I draw on a unique skill set and network to create and execute successful SEO and content strategies for OTAs, destinations, and other travel companies. I also run a custom WordPress development and management service. Travel and content shaped my life. I wrote my first book was just nine years old and took my first backpacking trip to Europe at 18. I built my first website in 2002 while doing a BA with a minor in Professional Writing. I've been publishing ever since. After graduating I moved to southern Taiwan and founded a magazine (both print and digital) for expats. By 2008 I'd sold the magazine and begun freelance travel writing, photography, and blogging full-time. My blog received many accolades and I won a NATJA Gold Medal for photography. I contributed to travel magazines, worked as the About.com Snowboarding Guide, and ran the blog for Canada's second-largest OTA, FlightNetwork, where I learned enterprise SEO for travel.My transition from creator to agency owner began in 2015 when I was elected President of the Professional Travel Bloggers Association, a position that resulted in speaking engagements at all the major travel industry events like WTM, ITB, and ATM. PTBA partnered with Cinnamon Hotels to bring hundreds of bloggers to Sri Lanka and with the Nepal Tourism Bureau to bring hundreds of bloggers to Nepal for events.Almost 30-years-old and weary of the rootless, fast-paced travel blogging lifestyle, I decided to change my focus. I wanted to settle in one place and use my unique experience and network to provide travel SEO, content, and influencer marketing services. So, I founded UpThink, moved to Thailand, and got to work.It was the right move. UpThink provided premium content and SEO services to OTAs and influencer marketing campaigns to tourism boards. Business was booming thanks to a steady stream of word-of-mouth referrals. Then COVID-19 happened.Clear-eyed about the long road to recovery the travel industry faced, we pivoted to our other area of expertise: WordPress. So, we launched WP Geeks, which has grown steadily and earned a shining reputation for excellent service. Now I split my time between growing WP Geeks and helping a few travel clients who are renewing their marketing efforts as the travel industry recovers.I also try to make time for surfing, snorkeling, and sunrise jogs at the local beach near my home here in Phuket, where I work from my home office.Specialties: WordPress, SEO, content marketing, inbound marketing, blogging, social media, blogger outreach, consulting, training, and public speaking.
Listed skills include Blogging, Editing, Social Media Marketing, Press Releases, and 46 others.
