SEO as the Digital epicenter and the voice of the consumer — Justin Abrams & Michael Rispoli // Cause of a Kind

About the speaker

Justin Abrams & Michael Rispoli

Cause of a Kind

- Cause of a Kind

SEO has become the digital nucleus around which websites are being developed. Far from being simply about search results, SEO work centers around accessibility, site performance, branding, and more. Increasingly, the gap between SEO work and frontend development is shrinking. Justin Abrams and Michael Rispoli from Cause of a Kind share how the two halves of marketing and programming are essential in helping websites stand apart from their competition. Justin Abrams @cuzzinjustin Justin has 10+ years in MarTech and FinTech & is co-owner of the digital agency, Cause of a Kind. He specializes in consumer experiences with SEO. He is also the Senior SEO Consultant for the most recognizable brands on the planet for BrightEdge, speaks publicly at SMX annually and can be found as a published industry advocate. Michael Rispoli @michael_rispoli Michael is a full stack engineer who specializes in web app dev with a passion for finding novel & creative ways to apply tech to business problems. Mike is the Lead Software Engineer at The Knot Worldwide, and resident writer for FaunaDB.

Show Notes

  • 01:25
    SEO as the digital epicenter and voice of the customer
    Demand what influences every other aspect of the digital strategy. SEO makes sense as the epicenter because it all starts with figuring out the demand through search.
  • 03:54
    Prioritising SEO data versus what the consumer wants
    Simply put, the algorithm is designed to give users what they want and the data you get is what translates this to you. SEO as the starting point tells you who your audience is and what they want from you.
  • 07:02
    When you should start thinking about SEO
    SEO is a continuous process. When you have good communication between your development team and your SEO team, you can continuously use SEO data to improve your site and user experience.
  • 10:35
    Investing in web design versus investing in content
    The content on your website is just as important as the design of your website. Truthfully, you need both to get a properly working website. So your content budget matter just as much as your design budget
  • 12:34
    The reality of the developers job
    Sometimes the feature that you spend most of your budget on is not the one that gets the best reaction from the audience and vice versa.
  • 14:27
    Figuring out what consumers want
    Use analytics and search data to find out what exactly are the questions that people are asking. Google has tools in their suite like Google Trends, that can help you figure out what conversations are being had.

Quotes

  • "I think placing SEO at the digital epicenter is probably a little bit of a new concept." - Justin Abrams, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • "When you start thinking about SEO as the digital epicenter, we start to think about the idea of demand influencing the rest of the digital strategy." - Justin Abrams, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • "The algorithm is designed to give the consumer what they want. And the data we get is the way that we figure out what they want." - Michael Rispoli, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “Sometimes when we look at the data that already exists on their existing site, what we are calling SEO is really what is working and what is not working.” - Michael Rispoli, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “SEO actually tells us the audience. A lot of times we forget that because we get obsessed with the idea that SEO is a post-launch activity or an end of the development cycle activity.” - Michael Rispoli, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “SEO is really just the artifact leftover of developers doing a good job.” - Michael Rispoli, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “I think the goal of applying SEO is happening as frequently as possible. SEO is this continuum.” - Justin Abrams, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “One thing that we commonly see is clients wanting to spend a lot of money on design, a lot of money on development, not a lot of money on content.” - Michael Rispoli, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “It's sort of disheartening to think like, wow, we spent, you know, 75% of the budget on a feature that ends up getting canned.” - Michael Rispoli, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

  • “It's totally, totally non-emotional coming from Google as the source telling me, where is my consumer audience actually spending their time and attention.” - Justin Abrams, Co-founder of Cause Of A Kind

About the speaker

Justin Abrams & Michael Rispoli

Cause of a Kind

- Cause of a Kind

SEO has become the digital nucleus around which websites are being developed. Far from being simply about search results, SEO work centers around accessibility, site performance, branding, and more. Increasingly, the gap between SEO work and frontend development is shrinking. Justin Abrams and Michael Rispoli from Cause of a Kind share how the two halves of marketing and programming are essential in helping websites stand apart from their competition. Justin Abrams @cuzzinjustin Justin has 10+ years in MarTech and FinTech & is co-owner of the digital agency, Cause of a Kind. He specializes in consumer experiences with SEO. He is also the Senior SEO Consultant for the most recognizable brands on the planet for BrightEdge, speaks publicly at SMX annually and can be found as a published industry advocate. Michael Rispoli @michael_rispoli Michael is a full stack engineer who specializes in web app dev with a passion for finding novel & creative ways to apply tech to business problems. Mike is the Lead Software Engineer at The Knot Worldwide, and resident writer for FaunaDB.

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