most of my time doing. Hobby wise, I’m obsessed with my car; not a lot of people know that about me. I’m very into working on a car, taking a stock car and making it as fast as possible.

Garrett: What kind of car is your favorite?

Brandy: My car, I have a ‘04 GTO. It came with an LS1 stock engine. I’ve tweaked it to try and get as much horsepower out of as I can. I’m a big fan of F-bodies, Camaros.

Garrett: That’s cool. Now you just became my friend even more because I don’t do much of it anymore, but I love that stuff too. I restored a nice ’66 Mustang. That’s cool.

Brandy: That’s very nice. I got started with my dad when I was in high school. He had a ’53 Chevy pickup. It was in really bad shape and we restored it. It’s probably one of the best times of my life so that’s probably what got me started in working on cars.

Garrett: Tell us a little bit more about your background in the industry.

Brandy: Okay, we’ll get serious now. I started with Just Paid Search. I worked for a big online yellow pages. We took all of the pay per click advertisers they had and moved them onto Google Adwords. We had a really high goal we had to hit and a very short time. It was kind of like the ER of paid search. I think we ended up doing twenty thousand in six months. There were a lot and we had to do it really quickly.

It was really kind of funny because I was kind of forced to learn. I liked basic paid search with the directory because it was just “bid” for placement. There were really no other pieces to it. Then, we started moving them over to Adwords and we learned quickly that it’s not just about the bid; there are so many other factors involved. It’s funny because I didn’t like it at first, but I realized I didn’t like it because I didn’t understand it.

I decided I’m going to learn as much as I can. I went out, started reading and testing things, and fell madly in love. I can’t imagine doing anything else now, at all. It’s funny when I think back and how much I dreaded it. I just fell in love.

From the directory, I moved on to work with a couple of local Dallas area agencies. I started out just doing paid search, and then realized I wanted to expand my knowledge. I moved over to another agency, started doing client services, and got involved with project management so I could learn more on the SEO side and website development side. I really enjoyed learning as much as I could and being involved as much as I could, but the paid search side kind of started to minimize how much time I was spending doing it. I realized it made me sad.

I’ve now decided to launch my own paid search consulting firm so I can focus on what I really enjoy doing. I still enjoy learning the other aspects of it, but paid search is where my heart is, and that’s what I like to focus on.

Garrett: That’s great that you’re living your passion. That’s important. Let’s go back to the personal side. You live in Texas now. My question is, are you a true Texas cowgirl?

Brandy: Yes. It’s actually yes. I was born and raised in west Texas. I spent the majority of my childhood growing up on a cow ranch, full blown, west Texas Texan, completely, through and through.

Garrett: That’s great. Are you a Dallas Cowboys fan?

Brandy: Yes. There was no choice. It was in my DNA. I probably would have been kicked out of the family had I chosen any other team, but yes, completely die-hard Dallas Cowboy fan.

Garrett: Let’s get into some of the industry questions I have for you. You just spoke about your passion. What is it that you really enjoy about the paid search marketing, or the search engine marketing industry, and your entire career?

Brandy: My favorite is that it’s always in motion. It’s always changing, always challenging. I learn something new every day. It’s almost like a game. You have to improve your skill in order to get a higher score. Looking at conversions and click-thru rates and bounce rates is kind of like a scoreboard. I enjoy that. I love the challenge of it. Not every account is the same, at all. Just because something worked with one doesn’t mean it’s going to work with the other. You have to find the sweet spot to get it to work for the next account. That’s the part I enjoy, the challenge of it. Even after you have one going good, it doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way. It’s always a challenge to try to stay a step ahead and see where the trends are going. That’s my favorite part; it’s always in motion.

Garrett: I couldn’t agree more. You spoke about it being a game. I remember a lot of my friends would be playing video games. For me it was search engine optimization (SEO), who could get the higher ranking. For me it was a game.

Brandy: Exactly; what kind of return can I get on this? It’s just like a big game.

Garrett: It is. Why not get paid for it, right?

Brandy: Yes, it’s like a side bonus. I can make money doing this.

Garrett: If you could give one or more gold nuggets of great advice to a newbie starting in the paid search marketing industry, what would it be?

Brandy: It’s to have defined goals; I think is the most important thing in the beginning, especially when you’re dealing with someone else’s account. If you’re managing, whether in house or with an agency, and you’re handling someone else’s account, you need to know what their goals are. If they don’t have any set goals, you need to help them set goals so you know what direction you’re going into and what you want to achieve from it. You have to have some kind of game plan. You can’t just say, “Okay, here’s some money. Let’s see what happens.” You really need to plot and say, “What key words are important? Where do you want to focus? What do we want to get out of this? Do we want lead forms filled out? Do we want revenue?” We need a focus or some kind of plan. To me that’s the most important thing.

Garrett: That’s great advice. Brandy, you’re famous for your sports analogies within your writing. Tell us why you write this way and what your favorite sport is.

Brandy: Well, my favorite sport is football, of course. Being born and raised in west Texas, everybody lives and breathes football. It’s the heart of west Texas. I grew up with that. It’s Friday night, and the entire town is at the high school football game. That was one of the things my dad and I really enjoyed together. We were very, very close. My dad was my best friend. We always spent time watching football or going to football games; played football outside. It was one of his biggest passions so that really came on to me. In every situation, my dad could turn it into a football analogy. I think that’s where a lot of my writing comes from, just hearing him, my entire life, relating everything to some kind of football term. I think that’s where my writing comes from.

Garrett: That’s cool. To tell you the truth, because I’m a sports fan I love reading your posts that are based on those analogies. That’s so cool that you learned that from your dad.

In your opinion, what is the most exciting trend, whether in the paid-search marketing industry, SEO, or social media industry, today?

Brandy: I guess for me, the trend I see coming that I’m really excited about is that it’s getting way more competitive and more challenging to be successful at it. It’s not as easy as it used to be. There are a lot more pieces to it, to really make a campaign work and make it profitable. I think we’re going to see almost a weeding out of people that aren’t in it for the long haul; some people think it’s a get rich quick scheme, and it’s not. There is so much more to it. I think we’re really going to see people dropping out who aren’t passionate about it, about what they do, and the people that are and spend time at it are going to be successful. It reminds me of the quote from Einstein, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with the problems longer.” I think those people are truly going to be successful. That’s what I’m excited about seeing, the defined line of those who are really in this and those who are not.

Garrett: That’s interesting. With the rise of social media, and I know I’ve seen you out there in some of these social networking/social media sites, how do you see social media changing the Web in the next year or two?

Brandy: Really getting people involved, interaction definitely; one of the best things with Twitter is that if a company is on there and monitoring it correctly, they can eliminate a potential problem before someone gets angry to the point that they blog negatively about a company. Also, it’s being able to give them information. My favorite on Twitter is Jet Blue; how much they interact with people, and how much information they give. I think that’s going to be a huge trend on how companies really get into it, do it right, and interact with their market. It’s also people just connecting too, people being more aware.

Garrett: That’s great. You spoke about people connecting and interacting. It’s so true. Staying on the subject of social media, what’s your favorite social media site online, and why?

Brandy: I think as with almost everybody in our industry right now, it’s Twitter, hands down. It’s just such an awesome environment. You can learn, connect, and share information so quickly and easily. I wouldn’t have made near as many connections as I’ve made in this industry, without it. It’s really nice to be connected to people who are so passionate about the same thing you are. It’s a lot of fun to communicate with people who feel that way. I wouldn’t have met you, had it not been for Twitter.

Garrett: That’s very true. Through that, we’ve never met in person, but we’ve made somewhat of a friendship. We’ve learned some stuff about each other. Because we talk on Twitter I see what you’re working on. I’ve been to your BrandyEddings.com and read your “About Me” page. It’s amazing how we can connect and interact like you are talking about.

With that in mind, what are some of your favorite people you follow online continually? You don’t have to answer this question, but if there are some whose content you really enjoy, who might they be?

Brandy: It’s kind of a hard question to answer because you’re always terrified. You don’t want to leave anybody off. It’s always fun to speak about the people you do really enjoy, following on a daily basis. If I had to give a quick list:

1. Number one I have to say is Michael Gray (aka Gray Wolf). You should always do whatever that man suggests you do. You should always follow his advice. He’s one of the few people that if he called me out of nowhere and said I should make a left on Thursday when I’m driving, I would. He’s just brilliant.
2. Dave Snyder is awesome. He’s one of my favorite people.
3. Kate Morris, who does paid search in house right now, and she’s actually going to be speaking at a few pretty big things coming up. If you’re not following her you should. She really is brilliant.
4. Martin Bowling is also awesome.
5. Todd Friesen, you; everyone should be following you if they’re not, but if they’re listening to this, they should be.
6. There is also another guy, Jim Spencer. He and Martin Bowling really make getting involved in Twitter as a beginner, really easy. They interact with you and it’s very natural. They kind of draw you in, in a very welcoming way. I really appreciate that, just me coming into Twitter as a new person, not knowing very many people. I would definitely suggest for anybody new using Twitter; those are two people they really should connect with. They’ll really help you along.

(If you would like to check out other people that Brandy follows see here Twitter account @eddings)

Garrett: I’m sure there are a lot more that you would like to speak about.

Brandy: Yes, there are tons of fabulous people.

Garrett: When I ask that question, a lot of people are scared they will offend somebody. The cool thing is that anybody listening can just go to your Twitter account. We’ll have a link to that at YourSEOMentor.com, this blog post, and they can see who you are following. We wouldn’t have time to name all of them.

Brandy: Exactly, I’m following quite a few. I’m kind of surprised that I’m able to keep up with that many.

Garrett: That’s great. I hear you are going to be speaking at the Scary SEO mini conference in Florida, in October. Tell us a bit about what you will be speaking about.

Brandy: Okay. I’m going to be speaking at Scary SEO, October 24 -25, two days of amazing training. You can’t beat the rate. It’s only two hundred dollars. I’ll be speaking about paid search basics, with Brian Carter. This is actually going to be my very first speaking event. I’m kind of nervous about it, but I’m very happy Brian is going to be on the panel with me. He’s so amazing, so easygoing, and so funny that it kind of comforts me. No matter how bad I do, it’s not going to matter because he’ll be so awesome. I think I got very lucky in that being my first speaking event.

I’m really going to try to focus on paid search basics. I really want to speak about account structure; to me that’s the number one thing. Anybody doing, especially with Adwords, you really need to focus on this. How you structure your account is going to determine the success of your efforts. Then I think we’re going to open it up to the floor and just answer as many questions as we can from the audience and find out what they want to learn.

Garrett: That’s the best thing about the Scary SEO mini conference, it’s somewhat on a smaller basis, and it’s going to be very personal. I think anybody going to that is going to get a huge amount of networking, information, and great content. That’s awesome. You’re going to do great. You don’t need to worry.

Brandy: Thank you.

Garrett: I really appreciate you taking time out of your day, Brandy, and spending time with me and my listeners, and all those who will be listening. Anybody who wants to find out more about Brandy, make sure you check her out at BrandyEddings.com. Also, if you’re listening to this on iTunes, head over to YourSEOMentor.com and I’ll have links to all of Brandy’s stuff, for example, her Twitter account and BrandyEddings.com. If you can’t find it, just head over there.

Is there anywhere else, if people want to find out more about you, where should they go, Brandy?

Brandy: My website, they can follow me on Twitter @eddings, and there’s also a bio on me on ScarySEO.com. I had to plug that and make Dave happy. Really Twitter is where I usually spill any information about me. Sadly, you’ll learn more than you want.

Garrett: Again, thank you. You gave us some wonderful content. All of those wanting to learn a little more about paid-search marketing, pay per click, you need to get a hold of Brandy Eddings.

Thank you, Brandy.

Brandy: Thank you, very much. I appreciate this.

To find out more about who transcribed this interview check out Tamara Bentzur!

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Monday Interviews, Paid Search Marketing, SEO Friends, Your SEO Mentor Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: Brandy Eddings, Dave Snyder, Garrett Pierson, Google Adwords, Kate Morris, Martin Bowling, Michael Gray, Paid Search Marketing, PPC, Scary SEO, Todd Friesen