Ray Carlson Email & Phone Number

Baltimore, Maryland Area

Making versatility the hallmark of my online marketing work: local SEO to enterprise SEO initiatives; experience & expertise in both B2B & B2C; technical skill set combined with strong content development. Experience & expertise in working with SMBs in an array of industry segments. At enterprise level I work with IT & Marketing teams in your organization to locate & enact force multipliers such as increasing indexation ratio, optimizing thin content & improving internal linking strategies to boost organic search performance. Bringing technical expertise and strong content development skills together to take earned media to the next level: • Own expertise in technical SEO combined with the ability to interface with your company’s technical resources to gain buy in on technical SEO initiatives. Hands-on experience and expertise in a range of enterprise SEO tools that include link analysis, website crawling, keyword research, content analysis and on-page optimization, I apply technical SEO best practices to each component of the optimization process for the client.• Working with managers from across your organization - Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Technical, along with C-level personnel - to craft content that matches up to the buyer’s journey. Working in tandem with the client I help define customer personas; gain a complete understanding of the journey a buyer takes in their path to purchasing the client’s goods and services; create content for each of the stages of the buyer’s journey. • Working across the organization to: optimize social media content for search success, driving greater brand awareness & customer engagement; improve conversion rate optimization efforts of the merchandising team; improve landing page quality to drive down costs for paid search team. • Google AdWords & Analytics certified: build out and manage Google & Bing paid search initiatives. Hands on pro at ad copy, landing page design & content that drives conversions!

Frederick, Maryland

Recruited by this leading regional bricks & mortar furniture retailer to overhaul their online brand: revamp the company’s website for today’s online shopper & expand the site’s ecommerce capabilities from a regional focus to national level. With the brand's online (re)launch in 2013 I managed the entirety of the company’s online marketing and ecommerce operations.• First 30 days: initiated a vendor review, removed sub par vendors, brought SEO and PPC services in-house, and immediately provided the company with annualized savings in the six figures. Simultaneously undertook an effort to locate and secure a vendor capable of building a large scale Magento-powered ecommerce website. Secured this new strategic partner to the business at significant savings: 20% of market rate for projects of similar scale.• First 90 days: conceptualized a new website that combines appealing elegance with robust functionality to create a new and exciting shopping experience for sleep product consumers nationwide while also supporting the company’s nearly 170 store locations. Personally created entirety of site’s content from its optimized content pages to its individual product pages.• Applying creativity and innovation to the online shopping process I formulated unique, industry-leading concepts such as the Create-My-Bed shopping tool along with a specific content feature at the site that drove six figures of entirely new organic traffic to the site with a local SEO initiative I conceptualized and undertook on behalf of our retail store operations. • Led entirety of the site’s search engine marketing function with hands-on management of its SEO and online advertising (PPC, banner) components. Achieved Page 1 Google/Bing organic search results for nearly 100% of company's product offerings. • Built out robust reputation management effort, along with a larger social media presence in the form of YouTube Channel, Twitter, Pinterest. • Launched brand's first Affiliate program.

Reston, Va

Enterprise SEO role with Simplexity, with hands-on responsibility leading a new vision for the company’s Wirefly brand - America’s #1 online seller & authorized retailer of cell phones, smartphones, satellite TV & remote home security systems - relative to organic search. Conducted a complete revamp of the site, rebuilding a website from inside out installing SEO best practices throughout & increasing organic traffic without damaging existing rankings for vital keywords. • Conducted all keyword research and analysis, uncover actionable data, and develop all optimized content. Personally created and implemented the virtual entirety of the site’s content.• Established improved site architecture and UX throughout. Working with various internal teams successfully advocated for improvement initiatives that boosted performance for crawler and consumer alike.• Launched reputation management initiative that successfully drove negative brand reviews from top organic search results, protecting significant revenues for brand.• HTML troubleshooting & hands-on HTML coding, with objective to improve site organization, navigation and search crawler efficiencies. • Revise, create new SEO strategies based on market changes/needs.• Maintain primary role in quality control function to ensure optimum level of UX satisfaction with the site and help ensure SEO compliance site-wide.• Create and implement all SEO training and evangelize SEO best practices to key Simplexity personnel in various departments such as IT, creative, and affiliate sales group to help ensure ongoing dedication and adherence to SEO best practices.• Monitor competition and overall market trends related to SEO.• Support PPC & Affiliate marketing teams with keyword research, content development strategies.• Define, monitor, and analyze SEO KPIs to continually improve initiative’s success rate.• Research, implement, evangelize SMO best practices to drive brand building and link building agendas.

Working agency-side in support of strategic business partners in the web design and development segment.• Provided ‘white label’ SEO services via assorted strategic business partners in the Web design and development segment.• Develop SEO strategies in two environments: brand new website initiatives and revamp of existing websites, each with the objective to create an optimized Web presence for the partner’s client(s). • HTML analysis and troubleshooting; keyword research; content development. • Mentor clients in use of CMS platform, new content generation, and application of accompanying SEO focused HTML best practices. Follow up on SEO recommendations, provide implementation reviews/feedback.• Provided feedback on website architecture, usability, user path analysis, conversion optimization • Email campaign ideation, design, and management.• Provide hands-on support in achieving Local SEO objectives and establishing social media optimization objectives and workflow.• Advise on both PPC and social media initiatives on a move forward basis.

Entrepreneurial endeavor to create first of its kind Web presence: successfully led this startup from inception, throughout entire development phase, and subsequent launch of six distinct Web properties focused on the delivery of buying guides and online purchase of health plans, life, travel, et al for residents of California.• Created the entirety of search optimized content found at six websites all of which launched simultaneously in early 2010. Unassisted and using WordPress CMS, built out the content for the largest blog of its kind in North America. • Hands-on development and management of PPC campaigns including Adwords, StumbleUpon, Facebook and other platforms. Handled entirety of firm’s other online and offline marketing initiatives including SEO, Social Media Optimization, as well as ongoing email campaigns and print advertising.

Search marketing professional in matrix organization delivering outsized results in role spanning initiatives that ranged from Enterprise SEM to Local SEO. Versatile role within this Fortune 500 company resulted in hands-on participation and leadership roles in range of initiatives that included launch of nearly 200 in-house agent websites to role as enterprise-wide evangelist for benefits of SEO to company’s nationwide network of independent agents. • Led content development and establishment of on-site SEO best practices for each of the company’s nearly 200 websites designed for use by its own in-house network of insurance agents.• For sites that ranged from the company’s main site in California market to its microsites and for the benefit of independent agents representing Anthem Blue Cross products across the country, conducted SEO audits, site architecture, content analysis, usability, user path analysis, conversion optimization consultation throughout the course of my tenure with the company.• Routinely displayed my versatility and broad range of SEM expertise in working with the company’s highest level of sales and marketing management personnel on SEO and PPC best practices as well as consulting with independent agencies and brokers in league with the company on strategies to achieve local search optimization objectives as well as the formulation of both social media optimization workflows and cost-effective Adwords campaigns. • Successfully created numerous training models for both internal and external client audiences relative to SEM best practices.

Creative, innovative marketing professional who recognized the inherent marketing power of the Web and led his company into groundbreaking online marketing initiatives that built powerful online branding messages, delivered outsized results, and high ROI outcomes.• Successfully managed the entirety of the company’s marketing structure and led company’s full-fledged entry onto the Web with hands-on ideation and design of the entirety of the company’s assorted Web properties which included B2B, B2C, and ecommerce. Managed entirety of ongoing SEM initiatives.• Hands-on PPC effort that opened new domestic and international revenue channels for major products. • Skilled brand professional: Created online branding strategies that reinvigorated cachet of older products; successfully rescued revenues lost to competition and significantly increased the profitability of these revenues. • Hands-on offline marcom expertise: conceptualized, wrote, and produced all sales collateral materials and presentations, including those materials used by strategic channel partners. Conceptualized, wrote, and produced all public relations materials, print and digital advertising, direct marketing/email campaigns as well as all instructional/informational company videos. • Extensive hands-on and management experience in trade show initiatives and event planning.• Developed, delivered, and managed C-level sales presentation methodology designed to increase sales of company’s leading product concept. Skilled presenter to small and large audiences of varying job functions.